Talks About Food

This recipe makes for a non-traditional scone, it’s more moist than the crumbly traditional English scones. It’s also got a nice crunchy texture because I added cornmeal to it. I like the fact that it’s gritty and has more of a bite to it. If that’s not your thing, you’re welcome to skip the cornmeal and replace it with regular flour instead.

Chocolate Chip & Strawberry Scones (makes 8 scones)

Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

• 1¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal*
• ¼ cups granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup milk*
• 1 cup diced fresh strawberries
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chopped

* You can skip the cornmeal if you wish, and replace it with all purpose flour instead

* I used almond milk instead of whole milk, and it works just fine.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400F.

In a small bowl, combine the egg, yogurt, milk and zest and whisk to thoroughly combine. Set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the cubes of butter and cut the butter into the dry ingredients until they’re pea-sized.

Add the strawberries and chocolate to the flour mixture and toss to coat.

Add the wet ingredients and fold them into the dry ingredients, mixing just until the dough comes together. 

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and pat it into a large ball.

Cut the ball in half, and shape each half into a flat disk about ½-inch thick. Cut the discs into 8 wedges.

Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake until slightly browned on top, about 15 − 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the scones cool. The scones are best served when still slightly warm. They can be stored on an air-tight container for up to 2 days or frozen up to 5 days.

Do ahead:

You can prepare the scones up to just before baking, then freeze the shaped dough. Though I prefer to freeze the flattened dough disk because it takes up less space on my freezer. I wrap the disk in plastic and store it in the freezer up to a few days.

When I’m ready to bake them, I just take them out, and cut the disk into wedges with a sharp knife. 

The scones can be baked straight from the freezer, with just a few minutes added to the baking time.

Read the story behind the recipe: Scone Crit!