Life of Lauren: Another day of snow

The weather outside is a bit less frightful today -- it stopped snowing last night, and now things are just frozen in place. It's only 25 degrees outside, so things are pretty solid. Precious has continued her winter power napping.

My dad and I stopped at Jamba Juice on Sunday, and he ordered an orange dark chocolate chip scone. It turned out to be fabulous, and I started wondering how to recreate it myself. This morning I finally had a light bulb moment -- look for a basic recipe and add what you want! A quick Google search revealed a recipe from King Arthur Flour that was just what I was looking for.

Here's my version of the basic scone:
2 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup cold butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons of juice from a mandarin orange
the rind of that orange
2/3 cup half and half

Mix together all dry ingredients, and cut in the butter. I cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes before adding, but still had trouble cutting it in so that the butter bits were very fine. Then the chocolate chips can be added, along with any dried fruits or nuts.

In a separate bowl, the eggs, orange juice and rind, and half and half are mixed together. I used a mandarin, because that's what we had on hand, but next time I'll opt for more rind, and probably the stronger flavor of an orange.

Add wet to dry, and mix until the dough is completely moistened. Then turn out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and divide into two balls. Flatten each ball into a circle 5 to 6 inches in diameter, about 3/4 inch thick. Then cut the circles into 6 equal wedges, and try to separate them a bit. I had trouble with this step, and I think the next time I make scones I'll try to form them individually rather than slice the circle.

The recipe then calls for the scones to be put in the freezer for half an hour so that the gluten can relax, creating more tender scones. I turned on the oven to preheat at this point (bake at 425), which took about 15 minutes, so that's all the freezer time they got. I was getting hungry! They then bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.