Triple-Chocolate Scones

A wonderful friend sent me a big box of all sorts of fun baking spices from Penzey's a while back and I've been trying to use them to make some new, fun things. 

Some of the items in the box are normal - vanilla beans, cocoa powder, poppy seeds... but then there are a few I've never played with - double-vanilla extract, 3 different kinds of ground cinnamon, cardamom (umm.. this makes chai spice... it is amazing!). 

I have a great base recipe for scones that I adore and always gets me many compliments so I decided to break into the box and use something new to make up some scones for a treat - I chose Natural High-Fat Cocoa. Go big, or go home.. right?!

My scone recipe starts with sour cream with a bit of baking soda mixed in. 

 This is the sour cream right after I mixed in the baking soda - you can already see it getting fluffy.

 And this is after about 10 minutes. It almost doubles in size! The sour cream becomes unbelievably fluffy and airy. I like to think of it as a cool baking-science experiment.

 See all this butter... it goes into these scones. Yeeuummm.

I decided to chop up block chocolate to mix into the scones.

The chopped-up chocolate melts right into the scones and makes them super moist and chocolaty.  

 Once all the dry ingredients are mixed up, cut in the butter with a pastry cutter. 

 Pat the dough out to be about 3/4"thick; add more chocolate to the top before cutting into triangles

 Cut into triangles, put on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to bake.

Eat your scones with your favorite coffee beverage - that's the best way!

Cheers to the cook!

Triple-Chocolate Scones 

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cover a two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in the chocolate.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Cut into wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Do not over bake.
6. Cool on baking rack