Baking Bouchon - Recipe 3: Plain Scones

I've made scones quite a few times with varied success.  One of the keys to good scones (like making biscuits) is to have really cold butter.  That way, when you cut it into the flour you keep little butter pieces that make the scone flaky.  These may be the best scones I've made so far.  I think I like them so much because of how light and tender they are, normally I find scones to be pretty dense.  I think the lightness in this recipe comes from using a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour.  I love the smell of cake flour, it smells like cake batter which makes me happy.

A new ingredient for me in this recipe for me was creme fraiche.  Previously, any recipe I saw with creme fraiche in it, I just substituted sour cream which has never caused an issue for me.  According to my research (the 1 minute I just spent on wikipedia) creme fraiche is less sour than sour cream (shocking) and has a higher fat content.  No wonder it tastes so good.
True to form I did not read the recipe closely enough before beginning to know that you had to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours, cut it into triangles, then freeze it overnight.  So, I ended up with scones later than anticipated.

Once out of the freezer, you brush the scones with cream and sprinkle them with some fat sugar.

Then, you bake them up.  It's actually kind of convenient to make the dough the day before, then you can just bake off your scones in the morning and have one with a cup of Joe.... Who am I kidding?  Have two with a cup of Joe.

Julie