Chocolate Chip Scones

Sweet, tender and buttery with morsels of melted chocolate within – children (and let’s not forget husbands) absolutely love these scones. They’re wonderful served warm out of the oven, especially on a lazy weekend morning when you feel like spoiling everyone.

The recipe is a variation on last week’s traditional cream scones. The difference is that these are sweeter, chock full of chocolate and flavored with vanilla. They also disappear faster, at least at my house.

Last week, I showed you the food processor method for scones. This week, I’m making them by hand. It’s easy to do, and therapeutic if you like that sort of thing.

Begin by whisking your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Toss in the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles very course crumbs.

Don’t worry about getting a uniform consistency. All those little pea-size clumps of butter create structure in the scones and make them tender and fluffy when baked.

Combine the cream, egg and vanilla in a small bowl.

Add the chocolate chips to the flour mixture, then stir in the wet ingredients.

When the dough comes together, dump it onto a work surface dusted with flour. It should be sticky.

Gently knead the dough into a ball, then press it into a flat circle about 3/4-inch high.  Cut the circle into 8 wedges.

Transfer the wedges to prepared baking sheet, then sprinkle with course sugar.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch.

Serve scones warm out of the oven and enjoy!

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Chocolate Chip Cream Scones
Printable Recipe 

Makes 8 scones

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled with a knife
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Guittard or Ghirardelli
1 large egg
2/3 – 3/4 cup heavy cream (do not substitute milk or light cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon demerara sugar (also called raw sugar or turbinado)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Add pieces of cold butter. Use your fingertips to rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles course crumbs with pea-size clumps of butter within. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together 2/3 cup heavy cream, egg and vanilla. Make a well in center of dry ingredients, then add cream mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix until dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. If it seems dry, add remaining 2 tablespoons of cream.

4. Dust work surface lightly with flour, then dump sticky dough on top. Knead very gently a few times until dough comes together into a ball. (Sprinkle more flour, little by little, if dough is too sticky to work with.) Press dough into a circle about 3/4-inch high, then cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, and then sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch. Serve warm.