Chocolate Chip Scones
This chocolate chip scone recipe is wonderfully tender, lightly sweetened and perfect alongside a cup of coffee for breakfast or dessert.
Yesterday, I shared with you the risotto that my mom requests for dinner each year for her birthday. For dessert, she turns down cake and asks that I make a batch of these chocolate chip scones instead. I believe this was the third baking recipe that I ever attempted on my own (behind peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars and chocolate chip-pecan pie bars) and it quickly turned into one of my family’s favorite treats. These chocolate chip scones are incredibly easy to make, plus I’m all-in on anything with chocolate chips that can be passed off as a breakfast food.
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The scones have a very tender texture – not quite flaky like a biscuit and not as cakey as a muffin, but a perfect combination of the two. They aren’t overly sweet, either, except for the chocolate chips, of course. If you keep your pantry stocked with bags of chocolate chips (who doesn’t?!) and heavy cream in your fridge, then you likely have everything you need to throw these scones together in no time at all. One bowl and only a handful of ingredients is all it takes!
What’s your favorite sweet-for-breakfast recipe?
Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients
For the Scones:
- 3¼ cups (406.25 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 12 ounces (340.2 g) chocolate chips, semisweet or dark
- 2 cups (476 ml) heavy cream, cold
For the Topping:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Granulated sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir the heavy cream into the flour mixture, stirring just until ingredients are moistened.
- Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until a soft dough forms (about 2 minutes). Divide the dough into two equal balls. Working with one at a time, pat each one into an 8-inch circle and cut into 8 triangles. Transfer the triangles to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature. These scones are best served the day that they are made, but can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also wrap them individually in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag to store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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This recipe was originally published on May 13, 2007.
Great recipe!!! I found you through Design Crush. She showed your Cinnamon Chip Scones and saw the words dark chocolate and knew I had to make this for my MOMS Club breakfast today. They were a hit!! I only brought 2 home and there were not 22 ladies there ;) I can’t wait to try your other scones!!! thanks a bunch!
Oh my. I made these tonight and had to come back to post a comment.
I cannot believe how fluffy and delicious these are. I’m already regretting my promise to share them with my co-workers tomorrow. (Good thing they’re really easy to make… I can do another batch in no time.)
I topped them with turbinado sugar rather than the granular white – it gives them just the teeniest crunch.
This recipe is definitely a keeper.
I gave these a go, but they turned out more bread like than the scones I’m used to having.
Over mixing? Or could it be a result of using condensed milk instead of cream?
(I live in Japan, and sometimes it’s hard to find things, so I improvise)
I want to try again, but if there is any advice, I’d be glad of it!!
Thanks for the recipe! I’ll probably become a regular reader!
Hi Amanda, I think this was probably due to using sweetened condensed milk. It has very different properties from heavy cream. If you can’t get heavy cream you might want to try whole milk or the equivalent of half-and-half.
Thank you!! I will give it a try with the highest fat milk I can get!
Would whipping cream be an acceptable substitute?
Thank you for the reply!!
You’re welcome! And yes, whipping cream could definitely be used as a substitute – definitely give that a try.
Finally got around to making them again, turned out great!!!
Thank you!!
I made these for Easter brunch, they tested great but were very flat.
I was going to say that they sounded like they’d be SO tasty, but they look really, really flat. I’m used to British scones, tall and well-risen. If we submitted these to a cake-baking contest in a local fete, we’d fail. the judges measure scones with a tape-measure! :D
I was thinking of using my no-fail scone recipe and just adding dark chocolate chips to it. I bet the flavour is delicious.
I was gonna try making these tonight, but I went to the grocery store after work and couldn’t find any heavy cream. Luckily I have a substitution chart, but then I looked through the recipe more thoroughly (aka actually read your directions) and noticed you’re calling it whipping cream. I’ve always understood that heavy cream and whipping cream are two different creatures, heavy cream having a 36-40% fat content and whipping cream having between 30-36% Would you mind clarifying which you used?
Hi Darcie, Oops, I see now that I used two different terms. I typically find heavy cream at the store and use that for most all of my recipes. I will use the whipping cream if I’m actually making whipped cream, but for anything else I’ll use heavy cream. In this particular recipe, you are fine with either one.
Awesome, thanks Michelle! I’m having a pain finding heavy cream in my local grocers, so I’m gonna try a substitution I found over at JoyofBaking (for 1 cup of heavy cream, 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk plus 1/3 cup (75 grams) melted unsalted butter) so I’m definitely gonna try these ones as soon as I get my oven fixed =)
Oh yes. I’m going to make these gluten free. For supper tonight. Just the thing I’m in the mood for:).
I made these and my husband who doesnt care for scones said they were the best scones he has ever had. After the second batch he told me these were better than chocolate chip cookies. High praise – and i tend to agree. Delicious. I also made the Bluberry ones and they were awesome.
This was definitely a nice pick-me-up last night. It was my first scone-making experience and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it really was. I made my scones bigger (cutting the rolled out dough into 4 triangles and folding them in half, than 8, I also baked them at a lower temp for about 20 minutes). But they are YUMMY. And they were even Better this morning. Love them! Thank you so much!
Michelle, thank you so much for this fantastic eggless recipe! It was quick, easy, and a huge hit with some friends who are pure vegetarians. For a little extra flavor, I added a heaping tablespoon of raspberry jam to the dough and used a chopped 70% dark chocolate bar. The result was delicious!
These were very good. The texture was perfect! Just like what I’d been purchasing at the coffee shop. I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the AP since I had it, and it worked well. I am however used to a bit sweeter dough and might up the sugar in them a bit next time. The ones I buy are the flavor of a chocolate chip cookie, but the texture of a scone. I get them more as a desert. I was also thinking of adding a littlle vanilla to the mix next time. I loved the turbinado sugar on top. Would you happen to have any recipes or suggestions for coverting this to a lemon or blueberry scone (cream rather than buttermilk)? I see you have cranberry orange posted, and I intend to try this one too. Thank you for posting. Yum!
Hi Heather, You could add some lemon zest to the dough or fold in blueberries, like the blueberry scone recipe I have (although that one does use buttermilk).
Are you supposed to whip the cream before adding to the flour mixture, or just pour in as is? Sounds devine, I can’t wait to make these!
Just pour it in :)
as the last step after you brush with melted butter are you sprinkling regular white sugar or something more coarse like turbinado? thanks :)
Hi Erica, I sprinkle with regular granulated sugar, but you could definitely use something coarse like turbinado!
Isn’t it dry? There is no butter in this recipe except for the brushing on the top of the scones before baking.
They are certainly not dry – there is no butter in the scones, but the recipe DOES include 2 whole cups of cream!
Ching, No they are not dry at all, on the contrary, they are very tender. There isn’t any butter in the recipe but there is a significant amount of cream, which serves as the fat component.
Thanks Anne, you took the words right out of my mouth! :)
Made them last night and they turned out brilliant! I had one for breakfast this morning too! Thanks for the recipie!
These are so lovely! I followed your recipe and made them and they just turned out perfect!!!
Thanks a lot!
Ahhh, these look sinful.
Hi Jess,
Yeah, if you added more than a dusting of extra flour, that’s probably what did it. The key to tender and flaky scones is to handle them much like biscuits – very quickly, lightly, and don’t any more flour than is absolutely necessary to pat them into a shape and get them cut. I hope you’ll give them another try, as they really are delicious!
I made these yesterday and they came out a little tough and not flaky at all. Although the taste was wonderful they were a little hard to get through. Anyone have ideas of what happened? I’m thinking I may have added too much flour because when I was trying to roll into dough it was extremely sticky.
I agree! I think the recipe calls for to much cream. I could not handle the dough, it was way to sticky. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup a flour and they were still really good. I made the pumpkin scones and they were so simple and the dough was really easy to work with, Tasted amazing as well :}
THESE ARE AMAZING!! I only put the scones in the oven for 12 minutes since I know my oven gets really hot. I recommend this recipe for sure!
Hi Tammy, these are definitely not hard or crunchy; they are quite tender. As far as the chocolate, yep you can surely taste it – I would liken it to how much you can taste the chocolate in a chocolate chip cookie.
all i have to say is WOW!
I’ve never been a big scone fan, too hard and crunchy for me, often the primary taste seems to be sugar or grain. Can you really taste the chocolate in these?
Everytime I buy scones I’m always a little disapointed with them. Making my own sounds like a good route.
Scones with Clotted Cream are the best! With chocolate chips I can have scones for dessert and high tea!
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Scones with chocolates are to die for. Good reason to have breakfast in the morning. Thanks.
yum!! I’ve been having a massive craving for scones and these scones look so yummy!
I was given a taste of these scones and they are to die for! They are by far the best scones I have found since leaving Bennington, VT – All Days & Onions had scones that were fabulous. I am so happy to have found a recipe that rivals their recipe – it’s only taken 10+ years!
these look so delicious. i will definitely be trying these sometime soon. i know my mom would love them!
This looks awesome… I love scones and haven’t found a great recipe yet. I’m definitely gonna try yours when I get some good dark chocolate in my hands!
Those look really good. I will have to give them a try.