Chocolate Chip Scones

chocolate chips scone with another one broken in half.

5 from 1 vote

Light, flakey, and loaded with delicious morsels of decadent chocolate, these Chocolate Chip Scones are divine! They have the most perfect crumbly texture and rich buttery taste with hints of buttermilk and vanilla.

Prep Time30

Cook Time12

Total Time42

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 382kcal

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Ingredients

2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup butter cold, cut into cubes
1 cup chocolate chips
¾ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven and prep the pan: Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Make the base of the dough: Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and whisk the dry ingredients together. Then add the cold butter and blend it together with the dry ingredient using a pastry cutter or two forks. You want the mixture to resemble coarse crumbs, so be very careful not to overwork the butter into the flour mixture. Then stir in the chocolate chips.
Add the wet ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Then add it to the flour mixture and stir just until it holds together.
Knead the dough: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gently knead it about 12 times until the flour is incorporated. Yet, as you knead, be careful not to overwork the dough. You want the mixture to still have chunks of butter, which is what makes the scones bake up so light, flakey, and crumbly good.
Shape the dough and cut: Form the dough into an 8-inch circle and then cut it into 8 triangular shape wedges. It’s almost like cutting a pizza and you can even use a pizza cutter to do this step.
Bake the chocolate chip scones: Place the formed scones onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool and serve: When the scones are done baking, allow them to cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Then dust the scones with powdered sugar and serve.

Notes

Cold butter is a must. If your butter is not cold you will not get that amazing crumbly scone texture. So be sure that your butter is cold. You can even put the cubed butter in the freezer for about 5 minutes before you begin the recipe.
Use a box grater to shred cold butter, then just mix it in with the flour, so much easier.
Don’t overwork the dough. You want that cold cubed butter that you incorporated into the flour to remain somewhat crumbly. So be gentle when kneading your dough. It needs to be mixed, but those chunks of butter are the key to flakey light scones, so don’t knead them away.
Quality ingredients matter. For these simple chocolate chip scones, higher quality unsalted butter and chocolate chips are going to produce richer, more refined, better tasting scones.
Use buttermilk or make your own. The buttermilk has a mild acidic quality to it which is important in this recipe. It complements the butter and chocolate chips. However, if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand you can easily make your own by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to every one cup of milk and then letting it sit for about 5 minutes to curdle a bit.

Nutrition