Hot Cross Scones

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and spices. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand with a few pea-sized pieces. Stir in currants.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the the buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture; stir just until combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead 10-12 times. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out scones and transfer to prepared baking sheet, re-rolling scraps as necessary.

Brush the tops of the scones with the remaining 1 tablespoon of buttermilk. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Transfer to a rack to cool before glazing.

While scones are cooling, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl. Start with 1 tablespoon of milk and add more, bit by bit, until you achieve a thick glaze that can be piped onto the scones.

To pipe glaze onto the scones, transfer glaze to a zip-top bag, keeping the glaze concentrated in one of the bottom corners (you are using the bag like a piping bag here). Use scissors to snip off a small bit of the bottom corner; pipe glaze onto mostly cooled scones in the shape of a cross.