Rich Chocolate Orange Scones

If you know me, you know scones are a love language for me. I love eating them (good ones) and I love baking them. I love creating unique flavors or recreating the flavors of other baked goods in scone format. When I made these chocolate orange scones, I didn’t know that chocolate orange was a particularly holiday flavor. I knew chocolate and citrus pair nicely, but news to me chocolate covered oranges are very popular at Christmas.

These scones are a double chocolate scone, so if chocolate and orange aren’t your perfect pairing you could eat these alone, or I might try perhaps a caramel drizzle over them or a white chocolate glaze. But the scones themselves have both cocoa powder and chocolate chips/chunks.

Then we make a fresh orange glaze with orange juice and zest. The brightness of the glaze really goes so well with the rich chocolate. After reading all this and you really just think chocolate orange scones aren’t for you, or you’d like to see more in depth post on making scones, I’d recommend first my Vanilla Cream Scones or perhaps my Birthday Cake Scones which also have a citrusy glaze.

Chocolate Orange Scones Key Ingredients

• Chocolate – These chocolate orange scones have both dutch process cocoa AND chocolate chips. This allows them to have a super rich chocolate flavor without being too dry or dense.
• Orange Zest – The glaze on this scones is made with fresh orange and zest to help brighten up the scones and not make them too heavy.
• Heavy Cream – I fully believe good cream can make or break your scones. Look for the highest fat percentage you can. I personally love to buy local cream when my grocery store has it.

Chocolate Orange Scones

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Bake: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 Scones

Ingredients

• ½ cup Unsalted butter very cold
• 295 g AP Flour ~2½ cups
• 50 g Granulated sugar ¼ cup
• 24 g Dutch process cocoa ¼ cup
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Baking powder
• 1 large Egg cold
• 1 cup Heavy cream cold
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• ¾-1 cup Milk chocolate chips

Glaze

• 1 tsp Orange zest
• 2-4 tsp Orange juice
• ½ tsp Vanilla
• ¾ cup Powdered sugar

Instructions

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place butter in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.
• Combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and dutch process cocoa in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
• Remove chilled butter from freezer and using a coarse grater, grate into your dry ingredients. Grate half, then fluff into the the mix, then repeat with the remaining butter. The butter should be evenly distributed and lightly coated in the flour mix.
• Mix in your chocolate chips.
• Beat your egg in a small bowl with the vanilla.
• Make a well in the center of your flour mix and pour in the egg mixture, and then your heavy cream.
• Gently bring in the sides of the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing the dough until it has just come together. Do not overmix.
• Fold the dough over on itself 2-3 times in the bowl, then transfer to the parchment lined sheet.
• Press the dough out into a circle that is about 1-2 inches thick.
• Using a bench scraper (or knife) cut straight down into the dough, cutting it in half like you would a pizza, until you have 8 wedges.
• Separate your wedges on your baking sheet, leaving 1-2 inches between each piece.
• Place your baking sheet in the freezer, and preheat your oven to 425°F.
• When oven is preheated, take scones out of the freezer and place on middle rack. As soon as scones are in the oven, reduce the temperature to 375°F.
• Bake scones for 22-25 minutes. Because the scones are dark, you won't be able to tell when they are golden but they will be very fragrant.
• While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze. Start by measuring our your powdered sugar into a small bowl.
• Zest your orange into the sugar, then add your vanilla extract.
• Start with 2 tbsp of orange juice, increasing until you reach a desired consistency. 2tbsp will create a thicker glaze and 4 will be much looser.
• After the scones have cooled for about 15 minutes, pour or spread the glaze over the tops. Enjoy!