Almond poppy seed scones are a perfect companion to afternoon tea! Moist, dense, crumbly, and not overly sweet, they're a unique variation on the more common lemon poppy seed combination.
1/2cupheavy creamplus a little extra for brushing the tops of the scones
1egg
1tspalmond extract
8tbsp/half cup cold unsalted butterdiced
1tbsppoppy seeds
Sugar with large crystalslike what you would get for cookie decorating
Slivered almonds
For the glaze
1/2cuppowdered sugar
1/4tspalmond extract
1/4tspvanilla extract
4tspcream
2tspmilk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In the bowl of a food processor, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.
Add cold butter cubes and pulse in the food processor until mixture has the texture of wet sand. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender, a fork, or your fingertips, or use a large metal whisk like a potato masher.
Beat egg, cream, almond extract in a separate bowl. Pour into food processor bowl, along with poppy seeds, and pulse with flour mixture until just combined.
Pat mixture into a ball and shape into a 7 inch square. Cut into a 9-square grid, then cut each square diagonally to make 18 triangle-shaped mini scones. Arrange on a baking sheet.
Brush the tops of the scones with cream and shake on sugar crystals liberally. Press slivered almonds into the tops of each scone.
Bake for 12-17 minutes, or until you can see golden brown around the bottoms of the scones and tops are lightly golden at the edges. Cool on a wire rack.
For the icing
Mix together powdered sugar, extracts, and cream. Decide after mixing if it is the right consistency or if it needs the milk. Add the milk if necessary. If it’s still too thick, mix in additional milk, 1 tsp at a time, until it is thin enough to easily drizzle but not runny.
Spoon icing into a heavy ziploc bag and cut off a very small corner for drizzling icing. Pipe it in a zig-zag pattern over the tops of all the scones. Let icing dry completely before storing in an airtight container.