Chocolate Chip Scones

Chocolate chip scones, small batch style. Recipe for cream scones that makes just 4 perfect flaky scones studded with chocolate chips.

I consider myself famous for my scones (in my own mind, anyway), and you guys are asking for more variations.

My quest for a great scone recipe starts with a desire for a breakfast pastry without as much sugar as a muffin. I love a great muffin, especially my coffee cake muffins, one-bowl chocolate banana muffins, and my gingerbread muffins that are not just for the holidays!

However, I usually find myself eating muffins for a dessert rather than a breakfast. It's not that I'm Saintly and avoid sugar in the mornings--it's that my tea has enough honey to cover my sugar bases first thing in the morning. So, a slightly-less-sweet scone for breakfast sounds perfect to me.

How to make chocolate chip scones:

I make my scones the right way--with all heavy cream. Honestly, this is the way your favorite bakery makes them, too. I do not trust recipes for scones that don't use all heavy cream. Cream makes scones tender, soft and delicious. Plus, we're just making a small batch of 4 scones, so these are an occasional treat.

Every good scone should be flaky, and what makes them flaky is the biscuit-method. If you've ever made biscuits, you know that the butter must be worked into the flour until it is the size of small pieces. If you want to try your hand at biscuits for the first time, try my small batch biscuits! 

The method of working butter into the flour with a pastry blender, two butter knives, or even your fingers makes scones flaky and puffy in the oven. When the hot oven air hits the butter pieces, the water in the butter evaporates and creates steam, which leaves behind a flaky air pocket.

Scones are truly a thing of beauty, and I love that my recipe is all made in one bowl. This recipe is similar to my Lemon Scones, but today, we're using chocolate chips!

If you're up for it, these chocolate chip scones are great with the zest of 1 orange stirred in. Then, use the juice of half an orange to make a powdered sugar glaze, if you wish!

As for me, the way the chocolate chips come out of the oven in melty pools of chocolate surrounded by flaky pastry is enough. But, chase your orange-chocolate dreams if you feel like it!

If you're up for interesting flavor combos in your scones, my black pepper maple scones are your new weekend baking venture; I know you'll love them!

Bakery-style scone secrets:

Since the smallest container of cream we can usually buy is a half-pint, we're brushing extra cream on top of the scones before baking. Then, we will sprinkle them very generously with coarse sugar. Coarse Turbinado sugar gives the scones extra crunch on top, and is a little bakery secret.

This recipe uses just one egg yolk; check my recipes that use extra egg whites to use up the leftovers.

I hope you love this recipe for chocolate chip scones. I can think of so many more instances where I need only a small batch of scones rather than a large one, can't you? If a scone recipe only makes 4 scones, I'm more likely to make them more frequently than a recipe that makes one dozen or more scones. That's why I love my recipe for buttered pecan scones, too.

It's not that we can't share scones or stack leftovers in the freezer, it's just that there's just something satisfying about using one bowl to make a small batch of scones that will be devoured the same day. Small batch baking makes me happy, how about you? My pumpkin scones make me extra happy to bake in the Fall months, especially.

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Yield: 4 scones

Chocolate Chip Scones

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Chocolate chip scones, bakery style!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes

Total Time 29 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream, plus extra for brushing
• 1 large egg yolk
• ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. 
3. Dice the butter and add it to the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour mixture until it's evenly distributed and smaller than peas. Use two knives, a pastry cutter, or your hands.
4. Next, add the heavy cream and egg yolk in a small bowl and whisk together. Pour this on the flour mixture and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Don't overmix, but incorporate things well.
5. Add the chocolate chips and stir lightly to combine.
6. Scoop the dough out, place it on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use the warmth of your hands to make it stick together into a circle.
7. Slice the dough circle into 4 even pieces. Brush each piece with extra heavy cream all over.
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and they lightly brown on the edges.
9. Let cool for a few minutes before serving. These scones will keep for up to 2 days covered tightly on the counter. To reheat, use a toaster oven to crisp instead of the microwave.

Notes

You can also add orange zest to the dough to make chocolate-orange scones. Delicious!

Recommended Products

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• 
  Turbinado Sugar
• 
  Dough Blender and Cutter
• 
  Quarter Sheet Pan

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 402Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 132mgSodium: 358mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 2gSugar: 19gProtein: 7g

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