Preheat the oven to 450f / 230c. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, or pulse in the food processor until you have the texture of coarse sand. (About the size of rolled oats) Don't worry about seeing little bits of butter in the flour, this keeps the scones flaky! 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and cream together and add the orange zest, and cardamom. Add the flour into the egg and cream, add the almonds and stir quickly to combine. Do not beat the mixture, just stir gently to form a rough ball shape. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead no more than 10 times. Mr. Bittman was very clear about this, and I followed his instructions to the letter here as scones really shouldn't NEED to be KNEADED too vigorously. Also try to avoid adding too much flour as you knead, the dough is much softer than a bread dough and will be slightly sticky to the touch. 

At this point, I like to form the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and put it back into the fridge for 20 minutes. Although Bittman skips this step altogether, I like to give the butter just a few more minutes in the fridge to cool down again after being handled. When ready, take the dough out of the fridge and press it into a 3/4 inch thick flat circle. I cut mine into 8 equal slices, but you could use a biscuit cutter or a large cookie cutter (you may need to adjust baking time to size). Put the scones onto an ungreased baking sheet. Make the eggwash by beating the egg and water together and brush the top of each scone. Sprinkle with demarara sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. 

Makes 8 scones.