Blood Orange and Almond Scones

I’m calling these scones because that’s what they’re called on Tutti Dolci, but they are scones only in the loosest, North American sense of the term. The crumb is light and fluffy, not dense like I’d expect a good scone to be, and these are sweet even before the addition of the (naturally!) pink glaze. That being said, the dough was very easy to work with, probably because I didn’t have to handle it much at all, and the resulting pastries were absolutely delicious. I actually cheated and used the food processor for the entire recipe, instead of simulating a pastry cutter with two knives (which would have taken much, much longer). I used butter in the scones (since there wasn’t much of it, the lactose didn’t bother me), but I swapped coconut oil for the glaze, and it turned out really well.

For the scones
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. blood orange zest
2 oz. (57 g) almond paste, cubed
1 ¾ cups all-purpose (white) flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup chilled unsalted butter (if this is too much for you, try frozen margarine)
½ cup cold low-fat buttermilk substitute (i.e. lactose-free milk with a splash of lemon juice)
1 large egg

For the glaze
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 pinch of salt
2 ½ Tbsp. blood orange juice
1 ½ tsp. coconut oil, melted
1/8 tsp. pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 400 °F and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Combine sugar, blood orange zest, and almond paste in a food processor and pulse for 1 minute. Place mixture in a large bowl and whisk in flour, baking soda, and salt (I did this all in the food processor, by the way, and it was way easier). Dice butter into ½-inch pieces; sprinkle over flour mixture and use a pastry cutter to cut in evenly until mixture resembles coarse meal (again, the food processor is your friend here, just don’t over-process).

Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a small bowl; add to flour mixture and fold in just until incorporated. Use a floured bench scraper (or a large spoon, in my case) to scrape dough out onto prepared baking sheet; lightly dust dough with flour, flour hands, and pat dough into an 8-inch circle. (See? No despair as you’re kneading sticky dough and wondering whether it’ll submit.) Score into 8 wedges with floured bench scraper. Bake 15 to 16 minutes, until golden. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet, then carefully transfer to wire rack to cool before slicing into wedges.

For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, salt, blood orange juice, coconut oil, and almond extract in a small bowl until smooth. Set rack with scones over a piece of wax paper and drizzle with glaze; let set before serving. These are best fresh - if not serving immediately, store unglazed in an airtight container and glaze just before serving. This kept well as room temperature for a few days in my case.