Hello everyone! I'm happy to share this recipe today, I love scones! There's no agreement about how it's pronounced, "skown" is how most Americans pronounce it and "skon" is more British, but whatever floats your boat! Scones can be very simple, with no added flavors and topped with clotted cream and jam, or more elaborate like this recipe. Let's get into it!
For this recipe you will need:
2 1/8 cups all purpose flour (I know 1/8 is weird, just approximate half of a quarter cup!)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cold, cubed butter (If using salted butter, cut down the added salt previously mentioned)
2/3 cup buttermilk (or cheat and make your own with 2/3 cup milk and a teaspoon or two of vinegar)
1/4 cup espresso
1/2 cup chocolate of your choice (I used semisweet chocolate chips)
1 egg + a splash of milk for egg wash
For the optional glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp espresso
2 tsp milk
I started off by making my espresso. Sadly, unless you have a legit espresso machine in your home, you just won't get real espresso. A moka pot (Like I mention in this post) makes stronger coffee than your average drip machine, so it's a good kitchen item to have.
With a moka pot, you add water to the base, place a basket of coffee grounds over it (not too tightly packed!), screw the top chamber on, and set it on high heat on a stove for about 10 minutes. The water in the base has to boil, so it'll take a little while. The steam from the boiling water pushes it up through the coffee grounds and a spout to the top chamber. When it gets going, it'll fill fast! Don't let it overcook though, you don't want a burnt taste to your coffee.
As it cools, get started with your other ingredients. Start by preheating your oven to 400F. Then, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to incorporate, then add your cold cubed butter. You can either work them together with a pastry cutter if you have one, but your hands work just as well. It doesn't have to be a cohesive dough at this stage, the texture should be like chunky sand.
Add your coffee to the buttermilk and stir to combine, then pour into the bowl. Stir to combine, but don't overdo it. Now it should be a cohesive dough, but it doesn't need to be lump-free. Fold in the chocolate chips, and add a few tablespoons of milk if the dough is too dry.
You can see that the dough is still pretty scraggly here. Turn it out onto a surface and shape/cut how you please. I flattened mine into a square-ish shape and cut it into smaller pieces. Mine still turned out pretty big, so cut them to the size you desire. I also like to press extra chocolate chips on top to make them pretty! Transfer them to a parchment paper lined baking pan, brush with egg wash, and pop into a 400F oven for at least 20 minutes.
They're done when they're golden brown and firm, let them cool on a wire rack. The egg wash gives them that shine!
Place a sheet pan under the wire rack to catch the extra glaze that drips. To make the glaze, just combine all the ingredients (powdered sugar, coffee, and milk) and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the scones when they've cooled somewhat, we don't want the glaze to just melt off. It will harden as it cools.
When they're all cooled, the scones are ready to enjoy! I recommend to have them with a cup of tea or coffee, or even for breakfast if you feel like treating yourself! Chocolate and coffee complement each other so well, you can't go wrong with this combination.
I hope you all like this recipe, you could easily modify it to include other ingredients you like! If you do any experimenting, let me know how it goes! Thanks for reading!
xx, Hannah