Raisin Chocolate Chip Scones

Maybe Marie Antoinette actually said “My throne for a scone!” Have you tried scones? They are kind of like the biscuits sweet cousin. They have the texture of a buttermilk biscuit but you usually find them in sweet flavors with dried fruits, chocolate bits, vanilla flavored, gingerbread, pumpkin. You get the idea.

I haven’t made scones in forever so when I was hit with a craving the other week, guess what I did. Yeah, I didn’t resist the craving. If you follow me on Facebook or on Instagram, you’ve been eagerly drooling patiently waiting for me to get around to posting this recipe. Apparently I do an extreme amount of cooking and baking so I’m running behind, and it’s just one of many recipes I have queued up.

Back when I lived in Maryland, I used to make chocolate chip scones every time my Mom would come visit. It was just a habit I got into and they made the house smell delish. I modified that recipe since it used gobs of butter, eggs, chips, sugar and more sugar. These turned out a gorgeous golden color, smelled just as good, and didn’t give you that sugar shake after eating.

Raisin Chocolate Chip Scones

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp baking stevia
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp butter or non-dairy butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
• 1 snack size box (14g) raisins

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, baking stevia, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and toss to mix. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly.

Add the almond milk, egg white and vanilla and stir slightly until it starts to combine. At this point, I found it easier to use my hand to lightly knead the dough. Knead just enough to ensure that all the dry crumbs are moistened in and it forms a ball of dough. Don’t over knead it. It’s not a workout! 😉

Sprinkle in the mini chips and raisins and knead them in. Take your dough ball and press it into a circle shape on a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. My circle was about an inch and a half thick and approximately 7 – 8 inches in diameter. Take a knife and cut the dough like a pie into 12 slices.

You want to cut almost all the way through but not quite completely through. Don’t break the pieces apart, leave them in a circle. This allows you to break them apart easily when they are done but keeps them from drying out while they bake. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 16 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

Makes 12 scones at approximately 113 calories each – 3g protein, 16g carbs, and 4g fat.

Notes

• I used a mixture of all purpose and whole wheat flour. Since wheat flour absorbs more liquid and has a drier feel to it, you want mostly all purpose flour. If you use too much wheat flour, your scones will be as dry as the desert. If you want you can use 2 cups of all purpose flour and leave out the wheat completely. If you’re daring, you can try a greater portion of whole wheat and let me know how it turns out. I wouldn’t start out with more than half and half though.
• I used dairy free/soy free butter since The Kid has a dairy allergy. I personally like the taste of it and am surprised at how much it tastes like butter. You can swap out real butter and dairy milk for the almond milk if you prefer.
• I used Enjoy Life dairy free mini chocolate chips. I highly recommend using mini chips in the recipe since you get more chips per scone and they divide among the scones better than big chunky chips. Even chips = more chocolate flavor per scone and no sad scones left without chips.
• I apologize for the vague raisin measurement. I have those snack sized boxes of raisins for The Kid’s lunches and I used one of those. I didn’t measure them with a measuring cup. I just dumped them in. If I had to guess, I’d say it was slightly less than 1/4 cup.

Experiment with the add ins for your scones and make them yours. Leave out the raisins and go all chips, use craisins or currants instead. If you like a little more sweetness but not tons, you can sprinkle a little sugar on the top before baking. The sugar will melt a bit and at a little crunch.