Preheat your oven to 375F, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and stir well to make sure that the baking powder is evenly dispersed.

Add the cubed butter and toss it in the flour, the cut it in with a pastry blender. If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can rub it in with your fingers, working it until the mixture looks like coarse, damp sand.

After the butter is all worked in, stir in the white sugar thoroughly. Add 3/4 cup of the whole milk and stir well–the dough will still be fairly dry and crumbly. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough. Stop adding milk when the dough is still shaggy, and in many different pieces rather than one large ball of dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to press it all together into one large round. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to about 3/4″ to 1″ thick, then cut it with a 2 1/2″ round cutter. Press the scraps from around the edges back together and repeat the rolling and cutting until you’ve used it all.

Place the scones on the baking sheet about 2″ apart, then brush the whipping cream on top and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.

Bake at 375F for about 15 min, or until the bottoms of the scones are golden brown-you can use a spatula to lift them and look underneath.

Best served the day they’re made, but these scones can also be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.