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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Delicious and easy! I followed the recipe as written (with the flour/cornstarch sub) and the scones were so light and tender. I did have to bake them about 4 minutes longer but I think that may have to do with my oven temp not being accurate. I will definitely make these again!
These are delicious! I like that they bake up with a tender crust on the bottom/edges/corners but remain tender inside. The recipe is easy to follow and overall simple to execute. I also like that are lightly sweet and not all dense. I shaped mine into a square and cut into 12 triangles. Home run recipe!! Thanks Jenn.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times and never had it NOT turn out. Both my kids love these and so do the adults! I have made with both mini chocolate chips and regular. The bigger chips are better. I have sprinkled with both turbinado sugar and regular sugar. The regular is preferred because it’s not as big of crystals. I have also forgotten the sugar topping, which definitely adds some necessary sweetness so don’t try that! I have also made these for guests, with many requests for the recipe. I used to think scones were difficult to make; however, I’d now suggest trying these to anyone.
These are YUMMY! Soft and tender, wonderful with a cup of tea. I used a 3.5 ounce bar of Cadbury chocolate (chopped into small pieces) instead of chocolate chips.
I will never buy another scone again! These are easy to pull together quickly enough in the morning to satisfy the demands of a 3 year old. They are crumbly, tender and delicious! I used mini chips as another person recommended, but large ones would also have been fine.
I made this twice back to back and both times the dough was soooo sticky I wound adding upwards of 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour to make it workable. I’ve had success with all of your recipes, not sure what I did wrong here. Your blog shows a photo of “heavy whipping cream” and I used “heavy cream.” Could this be the issue?
Sorry to hear you had a problem with these! Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are really interchangeable, so that shouldn’t cause a problem. Did you make any other adjustments to the recipe?
Absolutely delicious..froze them a week ahead as instructed and baked an additional minute or two. I think the cake flour makes them so tender. Jenn, this is the only scone recipe I will make from now on.
This is the recipe that got me hooked on #onceuponachef
My co-workers and I are all hooked and the recipe book is in the mail for Christmas for everyone!
Great recipe. I was intimidated since I never made scones before but thanks to your pictures, showing each step, I gave it a try and the results were delicious scones that I would be happy to share with special guests.
I have tried several chocolate chip scone recipes with little success. This recipe was a completely different story. Perfection! Thank you for sharing this fool-proof, delicious recipe! These scones were absolutely amazing! Mine were done to perfection in 12 minutes! Instead of the coarse sugar topping, I let them cool then drizzled on a glaze made of powdered sugar and milk. My search is over. Will make these again and again. 🙂