Chocolate Scones

Thick, moist, buttery, flaky, and super chocolatey, these chocolate scones are quite possibly the most indulgent scone recipe around, my friends. And they have been a long time coming! It is actually surprisingly hard to make a chocolate scone that ticks all of my scone boxes but I finally did it. Keep reading for all my tips and tricks and for the recipe for these delicious Chocolate Scones.

So, how hard can it be to make a chocolate scone recipe?

You just add cocoa powder to my Vanilla Scone Recipe and voilà, right? WRONG! It is not that simple. Cocoa powder changes everything. Simply adding cocoa powder without changing a few other things resulted in very cakey, light, fluffy scones with hardly any chocolate flavor. To me, a scone needs to be flaky, moist, and tender but still pretty sturdy. A scone should never be airy and light like a cupcake. Well, that is exactly how the first few of my tests for a chocolate scone recipe turned out. I even gave up at one point but you know how much I love creating scone recipes so I was determined to make this work. I did a deep dive into cocoa powder research and how it affects baked goods. Armed with my newfound knowledge, I decided to add a few special ingredients for both structure and flavor in this chocolate scone recipe.

For the structure I swapped some of the all purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour. I use whole wheat pastry flour often in my recipes to boost nutrition and add flavor/texture. And I didn't want these to just look like chocolate scones, I wanted them to taste like chocolate scones. So, I also swapped some of the white sugar for dark brown, both for moisture as well as to enhance the flavor of the chocolate. To further enhance the chocolate flavor I added even more vanilla extract as well as a bit of instant coffee powder and of course some salt. It's a magical thing, but those ingredients somehow create the most chocolatey chocolate scone! I actually had my husband and son do a taste test of the first version and the flavor-enhanced version and there was no contest as to which one was the winner.

Ingredients for Chocolate Scones

• all purpose flour - I always use unbleached and often organic. King Arthur and Azure Standard are my go-to brands.
• whole wheat pastry flour - for more structure in the dough and a deeper flavor (and the added bonus of a bit more nutrition).
• cocoa powder - a full ½ cup! I like to use a darker cocoa powder such as this one from King Arthur Baking. You can use your favorite unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe (natural or dutch processed will both work).
• dark brown sugar - for moisture and depth of flavor; the molasses really brings out the chocolate. Dark muscovado would be amazing, and you can totally use light brown sugar in a pinch.
• white granulated sugar - for sweetness and because I didn't want to use all brown sugar for fear of too much moisture.
• baking powder - makes the scones rise
• butter - grated for the most perfect flaky layers. I almost always use salted butter but feel free to use either salted or unsalted. If you are worried about the salt, simply reduce the amount in the recipe but the cocoa powder can really handle the salt.
• heavy cream - cold as possible. Adds moisture and necessary fat to the scones
• egg - for moisture and to hold the scone dough together.
• vanilla extract - I add vanilla to pretty much everything but it is also said to enhance the flavor of chocolate so I happily added even more to this recipe.
• instant espresso powder (instant coffee works fine too) - for depth of flavor and to enhance the chocolate flavor. You won't taste the coffee flavor.

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How to make chocolate scones

I make these smaller than my usual scones because they are very rich. So instead of one large circle that I cut into 8, I do two smaller circles and cut each one into 6. I think this is just the right size for these.

What is the secret to making good scones?

1. Start with cold ingredients - cold butter, cold egg, cold cream - some people freeze the dry ingredients and the bowls/utensils. I think that's overkill.
2. Something new I've been doing is to grate the cold butter on a box grater. It is a game changer and creates the perfect butter to flour ratio (and no need to use a pastry cutter! Woohoo!)
3. Err on the side of too little liquid - it is better to have a slightly dry dough than a too-wet dough. You can incorporate the dryer bits as you are folding and stacking the dough.
4. Mix gently - my weapon of choice is a fork - while slowly drizzling in wet ingredients. You aren't trying to develop any gluten in these tender babies.
5. Once mixed, divide and stack dough 2-3 times to get perfect, flaky layers.
6. Freeze dough for 30 minutes or more before baking (see make ahead tips below).

Well that's about it! Be sure to check out my other scone recipes. Drop me a line if you have any questions and if you make this or any of my recipes, please leave a star rating and a comment. It not only makes my day, but it helps my recipes show up more in search engines. Thank you for your support! xo - Anita

Chocolate Scones

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Thick, moist, buttery, flaky, and super chocolatey, these Glazed Chocolate Scones are quite possibly the most indulgent scone recipe around!

• Total Time: 40 minutes plus chilling
• Yield: 12 small scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 stick butter, grated
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (instant coffee works fine too)

Cocoa Powder Glaze

• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk

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Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl mix together dry ingredients (flours, cocoa, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder, salt). If your cocoa is very lumpy you will want to sift it.
2. In a small bowl or spouted measuring cup mix together the cream, egg, vanilla, and coffee powder.
3. Add grated butter to dry ingredients and with a fork, mix well to combine. Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients in while stirring with fork. Keep drizzling and stirring until all of the wet mixture is used.
4. Press dough together gently to form a ball. I like to use a flexible dough scraper to help with this. I just scrape the sides and bottom up to the top and press down, repeating this motion a few times. If you find you have a very large amount of dry, drizzle in a tiny bit more cream to moisten but you do not want a very wet dough.
5. Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and press and pull it together into a rough rectangle. Cut this rectangle in half and stack on piece on top of the other, press down to the original thickness and repeat one more time. As you are performing these stacks, gather any loose bits of dough and add them back.  
6. On your final stacking, Divide dough into two equal portions and press each one into a circle about 1.5 inches in thickness. Divide each circle into 6 wedges with a bench scraper or sharp chef's knife. Arrange on parchment lined tray so that there is about an inch between scones and freeze scones on tray for 30 minutes. *for make-ahead: At this point you can freeze until completely solid and transfer to a freezer bag or container and bake straight from frozen. Add a few minutes to baking time.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. After 30 minutes freezing, bake scones for 15-18 minutes until puffed and baked through. When done, the sides will look completely dry - if you see any wet dough, give them another couple of minutes.
8. While scones are baking, make glaze by combining glaze ingredients in a bowl and whisking well to combine.
9. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before glazing.

Notes

Grate butter on large holes of a box grater. Alternatively, you can dice butter and cut it into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter.

• Author: anita | wild thistle kitchen
• Prep Time: 20 minutes plus chilling
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Category: scones, breakfast, brunch, dessert
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: American