I love dark chocolate. Apparently people at my husband’s workplace do, too. At least, that seems to be the only thing explaining the two separate requests I got for Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Scones. So, I started thinking about why I avoid them, and came up with the fact that they always seem to be far too dry and dense. I blame it on the unsweetened chocolate powder and the regular flour. So in making up this recipe, I opted for a mix of lighter cake flour (to be found in the baking aisle next to regular flour) and regular all-purpose flour. The results, I must say, surprised me.
Mix:
1-1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate powder (I used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (8 tbsp) cold, unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (I used 60% cocoa)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup 1% milk
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp instant coffee
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk gently together the heavy cream, 1% milk, vanilla bean paste and instant coffee. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate powder, and brown sugar.
Add the diced butter and work into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
Add 3/4 cups dark chocolate chunks and mix.
Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and combine until just mixed. Do not over knead.
Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and divide dough into two even pieces. Flatten each piece into a round about 1/2-inch high. Cut each round into 8 triangles.
Place the scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400ºF for about 13 minutes or until browned on top (you will have to look at the edges to see the color change).
Serves: 16 small scones*
*these are rich, so they are best served in small amounts.
The Process:
 |
| Everything’s measured out and ready to go. |
 |
| Combine the liquid ingredients now so that the instant coffee can dissolve. |
 |
Combine dry ingredients first: flours, chocolate powder, brown sugar,
baking powder, salt. |
 |
| Add butter, cut in. |
 |
| Mix should look like coarse sand–a few butter lumps are okay. |
 |
After adding the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixing just enough to bring together,
press out onto a lightly floured countertop to a 9-inch round.
Alternatively, you can divide the dough into two pieces and make two smaller rounds
so that you can cut small scones. |
 |
Cut the 9-inch round into 16 pieces (by cutting each large scone into two,
somewhat irregular pieces).
Or cut the two smaller rounds into 8 pieces each for more regular sized scones. |
 |
| The finished product: a quite irregular, but decadently tasting scone. |
Results:
These tasted like truffles. They are excellent with either a tall glass of milk or a mug of hot coffee. Great as dessert or a decadent breakfast, and wonderful for the chocolate lover in your life.
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