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Double Chocolate Blueberry Scones

Those of you who know me know that I like to make scones. They are great for a quick breakfast or snack. And the basic recipe is versatile and easy to vary. I can use whatever we already have on stock at home.

I previously shared the recipe for Bacon Cheese Scones. This recipe starts with the same basic ingredients, but adds some chocolate-y and fruity goodness. And everyone loves chocolate.

This version incorporates both cocoa powder and chocolate chips for a rich double chocolate flavor.

Experiment with different ingredients to find your favorite combination. Substitute peppermint pieces and extract for the chocolate chips and vanilla. Try different dried fruits. (I especially like dried cherries.) Add some toasted pecans or walnuts. Replace the cocoa powder and vanilla with sliced almonds, craisins, and almond extract. Be adventurous. Your taste buds will thank you.

Ingredients

Start with the ingredients for a basic sweet scone.

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Your variety comes from the mix-ins. For the double chocolate scones, I use

  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup dried blueberries

Directions

Preheat over to 450*.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa in a food processor. Pulse until mixed (1 or 2 times). Add the butter. Pulse until the butter is the size of a pea. Alternatively, you can cut in the butter using a fork or a pastry blender.

Add in the chocolate chips and blueberries. With the processor running on low, slowly add the whipping cream and vanilla until a dough forms. Do not over mix.

Turn out the dough on a clean surface. You may still have patches of dry ingredients in the dough (see photo below).

Gently knead the dough to incorporate any remaining dry ingredients. Pat the dough into a round disk about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

With a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out individual scones. Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Gather any scraps of dough, pat out into a disk, and cut additional scones. You should have 12 to 14 scones.

Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes.

Alternate Directions

Special Request from my sister, Liz Marquez.

If you are really ambitious, you can use fresh blueberries (or other fruit) in lieu of dried fruit. The fresh fruit adds liquid to your mixture, so decrease the amount of whipping cream slightly by a tablespoon or so.

Follow the directions above until you are ready to add the chocolate chips and the blueberries. Transfer the dry ingredients to a large bowl. Mix in the chocolate chips. Then add the blueberries. Gently fold the whipping cream and the vanilla into the dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Pat the dough out into a disk, and follow the remaining directions from above.

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Tabasco Cheese Rolls

I love good bread, especially when it is slathered in butter, fresh out of the oven. Good bread turns a sandwich into something extraordinary, a meal into a feast.

My Grandmother Gibson gave us a Bosch bread mixer when we got married more than 30 years ago. It is perhaps our most beloved and well-used kitchen appliance. I hope it lasts long enough that we can pass it one to one of our children.

One of my favorite types of bread is a Tabasco cheese roll. The recipe initially contemplated baking a single loaf, but we learned years ago that it makes great rolls. It’s one of my Thanksgiving baking traditions.

The recipe calls for sharp cheddar cheese, which pairs nicely with the acidic heat of Tabasco sauce. But if you don’t have sharp cheddar, you can substitute another strong cheese. For the rolls pictured here, I used a combination of cheddar with pecorino romano.

While the rolls are a great side to your meal, they are a tasty foundation for any sandwich.



Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon dry yeast
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/4 cups milk (heated)
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup (or more) grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • Tabasco sauce to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

Instructions

Combine 2 cups flour with the yeast and salt. Heat the milk to 120 to 130 degrees, and add to the dry ingredients. Add the butter and mix for about 2 minutes until the butter is incorporated into the batter. Add the Tabasco sauce.

Add the additional flour a little at a time until the dough no longer clings to sides of the mixer. Knead the dough in the mixer for about 1-2 minutes, until it is stretchy and elastic.

Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

When the dough has risen. turn the dough out on a clean, floured surface. Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into equal sized pieces. Roll the dough into round balls and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.

Cover the rolls with a towel. Let the rolls rise until they have nearly doubled in size, about 50 minutes. While the rolls are rising, heat your oven to 400*.

Bake the rolls for 10 minutes at 400*, then turn the oven down to 350* and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown.

Give your family hot rolls. They will love you forever.

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Challah Bread Pudding

Last week I baked four loaves of Challah bread. We ate one and froze the others to eat later.

Yesterday, Rebecca suggested that I make some bread pudding. We wanted to try a new recipe, and I found a good one in the Baker’s Companion from King Arthur Flour. The book is packed full of recipes and baking tips.

I made a double recipe — one for us and one for a neighbor. It’s the same amount of work to make twice as much food, and it’s good to share.

For a double batch, cut up a loaf of bread into about 20 cups of one-inch cubes of eggy goodness. Toast the bread in the oven at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes. Dried bread soaks up all the milk and egg mixture and makes a great bread pudding.


The mix-ins are next. This is the step where your cooking can get creative. I added 2 cups each of chopped walnuts, dried cherries, and chocolate chips. I like the contrast between the tart cherries and chocolate. And who doesn’t love walnuts? Any other dried fruit — craisins, raisins, blueberries — would work as well.

At this stage, add your sweetener. I used 2 cups brown sugar, but any other sweetener would work as well.

Because this is a double batch, I melted a cube of butter in 2 quarts of milk.

Mix 8 eggs into a bowl with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg, 4 teaspoons cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.


Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the milk mixture. Then pour the combined mixture over the bread bread and fruit. If you use chocolate chips like I did, they will melt in the warm milk mixture.


The dried bread quickly soaks up the milk mixture.

Pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch pan, making sure to distribute the fruit, chocolate, and nuts evenly through the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. (Because we made a double batch, it took longer for the bread pudding to cook.) The pudding is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy.

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Bacon Cheese Scones

I love scones for breakfast. They are quick and easy to make; it’s fun to experiment and try new flavor combinations.

Rebecca likes savory scones. I start with a basic scone recipe and customize it depending on my mood that day.

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Then its time for the flavorings.

  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup (or more) real bacon bits
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Hot sauce to taste (I like Tabasco)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Pulse flour, baking powder, and salt in your food processor. Cut the butter into 1/4 inch chunks and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand (about 5 to 7 times). Add cheese and bacon. Pulse once or twice. With your processor running on low, slowly add the cream and hot sauce to the mixture until a dough forms.

Remove the dough from the processor. Pat it out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the scones using a biscuit or cookie cutter. I like to use a 2-inch square cutter.

Place the scones on a silicone baking sheet about an inch apart.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the scones are golden brown.

When I bake scones, I always bring some in to the office for my colleagues. I like to take care of the people who take care of me.