Since my "season" of being oven-less, I've had a hankering to bake a number of things. One of those being a batch of scones. Don't ask me why, but I've had scones on the brain. I neeed to make scones.

But lately, most of my attempts at any sort of dessert baking in the toaster oven have been pretty disappointing. I seem to be hitting the over-baked and under-baked marks, and have yet to find the perfect balance.

Maybe it's being snow-bound. Maybe it's pregnancy cravings. But this afternoon, I decided to give scones a chance.

In this house, scones are a perfect dessert. Dan drinks a cup of coffee after dinner each night and likes "a little something" to go along with it. Yet he's not big on anything super-sweet or super-rich. So scones, with a touch of sweet are perfect. And with a small handful of chocolate chips thrown into the dough, it makes everyone happy.

This recipe is from Alton Brown on the Food Network. You can find the original source here. They were light and fluffy, just a touch buttery. So, so good. (I admit, I sampled one pre-dinner.)

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cups cream

1 egg

(we finally have two hens laying again so our eggs were farm-fresh. yay!)

What I did: Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and "sift" with a fork to combine. Using two knives, cut in the butter and shortening. In a separate, small bowl, add the cream to a beaten egg. Make a "well" in the middle of the dry ingredients. Add the egg/cream mixture to the well and mix until combined. It will be sticky. Stir in a handful of dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc. (Here the recipe calls for you to turn the dough out onto a floured surface and cut into biscuit-sized shapes). I like "free-form" scones and just dropped them by spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

(For baking in my toaster oven, I "eeked" back the temperature a bit and babysat them while they baked, cutting back the time by about 1 minute.)