Scones are one of those baked goods that seem really simple to make, but are also really simple to mess up. A bit too much or too little of something and they venture off into the realm of the dry and unappetizing... You go along, following the recipe as you should, seemingly making no errors, yet they come out of the oven dense and crumbly. They must be good friends with pie crust. It also likes to journey to tough, dry, barely edible baked goods land. That being said, when a scone comes out well, it is heaven with a cup of coffee.
These scones combat the dry, crumbly problem, giving you a leg up on the game with a rich, moist filling of cinnamon, butter, and sugar. It's pretty hard to go wrong with that! The batter is speckled with dark chocolate chips and they the recipe includes oats, which made me feel better about all the butter I was consuming. The recipe hails from one of my favorite sites, mykitchenaddiction.com. I have tried many of the recipes on that site, and I haven't had a bad one yet! The original recipe calls for flax seed, so all you health nuts can go crazy with it ;) I left them out, some days I don't feel like a nut... okay, it's been a long day, and I need to stop with the puns, so here's the recipe, enjoy!!
Cinnamon Sugar Stuffed Chocolate Chip Scones
For the filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder (optional)
For the dough:
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup milled golden flax (I left this out)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter (cold)
6 ounces plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup lowfat milk plus additional to brush on tops of scones
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top of scones
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a nine-inch cake pan and cut a circle of parchment to line the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling, using a fork to evenly incorporate the butter to form moist crumbs. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the dough – the rolled oats, white whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, milled golden flax (if using), granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Use a cheese grater and grate the butter into the dry ingredients, working it in with your fingers until the mix resembles sand.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients and the chocolate chips to the dry ingredients.
Use a fork to incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry, just until a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and use your hands to gently knead the dough and form it into a ball. Don't overwork the dough, or you may get a drier scone.
Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a disc that is approximately 9 inches in diameter (to fit into the pan).
Place one of the discs of dough in the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
Spread the prepared filling on top of the first disc. Top with the second disc of dough, pressing down lightly to remove any air bubbles.
Use a dough scraper to cut the scones into 12 wedges (as you can see from the picture below, mine was ten uneven wedges, nobody's perfect).
Brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake the scones for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Use a wire rack to flip the scones out of the pan, and then use a plate to invert the scones one more time so that they are right-side up.
