Recipe: Chocolate dream scone with mascarpone spread

In Edinburgh, at the luxurious Balmoral Hotel, the chocolate lover’s quintessential teatime treat must certainly be the Chocolate Dream Tea Service in the Bollinger Bar. It features an all-chocolate menu, including chocolate scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. Without traveling so far, you can enjoy a flaky, dark—yet delicate—chocolate buttermilk scone that will rival any others you’ve tasted. In case there’s no clotted cream to be found, the delicious mascarpone spread makes a perfect substitute.

Makes 16 scones and about 2 cups spread

Scones
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk

Spread
1 tub (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Scant 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To make the scones: Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended. Using the large holes of a flat grater, grate the cold butter into the flour mixture and gently work with clean hands until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture and add the buttermilk all at once. Stir the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Using lightly floured hands, gather the dough into a soft ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. (Try and gather any loose bits, but don’t worry if some dry particles remain.) Gently knead the dough 6 to 8 times on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 4 parts and pat each one into a 3/4-inch-thick circle. Cut each circle into 4 wedges.

Transfer the scones to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until a tester inserted in the middle comes out as clean as it does toward the edge, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve warm with the mascarpone spread. The scones are best eaten within several hours of baking.

To make the spread: In a medium bowl, combine the mascarpone, cream, sugar, and vanilla until well combined and no lumps remain. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Remove 20 minutes before serving.

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From Deep Dark Chocolate: Decadent Recipes for the Serious Chocolate Lover. Published by Chronicle Books.  Copyright © 2008 by Sara Perry. All rights reserved.  Reprinted by permission of Chronicle Books.

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