Hmmm... Glad to see that it’s Beth Hensperger’s math that is in question and not ours for once. The recipe, Old-Fashioned Lemon Cream Scones, is reprinted correctly from Hensperger’s book, The Best Quick Breads (Canada, UK). If you follow the instructions, clearly you come up with twelve scones at the end of the process.

We can only imagine that she also meant to offer you the option of separating the dough into two portions, which you would further divide into four each, for a total of eight scones. An overworked, underpaid copy editor almost certainly deleted the “divide the dough in two” sentence. Whether it was done on purpose or not - that’s the puzzle….