This Triple Chocolate Scone is love at first sight, which later turn into me being head over heels in love with it. It’s triple chocolate! Why would I not fall in love to something as delicious as this. Sometimes I am thankful that this is only a small batch of 4, but sometimes I wished I had more. Not to sound too greedy but when crave for something like this, I gotta have it all to myself, now I sound really greedy 🙂 all to myself. Anyways, I’ve made quite a few scone recipe but realized that I haven’t shared and Chocolate Scones and Chocolate Chip Scones in my blog. So today, I am going to checked one of these two on my list. Since I am really craving for something chocolatey lately, we are going to make Triple (not double) Chocolate Scones. Ready? Let’s do this!

Why You Should Make This Scone

• Because it’s triple chocolate treat, why pass that chance? 
• Easy breezy recipe. Ready in 1 hour 
• Soft and moist and so chocolatey, remember triple chocolate, repeat after me 
• Breakfast, snack, lunch even have it as dessert for dinner
• Great for freezing for later baking

What are the Ingredients for Triple Chocolate Scone

• All-Purpose Flour – All Purpose or plain flour is just fine for this recipe. We need a stable base, and plain flour will do the job.
• Cocoa Powder – Natural or dutch processed will both work
• Baking Powder – This will help the scone give a little lift
• Cornstarch – This will help make the scone soft. Cornstarch makes the scones thick and sticky thus avoiding a dry scone
• Salt – Salt always help enhance the taste of the scone, do not forget to add it
• Brown Sugar – Brown sugar adds moisture to the scones. The addition of cocoa powder usually makes the scones dry and using brown sugar instead of white sugar could add more moister to the scones
• Butter – You have to use frozen butter, not cold, FROZEN. Frozen butter makes a better scone because it stays firm and solid longer during the mixing process
• Buttermilk – Buttermilk helps produce a softer scones
• Chocolate – It wouldn’t be triple if we do not drizzle melted chocolate on top. I used dark chocolate, semi-sweet will work too

How to Make Triple Chocolate Scone

Just like when making and scones or biscuit, start with cold ingredients. Cold frozen butter and buttermilk Cold ingredients are crucial when making scone and biscuit. Start by mixing all dry ingredients together (except the brown sugar). Make sure to sift all ingredients since we are using cocoa powder which tends to have lumps. 

Why Use Frozen Butter?

Next grate the frozen butter onto the dry ingredients. Notice I said “frozen” not just cold. Frozen butter stay hard longer so it stay solid during the mixing process. The last you want is a butter that starts to melt even before it gets into the oven. The goal is to keep the butter as firm as possible. The butter needs to melt as the scones bake (not before that). When the small pieces of butter melts during the baking process, if releases steam leaving pockets of holes and layers in the dough thus creating a flaky soft scone. 

Why Grate the Butter?

There are several options that you can do when working with the butter. You can use box cheese grater, pastry cutter, fork, two knives or your hand (least recommended). Among all these, I find that using box cheese grater is the best option. It produces almost even pieces of butter that distributes easily in the flour mixture. Plus, it is faster and easier especially if using frozen butter. Trust me, I’ve tried all the methods I mentioned above, plus food processor and I find the box cheese grater the best. 

Why Use Buttermilk?

Once the dry ingredients and butter had been mixed, gradually pour the buttermilk then manually mix. Start by using a study spoon to avoid too much touching of the dough. Then when it gets heavy to mix, switch to using your hands to gather the dough into a ball. Buttermilk produces a softer lighter scones. You can easily make your own buttermilk by combining milk plus lemon juice or plain white vinegar. 

Help! My Dough Looks Dry!

Don’t panic, this is easy to fix. Simply add a little bit more buttermilk until the dough come together. Cocoa powder tends to dry out scones. If you did not measure the dry ingredients properly, you could end up with a dry though, plus there are also other factors that could affect the amount of liquid needed, like the age of the flour. Older flour requires more liquid, humidity could also be a factor. Important thing to remember when adding more liquid, add it gradually in small amount. 

Tips in Making Triple Chocolate Scones

• Cold Ingredients: This is one of the secret to a flaky Scones just like with biscuit and pie crust. Eggs, cream/milk/water should be cold not only the butter. Using cold ingredients prevents the butter from melting before the scones are baked, leaving it instead to melt in the oven and create a super-flaky end result
• Use Brown Sugar – When using cocoa powder, I prefer to use brown sugar as sweetener because it adds moisture and lessen the chance of the scones to be dry. Cocoa powder can dry up the scones so it is important to hydrate the mixture without adding too much liquid, and that’s where brown sugar comes in. 
• No Over Mixing:  Just like when making bread over mixing could result to a tough scones. This is why it is very important to handle the dough with care, slightly and gradually push it around but do not knead it too much to make the texture smooth. Stop as soon as you are able to gather it up together. With scones, lumps and bumps is perfectly fine, in fact, it is advisable.
• Chill or Freeze Before Baking: The dough will soften as you handle it because of the warmth of your hands, so as extra precaution, chilling it or even freezing it before baking is highly recommended for a flaky texture.
• Hot Oven – Pre-heated hot oven is recommended when baking scone or biscuit. This is important so that the scones could reach its fullest height and lightest crumb.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cups Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of Salt
• 1/8 teaspoon Cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup frozen Butter (freeze overnight or at least minimum 4 hours)
• 7 tablespoon Buttermilk
• 1/4 cup chopped Semi Sweet or Dark Chocolate (Divided: set aside 1 tablespoon for pressing on top)

For the Chocolate Drizzle

• 2 tablespoon Chocolate Chips or chopped Chocolate Semi Sweet or Dark
• 2 teaspoon Milk

How to Make Buttermilk

You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar to 7 tablespoon milk. Leave for 5 minutes until it curdles

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF / 180ºC. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Dry Ingredients: Put a sieve on top of a large bowl then add the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and cornstarch then sift. Use a whisk and stir the mixture. Add the brown sugar and mix until incorporated. Put the bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will keep the bowl and the ingredients really cold so the butter don’t melt easily.
3. Grate the Butter: Using a large box grater or any large cheese grater, grate the frozen butter onto the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix from time to time to distribute the butter into the flour and cocoa mixture.
4. Add Chopped Chocolate: Add the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips then mix to distribute. Set aside 1 tablespoon for topping later.
5. Buttermilk: Gradually pour buttermilk, start with 4 tablespoon and gradually add 1 tablespoon at a time until most of the dough is moist enough to make the mixture to clump together. Use a sturdy spoon until the mixture turn into a dough. Switch to using your hands to gather the dough into a ball. Stop adding buttermilk as soon as the dough come together. You may or may not use all buttermilk. If the dough is still dry, you can add a little bit more buttermilk (about 1 teaspoon at a time), but be careful not to add too much or the dough will be too wet and sticky.
6. Shape: Transfer the dough onto the working surface, and quickly give it a few turns to avoid very dry spots. Do not over mix,the more you touch it and mix it, the tougher the baked scones will be. Stop once it starts to clump together, or you are able to form it into a disk, about 5-inch diameter.
7. Press Chocolate on Top: Press the remaining chopped chocolate on top.
8. Wrap and Chill: Cut into 4 traiangles and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the freezer for at last 30 minutes or it can be left overnight in the freezer of refrigerator. If baking straight from the freezer, add 1-2 minutes in the baking time.
9. Transfer in Cookie Sheet: Arranged in a parchment lined baking sheet
10. Brush Top: Brush top with additional buttermilk (optional)
11. Bake at 400F for about 16- 18 minutes or until top turned golden brown and risen. If baking a frozen scone straight from the oven, add 1-2 more minutes.
12. Cool: Let cool in a wire rack
13. Chocolate Drizzle: Microwave the chocolate and milk for 15 – 20 seconds. Stir until smooth. For a thinner consistency, Add more warm milk. Do NOT add cold milk as it will harden the mixture.
14. Serve: Drizzle the melted chocolate on top of the cooled scones.

Makes 4 pieces

Recipe Notes:

• Make sure to use very cold ingredients. Do not take out the ingredients (butter, milk) from the fridge unless you are ready to use it.
• Do not leave the scones at room temperature while pre-heating the oven. Take it out from the fridge only when you are ready to bake it.
• Do not over mix it. Knead it just enough to form it. Over mixing it will make it tough and you will not get a flaky texture.
• Orange zest can be replaced by lemon zest, or if you do not want any citrus flavoring, you can totally omit it.
• You can freeze the dough for 2-3 months. When you want to bake it, take it out from the freezer and leave in the fridge overnight. No need to leave in room temperature, bake directly from the fridge.

Enjoy! If you make this, share and tag me in Instagram #SweetNSpicyLiving. I would like to see your creations too.

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