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!
1cup (240 mL)cold heavy cream plus more for brushing
1teaspoondemerera or turbinado sugarfor sprinkling
Brown Butter Glaze (Optional):
¾cuppowdered sugar
1tablespoons + 2 teaspoonswhole milk
1tablespoonbrown buttermelted
⅕teaspoonvanilla 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.