Cut the cold butter into small blocks, and add to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour until there are only pea-sized pieces of butter left. You can also use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour, which is helpful if you have warm hands. *Note 4
8 tablespoons butter
Add the sugar and chocolate chips to the butter-flour mixture. Stir through with a fork. Then pour in the cream and vanilla extract. Mix together with a fork until most of the flour seems to be moist.
1 cup chocolate chips, ⅓ cup white granulated sugar, ⅔ cup cream, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Turn out the scone mixture onto a lightly floured surface. Bring the dough together. The dough will look a bit dry, so using a bench scraper, fold the edges of the dough over into the middle. Then when it is mostly cohesive, cut the dough in half, place one half on the other, and press down. Then press the dough into a circle about 7-8 inches across, and about an inch tall. Cut into 8 wedges using s sharp knife. Transfer the dough by the large scones onto the prepared baking sheet, with approximately 2cm of space between each scone. Refrigerate the scones for 1 hour.
¼ cup flour
In the last 20 minutes of the scones rest in the fridge, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Brush the tops of the refrigerated unbaked scones with 3-4 tablespoons of cream. Sprinkle the top of each scone with about 2 teaspoons of coarse sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until the scones are a beautiful golden brown.
3 tablespoons cream, ¼ cup raw sugar
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
While the scones are cooling, stir together the icing sugar, vanilla, and cream. Drizzle the glaze over the buttery scones and then serve the freshly baked scones.
½ cup icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2-4 tablespoons cream
All temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. Decrease the temperature by 20°C/25°F or gas mark 1 for "fan" or air-fryers.
Video
Notes
Plain flour (all-purpose flour/standard grade flour) refers to flour that has a protein content of approximately 9.5-12%. Plain flour can be substituted with self-raising/ self-rising flour. Add only an additional ½ teaspoon of baking powder to the self-raising flour. Self-raising/rising flours may already contain salt so this may need to be omitted from the recipe as well
8 tablespoons of butter is equal to 1 stick or 115 grams.
Cream or whole milk can be used in this recipe.
You can use a stand mixer and the paddle attachment or pastry blender attachment on a low speed to work the butter into the flour.
Storage and Freezing
Store the cool chocolate chip scones in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Baked chocolate chip scones can be frozen (in an airtight container) for up to 2 months. Scones dough can be frozen (for up to 2 months) and baked from frozen but may need a couple more minutes to completely bake through. Or thaw in the fridge overnight and follow the baking instructions on the recipe card.