Grandma Evy Fudge

In a large bowl that can get hot

3 large milk chocolate candy bars-broken up
2 c semi sweet chocolate chips
2- 7 oz jars marshmallow creme
2 tsp vanilla
2 c nuts (optional)

In a large pan
1/2 c or one cube butter or margarine
4 1/2 c sugar
1 can evaporated milk
Bring to a rolling boil and boil 4 1/2 minutes-pour over the stuff in the bowl and stir until melted and combined.  Pour in a greased or you can foil  10 x 15 pan.  Let set up and cut!!  YUM

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Brown Sugar Strueusel

Yield: Makes a 9X13-inch cake

I've included some easy substitutions next to a few of the ingredients!

Ingredients

Cake:
• 1/2 cup butter (can substitute applesauce)
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (can substitue canola or vegetable oil)
• 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (here are a few easy buttermilk substitutions)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
Topping:
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer (handheld or stand mixer), cream together the butter, oil and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk; mix. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining buttermilk and mix followed by the last of the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in the shredded zucchini.
3. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the almonds and chocolate chips. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of everything.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs (don't overbake!).
5. Let cool completely before serving. This cake tastes best at room temperature (and is great the next day, too!).

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/chocolate-zucchini-cake-with-brown-sugar-streusel/

This was easy.  I didn't do like she said- I put all the dry ingredients on a bowl then added the wet and barely mixed it and then stirred in the zucchini by hand.  It turned out fine- I had the dry ingredients in bowl before church and then just added the wet.  She says best room temp but people at it warm and thought it was good.  Needed to use zucchini!!

Strawberry Lime Cream Cake

This cake was AMAZING. I don't even like cake that much, and it rocked my world. While eating it, I understood why people would ever want to have cake for their birthday. It was amazing. It was also very time intensive. But all of the steps can be done in advance. I made the cake the night before, the fillings before church, the whipped cream after church and assembled the cake after church as well.

I made mine as directed as a cake. However, the original recipe gives you lots of extras on the filling, so to use all of the extra filling and to not be as scary with the stacking, I think this would also make a delicious and easy trifle that you could throw some fresh strawberries in with. That would definitely take out the scary part of the potential of cake toppling.

The lime cream sauce never got so thick to make peaks for me, but I whipped it until it got thick and didn't seem to be changing any more and put it in the fridge for about 4 hours and when I got back it was perfectly thick.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/strawberry-lime-cream-cake/

• White Cake
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 egg whites
Strawberry Syrup/Puree:
• You can sub 1 1/2 cups of strawberry jam for the puree
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Lime Cream:
• 4 limes, for 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Whipped Cream Frosting:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 envelope (about 2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
• 4 tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS

1. For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk, butter and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Pour the batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. (I lined the bottom of mine with a parchment circle and greased the top of the parchment circle.) Bake the cakes for 28-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Don’t overbake or the cakes will be dry. Cool the cakes on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a butter knife and remove the cakes from the pans to cool completely.
3. For the strawberry puree, combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
4. For the lime cream, zest and juice the limes into a medium bowl. You should have about 1/2 cup lime juice. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Add the whipping cream and beat until medium-stiff peaks form (mine never formed peaks. Just throw it in the fridge for a bit to thicken up). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
5. For the whipped cream frosting, in a small bowl, place the water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Let the mixture stand for 3-4 minutes until the gelatin has thickened. Microwave for 20-30 seconds until the gelatin dissolves and the mixture is warm. Remove from the microwave and let the mixture cool to room temperature (don’t let it set up!). In a large bowl, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until slightly thickened. While beating slowly, gradually add the cooled gelatin to the whipped cream mixture. Whip at high speed until stiff peaks form.
6. To assemble the cake, slice each cooled cake round in half horizontally to form 4 cake circles. Place one cake layer on a cake plate and spread an even layer of strawberry syrup over the top. Spread a thick layer of lime cream over the jam, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge as the top cake layers will press the cream out toward the edges. Repeat the same layering process with the next two layers. Top with the final cake layer and frost the entire cake with the whipped cream frosting. Garnish with fresh limes and strawberries, if desired. Chill for 1-2 hours before serving to let the cake set up.

Coconut Turnovers

Danielle, you definitely won't like this. But to everyone else, it's delicious! And if you follow the recipe it makes GIANT turnovers. I would probably make smaller ones next time.

Cream of coconut is the stuff that you can find in the beverage areas. It's normally used for pina coladas. I have plans to try it with a mango drink tonight, if it's good I'll pass that along. You can also use it in smoothies.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/06/coconut-turnovers/

Ingredients

1 cup shredded coconut
6 tablespoons cream of coconut
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
1 sheet puff pastry

Glaze
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoons milk
optional: 1/8-1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine coconut, cream of coconut, and 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract.

Thaw puff pastry according to package directions.  Place on a lightly floured surface and gently roll out into a square about 12×12 inches.  Cut puff pastry into 4 equal squares.

Place 1/4 of the coconut mixture on top of each pastry square, spreading out the mixture on one half of the square in a triangular shape.  Keep the mixture 1/2 inch away from all edges.  Dip a finger in water and lightly run it around all the edges of pastry square.  Fold in half, creating a triangle shape.  Gently press edges together, and crimp with a fork.  Take fork and poke through top of each pastry.  Place pastries on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.  Transfer turnovers to a cooling rack.

While pastries are cooling, combine glaze ingredients and stir until smooth, adding more liquid if necessary.  When pastries are just slightly warm (not hot) use a fork to drizzle glaze, or place glaze in a small zip top bag with a corner cut off.  Drizzle evenly over pastries and let cool.

Chocolate Eclaire Cake

Yum! Eclaire cake! This recipe can be as easy or hard as you want. You can use cool whip and store bought chocolate sauce. Or you can make whipped cream and make your chocolate sauce. I also halved the recipe because I only had half a brick of cream cheese, it worked great. 

This was delicious! 

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2009/06/chocolate-eclair-cake.html

Ingredients

Crust:
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
Filling:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
• 3 cups milk
Topping:
• 1 8 oz. container cool whip (just enough for a thin layer. I don't use the whole container) or homemade whipped cream
• chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
2. For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
3. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
4. For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.

Chocolate Molten Fudge Cake

This was good. And crazy rich. I would recommend having some ice cream or cream to pour on to it. I really like it because I halved it which gave me 6 little ramekins and they can sit in the fridge for up to 2 days, so I had happy fun little desserts for a few days. Anyway more warm and chocolatey things that were quite good.

FYI these grow quite a bit in the oven, so my ramekins were maybe half full but once I cooked them, they were to the top. 

If you don't have ramekins, you can use a muffin tin! You just need to be sure you don't overfill it!

The instructions looks crazy long, but half of them are just different ideas for serving them. 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2014/01/chocolate-molten-fudge-cakes-lower-fat-version.html

INGREDIENTS

Butter/Sugar Coating:
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Cakes:
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
Garnish:
• Powdered sugar for sprinkling
•                                                                  Warm strawberry or raspberry jam for drizzling
•       Ice cream for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, mash together the butter, granulated sugar and cocoa (for the butter/sugar coating) until well-combined. Using a pastry brush or your fingers (no really, it works), rub the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of 10 (4-ounce) ramekins (see note for other dish options). Set aside.
2. For the cakes, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. In a medium bowl beat the butter (with a handheld electric mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until light and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add the granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until pale and thick, about 4 minutes. Don't scrimp and take time off of the mixing times indicated. It might seem like too long but it helps the cakes to be airy and moist. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until there are no dry streaks. Stir in the chocolate.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins (or muffin tin if using). Cover lightly with plastic wrap (this is easily done with ramekins by placing them all on a sheet pan and covering them with one sheet of plastic wrap versus tearing off a bit of plastic wrap for each ramekin). Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the cakes from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature while the oven preheats, about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the plastic wrap from the cakes and bake them for 14-15 minutes (slightly less if using muffin tins), until the edges of the cake are puffy and slightly crusty on top.
8. Serve immediately with a dusting of powdered sugar, ice cream or a drizzle of warm jam.
9. If using ramekins, I serve them right out of the ramekin, however, you can turn them out of the dish onto a plate for a more fancy presentation. Of course using the muffin tin, you will want to turn them out unless you are keen on everyone swarming around the muffin tin with spoon in hand. Talk about family-style. To turn them out of the muffin tin, I place a piece of greased parchment paper onto a baking sheet or cooling rack (greased-side up) and place it on top of the muffin tin (so now the greased-side of the parchment is down on top of the cakes) - then holding on to the baking sheet and muffin tin at the same time, I flip the muffin tin over so the cakes fall right out onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet or cooling rack (if it isn't greased, the cakes will stick). Then the cakes can be easily scooped with a spatula into a small bowl or serving plate.

Slow Cooker Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Pudding Cake

Yesterday at work I decided that I NEEDED something warm, chocolatey, gooey, and delicious. But I didn't want to go to the store. And I found this recipe! Warm- yes. Chocolatey- oh yes. Gooey- mmm. Delicious- yes. Added bonus- PEANUT BUTTER. 

So I made this while the soup was simmering and I was sneaky and didn't tell Sam about it. So we had a happy surprise treat a few hours after dinner! I felt very sneaky :) 

Anyway this was easy. And delicious. And gooey. And I love it. 

Also this would have tasted awesome with vanilla ice-cream. Which I didn't have. So I just poured some cream on it. That was fantastic too. That is a terrible quality picture. I apologize. 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/09/slow-cooker-hot-fudge-peanut-butter-pudding-cake.html

• Cake
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup smooth or chunky peanut butter
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips


Topping:
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups boiling water
• Vanilla ice cream for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Coat a medium round or oval slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center, add the milk, oil, and vanilla, and stir in widening circles, gradually incorporating the dry ingredients, until you have a smooth batter. Stir in the peanut butter. The batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the crockpot.
3. To make the topping, in another medium-size bowl, combine the cocoa, and sugar; pour in the boiling water and whisk until smooth. Gently pour over the batter in the cooker; DO NOT STIR. Cover and cook on HIGH until puffed and the top layer is set, 2 to 2 ½ hours.
4. Turn off the cooker and let it stand, covered for 30 minutes before serving.
5. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Christmas M&M bars

Melt 1 stick of butter
Mix with 12 whole crushed graham crackers
Pat in bottom of 9x13 pan
Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk over crust
Layer: 2 cups chocolate chips
-coconut
-mini marshmallows to cover
-1 cup M&Ms

Bake 375 for 15 minutes until marshmallows are golden brown

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

So, I went to a Christmas party and had to bring a holiday treat.  This was very good.  I not only took it to the party but also to a family for dinner and I made some for my family.

I used peppermint extract.  And I think bout 3/4 c popcorn unpopped is a good amount.

Oh! And I took a photo, be impressed.

Ingredients
20 C popped popcorn* (fresh, or about 2 bags microwave popcorn)
1 lb almond bark
1 6 ounce box candy canes, crushed (about 1 generous cups, Bob’s brand are best!)
1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil or 2 teaspoons peppermint extract**
3/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

*if you’re using microwave popcorn, try to find an unbuttered or “natural” kind because this looks much prettier if the popcorn isn’t bright yellow!  Lightly salted is fine, I actually like a little salt in there, but avoid heavy buttered.

** If you can find flavored oils, like you would use for candy making, use them as they will best combine with the almond bark.  If using extract, it’s not unusual for it to cause the almond bark to seize, but just stir quickly and pour immediately on popcorn.  Once distributed it will be just fine. 

Instructions
Place popcorn in a very large mixing bowl.

Melt almond bark according to package instructions.  When completely melted, add extract or peppermint oil.  If using extract, it’s normal for the almond bark to seize (get lumpy) which is okay, just stir very quickly, the more you wait the more it will seize.

Pour melted almond bark mixture over popcorn and pour crushed candy canes on top.  Stir to evenly coat.  Pour popcorn out onto waxed paper, parchment, or foil and spread out.

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.  Drizzle over popcorn mixture.  Let mixture dry completely until chocolate and almond bark are hardened.   You may place in the fridge to speed process along.

When chocolate is hardened, use your hands to break up popcorn into chunks. Toss in a bowl, a jar, a cute package, or in your mouth :)

Source: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/12/peppermint-bark-popcorn/

Dessert Cheese ball

Ok, I couldn't find this recipe on the blog, which was shocking to me since we have been enjoying it for a long time...
Did I miss it?

Dessert Cheese ball

Cream until fluffy
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup butter (not marg)
1/4 tsp vanilla

Gradually add while beating
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tb packed brown sugar

Stir in
3/4 c mini chocolate chipps

Roll in chopped pecans (I forget to buy these pretty regularly)  or something else...or nothing

Serve with graham crackers or nilla wafers

Chocolate Très Leches Cake

This cake rocked. Super delicious and great. Also super rich. Like woah. But it was awesome. 

I highly recommend this cake. 

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/02/chocolate-tres-leches-cake.html

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups water
Chocolate Milk Mixture:
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup) (This was more like 4 oz for me)
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/3 cup whipping cream or half-and-half
• Sweetened whipped cream
• Cocoa powder for dusting

DIRECTIONS

1. For the cake, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9X13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in the baking pan.
2. Make 1 large and 2 small craters in dry ingredients. Add oil to large crater and vinegar and vanilla separately to remaining small craters. Pour water into pan and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan if it isn’t level after mixing. Immediately put pan in oven.
3. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 23-25 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack until cooled completely.
4. Using a bamboo skewer or tines of a fork, poke holes all over the top of the cake. In a glass liquid measure or a microwave-safe bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and the chocolate. Microwave for one minute and stir. If not completely melted and smooth, microwave for an additional 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Whisk in the evaporated milk and heavy cream (or half-and-half). The mixture will start out very, very thick. Don't worry! It will thin out as you whisk in the other milks.
5. Slowly pour or ladle spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture over the top of the cake. Let the liquid absorb before adding more. Ladle the liquid onto the cake until all the chocolate mixture has been used. It's ok if there is excess liquid pooled on top of the cake, it should absorb into the cake while it is refrigerated.
6. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
7. Serve pieces of the cake with sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Coconut Cream Pie

I love coconut cream pie! Love love love it! I could eat it all the time. So I made it tonight. With Mom's pie crust recipe. Which I think she should post on here because it's her thing.

Anyway this was awesome. Making the custard takes forever. Like I think it was stirred for over an hour because I was terrified of making it lumpy and sad. It was so good!

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/old-fashioned-coconut-cream-pie.html

 Ingredients

• 1 can coconut milk (can be found in the Asian foods section)
• Half-and-half or heavy cream (enough to add to the coconut milk to make 3 cups)
• 3 egg yolks
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flaked coconut, toasted*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 recipe graham cracker crust (below) or traditional pie crust
• Fresh Whipped Cream, lightly sweetened

In a medium saucepan, combine half and half, coconut milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Mixture will become very thick. Remove from heat, and stir in coconut extract and the vanilla extract (at this point you can also stir in 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut, although, I prefer to use it all to garnish the top of the pie). Pour the custard into the baked and cooled pie shell and chill 2-4 hours or until firm. Top with whipped cream and the toasted coconut.

*To toast coconut, spread coconut on rimmed baking sheet in an even layer and bake at 325 degrees, tossing often, until lightly toasted, about 12-15 minutes.

Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones

I cannot take credit for these. Sam made them the other morning while I was sleeping. Awesome. Weirdly enough, I'm not a huge fan of super chocolate chippy things in the morning but they were good then and they were good later. And everyone at the ward party we went to loved them (yes we took our leftover breakfast as a dish to a ward party).

I might recommend cutting back on the chocolate chips a little. It was an insane amount of chocolate chips. Otherwise these were great and fun. 

She also has a picture on her website about cutting the dough if you are confused by the directions.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/10/glazed-chocolate-chip-scones-and-halloween-recap.html

INGREDIENTS

Scones:
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut in 8 pieces
• 2 cups mini chocolate chips or finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup fat free half-and-half or milk
Glaze:
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5-7 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Work in the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender (or two butter knives) just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly. Stir in the chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate.
2. In a separate mixing bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and 1/2 cup half-and-half or milk.
3. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is moistened and holds together. Don't overmix! The key to tender scones is not overmixing the dough. It shouldn't look as cohesive as cookie dough - you are going more for the pie crust look but if it seems overly dry, stir in additional milk or half-and-half until the dough comes together.
4. Scrape the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Pat it into a long, thin rectangle, about 17-inches by 3-inches and about 1-inch thick. Make sure the surface underneath the dough is very well floured. If necessary, use a large spatula to lift edges of the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath.
5. Cut the rectangle into alternating triangles (see picture below). You should be able to get about 12 or 13 scones. Carefully transfer the scones (using a spatula, if needed) to a parchment-lined or well-greased baking sheet. I fit all of them on one large, rimmed baking sheet (about 18-inch by 12-inch).
6. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the scones to cool right on the pan. Make the glaze by stirring together the sugar and vanilla. Whisk in the milk gradually until the glaze is pourable.
7. Let the scones cool until still a bit warm or room temperature (too hot and the glaze will melt right off). Drizzle the glaze evenly over the scones. Serve warm or at room temperature. These keep well-covered for 2-3 days (and reheat beautifully in the microwave for a short 15-20 seconds).