This was one of the first ever recipes I fell in love with making. It is the single recipe that I can say turned me into a recipe enthusiast. I mean fresh out of the oven scones are life changing and the truest way to show anyone that homemade is always better than store bought. The way the chocolate melts when it bakes and the scones get nice and crumbly, then when you take a bite and expect something extremely dry only to find that these aren’t but in fact the most incredibly moist cake like scones you will ever taste.
Yes, I mean that, these are that amazing.
I will say that orange and chocolate might seem like a bit of an interesting combination but please believe me when I say that it works. And it works very well might I add.
I made this recipe up a while back when I was living with my mom in Cleveland, Ohio. She had some orange flavored chocolate in her pantry that needed to be used but I didn’t know what to make of it. So I decided to pre make some scone dough keeping the dry part separate from the wet ingredients. Then stored them overnight and brought them with us the next day to our cottage in New York. When we got there I put on a pot of coffee and only had to mix the wet ingredients with the dry, then pop these bad boys in the oven and 20 minutes later, I had some game changing scones on my hands.
I’ve made these countless times through the years, both with orange flavored chocolate and without. To be honest, the most important part is that you have chocolate in general so it does not matter if it isn’t orange flavored or not. The orange zest is what gives this recipe that amazing fresh citrus flavor that is so impressionable. I love to make these on special occasions when I know I will have people over in the morning and we can eat these on the front porch while sipping on coffee.
To make scones you will only need a few staple ingredients that aren’t hard to find in the store. The base of the mixture is the dry ingredients which consist of:
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
I also add in the orange zest and chocolate chunks here. These are optional as they are just for fun flavoring, other options to add to your scones can be:
- blueberries
- raspberries
- cream cheese
- ricotta
- heath bar
The list goes on and on, and as you can see is pretty interchangeable. You can play around with some of your favorite flavors and they pretty much turn out perfect every time.
To finish off the scones, you will need the rest of the ingredients which I always call the wet ingredients. If you make these ahead, one thing I always suggest is keeping the dry ingredients plus the blended butter in a mason jar, then all of the wet ingredients in another mason jar and that way when you are ready to bake, you just mix together, form the scones and bake. All taking less than 15 minutes. The rest of the wet ingredients include:
- butter
- buttermilk
- egg
- vanilla extract
Et Voila! A simple and very easy scone base that you can use for years to come and just add all of your favorite flavors. However, might I suggest starting off with chocolate orange…
Orange Chocolate Scones
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 large orange, zest
- 6 tbsp cold butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, or 1 orange chocolate bar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- juice from 1/2 orange
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. Then using a pastry blender or your fingers, work in the butter until it is evenly distributed and the mixture resembles gravel. Mix in the chocolate. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla together. If making ahead, place the wet mixture in a mason jar and the dry in a separate mason jar and store in the refrigerator until ready to mix together and bake.
- When ready to bake, mix the buttermilk, egg, vanilla mixture into the flour mixture and use a fork to stir together until just fully incorporated. To finish off, flip the mixture onto a floured surface and use your hands to finish mixing. Mold the dough into a 8 inch circle. Use a floured knife to slice 8 wedges.
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, then brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar, this helps the outside of the scones get nice and golden brown. Bake until the dough is cooked through and the outsides are nice and golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.
- While the scones bake, make the glaze. In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and orange juice. When the scones are out of the oven and cooled a bit, drizzle the glaze on top and serve.
Nutrition
