Bacon-Feta-Scallion Scones

Basic creamy scones (with vanilla bean sugar), from which this savory recipe was created

Happy new year!  I'm all shiny and new from my ten-day vacation in California that consisted almost entirely of tacos, burritos, avocados, Fat Tire, fresh-squeezed orange juice, Yahtzee, the beach, and of course my family.  After a long post-high school life of thinking I'd never move back to San Diego, ten days and too much sunshine has nearly unwound this of my most certain certainties.  If only we hadn't actually picked the oranges that made the orange juice, or if the cactus out back hadn't skyrocketed to 25 unholy, California feet tall, well then maybe I'd feel more like taking DC's bitter-cold hand than like falling blessedly back into my mother's avocado-stained kitchen where produce means something and tacos happen.

Bacon-feta-scallion scones!

My sister spent much of her time in San Diego clad in a green onesie making terrariums and with tacos in her mouth.  My mom mercilessly teased my aunt's dog, added immodest pats of butter to each of her already buttery scones (on three mornings total), and squealed at my dad during Chinese checkers.  From our kitchen window, my dad used his 22 to shoot squirrels that he had attracted to his vantage point with peanut butter and pomegranates, and later he also squealed at my mom during Chinese checkers.  With family like this, breakfast is all the more important because it's the best reason (besides orange juice) to get everyone to sit together for two hours and read the sports pages while we wait for it to be time to eat burritos.

Bacon-Feta-Scallion Scones

Recipe influenced by Karen DeMasco's The Craft of Baking

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder*

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup feta, or other creamy cheese
6 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces 
4 slices of bacon (or less or more), chopped and cooked to your preference

3 scallions (or more), chopped small
1 cup heavy cream

1.  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Sift flour, baking power, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl.  Mix in feta or other cheese.  Quickly cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal with some large buttery lumps in it.  Add the bacon and scallions, but don't mix just yet.  Gently stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until mixture begins to form a dough, about 30 seconds.

3.  Transfer mixture to a floured surface and knead for about ten seconds until the dry flour bits and everything comes together as a (sticky) dough ball.  Form scones by pressing dough into a very lightly floured 8" x 8" square pan.  Cut into eight wedges (cut square in half diagonally, then each half into four equal, if slightly misshapen, triangles).  Scoop triangles out of pan and place onto baking sheet.  You could also use a round cake pan and cut the wedges like slices of cake or pie.

4.  Bake scone wedges for 20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.  Cool for ten minutes.

*Sorry pals, just realized this said 1 teaspoon instead of 1/2.  This portion has been updated.