I’m a huge Dr. House fan. I’m also a huge scone fan. And how might these two relate? (apart from Hugh Laurie being british) Well, I was watching an episode about two weeks ago in which a family went scuba diving to an old shipwreck and got infected with what appeared to be smallpox. Which was eradicated quite a bit ago. and as I was watching the show, I was also getting a few spotty-faced snapchats from a friend who’d been infected with…wait for it…..chicken pox! Which is almost eradicated even in little kids…so how she got it was also a mystery worthy of House. And so while watching the family slowly die in isolation, I thought up these scones to bring to my friend who was also in isolation (though thankfully not dying, just quite itchy) and who, like me, also finds solace in crumbly pastries which you can have for breakfast, lunch or dinner. (because scones are just awesome like that). So if you have a friend in need, or just want a snack to munch on while you watch House re-runs, go read more for the recipe.

Chocolate almond scones
(Own recipe)

1 stick butter, chilled and cut into 1 cm cubes
3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp  salt
3/4 cups milk
1/4 almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup chocolate chips
—
1/3 cup roughly chopped almonds
2 tbsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 420ºF.
-In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter cubes and mix on med speed until it resembles crumbly sand, and no lumps of butter bigger than a small pea remain. (Do not overmix).
-Add the milks and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix again until barely combined.
-Transfer to a work surface and using your hands pat the dough (you might need to work it a little bit to get it to stick together but try to touch it as little as possible) into a long rectangle about 8-10cm high and about 3 cm thick. Using a pastry scraper, cut triangles to get your final scone shape (alternately, you can pat the dough into a circle and use a round cutter to make round scones). Place the scones on a silpat lined or greased baking sheet.
-In a small bowl, mix the chopped almonds with the 2 tbsp sugar. Top each scone with this mixture, pressing the almonds slightly into the dough. Bake until golden brown, then cool on a wire rack.