chocolate chip scones

Bob and I spent a very nice Wednesday evening celebrating our fifteenth anniversary, and now I am up late baking chocolate chip scones.  It has been a very wild week around here - wild health for several people I love, wild weather, wild busyness - and I am enjoying the calm and warmth of the Christmas kitchen at midnight.

I am sure that a dedicated scone pan is a horrid abomination to scone purists, but mine is my favorite non-essential kitchen item. 

Anyways, my chocolate-chip scone recipe itself is also, doubtless, an abomination to purists, so all is well. These scones are not mean little rocks that showcase your rugged Scottish constitution and say to all "I can live wild and free on the open moors with nought but some water and flour", or that rely on a heavy dousing of jam and clotted cream for moistness and, yay, even flavor.

No, no. 

I believe these particular scones must have been invented by the French.  

These are cream-infused, butter-topped, sugar-sprinkled, chocolate-filled scone cakes that will make people who have only ever sniffed in your general direction before suddenly très amicale because they want the recipe.

I do not exaggerate.

I present to you once again, my favorite recipe for chocolate chip scones. (I got it from a lady in Bible study several years ago. Her name was Julia.)

If you have an eight-scone scone pan (mine came from Harry and David), use it, because they will be so good and tall and moist. Brush the bottom of the pan with some of the melted butter, even if it's non-stick.

The other nice thing about a scone pan at Christmas is that you can give people scone "wreaths," made out of eight scones arranged on a plate in a circle. You might be the only person who notices it is wreath-shaped, but that's okay. It can be your little Christmas scone joke.

If you don't have a scone pan, don't feel bad about that. Use the dough to make twelve like the recipe says, or be luxurious and make eight. They will be a bit flatter and wobblier than if you'd used a scone pan, but they will still be delicious.

2 c. flour, sifted before measuring
3 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar + 2-3 T.
3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 c. heavy cream

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scones will be put onto a heavy baking sheet, no grease. (Or into your buttered scone pan!)

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 c. sugar into a bowl.  Toss with fork to mix them thoroughly. Mix in chocolate chips. Pour in cream; mix with a fork until it holds together. Dough will be sticky. Transfer to a lightly floured work space.  Knead dough ten times: push dough away with heel of hand, fold it back, turning a quarter.  (If you're using a scone pan, divide the dough into half, and half again, etc., until you have eight roughly equal pieces. Pat them into the triangles of the pan and top with the butter and sugar as directed.) Pat dough into a 9-inch disc.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 2 T. sugar.  Cut into 12 pie-shaped wedges and transfer to baking sheet. Leave an inch between wedges. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops begin to brown.