7 April 2012

Wholesome Chocolate: Chocolate Scones

Chocolate Chip Scones are the ultimate in chocolate decadence

It’s Easter, and chocolate is everywhere – in Easter eggs, biscuits, bars, drinks and boxes of chocolates to bring to your host for Easter dinner. I wanted something different, though: something wholesome; something lighter than a ganache-filled chocolate yet still decadently chocolaty; something to go with a nice cup of tea; and something that the nieces and nephews could help me make – in my trusty Thermomix, of course!

Whilst reading this week’s edition of The Week, I came across the perfect idea: Rose Carrarini’s Chocolate Scones. Ms. Carrarini runs The Rose Bakery in Paris, France, and has been serving up typically English baked goods to the French for the past ten years. She is now the monthly baking columnist for The Financial Times. And if these delicious, wholesome chocolate scones are a suggestion of things to come, I’ll make sure ThermoHubby John brings home the FT every time her column comes out!

Turn the TM bowl upside down on a floured surface and release the blades to allow the dough to drop out.

The Rose Bakery’s Chocolate Scones
Adapted for Thermomix by Madame Thermomix from a recipe published in The Financial Times and reprinted in The Week. According to the recipe notes this makes 6 to 8 decadently thick scones depending on the cutter, but I made two dozen thinner ones. According to Carranini, “These special scones are really good served with clotted cream and marmalade, but are also great served warm with a little butter. Always serve scones warm.” We enjoyed them plain and golly, were they good!

Ingredients
130 g whole milk
1 medium egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
275 g plain flour
½ tsp salt
1 level Tbsp baking powder
25 g cocoa powder
70 g sugar
75 g butter, cut into cubes
180 g chocolate chips (optional, but you’d be silly not to use them!)
1 extra egg for glaze
a little sugar to top (optional)

The entire Thermomix is a sensitive weighing machine which gives rise to all sorts of weighing possibilities

Method

Preheat oven to 190° C (no fan). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper or a silicone sheet. Add milk, egg and vanilla extract to your Thermomix bowl and mix 3 seconds/Speed 4.
Weigh in flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and butter. Knead 20 seconds/Dough (Interval) Setting.
Scrape down the sides of the TM bowl with the spatula and knead again 10 seconds/Dough Setting. Don’t be tempted to knead or mix your dough any more; scone dough should only be just mixed.
Turn the TM bowl upside down on a floured surface and release the blades to allow the dough to drop out. Pull dough carefully off the blades. If using, weigh out 180 g of chocolate chips and pour over the dough. Pat the chips gently into the dough and form a circle about 4 cm/1.5 inches thick. Cut the dough into triangular pieces or cut rounds with a biscuit cutter. (I made a rectangle and cut my scones roughly into squares, just to be different I suppose!) Arrange scones of your baking tray.
Beat the remaining egg with a pinch of salt and brush on the tops of the scones. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked inside (and the chocolate chips are all gooey). I did not like the look of the egg wash on my scones so I topped them with a bit of granulated sugar, but icing sugar – made in the Thermomix, of course! – would do just as well. Serve warm with a glass of milk, a cup of tea or a coffee and enjoy.

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