Equipment
Ingredients
Brown Butter Component
- 115 g unsalted butter, solidified after browning
Dry Ingredients
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 80 g light brown sugar, packed
- 14 g baking powder
- 3 g fine sea salt
Wet Ingredients & Mix-ins
- 130 ml heavy cream, very cold
- 30 ml brewed espresso shot, chilled
- 6 ml vanilla extract
- 150 g dark chocolate (70%), chopped into chunks
Nutrition (per serving)
Method
Brown the butter in a saucepan until nutty and golden. Pour into a small bowl and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes or the fridge for 1 hour until it is solid again but still slightly pliable.
Preheat oven to 205C/400F. Whisk flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Ensure no clumps of sugar remain.
Add the cold solid brown butter to the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining.
Whisk the cold heavy cream, chilled espresso, and vanilla together. Pour into the flour mixture and add chocolate chunks. Stir gently with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn dough onto a floured surface. Fold the dough over itself 2-3 times (this creates layers for rising). Pat into a 2.5cm thick disc and cut into 8 wedges.
Freeze the wedges on the baking sheet for 15 minutes. Bake for 18-22 minutes until the tops are tall and golden. Cool on a wire rack.
Chef's Notes
- The original recipe failed to rise because it mixed liquid fat with the flour. By solidifying the brown butter first, we treat it like a traditional scone fat, which is the key to lift.
- Increasing the baking powder to 14g provides the chemical lift necessary to support the heavy chocolate and espresso liquid.
- The 'folding' technique in step 5 creates physical layers, similar to puff pastry, ensuring the scone expands upward rather than outward.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Keep in airtight container
Freezer: 2 months — Wrap individually
Reheating: 350F for 5 minutes to restore texture
