Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Scones!

I love to cook, but sometimes I cook to soothe anxiety or perk me up from a bit of depression.  Cooking takes my mind off of whatever stimulus has it in a funk.  It refocuses and re-centers me.  Having a recipe I find turn out awesome brings me a lot of joy, especially when it's one that is practical.

Yesterday I was in a gloomy spot, and I realized I needed to do something quickly to fix the problem or else my whole day would be consumed by it.  I decided that I should bake something, and I should use the cocoa powder.  I didn't want to make a cake so soon after finally getting done with the last one, and suddenly I thought of scones!  After digging around a bit, I found this recipe from the Paris Pastry blog.  It seemed simple enough, and I had everything the recipe required in stock.  The scones were super yummy, and they were fun to make since the last little bit involved some hands on (or hands IN) TLC.

Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ sticks tablespoons butter, cold, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 large whole egg
• ½ cup + 1 tbsp heavy cream (Might want to keep the container handy, I had to use approximately 1/4 a cup extra because this wasn't enough)
• Also have 1 large egg yolk (or 1 tbsp egg substitute) and 1 tbsp heavy cream to brush over the scones prior to baking.
• Granulated sugar to sprinkle over the brushed scones prior to baking

Directions:

1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until well combined. 
3. Add the butter and either use a blender with a pastry attachment, or hand cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a stiff spatula.  The mixture will coarse and crumbly with a few larger butter clumps. 
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Whisk the whole egg and heavy cream together in a separate container. Stir into the flour mixture until the dough just comes together. Make sure to get all the dry crumbs under the forming dough, and add more cream as necessary.  If you need to add more cream, then add it a little bit at a time so the dough doesn't get runny.
6. Lightly flour a surface (a clean counter top will do), and pull the dough out onto the surface.  Gently knead it into a rectangle (3x18 inches, 1 inch thick works), and either use a knife or a pastry cutter to cut the dough into triangles.
7. Place the triangles onto the lined cookie sheet, and place the scones into the refrigerator for around 30 to 45 minutes.  You may want to cover the sheet with plastic wrap if you're worried about odor.
8. When it is nearly time to take the scones out of the fridge, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
9. Whisk the egg yolk and heavy cream together and brush over the top of the scones.
10. Sprinkle the sugar on the scones after brushing them with the egg and cream mixture.
11. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through to make sure the sugar turns a nice golden color all over.  A toothpick or cake tester inserted into the scones should come out clean (unless you hit a chocolate chip).
12. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.  Try not to devour them all immediately.

Should make 10 or so scones, but your mileage may vary according to how large or small you cut them! :)