Soursough Stories, Chapter 7: Chocolate Chip Scones

After a lot of savory recipes, I wanted to make something sweet this week.  We landed on chocolate chip scones, because...they're delicious, and I'd never made a "good" scone before. I've tried a few times, but they were usually dense & dry or too cakey.  But apparently, sourdough starter is the secret to success. Or...perhaps weighing the ingredients. Whatever, doesn't matter. Point is, these were EXCELLENT.

So, last week with the drop biscuits, I was too tired/lazy to grate butter...and didn't have butter. However, now that butter AND egg prices have come back down into a reasonable range, I had BOTH!!!  I put a stick of butter in the ice tray of our freezer while I mixed the dry ingredients with a food processor, and mixed the starter, egg, sugar & vanilla in the Kitchenaid with a wire whisk attachment.

NOTE: I think the food processor is the true key for success here.  This is a tip I got from a cookbook--I have zero recollection which one.  Overworking scone dough will lead to the issues I've had previously.  But a food processor allows for quick mixing while minimizing time spent handling the ingredients.  My previous attempts have all been hand-kneaded or in the stand mixer.  The original recipe calls for hand-kneading...but let's be honest. If I'm taking the time to hand-grate frozen butter, I'm gonna cut corners somewhere else. Time is money.

The original recipe said I should aim for "pea sized clumps" of flour/butter mixture.  I got closer to coarse sand because of the food processor, but it's all good.  I slowly poured the wet ingredients into the flour/butter mix and pulsed the mixer until well combined & pulling away from the sides of the bowl--this took less than 30 seconds of pulses, so not a long time.  

Then I added 1 cup of mini chocolate chips & about half a cup (one large handful) of organic unsweetened coconut flakes (not because I care about such things, but because the last time I needed coconut was during the Great Coconut Shortage of 2022 and that was the only kind available. Sidenote: as someone whose preferred coffee add-in is Coconut Creme Coffee-Mate, those were dark times), pulsed a couple more times, and then turned it out onto a floured cutting board flattened it into about a 9 inch round, then cut into 8 triangles.  

I placed the triangles on a baking sheet then let them chill in the fridge for about 45 minutes while the oven was pre-heating, and while I went about doing other things, like post-vaycay laundry & meal planning. Very exciting stuff.

The original recipe also called for topping these with heavy cream (don't have) and sanding sugar (also don't have), so we went with 1% milk and Sugar in the Raw.  I used less than a packet on the whole batch--I mean--look at those things. They're already completely full of chocolate chips. Extra sugar on top is really just for looks.

In other news--I need to start making recipes that call for more than just 1/2 cup of sourdough discard.  Mandough is growing at an untenable rate; I threw some discard in the trash this week and STILL had too much after feeding to fit my jar.  So he's got a little clone buddy (we'll call him "Rex") in a separate jar in the fridge with him now.  Next week's recipe will be something that uses more starter.

Blackberry Scones

Third trimesters are chaotic.  I've learned this.  You can really feel the time ticking away--and the baby kicking away at your internal organs.  If you're a working lady, you're swamped trying to get balls kicked out of your court before the big day comes so that the people who will be covering for you while you're out have less to worry about.  There's baby classes and showers and last-minute getaways with your partner to try & make the most of the last of your alone time...not to mention that summers are just always FULL of things going on over the weekends...

...and you somehow manage to not cook a single "real" meal all week, aside from a doctored up Hamburger Helper on Monday, and you forget to do any kind of lunch prep over the weekend.  (And maybe everyone else but you raises their hand during baby class when the instructor asks who already has their car seat installed. *sigh*) So...lunches that week are a little thrown together.  Aaaand maybe one morning your stomach/baby decides to reject first breakfast for no good reason.  It's a weird time, and without proper prep & planning, you find yourself eating very random meals like:

Breakfast -8:30a (the second one, which baby was apparently okay with):
Ginger Ale
A banana
Blueberry Nutri-Grain bar

Lunch -11:30a:
cottage cheese w/strawberries
a PB sandwich on multigrain
Earl Grey tea

Afternoon Snack(s) - 2p-4:30p: 
watermelon
grapes
snow peas
Babybel cheese (the highlight of my day--they're SO good)

Pre-Dinner:
5:30p - A packet of Grilled Cheese Captain's Wafers as you drive to your baby class
7:30p - A bag of Panera potato chips your husband brought to the baby class in case they didn't provide snacks (thank goodness...Seriously...who hosts a 3 hour class for 20 pregnant women and doesn't provide snacks?)
8p - 4 more Captain's Wafers (PB & Honey this time)

"Real" dinner (at 9pm after class):
Split a Taco Bell Big Box with the Hubs, eat half a Quesarito & 1 Doritos Locos taco on the way to trivia

Post-Trivia (aka dessert):
11p - Split a Samoa donut with the Hubs from Hurts Donut

Talk about a downward spiral...

BUT...You know what I DID have time to do this past weekend?  Make a big batch of blackberry scones to have for breakfast throughout the week.  

I used Marion Cunningham's base scone recipe, and then added some fresh blackberries that we picked at my cousin's house.  I've had issues making scones in the past, but these turned out really well.  They were slightly more cakey than some of the scones you see, but the Hubs actually preferred that because he thinks regular scones are too dry.

INGREDIENTS (makes 12):

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (you could also do a split, with half AP and half wheat or oat flour)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (note: 1 stick of butter is 4 oz, so I opted to use Smart Balance Spread for the other 2 oz)
• 3/4 cup skim milk (original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I just never have that on hand--the original also calls for more milk, but since you're going to get some additional moisture from the berries, I've removed a bit of the milk)
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (you can toss these with a tablespoon or so of sugar if they're not super-sweet)

To top:

melted butter

granulated sugar

Directions:

Heat the oven to 425F.

Working either by hand or with a stand mixer, combine the first 6 ingredients & mix well.  Then add the chopped butter and mix until it's the texture of cornmeal.  Add the zest & the milk, and then fold in the blackberries (your dough will likely start to take on a bluish tint if you're using fresh berries).

Divide the dough into two balls, and then set one onto a floured surface.  lightly dust the top with flour if the dough is sticky, and then pat flat to about 1-inch thick.  Use a pizza cutter to slice the wheel into 6 wedges.  Repeat with the second ball.

Place the wedges onto a lightly spritzed cookie sheet, then lightly spread melted butter over the tops and generously sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms & tops are browned. (NOTE: since your dough may be bluish, the tops may not get as brown, so use the bottoms as the best reference.)

Serve warm plain, or with butter or jam (or cream if you're a Brit...tell me, is clotted cream as disgusting as it sounds?).  We ate some fresh for breakfast that morning with a Greek yogurt parfait, and then bagged up the rest in the fridge for breakfasts through the week.

NutriFacts (per scone):

• Calories233.8
• Total Fat10.0 g
• Saturated Fat6.0 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat0.5 g
• Monounsaturated Fat2.8 g
• Cholesterol26.2 mg
• Sodium307.9 mg
• Potassium79.2 mg
• Total Carbohydrate32.5 g
• Dietary Fiber1.6 g
• Sugars7.7 g
• Protein4.0 g

Bonus recipe: Pumpkin Cranberry Scones

Scones will forever & always remind me of the year I lived in New Orleans, thanks to Maurice’s bakery.

Let’s travel back in time, shall we?  To 2004: I was a post-grad student at University of New Orleans, working part time as a grad assistant on campus, and part-time as a gourmet foods associate (read: cheese monger) at Martin’s Wine Cellar in Metairie. Jean-Luc, the owner of Maurice’s, was a regular at our store, and like any true Frenchman, he favored the ooey, gooey, nasty, sweaty-foot-stanky French cheeses we carried.  You name it: Camembert, Munster, Pont l’Eveque, Vacherin… if it got gooier & stinkier with age, Jean-Luc loved it.  I’ll never understand that, especially since there are so many delicious non-stanky french cheeses (like the beautiful Brin d’Amour, a slightly tangy sheep’s milk cheese that’s coated in dried rosemary & other herbs… but I’m getting off-topic…)  Anyway, despite his taste in cheese, he was a really wonderful person & always pleasant to talk to.

One of my coworkers, Ozzy, also worked for Jean-Luc at his bakery, so occasionally on Sunday mornings, she’d bring in a few pastries with her to the morning shift at Martin’s, which I always worked.  Maurice’s scones are now, and will always be, the epitome of scone perfection (particularly the cranberry-orange).

Well, I had some dried cranberries and roasted pumpkin laying around, so I figured: why not make some scones?  Found a base recipe, and with a few modifications, we have this:

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup light butter, chilled

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup canned or roasted pumpkin

1 egg white

sugar (coarse if you have it)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

In a mixing bowl, combined the first 6 ingredients & mix.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or I just used my Kitchenaid) until the dough looks like coarse crumbs. 

Add cranberries, egg, pumpkin, milk, juice to the dry ingredients and mix until moistened. 

Knead on lightly floured breadboard until nearly smooth (several seconds).  If it gets too sticky, add extra flour as you knead.  Roll dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 4x3 inch rectangles; cut each rectangle in half to form triangles.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. In a small bowl, mix egg white with a a little water & beat well.  Brush over the scones with a pastry brush and then sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm with butter (we had a few with apple butter or pumpkin butter which was also quite nice.)

Nutrifacts:

Calories 217.1

Cholesterol 59.2 mg

Sodium 280.0 mg

Total Carbohydrate 26.9 g

Dietary Fiber 1.2 g

Sugars 5.5 g

Protein 3.7 g