Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones with Rosemary and Cara Cara Orange

Scones make me happy.  I’m not sure why.  Or maybe I do know why, but it actually doesn’t make sense.  Maybe it is because they are associated with tea; which, again, is kind of strange because I drink more coffee.  I drink tea when I’m sick or on random chilly nights.  But tea also makes me think of growing up.  In both my mom’s house and my gram’s house, tea facilitated talking.  There was nothing that couldn’t be made all better with a talk, a kitchen table, and a pot of tea (usually accompanied by some sweet treat).  So, despite the associations of tea with being sick, tea makes me happy.  And therefore, scones make me happy.  Scones are also just these super fun biscuits that you can stuff with all sorts of flavors.  Here, we went with rosemary, fresh Cara Cara orange, and semisweet chocolate chips.  So go ahead and bake up a few of these, pour yourself a warm cup of tea, pull up a seat at the kitchen table, and be happy.

Ingredients
For the scones:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch of kosher salt
½ teaspoon orange zest from a Cara Cara orange
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
5 tablespoons butter, cut into tiny pieces
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh juice from a Cara Cara orange
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon milk

Instructions
Heat oven to 375.  In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, orange zest, and rosemary together.  Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture.  Work the butter into it until the mixture looks like coarse crumble.  Stir in cream and orange juice until dough forms.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Divide dough into equal size pieces (I got 8 large scones), and drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Or you can be fancier and roll the dough into a 1-inch thick circle and cut the dough like a pizza.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, orange juice, and milk.  Let the scones cool for just a bit, then brush on orange glaze.