I’ve always been wary of scones (“rocks” I secretly renamed them in my mind), but a classmate was recently recounting her time at Oxford and mentioned missing scones. Really? Scones? She promised me the British version was better than the frosting-laden things you get at most places here in the US. So I decided to give them a try.

Result? Success. I even wanted a second, though I wasn’t able to butter my chocolate chip piece of heaven the way my classmate did.

My favorite part? They were SO easy. I literally whipped these babies up while I was waiting for my dinner to warm up in the oven.

Chocolate Chip Scones
(Adapted from Baker’s Illustrated recipe)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (this is important, you want something with a lower-protein content — otherwise you’ll be making bricks)
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)
1 cup heavy cream
lots of chocolate chips

Start by warming up that oven to 425 degrees (it really does need to be that high for the scones to rise correctly). Toss the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor (you can do this by hand but a food processor = best thing ever invented…at least when it comes to mixing things). Now, zip* six times. (*one second pulse in the food processor) Put the butter in, taking care to spread the cubes around evenly. Zip twelve times. Add chocolate chips (don’t hold back) and zip two or three times. Transfer your dough to a large bowl, then stir in the heavy cream with a fork or rubber spatula. This may seem a bit tricky at first, but be patient — the dough will take shape in about 30 seconds. Move the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface. Knead by hand six or seven times so it comes together into a ball.  Pound the ball into a circular disk about an inch thick. Slice like you would slice a pizza. Place your cute wedges onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The tops will be brown, the kitchen will smell heavenly, and your mouth will begin to water.

Now, the key with scones is to only share them with your good friends, perhaps only one good friend who will let you eat the last one when you realize that the two of you have eaten the entire batch by yourselves in one sitting. Blame the tea, blame it all on the tea.

Up Next: Tiramisu (?)

I don’t want to torture anyone out there in cyberland, but I made the chocolate chip scones I mentioned on my blog yesterday and fed them to fellow classmates today. They were praised profusely. The best part: two of the people who devoured them the fastest had just spent a considerable amount of time in England eating “real” scones.

Wait, approval was just also obtained from my French classmate.

I think y’all are gonna like this recipe…

Did I mention that it was insanely easy? That’s my favorite part.

Stay tuned.