My husband was desperate for some chocolate, but we were in Covid19 lockdown, so didn’t want to go to the shops for something so frivolous. So I thought I’d bake him something chocolatey as I still had some flour. Hmm, how about some chocolate scones?

I’ve adjusted the amount of cocoa upwards by 10g compared to the first time I made them as husband likes really dark plain chocolate and he wanted them stronger. If you don’t want them as strong, use 10g less

How do I make chocolate scones?

Scones need to be light to be at their best, so sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder (if using) to get some air in.

Into the bowl, add yogurt, oil and a little sugar. Knead very lightly until it comes together as a dough.

Pat out to 2cm / ¾” thickness and cut into scones, scrunching together the trimmings and repeating. I get 8 scones from this mix.

Bake at 220°C/200°C fan/425°F gas 7 for 15 minutes. You really need to keep a close eye on the time as you can’t tell the usual way, from a golden brown colour, that they are cooked. Try not to leave them in any longer than they need or will be rather dry.

What do you have with a chocolate scone?

As with all baking, these are at their very best still warm from the oven when they will be tender and super delicious.

We enjoyed ours with thick cream and bottled dark cherries on top, very reminiscent of Black Forest Gateaux! Or try thick cream drizzled with chocolate spread.

Or my favorite soft cheese would be fab with these. I also loved butter and cherry jam. Raspberry or strawberry would be good too.

Husband also likes them just on their own, like cake.

What other ingredients could be used in a chocolate scone recipe?

I used yogurt to add a bit more tenderness to the scones. This could be replaced by milk, dairy or plant based.

When I was growing up, Mum used to save the soured milk to make the lightest of scones. Milk doesn’t go off as quickly as it did then. We had no fridge other than a large biscuit tin buried in the garden. And milk wasn’t treated in the same way at the dairy.

If you have no cocoa, chop up a 100g bar of dark value chocolate and mix in. Or use cocoa and add a few pieces of a chopped up value chocolate bar. Either milk, white or plain would work well if used as choc chips.

Or try 100g of chocolate spread instead of the cocoa.

There is no need to add eggs to this recipe, so you can make it vegan if you prefer by using plant milk.

How much baking powder do I add to plain flour to make self raising?

I tried this experiment with chocolate scones during the Covid19 lockdown and couldn’t find flour in the shops, all I had left was plain flour, so I needed to convert it to self raising (all purpose) flour.

How much baking powder to add to plain flour should have been an easy question. But it turns out to be a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. It all seems to be a matter of opinion!

Delia says 1 tsp to each 110g plain flour. Nigella says to add 2 tsp per 150g flour. A generic Google answer is to add 1tsp per 200g. I used 2 tsps baking powder to 240g flour and it seemed to work alright, so that’s what I’ve used in the recipe for these chocolate scones

Tomato Scones

https://cheapfamilyrecipes.co.uk/raisin-scones/

first published 3rd March 2020 and updated May 2021