Chocolate and Orange Scones

This recipe was inspired by my friend Rob.

To understand the significance of this, you need to know that Rob is not a cook.
When Rob invites me over for dinner, it is to eat food which his wife, Sumaya (an excellent cook), has prepared.
Even when Sumaya is out of town, dinner at Rob and Sumaya's means enjoying food which Sumaya has prepared in advance and left for Rob to reheat.
Rob, however, does know his scones.

Being a good British child, I have been eating scones for most of my life.
Those scones, however, were always laced with that staple of British baking: raisins.
Chocolate was something one occasionally ate a solid piece of. If we were lucky, we might be given half of a Cadbury's Flake bar stuck in a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like raisins just fine. But I like chocolate a whole lot more -- and since learning to cook myself have been working hard to make up for the lack of appreciation for the versatility of chocolate evident in the food of my youth.

I have developed a number of chocolate recipes over the years, as the pages of the Polyphagous Dragon will attest, but it was Rob who introduced me to chocolate scones.

Rob's scones are sinfully delicious. He shapes a batch into one large scone, which then needs to be sliced into wedges with a knife. I find it far too easy to eat far too much of Rob's giant scone, however, so I shaped mine into small, individual rounds.

It was still far too easy to eat far too many!

The moral to this story is: shape your scones however you like -- and figure out some external method for balancing the caloric consumption.

The more important moral is: Be careful not to overlook a potential source of culinary inspiration. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most unlikely of sources.

Thanks Rob!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. all purpose flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 2 oz. unsalted butter
  
• zest of one large orange
  
• shaved chocolate
  
• 5 fl. oz. milk

Directions:

Mix flour, salt and baking powder together.
Incorporate butter with a fork until mixture is crumbly.
Add orange zest and chocolate. Mix well.
Add just enough milk to hold dough together, forming dough into a ball with your hands.
Shape scones as desired.
Place scones onto greased baking sheet.
Brush tops of scones with milk.
Bake for 7-10 minutes at 425°F.

These are best enjoyed still warm from the oven, but can be cooled on a wire rack and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two. (If they last that long!)