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

Bakery-style Chocolate Chip Scone Recipe
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.
Chocolate Chip Scone Recipe ingredients
- Flour. One and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour that has been fluffed and scooped into measuring cups before being leveled off.
- Sugar. Scones are lightly sweet, so this recipe only requires ¼ cup of granulated sugar.
- Salt. I prefer to bake with fine sea salt.
- Baking Soda. We need ¼ teaspoon of baking soda.
- Baking Powder. One full teaspoon of baking powder. Make sure it’s fresh and not expired.
- Butter. Four tablespoons, or half a stick of unsalted butter that is still cold, straight from the fridge.
- Heavy Cream. One-third cup of heavy cream plus two tablespoons for the scone dough. I also like to have extra heavy cream for brushing on them before baking.
- Egg Yolk. One large egg yolk only; reserve the egg white for another recipe.
- Chocolate Chips. You can use semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips.
Chocolate Chip Scone additions
Fun additions:
- 1 teaspoon of orange zest
- ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- or a powdered sugar glaze drizzled on top (½ cup powdered sugar with a splash of milk)
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!
4. 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!
Secrets for a bakery-style Chocolate Chip Scone
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.
How to store Chocolate Chip Scones
Scones keep at room temperature for about 2 days. They lose their crispness on the edges, but they be rewarmed in the oven on 200-degrees F. They can be frozen after baking, too. Simply defrost in the fridge overnight and heat in the toaster oven until warm throughout.
Chocolate Chip Scones Recipe FAQs
What makes scones different from biscuits?
Biscuits are airy, fluffy and flaky squares (or circles) made without any sugar. They are savory and tender throughout. Scones are dense, crumbly cake-like treats. They contain sugar and other sweet additions (like chocolate chips and dried fruit), because their dough is sturdy enough to handle additions.
Are scones supposed to be hard or soft?
In my scone loving opinion, a great scone is hard (read: crispy) on the outside, but tender and flaky when cut open.
Is biscuit dough the same as scone dough?
No, scone dough contains heavy cream and eggs, which is more moisture than a biscuit dough. Scone dough is dense enough to hold chocolate chips and dried fruit, while biscuit dough is too light and airy.
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.
Easy Chocolate Chip Scone Recipe
Chocolate chip scones, bakery style!
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
- Preheat the oven to 400.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- 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.
- 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.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir lightly to combine.
- 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.
- Slice the dough circle into 4 even pieces. Brush each piece with extra heavy cream all over.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and they lightly brown on the edges.
- 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!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 402Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 132mgSodium: 358mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 2gSugar: 19gProtein: 7g
Holly says
Hi Christina! I made these for the second time and this time, used a little more cream to help the dough be moist-worked like a charm! I also added the turbinado sugar before baking and they came out great, with crunchy tops and sweetness. This recipe is easy and quick-thanks so much!
Linda Smith says
Great recipe. I can’t eat much chocolate so I subbed by using cinnamon chips. I also used 2 percent that was all I had on hand. Turned out good. Will be making again!
Christina Lane says
Oh I love those cinnamon chips!
Maria says
Easily the most delicious and simple scone recipe I have ever made. Will be my go-to! Thank you for sharing!!! So glad I found it.
Anna says
I love all of your scone recipes! :)
I've baked them multiple times so decided to create a Christmas cranberry-orange version today! Used this recipe as a base but added 1t orange zest into the heavy cream before mixing it in, and instead of chocolate chips I added about 1/3c dried cranberries. They turned out so tasty and festive that I wanted to share.
Thank you for your delightful recipes. Yours is always my go-to blog for small batch baking!
Christina Lane says
Oh I love this so much! Thank you! I want to try these myself :)
Heather says
Yes yes yes! Made this today for my sister's 40th birthday breakfast. It was super fast, easy, and delicious! The kids were quite pleased as well. I will be returning for this recipe many more times.
Lizlemons says
Oh my...These were DIVINE!! The texture was so perfect, they were just moist enough, perfect amount of sugar. I can't believe how good these came out. Super easy to whip up on a Sunday morning when you want something more exciting than pancakes...thank you for putting the time in to develop such a great recipe
LizLemons says
These were so so so good!!! came together really quickly. Outstanding recipe, really!! Moist enough, not too sweet. just perfect. Thank you!!
Bonnie says
Thanks so much for a basic scone recipe. I have several flavors of “jammy bits” (raspberry and peach) from King Arthur and I think they would be great with half the chocolate and half jammy bits! Can’t wait to try them. The Granddaughter loves scones, but the ones at our local coffee shop are no where near as good as yours! Thanks again!
Erin says
Woke up with a scone craving this morning and found this small batch recipe through Google. Used part whole what flour and the rest bread flour as they were all I had. The scones turned out great! Would recommend.