Chocolate chip scones

I first heard of scones when I started visiting foodblogs – we’re not familiar with them here in Brazil. That’s why I decided to bake some.

The recipe I used was taken from this site and, even though I haven’t had any other scones besides these, I was pretty happy with the result – they were tender and had a light texture, great with a glass of milk.

Trying to cut back some of the calories, I didn’t sprinkle the scones with the cinnamon sugar, but I’ll post it here in case you want to give it a try.
I used only half of the chocolate chips called for and I think it was enough – but if you are a chocoholic at heart, go for the whole amount.

Chocolate chip scones

Dough:
280g all purpose flour
50g granulated white sugar – I used caster sugar
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
115g unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
90g milk or semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
160ml buttermilk

Egg wash:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon milk

Cinnamon sugar:
50g granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200ºC/400ºF and place rack in middle of oven. Stack two baking sheets together and line the top baking sheet with parchment paper - this prevents the bottoms of the scones from over browning during baking.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. In a small measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla extract and then add to the flour mixture. Stir just until the dough comes together - add more buttermilk if necessary. Do not overmix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 18 cm round and about 3,75cm thick. Cut this circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges. Place the scones on the baking sheet. Make the egg wash and brush the tops of the scones with it.
To make the cinnamon sugar, mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon and sprinkle the tops of the scones with it.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and then turn your broiler on high. Sift icing sugar heavily over the tops of the scones and place them under the broiler. Broil for just a few seconds, turning the pan as necessary, until the sugar has melted and turns golden brown. Make sure to watch the scones carefully as the sugar will burn very quickly.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8 scones.

This recipe was posted on the Portuguese version of my blog on Aug. 7, 2006.