I Always Make a Double Batch of This Old-Fashioned British Pastry

I make these scones for my family a lot. Not every time I visit (sometimes they want these pancakes), but they request these chocolate chip scones for Sunday breakfast more than anything else. I totally get it. I fell in love with them the minute I saw the photo, and they look and taste just as good IRL. No #NailedIt happening here.

The only issue: The recipe only serves eight. Between my parents, siblings, significant others, and my objectively adorable two-and-a-half-year-old nephew, that doesn’t leave a lot of any leftovers. My family, more specifically, my dad, is savvy with numbers, which is why he suggested I “please double the recipe and freeze some,” so he could have a freshly-baked scone whenever he felt like it, and not just on the Sundays that I’m in town. 

Get the recipe: Easy Chocolate Chip Scones 

How to Make Easy Chocolate Chip Scones

I’ve made this recipe so many times, I basically have it memorized. You start by whisking the dry ingredients — flour, granulated and brown sugars, baking powder, and salt — together in a bowl. Then, it’s time to get your hands a little dirty, first by working in cubes of chilled butter, then the chocolate chips.

I can’t stress this enough: The key to these tender and decidedly not dry scones is to keep the butter cold. So if your dough gets warm at any point, pop it in the fridge.

Now, on to the liquid! After whisking the cold heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract together in a liquid measuring cup (why dirty an extra bowl?), pour it into the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until the flour is moistened. Then get back in there with your hands to make sure all the flour is incorporated into the dough. Mold it into a round disc before cutting it into eight wedges and sprinkling with coarse sugar (only if you want — I’ve done it both ways, and while I don’t miss the sugar when I skip it, I like the added sweetness and slight crunch that comes with a sprinkling). Let the scones chill for a good 15 minutes in the fridge before they bake, and give them a solid five minutes to cool once they’re out of the oven.

Lastly, arrange any unbaked wedges on a separate parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag. They’re ready-to-bake from frozen — no thawing required.

What Makes Easy Chocolate Chip Scones So Good

Our food editor Patty Catalano told me to think about these as “a ​​marriage of cream scones and chocolate chip cookies.” Her description could not be more spot-on. They’re tender, but not dry in the slightest, and have that same melt-in-your-mouth quality that comes with a great chocolate chip cookie. Equally as important, they also freeze really well in raw form, which means you can have a freshly-baked scone in pretty much 20 minutes any day of the week, not just on Sundays.

Get the recipe: Easy Chocolate Chip Scones

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