fbpx

Quick Rustic Vanilla Bean Scones – Recipe

Mar 31, 2020 | Recipes | 7 comments

The world is a strange place right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the world is on high alert, and us Californians are under “shelter-at-home” — which basically means: “only go out and physically interact if absolutely needed” — Yes, we’re still allowed to take walks, etc., but we limit our outings and physical interactions with other humans. The goal is to slow the pandemic to lessen the load on our (already overloaded) healthcare system. 

This “social distancing” (which should really be called PHYSICAL distancing because you can still be social! But I digress..) has brought a whole new meaning to stress baking and emotional eating. I miss eating out at restaurants. I miss going inside of a coffee shop. After this, I hope everyone will have a whole new appreciation for all the little joys of life. 

As someone who does not have anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges, I find myself, for the first time, struggling with some feelings I don’t quite know what to do with… 

Every day, I wake up. I’m a little confused. Things are kind of normal, but really not. How do I… carry on and live my life with some sense of normalcy, whilst being completely aware of how I haven’t hung out (IRL) with my friends/family or touched another human aside from my husband for about two weeks? 

So I channel all that nervousness, anxiety, and jittery energy into baking, content creation and fulfilling orders in our online shop. Today, I’m sharing a recipe that I had been saving for my cookbook– because why not? We are all home and we might as well bake something delicious together. These rustic vanilla bean scones are vanilla-y, super buttery and tender.  The best part– these only take about an hour to put together! 

How To Make Rustic Vanilla Bean Scones

top view vanilla bean scones

If you’ve been missing your Starbucks (their drive-thrus are open for us– so it has been a small pleasure of life I have been grateful for), they remind me a bit of those except because these are fresh, they have a crisper, crackled, more rustic outer shell. 

Ingredients 

Scones:

  • 195 grams all purpose flour (approx. 1.25 cups)
  • 4 oz salted butter (1 american stick), COLD straight from the fridge
  • 30 grams granulated sugar (2 TBSP)
  • 7 grams baking powder (half a TBSP)
  • 2 grams salt (half tsp) — optional– I like my scones sweet and salty, omit if you prefer more sweet
  • 75 grams heavy whipping cream (approx. ¼ cup)
  • 10 grams vanilla bean paste, or 2 tsp vanilla extract or other extract

Glaze:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar (I eyeball mine– this is very forgiving!) — Make sure you watch the video below on how I do this
  • Approx. ⅓ cup water (adjust per video)
  • Extract or vanilla bean paste – to taste (again, I eyeball this)
  • a pinch of Salt (if desired!)

scones in oven

Directions:

  1. Pre-Heat your oven to 350 degrees F (please use an oven thermometer!)
  2. Coarsely chop cold butter 
  3. Place all ingredients except for heavy whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer.
  4. Mix on low until mixture becomes chunky and sandy
  5. Drizzle in the heavy whipping cream
  6. Mix on low until the dough just comes together– do not over mix! We want a tender scone, not tough scones. 
  7. Take the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape, cut, place on baking sheet
  8. Bake for approx. 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown — adjust baked on how big and thick your scones are! Rotate halfway inbetween for an even bake.
  9. While scones bake, make the glaze (see youtube video below)

Tips/Tricks/Modifications:

  • The base ratios of this recipe are excellent for adapting to various flavors– some ideas below:
    • Swirl in a few tablespoons of jam for a fruit scone
    • Add in dried fruits and nuts to the base
    • Add in frozen fruits like blueberries to your base! Adds bursts of moisture in your scone 
  • You can make scones without a stand mixer– I’m just lazy and don’t like to get my hands dirty. Use a pastry cutter or you can even go old school and “cut” the butter into the dry ingredients using a fork
  • I portioned my scones pretty big. Feel free to shape and cut to whatever you prefer, but use common sense and adjust your baking temp and time 
  • Feel free to bake scones, eat them uniced- but break one open and put Nutella and/or jam/butter in the middle WHILST the scone is still warm– absolutely amazing

vanilla bean scones

That’s it– rustic vanilla bean scones from ingredients to table in under an hour. I hope you’ve enjoyed, and if you have any questions, please leave them for me below.


Categories


Latest Posts

Support Borderlands Bakery!

Did you notice a lack of ads on our site? That’s because we don’t have them! We believe in a less intrusive way to build a business, especially one we love. Your support, in any form, goes a long way to help our small, passionate team to continue bringing you the highest quality content we can.

❤️  – The Borderlands Team


Categories


Latest Posts

7 Comments

  1. Tamara

    Your description of the world and the new emotions it brought on really hit home with me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

    Also, the scones look delicious. They’ll be next up on the baking block after we finish eating the last few Compost Cookies. We are in love with them!

    Be well!
    Tamara

    Reply
  2. Carol Jones

    Thank you Lisa! I am thrilled to have this recipe. I don’t drink coffee, so I was not a regular Starbucks customer. However, I have had a few….yum!

    This will be a great treat for neighbors. Thank you again, SO MUCH!

    Reply
  3. Tiffany Koroush

    Thank you Lisa for sharing this recipe! I love Starbucks vanilla scones, it will be nice to make my own. Take care and stay healthy during these uncertain times.

    Reply
  4. yay4snow

    Can you use milk instead of heaving whipping cream? Or almond milk?

    Reply
    • Lisa He

      Hi there, yes, you can. If you sub with any lesser-fat milk alternative, add an extra tablespoon of butter for fat.

      Reply
  5. Kayla Arnold

    How are these when served next morning? If I made them late one evening and served them for breakfast the next morning?

    Reply
    • Lisa He

      Hi Kayla, keep them in an airtight container overnight and they’re fine. I’ve left them out for 24 hrs– no issues. I like my scones cool but if you like em warm, microwave for a bit.

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *