Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

October has flown by, November is here, and it's finally fall weather in LA.

After a week of ridiculous heat, it has finally cooled down! The change was super sudden too, from blinding sun to gloomy cloudy skies. It's strange because I was waiting and waiting for the chilly weather, but when it actually came I realized I felt a bit more down and sad. I didn't think I was affected by gloomy weather, but maybe I only enjoy it when I'm not already in a stressed or frazzled mood. This past week was pretty rough, so I think the dip in the weather made me a bit more sulky and glum. But now that the worst is over, I'm loving the feeling of crisp air and cold cheeks. 

So it's nearing the end of fall semester, to my disbelief. Looking back, I feel a little regretful that I didn't really do much outside of studying for midterms, eating, and sleeping. With the abnormal amount of midterms this semester, when I wasn't studying, I just felt like doing nothing. But after realizing how fast time goes by, I really want to take advantage of the limited time I have left as a college student and just do more. Time to get your lazy ass up and moving, Lois.

And of course, sweater weather means all the baking! I was craving the heavenly pair of a warm scone and a cuppa coffee, so I decided to bake these brown butter choco chip scones. The brown butter flavor actually wasn't as prominent as I wanted, as I couldn't really taste the characteristic nuttiness of brown butter in the scones. But, it was still worth going the extra mile to brown the butter just to have the fragrance waft through the kitchen.

Even though the brown butter flavor wasn't there, thankfully these were still a decent batch of scones! The dough itself is very lightly sweetened, but the dark chocolate chunks speckled throughout add a decadent touch to the flaky, tender scone. I really like chopping up chocolate myself when I use it in any doughs, because I love the contrast between the smaller shards dispersed throughout the dough and the huge chunks that melt into heavenly pools of liquid gold in the oven. Ensuring that all your ingredients, eggs, cream, butter, are super cold will also maximize the tenderness, flakiness, and rise of your scones. Freezing the butter before rubbing it into the flour is a good tip!

As the weather gets chillier outside, these scones paired with a fresh cup of coffee are sure to warm you up from the inside out. 

Recipe

2 cups AP flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

5 tbsp frozen brown butter (melted 7 tbsp butter)

1/2 cup chocolate

3/4 cup heavy cream

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2) In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until combined. Add the cubed brown butter and press the butter into the flour with fingertips, until the butter pieces are pea sized. Or, use a pastry cutter. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
3) In a separate bowl, whisk the heavy cream, maple syrup, and vanilla extract together. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture. 
4) Pour the dough onto a clean surface and knead very briefly, only until the dough comes together. Over kneading will result in tough scones. 
5) Shape the dough into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. Chill dough for 30 minutes in freezer. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
6) Cut the dough into wedges and transfer onto your baking sheet. Brush the top of the scores with heavy cream and sprinkle with demerara sugar. 
7) Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown.