Recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Who can forget the joy of discovering cinnamon toast as a kid? The enchanted combination of butter, sugar, and cinnamon seemed to pop up all the time: on Sunday mornings, it was the pleasure of a lazy breakfast with family; after school it seemed to cure scraped knees and later heartbreak; and when we first left home, it was the snack of choice at 2 a.m.

Now that we're all grown up, that same comfort and pleasure has grown up with us in the form of warm, freshly baked scones studded with lots of little crumbles of cinnamon sugar and Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter. Finally, they get brushed with buttery cinnamon sugar and drizzled with cinnamon sugar glaze.

Yet, all this sweet cinnamon-y goodness does not take hours of work. The scones come together quickly and easily. In fact, mixing the crumbly, buttery dough is the perfect job for little hands. Then, unbaked dough keeps in the freezer for whenever a cinnamon toast emergency arises. You can pop the pre-made scones in the oven straight from the freezer.

Throw a spur of the moment brunch for friends, show your grandmother you really do know how to bake, or make a batch ahead to pop in the oven one holiday morning. No matter the occasion, you'll be imparting new cinnamon toast memories on whomever you share them with.

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Yield: 12 scones

For the scones:
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, chilled, cubed, and divided
2/3 cup demerara or turbinado sugar, divided
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cinnamon sugar topping: (optional)
1 tablespoon Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons demerara or turbinado sugar

For the cinnamon sugar glaze: (optional)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400ºF.

Place 4 tablespoons of the butter, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl and mash until well combined; set aside.