Chocolate Chip Scones
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These chocolate chip scones are soft, buttery, and just sweet enough, with plenty of melty chocolate in every bite. They’re perfect with coffee, tea, or straight off the baking sheet.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that anything with chocolate chips is an instant hit with my kids—chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip muffins, you name it. These chocolate chip scones are no different. They’re sweet, buttery, and tender, with just the right amount of melty chocolate in every bite. Warm from the oven, they’re perfect for a lazy weekend morning when you feel like spoiling everyone.
This recipe is a twist on my classic cream scones—just a bit sweeter, flecked with chocolate chips, and flavored with vanilla. And they always disappear fast…at least around here.
“These are great! I’ve tried to make scones 3 times with other recipes, this is the first time they came out perfectly.”
What You’ll need To Make Chocolate Chip Scones
- Cake Flour: The base of the scones. Cake flour provides a softer, more delicate texture than all-purpose flour thanks to its lower protein content. Don’t have cake flour on hand? You can make your own; just whisk together 1¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch.
- Baking Powder: Gives scones their lift, helping them rise and become light and fluffy.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dough just enough to balance the richness and chocolate.
- Cold Butter: Butter adds richness and helps create a tender, flaky texture in scones; keeping it cold ensures it melts during baking, forming steam pockets that lift and lighten the dough.
- Semisweet Chocolate Chips: Semisweet chips bring bursts of melty chocolate throughout—use a high-quality brand like Guittard or Ghirardelli for the best flavor.
- Egg: Helps bind the dough and adds richness.
- Heavy Cream: Adds moisture and richness to the dough, creating a soft crumb. Don’t swap it for milk or light cream—this is one place where the fat really matters.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds warm, subtle flavor that complements the chocolate.
- Demerara Sugar: Sprinkled on top before baking for a sweet, caramel-y crunch on the outside. Also known as raw or turbinado sugar. If you don’t have it on hand, you can substitute brown sugar or more granulated sugar.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisking helps evenly distribute the baking powder, which ensures the scones rise and bake evenly.
Step 2: Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter and use your fingertips to rub it in until the mixture looks very coarse—those little clumps of butter are what make the scones tender.
Step 3: Add the chocolate chips. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Step 4: Whisk the wet ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk the cream, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
Step 5: Combine wet and dry. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients, and stir it all together. (Making a well helps incorporate the wet ingredients more gently, which reduces overmixing.)
Step 6: Mix the dough. Stir with a spatula until the dough mostly comes together—it’ll be sticky.
Step 7: Shape and cut dough. Lightly knead it into a ball. Be gentle and stop as soon as the dough holds together; over-kneading can make the scones tough. Press the dough into a ¾-inch-thick circle and slice into 8 wedges. For clean cuts, use a sharp knife.
Step 8: Prep to bake. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with the Demerara sugar.
Step 9: Bake. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven and serve warm. The scones can be frozen, before or after baking, in an airtight container for up to 3 months. (For best results, freeze before baking.)
More Scone Recipes You May Like
Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off (see note on substitution)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch (13-mm) pieces
- ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Guittard or Ghirardelli
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ to ¾ cup heavy cream (do not substitute milk or light cream)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar (also called raw or turbinado)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, baking powder and granulated sugar. Add the pieces of cold butter. Use your fingertips to rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-size clumps of butter within. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- In a small bowl, whisk together ⅔ cup (160 ml) heavy cream, the egg, and the vanilla. Make a well in center of dry ingredients, then add the cream mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix until the dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. If it seems dry, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream.
- Dust a work surface lightly with flour, then dump the sticky dough on top. Knead very gently a few times until the dough comes together into a ball, sprinkling more flour as needed if the dough is too sticky to work with. Press the dough into a circle about ¾-in (2-cm) high, then cut into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to the prepared baking sheet, and then sprinkle evenly with the demerara sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the scones are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Delicious and easy! I followed the recipe as written (with the flour/cornstarch sub) and the scones were so light and tender. I did have to bake them about 4 minutes longer but I think that may have to do with my oven temp not being accurate. I will definitely make these again!
These are delicious! I like that they bake up with a tender crust on the bottom/edges/corners but remain tender inside. The recipe is easy to follow and overall simple to execute. I also like that are lightly sweet and not all dense. I shaped mine into a square and cut into 12 triangles. Home run recipe!! Thanks Jenn.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times and never had it NOT turn out. Both my kids love these and so do the adults! I have made with both mini chocolate chips and regular. The bigger chips are better. I have sprinkled with both turbinado sugar and regular sugar. The regular is preferred because it’s not as big of crystals. I have also forgotten the sugar topping, which definitely adds some necessary sweetness so don’t try that! I have also made these for guests, with many requests for the recipe. I used to think scones were difficult to make; however, I’d now suggest trying these to anyone.
These are YUMMY! Soft and tender, wonderful with a cup of tea. I used a 3.5 ounce bar of Cadbury chocolate (chopped into small pieces) instead of chocolate chips.
I will never buy another scone again! These are easy to pull together quickly enough in the morning to satisfy the demands of a 3 year old. They are crumbly, tender and delicious! I used mini chips as another person recommended, but large ones would also have been fine.
I made this twice back to back and both times the dough was soooo sticky I wound adding upwards of 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour to make it workable. I’ve had success with all of your recipes, not sure what I did wrong here. Your blog shows a photo of “heavy whipping cream” and I used “heavy cream.” Could this be the issue?
Sorry to hear you had a problem with these! Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are really interchangeable, so that shouldn’t cause a problem. Did you make any other adjustments to the recipe?
Absolutely delicious..froze them a week ahead as instructed and baked an additional minute or two. I think the cake flour makes them so tender. Jenn, this is the only scone recipe I will make from now on.
This is the recipe that got me hooked on #onceuponachef
My co-workers and I are all hooked and the recipe book is in the mail for Christmas for everyone!
Great recipe. I was intimidated since I never made scones before but thanks to your pictures, showing each step, I gave it a try and the results were delicious scones that I would be happy to share with special guests.
I have tried several chocolate chip scone recipes with little success. This recipe was a completely different story. Perfection! Thank you for sharing this fool-proof, delicious recipe! These scones were absolutely amazing! Mine were done to perfection in 12 minutes! Instead of the coarse sugar topping, I let them cool then drizzled on a glaze made of powdered sugar and milk. My search is over. Will make these again and again. 🙂