Tender chocolate scones packed with semisweet chocolate chips and cloaked in a rich chocolate glaze– a chocolate lover’s dream.
For my brother-in-law’s birthday this past weekend, Zach and I joined both of his brothers for a brief stay in Atlantic City, New Jersey to celebrate. While I enjoyed the salt water taffy, the seaside burger joints, and strolling among hungry seagulls down the boardwalk in the brisk (but seasonally mild), ocean-salted air, the main draw of this weekend getaway was the casinos.
And there, in the smokey, dimly-lit rooms amid the click-clack of clay chips, the ratcheting rip of the slot machine arm and the automated faux-clang of *Jackpot!* coins ringing against a dispenser (in reality, a redeemable slip of paper is printed from the machine, hardly as exciting) I realized that of all the possible and unlikely afflictions to worry about in life, I will never have to worry about suffering from a gambling addiction.
I managed to nurse a $20 bill through several casinos throughout the weekend and felt almost relieved once the penny slots had sloughed the last cent from it.
Instead of slots or table games, I’ve learned, my preferred addictions are of the chocolate variety. Chocolate scones, particularly. There’s much less guess work, no mentally reviewing your odds or praying to slot machine-gods to perform the miracle of changing one dollar into one million.
So, when Zach and I returned home yesterday I placed my bets on a chocolate gamble in the kitchen, adjusting a scone recipe that I’ve been working on for a few weeks now, and for the first time all weekend I actually hit the jackpot.
Soft and tender, these scones are light but not overly dry, in fact they’re rather moist, perfectly buttery, and flamboyantly chocolaty.
Because of the chocolate chips and the chocolate drizzle, these chocolate scones are a bit sweeter than your average scone (and I do have a classic scone recipe, if you want to try that one), but still (in my opinion, at least) completely appropriate as a breakfast treat. And, while most scones are best served almost immediately after coming out of the oven and rarely carry over well to the next day, these scones store well in an air-tight container, and though I recommend warming them slightly in the microwave for best results, they taste just as good the next day.
Be sure to read the notes in the recipe before beginning as there are some key tips in there to ensure scones that don’t topple over in the oven as well as tips on how to make these in your food processor (very carefully, you don’t want to burn out your motor and there’s a lot of scone dough).
Enjoy!
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Enjoy!
Chocolate Scones
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup natural cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup sugar granulated
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cold butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup + 1 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips I used a mix of mini and regular-sized semisweet
Glaze
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted (if you don't sift you will have clumps in your glaze)
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Cut cold butter into 1 Tbsp-sized pieces and then cut in half again. Transfer to a plate and set in the freezer to chill until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In large bowl or in food processor, whisk or pulse together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Remove butter from freezer and cut in to dry mixture* until dough becomes like coarse crumbs.
- In a small-medium bowl, whisk together heavy cream, egg and vanilla until combined.
- Gradually stir into scone mixture until dough is moist and beginning to cling together**, transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead, kneading in chocolate chips by hand, just until cohesive ball begins to form. Break into equal halves.
- Mold each half of the dough into about an 8-inch wide circle and cut each into 8 wedges.
- Transfer wedges to parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow scones to cool 10 minutes before glazing.
Glaze
- Whisk together your sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
- Whisk in milk and vanilla extract until completely combined and smooth.
- Immediately drizzle over scones.
- If you want to eat immediately the glaze will be a bit messy, allow to sit for 10-20 minutes to allow glaze to set.
Notes
**If using food processor, take care that you do not overwork and break your machine (this is a lot of dough). Once the dough begins to clump, transfer to your lightly floured surface and knead it into disks there.
James
First of all, I have yet to be disappointed by one of your recipes! Your site is my go-to when I want to bake something.
I’m curious…Why does this scone recipe require an egg? I’ve made the pumpkin scones and “the best scone recipe” (both delicious), neither of which required an egg. I imagine it’s a matter of science, but I love how simple the other two scone recipes were that I’ve tried. Is it possible to just add cocoa powder to “the best scone recipe” in order to eliminate the use of eggs?
Sam
Hi James! I developed this one first, but in this one you can’t just leave the egg out. It really helps with the moisture of the scone. I would try modifying the best scones and adding a little bit of cocoa powder and cutting back some flour. I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure what the exact ratios would be. If you do try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
James
I took your advice and made the best scones with 2 3/4 cups of flour and 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa. Then, I added peanut butter morsels at the end. It worked perfectly! I’ll be trying the same recipe again with espresso morsels instead, and maybe a smidgin more of sugar. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad they turned out! 🙂
James
Sorry… I meant 1 3/4 cup of flour.
Tonya
I’ve never made scones before so I followed your recipe pretty much exactly. They turned out great. My family loved them!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Tonya! 🙂
Pam
These were delicious! The whole family loved them! So chocolaty!
I found that my food processor couldn’t handle it, so I switched everything to my Kitchen Aid mixer. Worked out great! Mixed everything in the mixer including the chocolate chips.
Sugar Spun Run
I am happy to hear how much you enjoyed them, Pam! I am glad that everything blended perfectly in your mixer as well. Thank you for trying my recipe and for your feedback. 🙂
Laurie Brewer
Just baked these. They taste like flour. I wondered about the 3.5 C of flour to .5 C sugar. Well they are terrible. They look beautiful but what a disappointment.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so disappointed to hear that you experienced issues with this recipe. Scones aren’t supposed to be very sweet but they shouldn’t taste like straight flour. Would it be possible that the flour was over-measured? This is common in baking so I have created a guide that can be used as a reference for next time. Again, I am sorry to hear that they did not turn out well for you. 🙁