Tasty Tuesday ~ Scones You Must Eat. And Eat and Eat and Eat Again.

On one hand, it's a shame I don't have a picture of these beautiful scones to make you salivate.  On the other hand,  I take terrible pictures of food, so maybe it's for the best that I leave this to your imagination.  These scones come from The Pioneer Woman, so you know they are good...if you know The Pioneer Woman.  If you don't know her, you need to.  She makes food that...oh, I can't get started with that right now.  I just can't.  But I love her, and you will too.

And these scones???  Divine.  They taste like a flaky maple bar.  I have not made them one time that people didn't swoon and ask for the recipe.  So go for it.  Make these soon.  Today, if possible.  And I cannot make the BOLD come off this right now.  I don't know what's wrong, and I don't have time to figure it out.  But maybe it's to draw your attention because you are meant to develop a relationship with these scones.  Get the coffee on, get these scones baking.  You'll have a moment of bliss.

Maple Pecan Scones

Scones:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

5 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled

¼ cup pecans

1 large egg

¾ cup heavy cream

Maple glaze:

1 pound powdered sugar

¼ cup whole milk

4 TBSP butter, melted

Splash of strongly brewed coffee

Dash of salt

2 tsp. maple flavoring or maple extract

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Cut the butter into small pieces. Cut into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or two forks, cutting until mixture resembles crumbs. You should still be able to make out small pieces of butter. Finely chop the pecans; stir them into the flour mixture. Mix the egg and cream together . Add the mixture to the flour. Stir together until just combined.

Turn the mixture onto a cutting board. The dough will be very crumbly, but that’s how it should be. With your hands, push together the dough into a large ball. Do not knead or press too much, just enough to form into a ball. With your hands or a rolling pin, gently spread the ball into a 10-inch round, about ¾ inch thick. (I made two 5-inch rounds so the scones were a bit smaller.) With a sharp knife, cut the round like a pizza into 8 equal wedges. Transfer the wedges to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or sprayed with non-stick spray).

Bake the scones for 16-24 minutes (depending on size), until they are just barely starting to brown.

Allow the scones to cool completely.

For glaze, mix all ingredients together in a medium blow. Pour generously over cooled scones and allow the icing to set. You can sprinkle additional chopped pecans over the top before the icing sets if you want!