zest of one tangerine, peeled in strips with a vegetable peeler. Just the colored part, no white pith!
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/2 cup cultured buttermilk
1/2 tsp tangerine oil or extract (optional)
Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
tangerine juice, to thin the glaze
grated tangerine zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Put the sugar and tangerine zest in a food processor and process until the tangerine zest is finely ground and the sugar is pale orange. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the machine and pulse to combine. Drop in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 20-25 times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With the machine running, pour in the buttermilk and extract, and run the machine just until the dough comes together. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together with your hands until there is no dry flour left. Pat the dough into a flat round, about 1 1/2 inches thick (thicker if you like,) and cut out 8 scones with a 3 inch biscuit cutter. You will have to reform the dough once or twice. Put the scones 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking pan and put the pan in the fridge while you clean up, about 10-15 minutes. Bake the scones for about 20 minutes until just barely starting to turn golden, but don't over bake. They will still be quite pale when done. Glaze: Mix the confectioner's sugar with enough tangerine juice to make a thick glaze. Whisk or stir well, and let the glaze sit for a few minutes to dissolve any lumps in the sugar. Dip the cooled scones into the glaze and flip them over to dry on a rack. Sprinkle immediately with tangerine zest while the glaze is still wet