Sunday morning chocolate-orange scones

It’s Sunday. It’s snowy (we awoke to our first dusting of the season). It’s time for scones. There is a great bakery in town, with a couple of vegan options, but as of yet no vegan scones. I’m OK with that. In fact, it has made me a better person, as I have been challenged to come up with a vegan version of their insanely delicious chocolate-orange scones, which for a while had been my one non-vegan holdout item in this town. Yes, they’re that good. But now that I’ve veganized it, I can enjoy the same chocolate-orange flavor combo from the comfort of my home.  Plus, baking in the morning is a survival strategy to those of us who are trying to hold off turning on the heat until December 1. I’m pretty sure my cat and husband appreciate it.

Chocolate-orange scones

I followed the ingredients and instructions from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s basic scones recipe (in her book Vegan Brunch), a version of which also appears online in her Marionberry Lavender Scone recipe. Instead of marionberry and lavender, I added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, the zest of 1 orange, and 1 cup of chocolate chips. The only high-altitude change I made was to reduce the baking powder ever-so-slightly.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of orange and chocolate and cinnamon wafting through the apartment on a winter morning. Enjoy!