Maple Pecan Scones, Vermont Style

I ran across a recipe for Maple Pecan Scones recently with a mouth-watering photo and "pinned" it onto Pinterest, only to discover as I studied it further that the recipe didn't use any of our treasured Vermont maple syrup! I looked at another version from a local flour company, and it wasn't much better. So I finally found one that I could adapt to my kitchen with Green Mountain integrity (smile). Here we go.

Preheat the oven to 450 and lay a half sheet of parchment paper onto an insulated cookie sheet (or lightly grease a scone pan).

Mix 2 cups flour; 1 Tbsp baking powder. Cut in 5 Tbsp cold butter.

Crush 1/2 cup pecans (I do mine in a plastic bag, with the rolling pin - quick, and no added implements to wash) and stir into the flour mix.

Mix 1 cup half-and-half with 1/4 cup maple syrup, then add to flour/nuts mix and toss together. Shape as desired. Bake 12-14 minutes.

When mostly cool, top with glaze: 6 Tbsp confectioner's sugar, 2 Tbsp maple syrup (it whisks together very nicely and makes a good consistency to drizzle).

[Note: Any butter that seems to "melt out" during baking with soak back into the scones as they cool a bit -- no worries!]