English Royalty Chocolate Chip Scones
Using good quality chocolate (Ghirardelli double chocolate chips) chopped into smaller bits, cool butter that isn't completely mixed into the dough, combined with the subtle orange from the juice are the keys to making these tasty little Bad Boys. And if you happen to eat a few chips as you make them...well...you know calories don't count if you are standing while you eat them.
The Recipe:
1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tablespoons of chilled and cubed butter*
1/2 cup Ghiradelli double chocolate chips, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
Mix the dry ingredients. Mix in chopped butter (see note below), then chocolate chips. Add orange juice and work it in just until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Hand form it into a circle on parchment lined cookie sheet. It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut it into 12 pieces (like a pizza) and then move them out a bit so they each have some space. Don't we all need a little space sometimes? Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees or until the edges become golden.
*I took a stick of butter from my fridge, put it on the cutting board with my large chef knife and cut it into long strips. By adding some of the dry ingredients to the butter as I started to chop it up, it stopped the butter from sticking together. By the end, the butter was in basically uniform little chunks the size of lentils. I think I read somewhere that when the butter is still in little clumps, it gives it that flaky pastry texture.
