Bite Size Bacon and Cheese Scone

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F and position rack in the middle of the oven.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.  In a skillet, fry the bacon over medium-low heat until lightly crisped, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the bacon to a cutting board and finely chop it.

3.  In a food processor, dump the flour, baking powder, cheese, salt & pepper and pulse briefly to mix.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.

4.  In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and cream until blended.  Pour the egg mixture into the processor and pulse just until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl and come together in a ball.  The dough will be quite sticky.

5.  Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Gently knead in the bacon by sprinkling the surface of the dough  with some of the chopped bacon, folding the dough onto itself, and then repeating the sprinkling and folding until all of the bacon is mixed in.    Or roll out the dough and sprinkle the bacon over the dough and press in.  Try to not overhandle the dough.  Then make a ball of the dough.  Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.  Using a 1 1/2 biscuit cutter, cut out as many scones as you can.  Gather the scraps of dough, roll out, and cut out more scones.  Space the scones evenly on the prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle the tops of the scones generously with addtional cheese.

6.  Bake until the scones are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool slightly before serving.