Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Coat a baking sheet with baking spray or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and ground cardamom. Add the sugar and salt and stir to combine with a whisk.
Add the butter pieces and, using your hands, toss in the dry mixture until the butter pieces are coated. Then pinch the butter between your fingers until you have large slivers or pea-sized pieces.
Add the raisins to the flour/butter mixture and toss around until they're coated in flour.
Add the half and half to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula just until the liquid has been absorbed by the flour.
Transfer the loose, crumbly mixture onto a lightly-floured surface and just press the dough together until it holds together. Do no overwork it. Flatten the dough into a disk, fold it in half, lightly press again then fold in half once more. Press the disk until it's about one inch tall and five or six inches in diameter.
Using a round cookie cutter cut out round disks (do not twist the cutter as you cut) and transfer to the baking sheet. Pat the remaining dough to get the last two or three rounds. You can also cut into eight wedges. (I use a 2 3/4 inch round cutter; you can use a smaller cutter to yield more scones and reduce the baking time by a minute or two.)
Brush the top of the scones with milk. Don't brush the sides as the milk for act as a glue and hinder the rise of the scones. Sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar.
Bake for roughly 18 minutes. When done the scones should be golden and crisp on the outside. Serve warm. These scones freeze well and reheat beautifully in the oven.
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