Sweetheart Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

My sister-in-law, Jena, has a saying,  'Everything's better with chocolate chips.'    Jena is a wise woman.   When I saw a recipe for Chocolate Chip Scones I knew I had to give them a try.  This recipe is for Jena because she is right, almost everything is better with chocolate chips!  

If you like pain au chocolat, then you will love these.  I am going to show you a little trick that will make your scones light and lovely.  Before you measure out the flour, place one heaping tablespoon of cornflour (corn starch) into the measuring cup then continue measuring out the plain flour as usual.  The addition of cornflour makes the flour lighter, almost like cake flour, so your scones will be lighter in texture, too.  Of course, you can skip this step and just use all plain flour to make the dough. 

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 1/4 cup plain flour (remember the cornflour trick when measuring out flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons cold butter
3 fluid ounces of cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 to 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.  

Place the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into mixing bowl and stir them all together to combine them.  Add the butter and cut or rub it into the flour mixture until it looks crumbly.  I use a pastry cutter to keep the butter from getting soft.  It is one of my favourite kitchen tools.

Pour the chocolate chips into the crumbly mixture.  Stir until the chocolate chips are well distributed.  

Combine the cream, egg and vanilla extract.  Add most of the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients.  Save back a couple of teaspoons to brush over the tops of the scones before baking.  Gently stir the ingredients until they form a soft dough.  DO NOT OVER MIX or you will make tough scones. 

Dust your work surface with a generous amount of flour and gently pat the dough into a thick circle.  The dough should be about 3/4 inch thick. Dip a heart shaped cookie cutter into flour and cut out the scones.  Gather the scraps to finish cutting out the scones.  Try not to add too much additional flour to the remaining dough.

Place the scones on the lined baking tray and brush the tops with the reserved cream mixture.  If you want, you can press a few extra chocolate chips into the top of the scones.  This is a trick professional bakers do to make food look luscious! 

Bake the scones for about 20 minutes or until they are a light golden brown.  Serve them warm.   Store any leftover scones in an airtight container and warm them in a 350F/180C oven for a few minutes before serving.  

You can dust these with icing sugar or serve them with apricot jam, but I thought they were lovely plain, warm out of the oven.  Jena is right, everything is better with chocolate chips!