Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

Homemade flaky scones made with brown butter, filled with chocolate chips, and topped with a simple brown butter glaze. 

Brown butter. Baked goods. It was bound to happen, right? Especially after this post. I practically gave this one away.

I know I’ve totally slacked on Halloween baked goods this year. Wait, I think I do that every year. These citrus sandwich cookies sort of worked. Sort of.

Halloween baked goods are not my forte. I would probably have a lot of fun making them, but as far as consuming, I’m not generally a fan. After all, you (usually, not always!) can’t get around the holiday without using a lot, and I mean a lot, of artificial coloring, and let’s be honest, I’d rather just buy a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups to celebrate the occasion.

Life of the party, right?

Obviously, these brown butter chocolate chip scones have absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. But wanna hear the best part of that happy coincidence?

You can make them any day of the year! That is so much better, right? And trust me, you will want to make these every day of the year.

They are that good. Incredibly flaky, light in texture, and full of flavor.

I don’t consider myself one to go weak at the knees when it comes to scones, but these ones produced an uncannily similar reaction. Brown butter and good-quality semisweet chocolate wrapped up in a buttery scone can do that to you.

This scone is a traditional cream scone. In scone world, there are cream scones and buttermilk scones. Buttermilk scones use a combination of butter and buttermilk, and produce scones with a biscuit-like texture, flaky and fluffy! Cream scones, which use a combination of butter and heavy cream, produce a slightly denser, more compact scone. They have much more tender, fine crumb.

Granted, these scones are the complete opposite of dense! To offset the butter and cream a bit, I used half whole wheat pastry flour. You would have no idea based on the texture, and the whole wheat adds some extra flavor.

Since this recipe does require that you make brown butter and chill the brown butter completely before proceeding, I decided to reward the extra effort required by incorporating the deliciously nutty and fragrant brown butter in two ways.

Traditional butter is substituted entirely with brown butter in the scone dough. Then, a tablespoon of melted brown butter is used for a quick and easy powdered sugar glaze, which is drizzled on top of the scones once they have cooled! This step is entirely optional. Honestly, I loved both versions equally!

If you prefer sweeter baked goods and want a stronger punch of brown butter flavor, add the glaze! If you want something a bit lighter, skip the glaze entirely. Or make a half batch of glaze, and only drizzle half of them.

*Note: Please note that the recipe calls for five tablespoons of browned butter. This is not the same volume as five tablespoons of unsalted regular butter, which has then been browned on the stove. Butter volume decreases substantially (generally by 25% in volume) once browned! I recommend browning at minimum  1 and 1/2 sticks of butter for this recipe, just to be safe! There is nothing wrong with having a little extra browned butter in your fridge.

Weighing the brown butter on a scale makes the process much easier and more accurate.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

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Yield: 8 Servings

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: 18 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 2 minutes minutes

Total: 35 minutes minutes

Traditional butter is substituted entirely with brown butter in these flaky, delicious brown butter chocolate chip scones. Once cooled, they're drizzled with a brown butter powdered sugar glaze!

Equipment

• Half Sheet Pan
• Natural Parchment Paper

Ingredients

• 1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tablespoons (24 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 tablespoons (75 g) cold brown butter, cut into cubes see recipe notes for instructions
• ½ cup (80 g) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup (240 mL) cold heavy cream plus more for brushing
• 1 teaspoon demerera or turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Brown Butter Glaze (Optional):

• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons whole milk
• 1 tablespoon brown butter melted
• ⅕ teaspoon vanilla extract
• small pinch of kosher salt

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with a rack in the center position. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut the brown butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are no larger than the size of a pea. Stir in the chocolate chips, and place the bowl in the freezer to chill for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from the freezer and create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add 1 cup (240 mL) of cold heavy cream, and using a fork, stir the cream into the dry ingredients until the dough just comes together.
• Scrape the scone dough onto a clean, lightly floured countertop. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 seconds, and pat the dough into a 7-inch disc, roughly ¾-inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into six wedges. Transfer the wedges onto the lined sheet pan. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with demarara or turbinado sugar.
• Bake the scones for 12 to 16 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Allow the scones to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Prepare Glaze (Optional): In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, melted brown butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Using a spoon, drizzle the tops of the cooled scones with the glaze and allow it to set completely b½efore serving.

Recipe Notes:

• This scone recipe calls for 5 tablespoons of browned butter. This is not the same as five tablespoons of unsalted regular butter, browned. Butter volume decreases substantially (generally by 25% in volume) once browned! I recommend browning at least 1½ sticks (8 oz; 230 g) of unsalted butter for this recipe, just to be  safe. There is nothing wrong with having a little extra browned butter in your fridge.
• Weighing the brown butter on a scale makes the process much easier and more accurate.

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 465kcal, Carbohydrates: 67g, Protein: 9g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 402mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 22g

Author: Laura / A Beautiful Plate

Course: Biscuits and Pastries

Cuisine: American