Chocolate Scones

I've always bookmarked pages in cookbooks and online recipes for scones but have never gotten around to make them. I had planned to make banana bread with chocolate chips tonight but my bananas are not ripe enough so I made chocolate scones! I've never made scones (as I just said) so I didn't know what to expect with the dough. For this particular recipe, it was super moist and sticky and I was frightened that the scones would not turn out correctly but after 17 minutes in the oven, they were light and crumbly and scone-y. Perfection.



Chocolate Scones
Adapted from this recipe

1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter, and using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter chunks into the flour until they are reduced to pearl-sized nuggets. Stir in the granulated sugar. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips, and stir to form a dough. The dough will be firm but moist, and a bit sticky to the touch. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl about ten times (be careful not to over-knead).
5. Form the dough into a 7-inch round disk on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 6 or 8 wedges, and using a spatula, transfer the wedges to a baking sheet.
6. Bake the scones for 17-18 minutes, or until set.

Yield: 6 large or 8 small scones