Chocolate Orange Scones

The next little run of recipes will be different because I am going to try an experiment. In three days I start my medicine rotation, and I will have a lot less time to while away cooking, and I will be wanting for quick and accessible breakfasts. Enter Annie's Eats, my new food blog obsession. Annie makes all these scones and swears every time she posts a scone recipe that you can freeze rolled out, unbaked scones, for like forever and then just bake them the day you want to eat them, like fresh, like new! So I am going to take her up on it. This weekend I am going to try and make-- and freeze-- 56 scones. That way I will have breakfast all ready decided upon and ready to go for my whole medicine rotation. I really. hope. this. works.

Because I won't have tasted all of my scones when I blog the recipes, I will have to go back and comment as to how good they are a) after they have been frozen and b) after I write the post. Thus I won't be able to share my opinion until later. Via comment or re-post or something.

The first recipe in this little run is also a little step off the beaten path... from the LATimes instead of the NYTimes!!! I know. Really out there. But it tempted me during a perusal of the LATimes when I was bored during class one day and hence, it is my first frozen-scone attempt. The recipe is originally from Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales From a Life in Chocolate" and here is the link:

http://www.latimes.com/features/la-fo-easterrec19amar19,0,6877913.story

Notes: I didn't have oat flour or a Whole Foods to buy oat flour, so I used wheat flour instead. I used another 3.5 oz. Lindt intense orange chocolate bar and supplemented with 0.5 oz. regular 60% cacao chocolate. I used tangerine instead of orange zest, and lastly used 1/2 heavy whipping cream and 1/2 half-and-half. You know. To cut down on calories, or something. And then I wrapped them all up in plastic wrap and a heavy-duty freezer bag and froze them. I will bake the first one tomorrow, before I get too caught up in all this scone mess.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 cup oat flour

1/4 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Zest from 2 oranges

4 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (65% to 70% cacao)

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, plus extra for brushing

Directions:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the orange zest and the chocolate.

3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the cream. Using a spatula, mix the ingredients until just moistened; the dough should look rough and shaggy. Gather the dough into a lump with your hands and knead it together five or six times, until it holds together and the sides of the bowl are clean.

4. On a lightly floured board, pat the dough into an 8 1/2 -inch round. Using a knife or a dough cutter, cut the round into 12 wedges. Place the wedges about an inch apart on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle them lightly with sugar.

5. Bake the scones until they begin to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes. Allow the scones to cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Each scone: 225 calories; 3 grams protein; 22 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 15 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 34 mg. cholesterol; 208 mg. sodium.