Glazed Lemon Scones

These are delicious! The instructions say to use mostly your hands, and while other tools would work (say, a spoon, for instance) it was so much fun to roll up my sleeves and get my hands working with this dough! I have made the glaze with lemon juice from a bottle before, but this time, I actually squeezed the lemon myself, and the taste was amazing! Great with the bottled juice, but a whole new level with fresh juice! This is a really girly food, so it is a big hit at brunches! They take about 40 minutes to make and make 8-12 scones.
(Disclaimer: Scones, to me, are big, fluffy fried pastries covered in butter and cinnamon sugar from county fairs, but every magazine calls these scones, so what do I know?! They are more like a glorified biscuit. - I had to add that for Ian, we debated the name while he ate them!)


Glazed Lemon Scones from Family Fun Magazine

Scones:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbs. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup heavy or whipping cream, plus a little for brushing
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1Tbs. melted butter
2 Tbs heavy or whipping cream

Heat oven to 400.
Grease a large baking sheet (preferably not a dark one)
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add lemon zest and toss with your hands, zestfully :)
Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Mix together the cream, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until the dough holds together.
Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and, with floured hands, knead the dough 3 or 4 times to form a ball.
Flatten it to about 3/4 inch thick.
Cut it into 8-12 pieces as you would a pie.
Transfer the pieces to the baking sheet leaving at least 1/4 inch between them.
Brush the tops with a little cream.
Bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly brown.
Let cool for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
While the scones cool, mix the ingredients together for the glaze with a whisk until smooth. If necessary, thin the glaze with water 1/2 tsp. at a time.
When the scones have cooled for 10 minutes on the rack, drizzle them with the glaze and serve!