Chocolate Truffle Scones

I love dark chocolate. Apparently people at my husband's workplace do, too. At least, that seems to be the only thing explaining the two separate requests I got for Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Scones. So, I started thinking about why I avoid them, and came up with the fact that they always seem to be far too dry and dense. I blame it on the unsweetened chocolate powder and the regular flour. So in making up this recipe, I opted for a mix of lighter cake flour (to be found in the baking aisle next to regular flour) and regular all-purpose flour. The results, I must say, surprised me.

Mix:

1-1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2-1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate powder (I used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (8 tbsp) cold, unsalted butter, diced

3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (I used 60% cocoa)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup 1% milk

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

1 tbsp instant coffee

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk gently together the heavy cream, 1% milk, vanilla bean paste and instant coffee. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate powder, and brown sugar.

Add the diced butter and work into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add 3/4 cups dark chocolate chunks and mix.

Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and combine until just mixed. Do not over knead. 

Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and divide dough into two even pieces. Flatten each piece into a round about 1/2-inch high. Cut each round into 8 triangles.

Place the scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 400ºF for about 13 minutes or until browned on top (you will have to look at the edges to see the color change).

Serves: 16 small scones*

*these are rich, so they are best served in small amounts.

The Process:

Everything's measured out and ready to go.

Combine the liquid ingredients now so that the instant coffee can dissolve.

Combine dry ingredients first: flours, chocolate powder, brown sugar,
baking powder, salt.

Add butter, cut in.

Mix should look like coarse sand--a few butter lumps are okay.

After adding the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixing just enough to bring together,
press out onto a lightly floured countertop to a 9-inch round.

Alternatively, you can divide the dough into two pieces and make two smaller rounds
so that you can cut small scones.

Cut the 9-inch round into 16 pieces (by cutting each large scone into two,
somewhat irregular pieces).

Or cut the two smaller rounds into 8 pieces each for more regular sized scones.

The finished product: a quite irregular, but decadently tasting scone.

Results:

These tasted like truffles. They are excellent with either a tall glass of milk or a mug of hot coffee. Great as dessert or a decadent breakfast, and wonderful for the chocolate lover in your life.