Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

I think I'm officially on a scone kick. Not sure why that is, but I'm totally ok with it. I wanted to make scones and really wanted a simple chocolate chip version.These scones are tender, sweet and have the perfect chocolatey cocoa flavor for a tasty kick to breakfast. And anything that will give me chocolate first thing in the morning is a winner in my book. I made these mini because it's just so easy with my mini scone pan, but you could make them larger via the traditional method, or even just drop them on a sheet pan. However you decide to get these in your oven, you won't be disappointed.

Snickerdoodle Mini Scones

It's been a while since I whipped up some scones, so I thought one Saturday morning I'd make up a batch. And since I know snickerdoodle is one of Dave's favorite flavors, it seemed appropriate to make that my flavor base for these scones. On and I made them mini. Because, well, mini. The result? Tender, flaky scones teaming with cinnamon and sweetness. Topping and glaze? Yes and please.

Red Velvet Scones

Two Christmases ago, I asked for a mini scone pan because I thought it would be fun and clever to make two- or three-bite scones for a lazy Sunday breakfast or as a treat for the office.  And then I never made scones.  Until I saw these babies and had to make them the same day I saw the recipe.  As in immediately.  Maybe because they fit my red velvet theme.  Maybe because I felt guilty for my lonely little scone pan.  Or maybe because I needed a flaky chocolate baked good now or sooner.  But for whatever reason out came the pan, together came the batter and into the oven they went.  The house smelled like butter and chocolate and I could barely wait for them to cool before topping these scones with the cream cheese frosting leftover from my red velvet brownies.  These scones have a slightly more cakey texture than a traditional scone, but there is still a level of flakiness that makes them tasty scone-y.  The color is perfect and the red velvet flavor is very yummy.  The frosting is delicious and pairs well, but if you would rather not top the scones, adding some white chocolate chips to the batter would be an excellent alternative.

Mini Egg Scones

I completely stole this recipe from We Are Not Martha and they are awesome.  Cadbury Mini-Eggs are pure bliss that are one of the few candies that have maintained their amazingness by being elusive and not infringing on all the other holidays.  (Yes, I'm aware of the Christmas version, but those are hard to find, so they are still elusive and don't count.)  While you only need a cup of Mini Eggs for this recipe, which is a little less than a regular 8 ounce bag, do yourself a favor and buy two bags.  Because inevitably you'll open the bag before you're ready to bake and have one or two.  And then you'll have one or two more.  And then one more.  And then you leave the kitchen, come back and have two more.  And by the time you go to bake you'll have just less than a cup of them.  So you'll open the other bag to make up the difference.  I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with the rest of the second bag.

A coworker shared this recipe and I just had to make it because I love this candy so much.  Plus I mentioned them to my mom and her mouth started to drool, so the Easter Bunny had to send some to her.  Dave really liked these, too, which surprised me because he didn't know what a scone was.  Like Sues did in the original recipe, I decided to melt a Cadbury Creme Egg to drizzle over half the scones.  Unfortunately I thought my microwave melting technique (described below) would result in a chocolate sauce but instead I got a chocolate spread.  So I spread it on half of them.  Next time, I'll probably do it the right way over the doubleboiler and use 2 creme eggs instead of one.  And I'd probably read the recipe correctly and add the milk Sues suggests to thin out the chocolate.

Mini Egg Scones

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, chilled
1/4 cup sugar
6 ounces vanilla Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup Cadbury Mini Eggs, crushed or chopped
2 Cadbury Creme Eggs (optional)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Dice the butter into small pieces.

Add to flour mixture.  Using a pastry blender, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture until you get coarse crumbs.

Add the sugar, vanilla Greek yogurt, vanilla and milk.  Stir gently, but not completely.

Chop up the Mini Eggs.  This is actually pretty hard to do with a knife (even the super duper ones I have) because of the crisp sugar shell and their shape.  I actually chopped each one individually.  Next time I would either use a mini chopper and pulse it 2 or 3 times or I would toss them in a zip top bag and bang at them with a mallet a handful of times.

Add the mini eggs to the batter and stir completely until all the wet ingredients are incorporated and you have a soft dough.

Divide the dough into two pieces and put on two parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheets.  Work each piece into a roughly 8 inch circle. 

Cut into 8 triangles (I used my pizza cutter for this).  Don't separate the pieces!

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.  Remove from oven and recut the triangles.

Return to oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes or until lightly golden and firm on the edges, but with a little softness in the center.

Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then move to complete cooling on wire racks.

Cut a Cadbury Creme Egg into quarters and put in a microwave safe dish.

Melt in microwave for 20 seconds at 30% power.  Stir and repeat until chocolate is completely melted and spreadable.

Smear on half the scones.

Note: You can melt chocolate in the microwave, but you can also burn it.  The trick is to go low and slow, using very low power (30 or 40 % max) and short time periods (in this case, 15-20 seconds at a time.) It's a great alternative to a double boiler and often faster.

Makes 16 scones.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess