Cinnamon Toffee Scones

      I owe a lot to the British - my freckles, my ancestors, my fascination with 

British history, my penchant for Celtic music, a castle in Scotland by the same name...but... if I'm being honest, I never felt indebted to them for the British scone.  

     A scone in my western U.S. culture was a piece of fried bread dough topped with butter and honey or jam with, when executed correctly, a hollow in the middle where the dough bubbles up in the oil, oh, and most importantly, irresistibly delicious, akin to a doughnut! My family was allowed to eat them as our dinner accompanied with a bowl of soup - doughnuts for dinner!  No one ever complained.

      When I first tasted what I thought I must have heard wrong, the British scone, it was dry, sandy feeling in my mouth and sent me looking for something to wash it down with.  That impression lasted for many years  and it was one pastry I could easily resist (unless served with sweetened clotted cream in which case, I ate the cream.)  Then I discovered Tyler Florence's recipe for Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze and once again I owned up proudly to my British heritage.

      Now, this is a scone of a different color, flavor and texture and wouldn't you know it, an American chef developed the recipe but it is one I can relish, Running with the basic recipe, I tried several variations, this one being a favorite.

Cinnamon Toffee Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

5 tablespoons  butter, cold, cut in chunks

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup toffee bits or crushed Heath bars

   Glaze:

      2 cups powdered sugar

      2 tablespoons melted butter

      1/4 cup milk or cream

      1 teaspoon vanilla extract

         -Beat ingredients above until smooth and

          creamy. Stir in a small pinch of salt and

          vanilla extract.  Set aside.

        -Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

        -Mix together in medium bowl, flour, salt, 

          baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. 

               Using a fork or pastry blender, cut the butter 

          into the mixture until well incorporated and no

          chunks of butter are visible. The mixture

          should look like sand. Stir in 1/2 cup of the

          toffee bits to the mixture.

        -Make a well in the center and pour in the

          heavy cream. Fold everything together gently 

          just to incorporate or until you can press it 

          into one large lump.

        -Press and gently roll the cough out on a

          lightly floured surface into a 12 by 3 inch

          rectangle. The dough will be about 2 inches 

          thick.

        -Cut the rectangle in half widthwise, then cut 

          the pieces in half again, giving you 4 (3-inch) 

          squares. Cut the squares in half on a diagonal

          to create triangle shaped scones. (To make 

          smaller scones cut each triangle in half again

          to create two smaller triangles. Place the

          scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush

          the tops with a little heavy cream or milk. 

       -Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until browned.  

          Allow the scones to cool about 5 minutes 

          before drizzling the glaze in a zigzag across

          the top of the shones, using a squirt bottle or 

          a spouted cup. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup

          toffee bits on top of the scones.

       -Makes 8 large scones or 16 small scones.

                                 Pour cream into flour/butter mixture

                      Roll dough into rectangle and cut into triangles.

Drizzle baked scones with glaze.

PERSNICKETY NOTES:

*Be careful not to overwork the dough, just mix it lightly once the cream is added then

push the bits of dough together until it adheres in a roughly shaped ball or lump.

I prefer to use my very clean hands for this task. (The trick with pastry is that you can

mix it and handle it as much as you want before you add the liquid but then, handle

it as little as possible to bring it all together.  Overworked pastry at this point will

result in a heavy, non-flaky texture.)

*Try to be as precise as possible when patting, rolling out your dough so that you create neat triangles for your scones.  I use a ruler and try to square of the ends as much as possible.