Bakery-Style Cream Scones With Milk Chocolate Recipe

These super-simple scones come together faster than you can preheat an oven.

Wedge-shaped chocolate chunk scones on parchment-covered baking sheet.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

  • Chopped chocolate is a mix of big chunks, little shards, and fine powder, flavoring the dough itself.
  • Milk cuts the richness of cream, keeping the scones light in both taste and texture.
  • Using more cream than butter gives these scones more lactose, helping them brown and crisp along the bottom.
  • A sprinkling of toasted sugar, while optional, adds a crunchy caramel note.

Whether it is a special occasion or just another Tuesday, I don't see any reason why the day shouldn't start off with a warm chocolate scone. It's a fast and simple way to make any morning special, with or without an official excuse to do so. While it's strangely difficult to find a good scone these days (store-bought versions always seem so dry), they're freakishly simple to make at home.

Dark Chocolate vs. Milk Chocolate

You can make these scones with whatever sort of chocolate you prefer, but I've found that dark types can seem almost astringent in the lightly sweetened dough. In the context of the otherwise buttery but simple scone, milk chocolate offers just the right sweetness and flavor, especially if it's on the darker end of the spectrum. Look for brands like Endangered Species 48% in supermarkets, or buy in bulk online; I used Valrhona's Caramélia 36%, made with caramel rather than sugar for more bitterness and complexity than is offered by a typical milk chocolate.

How to Make Cream Scone Dough

Once you've figured out what sort of chocolate you'd like in the scones, the recipe itself comes together in a flash. Just sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl, then add the cubed butter and smash each piece flat. Continue smashing and rubbing to create a coarse meal, with no bits of butter larger than a Cheerio. As in a pie dough, butter coats flour, which helps limit gluten development, delivering more tender scones.

If you like, you can finish the recipe through this step, then wrap the bowl tightly in plastic wrap and stash it in the fridge overnight to streamline prep for breakfast or brunch. Truth be told, my scones don't use a lot of butter, so this part comes together really fast. But it's a nice make-ahead option if you're planning a more complicated spread.

A four-image collage: the top left corner showing chopped chocolate and other dry ingredients in a bowl, the top right image showing cream being poured to the bowl, the bottom left image showing the dough formed into a ball in the bowl and the bottom right showing the dough being shaped into a round shape.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

To make up for the comparative lack of butter, my scones use a lot of cream. Cream is higher in lactose (a natural milk sugar) than butter, which helps the scones brown in the oven. I cut that richness with a splash of milk to hydrate the dough. Using 100% cream would make a dry but rich dough that's golden and tender, but far too crumbly and dense. Meanwhile, using all milk would make the dough sticky, wet, and lean, producing a pale scone that's fluffy but chewy, bordering on tough. After much experimentation, I've found that a 1:3 ratio of milk to cream by weight is just right, making the scones light but tender and tawny gold.

Shaping and Cutting the Dough

Once the dough comes together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface, and gently pat it into a seven-inch round, using your palms to tidy up the edges. If you're serving the scones as part of a more complicated brunch, you can get away with eight or nine pieces, but when serving scones on their own, you'll want to cut no more than six.

Overhead photo of a round chocolate chip scone dough cut into six wedges.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Since the dough itself contains less than a half ounce of sugar, I like to finish the scones with a dusting of lightly toasted sugar to help crisp their craggy tops. If you've baked with me before, then you probably have a bag of lightly toasted sugar left over from blind-baking a pie crust. With its subtle sweetness and a mellow caramel flavor that will only intensify in the oven, toasted sugar is the perfect topping for scones, but if you don't have any on hand, it's fine to use turbinado instead.

Sprinkling sugar over wedges of chocolate chip scone dough.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Whatever the case, remember: It's cut, then sprinkle. Doing it the other way around will cause the sugar crystals to drag down with the knife, creating ragged cuts that look sloppy and can cause the scones to deform as they rise. But if you cut the dough and then sprinkle the sugar on top, each wedge will look sharp and clean.

Wedges of unbaked chocolate chip scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

How to Tell When Scones Are Perfectly Baked

To help the scones crisp along the bottom without drying out, it's best to bake them on a parchment-lined half sheet pan in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. The time will depend on exactly how thick the scones were patted out and the particulars of your oven and pan, so visual cues will be more reliable than any timer.

With their crispy tops, crunchy bottoms, and light but tender middles (not to mention those gooey pockets of molten chocolate), these scones are everything I want in a last-minute breakfast treat.

Chunk of sugar-topped chocolate chip scone on a baking sheet.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

If you're feeling really generous, warm chocolate scones are amazing with a dollop of super-thick and fruity whipped cream, which recalls the combination of strawberry jam and clotted cream.

Wedge-shaped chocolate chip scone sliced and filled with thick cream.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Not that they need it. These scones are rich and moist all on their own, served with nothing more than a piping-hot mug of coffee or tea.

February 2017

Recipe Details

Bakery-Style Cream Scones With Milk Chocolate Recipe

Prep 10 mins
Cook 25 mins
Active 5 mins
Total 35 mins
Serves 6 scones

Ingredients

  • 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups, spooned; 255g), plus more for dusting

  • 1 tablespoon baking powder

  • 2 teaspoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon (4g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume or use the same weight

  • 2 ounces cold unsalted butter (4 tablespoons; 55g), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

  • 6 ounces roughly chopped milk chocolate (1 cup; 170g)

  • 2 ounces milk (1/4 cup; 55g), any percentage will do

  • 6 ounces heavy cream (3/4 cup; 170g)

  • Toasted or turbinado sugar, to taste (see note)

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 400°F (200°C). Sift flour into a medium bowl, then whisk in baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter and toss to break up the pieces, then smash each one flat between your fingertips. Continue smashing and rubbing until butter disappears into a coarse meal. Add milk chocolate and toss to combine, then stir in milk and cream to form a soft dough.

    A three-image collage: the leftmost showing butter cubes in a bowl of flour, the middle showing the butter being worked into the flour and the rightmost showing butter disappearing into coarse meal.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

  2. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7-inch round. Cut into 6 wedges with a chef’s knife, sprinkle generously with toasted or turbinado sugar, and arrange on a parchment-lined half sheet pan. Bake until puffed and golden, about 25 minutes. If you like, serve with clotted cream and strawberry jam, or a spoonful of super-thick and fruity whipped cream.

    Overhead shot of wedges of unbaked chocolate chip scones on parchment-covered baking sheet.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Special Equipment

Half sheet pan

Notes

I love topping these scones with lightly toasted sugar left over from blind-baking a pie, but if you don't have any on hand, turbinado sugar can be used to similar effect.

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Nutrition Facts (per serving)
496 Calories
27g Fat
55g Carbs
8g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 496
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 27g 35%
Saturated Fat 17g 85%
Cholesterol 61mg 20%
Sodium 539mg 23%
Total Carbohydrate 55g 20%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Total Sugars 20g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 0mg 1%
Calcium 230mg 18%
Iron 3mg 16%
Potassium 197mg 4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)