Once again Southern California is on fire. It’s been 6 very dry years, which has made fire season awful. This last week it hit a little too close to home. Not my home, but my best friend Ashley’s. The fire came fast, there was no warning, and right away everyone was on mandatory evacuation. So Ashley, her husband, their 5 year old daughter, 3 dogs, and 1 cat came to stay with us while they waited it out.

Lets see, with my family of 3, plus our 3 basset hounds, and I was also dog sitting for my dad.. That makes a total of 6 people, 7 dogs, and 1 cat all hanging out at my house. I was tripping over a lot more than bassets this week. Luckily we live on a good size piece of property so there was plenty of room for the dogs to run and play. Ashley and I have been best friends since high school, and we’ve been through plenty of highs and lows together. So when she called and asked to come to our house there was no hesitation. It was a pretty stressful situation. Watching the news and seeing how close the flames were coming was awful. But, we had to make the most of it. We filled our days with manicures, movies, and a ton of really good food. We really did make the most of a stressful situation, and thankfully our husbands and daughters get along really well too. After 4 days they were finally cleared to go home. The fire got as close as .8 miles from their house. We are incredibly thankful for all of the first responders that worked tirelessly to save our local communities.

Fun fact about Ashley’s husband Nick, he likes to cook and bake just as much as I do. Their first morning here he woke up and made scones for everyone. I was so excited to learn the recipe and now I’m going to share it with all of you! Hope you enjoy.

I’ve never made a scone before, I think I’ve always been a little intimidated by them. Turns out they aren’t difficult at all. The recipe originally called for dried cranberries, but I didn’t have any on hand. I thought mini chocolate chips were a good alternative, I also decided to top it of with a simple vanilla glaze.

First mix all of your dry ingredients, then add the butter.

Nick told me the trick is to freeze the butter and grate it instead of letting it soften. This made mixing a lot easier. Next add your chocolate chips, sour cream and egg. Once everything is thoroughly mixed together place the dough on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7 to 8 inch circle about 3/4 inch thick. Sprinkle a little sugar over the top and cut into 8 triangles.

Next place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes.

While they are baking you can work on your powdered sugar glaze. It’s simple, and adds that little bit of extra sweetness. Once your scones have finished baking transfer to a cooling rack and drizzle the glaze over the top. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.