Monday, November 24, 2014

Prince Charming Scones!

Recently a friend of mine asked me to bake some scones (you know, like 70 or 80!) for her to give as holiday gifts to her friends :)  She knows that I really like baking and hope to someday open something like a bakery or baked goods business (click here for my site: Fairytale Baked Goods!).  She loves my scones and wants her friends to love them too so they will order too!  What a great friend, right?!  So her challenge to me: make some kind of coffee, chocolate, and nut scone.  I tried out something today the scones came out great.  Introducing: Prince Charming scones: coffee, chocolate chips, and walnut scones topped with a crunchy sugar crust!  Hey, something with coffee and chocolate sounds like a prince to me (especially early in the morning)!  Below is my recipe if you want to make your own Prince Charmings ;)  



Prince Charming Scones!
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup of white sugar
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder (Toll House is my fave)
1 Tablespoon of instant coffee (you know, the stuff people stir into hot water)
6 Tablespoons of salter butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk 
1 egg
2 teaspoons of coffee extract (don't be fancy, I got the store brand)
2/3 cups of mini chocolate chips
2/3 cups of chopped walnuts

Topping:
2-3 Tablespoons of heavy cream
1/4 cup of white sugar

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Foil a pan, lightly spray it with cooking spray, and set it aside.
Mix the heavy cream, milk, egg, and extract in a cup, and put it in the fridge.  Stir with a fork the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder, and instant coffee.  Cut the butter into dime size pieces and put them into the flour mix.  Use 2 knives, a fork, or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mix until you get mostly pea-size pieces of butter in the flour.  Dump in the chocolate chips and walnuts and stir until evenly dispersed. Pour in the cream mixture and stir with a fork until you have a loose dough (don't over mix).  Carefully pour out the dough onto a surface (I use a floured cutting board) and do your best to form it into a ball.  Fold the dough, bring it back together, and repeat a few times.  Then, divide the dough into 2 equal pieces.  Shape both pieces into round disks about an 1-1/2 thick.  Then cut each disk in half and each half into 4 wedges.  Place the wedges on your foiled and sprayed pan and brush each wedge with cream.  Sprinkle each wedge well with sugar.  Bake for about 16 minutes, cool, and enjoy!  :)  



Note: I usually freeze my scones and take one out as I want one...or two.  For reheating, defrost in the microwave for 1 minute until soft (not too warm) and toast in the toaster oven or regular oven at 350 for 3-4 minutes.  If you're like my mom who tells me that cooking/baking gives her a rash (LOL), just nuke a frozen scone for 30 seconds in the microwave ;)