Chocolate Chip and Cherry Scones

If you’re looking for the perfect breakfast-in-bed Mother’s Day treat this Sunday, these Chocolate Chip and Cherry Scones are it.

May 03, 2022

I used to think of scones as an upscale bakery dessert, a bit fancy and surely fussy to make. What I learned after my first go at making these delicious treats is, if you can make biscuits, you can make scones.

Scones get their flaky tenderness from the fat they contain. Generous amounts of butter and heavy cream used in scone recipes provide that fat, in particular, saturated fat. These ingredients also provide a significant number of calories.

So, to make scones a bit healthier, I needed alternatives to those ingredients. The first substitution I used to lower calories and reduce saturated fat was a butter and oil blend in place of regular, stick butter. A butter and oil blend, as the name implies, is just a mix of butter and oil. They are typically referred to as spreadable butters and usually contain about half the saturated fat as regular butter and fewer calories. Land O’ Lakes and Challenge are two popular brands.

As for the heavy cream replacement, the perfect substitute turned out to be cultured, low-fat buttermilk. The acidity of buttermilk breaks down protein strands in batters (think muffins, biscuits, quick breads, and scones) which produces a more delicate texture. Buttermilk also has a similar thickness and consistency to heavy cream. Using thinner milks like skim or 1% will yield flatter scones.

If you’re wondering did these substitutions really matter, let me share the savings. Using the butter and oil blend in place of regular stick butter, and low-fat buttermilk instead of heavy cream resulted in a 63% reduction in saturated fat and a 17% calorie reduction. These substitutions also reduced total fat by almost 50%. In my professional opinion, these savings absolutely matter.

To your health,

Darlene

CHOCOLATE CHIP and CHERRY SCONES

Yield: 12 servings

Serving Size: 1 scone

Prep: 15 minutes

Ready: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white whole-wheat flour
1 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup spreadable butter and oil blend (such as Challenge Spreadable Butter)
2/3 cup cultured low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips
Parchment paper or vegetable oil cooking spray

Glaze

1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons 1% milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine whole-wheat flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and oil blend and using a pastry blender or 2 knives, work into flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture along with cherries and chocolate chips and stir until batter just comes together, being careful not to overmix.
Divide dough in half. Using remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons flour, lightly flour a large cutting board. Place each dough half on floured surface and gently shape into two, 6-inch rounds. Cut each round into 6 equal pie-shaped wedges. Place wedges on baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
To prepare the glaze, combine powdered sugar and milk and stir until smooth. When scones have cooled completely, drizzle with glaze.

Cook’s Note: For scones with soft sides, place them close together on the baking sheet. For scones with crispier sides, place them about an inch apart.

Nutrition Information per Serving

200 Calories, 6 g Total fat, 2 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 21 mg Cholesterol, 227 mg Sodium, 36 g Total carbohydrate, 2 g Dietary fiber, 18 g Total sugars, 16 g Added sugars, 4 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 46 mg (4%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 37 mg (0%) Potassium