Cream Chocolate Scones

Preparation: Mix heavy cream, egg wash, and milk together and set aside. Put flour, baking powder, sugar, sea salt, and butter into a mixer and blend for 10 seconds until a coarse grain texture is achieved.

The result after mixing

Add the milk mixture from step 1 and chocolate, and mix again for 10 seconds.

After mixing, it will not form a dough, it will look loose but has sufficient moisture.

Place onto a board, do not knead any further.

First form it together with your hands, then flatten and fold it.

You can repeat folding twice. The purpose of this step is to combine the dough, but it won't be smooth; it will look slightly rough, and that's fine. Do not over-knead.

Roll the dough into a sheet about 2cm thick.

Use a 5cm diameter cutter to cut out the dough. Before cutting, you can coat the inside of the cutter with a bit of flour to prevent sticking.

You can typically cut about 6 at a time. Gather the scraps, fold, roll out, and cut again. This time I managed to make 11.

Place the scones on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for the top heat and 180°C for the bottom heat for about 18 minutes. If they have browned to your liking but the time isn't up yet, cover with foil to prevent over-browning.

As mentioned, the scone dough should not be over-kneaded. The texture of scones is slightly flaky because the butter and flour are not fully combined. If the butter is completely mixed into the dough, the texture would turn more like bread—not as tasty as proper bread though.

Different mixers have different powers; adjust accordingly. If you use the same Morphy machine as I do, follow the times above. Remember not to over-mix, as over-mixing is equivalent to over-kneading.

Without a mixer, you can do it manually: 1. Take butter from the fridge and cut into small cubes. Add to the flour, sea salt, and sugar. Rub with your hands into a coarse, grainy texture. If warm weather causes the butter to melt, refrigerate before continuing. 2. Add the milk mixture to the rubbed-in dry mix, chop chocolate into small pieces, and stir with chopsticks to form a dough. Do not knead too hard. The rest of the process (rolling, cutting, baking) is the same. To avoid the hassle of using a cutter, you can roll the dough into a 2cm-thick circle and cut into 8 equal triangles. Do not roll the dough too thin, as it will affect fluffiness and become too dry.

Different regions and flours have different water absorption rates. For the first attempt, it's recommended to add liquid bit by bit manually to test, as you can adjust while mixing and avoid ending up with dough that's too sticky or too stiff. Using a machine means adding all liquid at once, and if the dough turns out too stiff, adding more liquid later and mixing again would lead to over-mixing, which is not desirable. So, before using a machine, be sure of your flour's liquid absorption rate. The ideal dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Sprinkle a bit of dry flour to ease handling.