Let me tell you a little story about how these mini orange vanilla bean scones came to be. Once a month, I always bake something to bring to book club, and this month we read The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto. It’s an amazing book if you’re looking for a good read, but throughout the book, it refers to orange orchards in Spain, so when I was deciding what to bake for this month’s get together, I came up with the idea of making these mini orange vanilla bean scones. They’re not super sweet, packed with flavor, and really easy to make. The whole recipe is make in the food processor, so it’s a super easy clean up!
For the mini orange vanilla bean scones:
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup oat flour (1 cup of rolled oats ground into flour consistency)
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 sticks cold, salted butter
- 2 tbsp. Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp. milk
- 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
- Zest of 1 orange (about 1 heaping tablespoon)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 large eggs beaten
For Glaze:
- 2/3 cup + 3 tbsp. powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flours, baking powder, orange zest, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse to combine.
Here’s where it gets fun! Usually when making scones I cut the cold butter into cubes and add that into the bowl of the food processor, however I recently saw something on the chew about grating your butter. Yup, you heard me, grating your butter to make scones. Instead of having to cut up the butter and have it stick to your knife, just take your cold butter from the fridge and grate it on a regular old box grater. I think it’s so much easier and faster, and it seems actually incorporate easier, especially if you’re cutting the butter into the flour mixture by hand. If you are using the food processor, add in the cold, grated butter and pulse until butter is cut into dry ingredients and is strewn throughout the mixture in pea size pieces.
Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well. Add the wet ingredients into the dry in a slow and steady stream, pulsing the food processor as you go to create a sticky dough. You just want to continue pulsing until a sticky dough is formed. Do not over mix.
Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure all ingredients are combined. Note that the dough will be very sticky, so liberally flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough out to a 1 inch thick log that’s a nice rectangle. It should be about 12 inches by 6 inches (give or take).
To make these mini orange vanilla bean scones truly mini, I cut the dough down the middle length wise, then cut each half into mini triangles. (See picture above) You could absolutely make these full size or any shape you like, but I happen to think that this is the perfect size for a sweet treat without overindulging. Place unbaked scones on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
NOTE: If you aren’t going to bake them right away or have to bake one cookie sheet of them at a time, put the raw scones on a cookie sheet in the fridge. This way they will be ready to bake when you’re ready, and the butter will stay cold, creating a flaky scone.
Bake for 12 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.
To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, fresh orange juice, and vanilla bean paste. If it is too thick, add a touch more juice. When the scones are done, cool for 15-20 minutes and drizzle each scone with some of the glaze.
Note** if you’re trying to bake the scones ahead of time, I recommend glazing them the day of. When you store them, the glaze tends to make the scone a bit soggy.
These mini orange vanilla bean scones make the perfect gift, breakfast, or sweet treat. Enjoy!