Raspberry Almond White Chocolate Scones

I’m biased, but in my opinion, these are the best raspberry almond white chocolate scones.

My current obsession of watching Great British Baking has spilled over into all aspects of my life, especially the food part. I’ve had a hankering for fish & chips, bangers & mash and Scotch eggs AND I DON’T EVEN EAT MEAT!!!!!  Some please help me. And if you’re going to come over, you might as well come and help me eat the dozens of scones piled up in my kitchen.
As far as desserts go, scones are pretty healthy…I mean only one tablespoon of sugar in the entire recipe AND fruit? You gotta be kidding me! On the other hand, a scone might just fill your entire saturated fat quota for the day. I guess it’s all about balance, right? Scones seem pretty easy to make, but if you’re not careful, they can quickly become tough and dry. This was the exact reason why I hated scones for so long…until I discovered the key to perfectly fluffy, buttery and flavorful scones.

For the perfect scones, make sure that you really work the butter pieces into your dry ingredients. Butter coats the flour particles and prevents gluten formation which keeps the scones moist and soft. The second part to delicious scones is to make sure you don’t overwork the dough.  It is so easy to want to add more flour because the dough will be very sticky, but work the dough just until a ball forms – I find it easiest to use a rubber spatula and fold the ingredients together until a dough ball forms and then gently pat it into a circle.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your scone game on!

IMPORTANT: Using frozen raspberries will ensure that the raspberries don’t make your dough too wet and bleed all over the place. As for white chocolate chunks, that’s a personal preference, but chunks generally melt easier than chips, so if you like pockets of molten chocolate in your scones versus solid pieces, use white chocolate chunks

RASPBERRY ALMOND WHITE CHOCOLATE SCONES | Makes 8 scones
INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp more for sprinkling
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter – cut in 1/2″ pieces
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chunks
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream + 2 tbsp more for brushing
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 (F).
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Add in butter pieces and using hands or pastry cutter, incorporate butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse sand.
4. Add in white chocolate chunks and frozen raspberries taking care to separate any raspberries in frozen chunks
5. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine heavy cream, almond extract and egg, mixing thoroughly.
6. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into the well.
7. Using spatula, fold wet and dry ingredients together until a wet, shaggy dough forms.  DO NOT overwork dough.
8. Place dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pat into an 8″ circle.
9. Brush top with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar. Then cut circle into 8 pieces to help scones rise more easily in oven.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown and the tips of the scones feel firm to the touch.

Enjoy!

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the best chewy chocolate chip cookies

 I’m pretty sure I have a chocolate chip cookie obsession. Not just the “I love to eat chocolate chip cookies” obsession, but the full-blown, “make ten batches of chocolate chip cookies and then proceed to frantically give them away otherwise I’ll eat them all” obsession. Chocolate chip cookies were the first cookies I’ve ever baked, and I still think they’re the best cookie. You can’t go wrong with them, yes, there are a lot of different types of chocolate chip cookies out there (crunchy and thin, thick and chewy, lots of chocolate, no chocolate at all), but I’m positive that there is a type out there for everyone.

To avoid doing homework during college (oops…), I’d always try out new chocolate chip recipes and test them out on my roommates. They were THE best taste testers since some of them really liked a lot of chocolate chunks, one of them didn’t like any chocolate, and they were always willing to gobble up cookies coming straight out of the oven. This recipe is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, thin and chewy, but with still soft centers studded in large pools of molten chocolate…a hint of vanilla and just a sprinkle of sea salt on top. Ugh, I am guilty of eating way too many of these in one sitting.

These are super simple to make, and the addition of molasses is a game-changer, I promise you! If you just DYING to have chocolate chip cookies as soon as possible, you can go ahead and bake them after a 30 minute chill in the fridge, but I would definitely recommend not going less than 2 hours of chilling.  The chilling allows the gluten in the dough to relax and the flavors to emulsify, which leads to a softer cookie and has some serious caramel flavor.

MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES | Makes approximately 1.5 dozen

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (make sure it’s fresh or your cookies will end up flat and sad)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp unsulfured blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter – softened
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks or chopped pieces from a chocolate bar
• Kosher or sea salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium-sized bowl
2. In separate bowl, combine dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and molasses. Use hands to rub sugars and molasses together until well mixed (mixture should look uniformly like light brown sugar)
3. In large bowl, cream butter either in stand mixer (medium-high speed) or by hand until it is the consistency of mayonnaise
4. Then add in sugar mixture and beat together until butter is light and fluffy (3-4 min with mixer, 8-10 by hand)
5. Add in egg and vanilla and then mix until just combined – do NOT over mix!
6. Add in dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing well after every addition (put mixer on low speed for this)
7. Add in chocolate and mix in pieces by hand, over-mixing the dough will cause the cookies to be tough
8. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days
9. Pull out dough 30 minutes prior to baking to bring it to room temperature and preheat oven to 350 (F)
10. Roll dough into a little bigger than golf-ball sized balls and place on lined cookie sheets, giving them at least 3 inches apart to spread out in oven
11. Gently flatten each ball with the palm of your hand and sprinkle with sea salt
12. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden and the center still looks a little soft. Cool the cookies (if you can!) on a wire rack.

Enjoy!