Chocolate Chip Scones
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Sweet, tender, and buttery with morsels of warm chocolate, chocolate chip scones are a kid favorite.
Whether it’s chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip granola bars, or chocolate chip muffins, I’ve found that anything dotted with chocolate chips will catch a kid’s eye. These chocolate chip scones are no exception — sweet, tender, and buttery with morsels of melted chocolate within, kids (and adults!) absolutely love them. They’re wonderful served warm out of the oven, especially on a lazy weekend morning when you feel like spoiling everyone. This recipe is a variation on my traditional cream scones. The difference is that these are a bit sweeter, dotted with chocolate chips, and flavored with vanilla. They also disappear faster, at least at my house.
Table of Contents
“These are great! I’ve tried to make scones 3 times with other recipes, this is the first time they came out perfectly.”
What You’ll need To Make Chocolate Chip Scones
- Cake Flour: The base of the scones. Cake flour provides a softer, more delicate texture than all-purpose flour. Don’t have cake flour on hand? See the FAQs to see how to make your own cake flour using all-purpose flour and cornstarch.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a leavening agent, helping the scones rise and become light and fluffy.
- Granulated Sugar: Adds sweetness and enhances the flavor of the scones.
- Butter: Incorporates richness and flavor, contributing to the scones’ buttery taste and flakiness.
- Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips: Infuse the scones with bursts of chocolate flavor.
- Egg: Acts as a binding agent, helping to hold the scone dough together.
- Heavy Cream: Provides moisture and richness, resulting in a tender and moist scone. Do not substitute light cream or milk
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances the overall flavor profile with its aromatic sweetness.
- Demerara Sugar: (Also called raw or turbinado sugar) Sprinkled on top for a crunchy, caramelized texture and a hint of sweetness.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by combining the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk to blend.
Add the pieces of cold butter.
Use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles very coarse crumbs. Don’t worry about getting a uniform consistency. All those little pea-size clumps of butter create structure in the scones and make them tender and fluffy when baked.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Combine the cream, egg, and vanilla in a small bowl.
Whisk to blend.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the cream mixture.
Stir with a rubber spatula until blended.
When the dough comes together, dump it onto a work surface dusted with flour. It should be sticky.
Gently knead the dough into a ball.
And then press it into a flat circle about 3/4-inch high.
Cut the circle into 8 wedges.
Transfer the wedges to prepared baking sheet, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden and firm to the touch.
Serve scones warm out of the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cake flour is finer and lower in protein, which makes lighter and fluffier scones. If you don’t have any on hand, a simple blend of all-purpose flour and a bit of cornstarch makes a great substitute. Simply whisk together 1¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch. This easy swap will take your scones from just okay to fantastic, giving them that perfectly tender, fluffy, ultra-buttery crumb. If you’d like some other options for using up cake flour, take your pick from cherry cornmeal upside-down cake to crumb cake to pound cake.
Definitely! To freeze them before baking, place the raw scones on a baking sheet, let set in the freezer, then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Wait until you’re ready to bake the scones to brush on the egg wash, and allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To freeze after baking, let the scones cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Before serving, remove the scones from the container and let them come to room temperature. (If you have the option to freeze the scones before or after baking them, you will get the best results if you freeze before baking.)
Demerara (also called raw or turbinado) sugar is a type of cane sugar with large, crunchy crystals and a slightly amber color. It has a natural caramel-like flavor and is often used to add texture and sweetness to the tops or exterior of baked goods like pecan shortbread cookies and strawberry muffins. If you don’t have it on hand, you can substitute light or dark brown sugar, or simply omit it.
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Chocolate Chip Scones
Sweet, tender, and buttery with morsels of warm chocolate, chocolate chip scones are a kid favorite.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled with knife (see note on substitution)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, best quality such as Guittard or Ghirardelli
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ - ¾ cup heavy cream (do not substitute milk or light cream)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar (also called raw sugar or turbinado)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, baking powder and granulated sugar. Add the pieces of cold butter. Use your fingertips to rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea-size clumps of butter within. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- In a small bowl, whisk together ⅔ cup heavy cream, the egg and the vanilla. Make a well in center of dry ingredients, then add the cream mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix until the dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. If it seems dry, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream.
- Dust a work surface lightly with flour, then dump the sticky dough on top. Knead very gently a few times until the dough comes together into a ball, sprinkling more flour as needed if the dough is too sticky to work with. Press the dough into a circle about ¾-inch high, then cut into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to the prepared baking sheet, and then sprinkle evenly with the demerara sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the scones are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Serve warm.
- Note: If you don't have cake flour, you can make your own: simply whisk together 1¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: To freeze before baking, place the raw scones on a baking sheet, let set in the freezer, then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To freeze after baking, let the scones cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Before serving, remove the scones from the container and let them come to room temperature. (If you have the option to freeze the scones before or after baking them, you will get the best results if you freeze before baking.)
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Serving size: 1 scone
- Calories: 364
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 44 g
- Sugar: 16 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Sodium: 217 mg
- Cholesterol: 70 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Jen, I want to try both the cream and the choc chip scones but why does this choc chip scone recipe have 1 less egg?
Hi Laurie, I’m confused, because they both contain one egg. Let me know if I can clarify anything else. 🙂
This puzzled me as well until I actually made both of them and realized that the plain scones are brushed with an egg wash (2nd egg) before sprinkling the sugar on top. They are both delicious!
Best scones that have come out of our kitchen. Kids (and us) couldn’t get enough!
Hi Jenn! You’ve brought back my confidence in scone making- thank you for that! I have a bag of cinnamon chips that I don’t know what to do with in my pantry. Do you think they would work in place of the chocolate chips in this recipe? Or any other suggestion? Thanks so much 😊
So glad you’re enjoying making scones again! Sure, the cinnamon chips will give the scones a different flavor profile, but they will definitely work. Please LMK how they come out!
I made 64 scones, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin, Cranberry Orange and Blueberry with Tart Lemon Glaze. Made them, froze them, and cooked them all the morning of our craft fair in my community. Only had 3 chocolate chip left at the end of 3 hours and some people came back to order more for the Thanksgiving weekend! I must say your scone recipes are the absolute best I have ever used. Just made more blueberry and cranberry to put in the freezer for the upcoming winter mornings! Love, Love, Love your recipes. Also made your coffee cake, pumpkin muffins and blueberry muffins; banana, cranberry orange and pumpkin breads which sold out almost immediately. Biscotti, whoopie pies and cupcakes galore. It was a good day!! Thank you Jenn for your inspiration in baking!
Sounds like a very productive day — I’m flattered you used so many of my recipes! 🙂
Hi Jenn,
Would this recipe work if I replace the chocolate chips with blueberries?
Sincerely,
Jason
Hi Jason, I wouldn’t recommend it as blueberries would add too much moisture. I have a blueberry scone recipe on page 189 of my first cookbook. If you have the cookbook, you can find it there. If not, email me at jennifer@onceuponachef.com and I’d be happy to send you the recipe.
Just made your Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze from your first cookbook, DELICIOUS!! Had to jump online and see what other variations I can make in the coming months. Love your recipes! I have already preordered and can’t wait for the next cookbook this fall!
i want to try out my new nordic ware mini scone pan (makes 16) – how should i change the recipe’s cook time or other elements, or is it basically the same? thank you, i love your recipes.
Hi Anna-Lynne, It should work. The bake time will be shorter, but I’m not sure by how much so keep a close eye on them. Please LMK how they turn out (and glad you like the recipes)! 🙂
Another great newsletter suggestion and just in time for The Crown and Downton Abbey. One must have scones with the tea. We had tried a couple of other recipes, but the results were not worthy. This recipe jumped out and I convinced my wife we had to try again. Yes, success. I must admit that we used pastry flour and once Italian “00” pastry flour. It seemed to make all the difference in our light, tasty scones. We have tried fruit also (don’t push in the fruit) mix it in. Too bad we will have to wait for the next episodes of the Crown and our scones.
These scones are delicious! I’ve made them multiple times. It seems to double well too, which is perfect for my big family. Love them!
These were so yummy! Very easy to make and so fun! I forgot the sugar on top and they did need the sugar on top, so don’t leave that out!