Coffee and Chocolate Scones

Scones are a weakness of mine. Aplain, British-style sconespread with difficult to justify quantities of clotted cream and strawberry jam is a vice tricky to control. But because scones are such a blank canvas, without any added flavour, they are real fun to experiment with. The result? Coffee and Chocolate Scones.

The unanimous reaction I’ve had when talking about these scones has been one of intrigue. Raisins in your scones? Fine.Cheese and garlic? Bellissimo!Chocolate and coffee?! Pardon me?

Don’t worry, the idea of a chocolate scone may seem strange and the addition ofRave Coffeewill make it taste delicious even if it sounds stranger still, but it does work. And very well. Very well indeed. As you’ll know, coffee and chocolate combine to outstanding success, add a dollop of cream and what you’ve got is an almost irresistible tea time treat.

But what of the jam? Well, frankly, it’s optional. A scone without jam may not pique your interest, but the inherent flavour of the treat is enough to satisfy. If jam is demanded, and it may well be, plump for something with cherries; regret will not enter into your mind for a second.

When it comes down to it, you may only tentatively flirt with the idea of changing things up and altering your scone preference. But the moment you do you’ll begin to wonder why more people don’t experiment with their scones. Be glad that you did!

Coffee and Chocolate Scones

Makes 8-10

Ingredients:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 15g cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 75g butter
• 40g golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 50ml strong instant coffee
• milk for brushing

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C(fan). Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large mixing bowl, then rub in the butter until the consistency is that of fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar.
2. Beat the instant coffee and egg together in a separate bowl. Add to the dry mixture and stir. Bring it together by hand, into a soft, but not sticky, ball of dough.
3. Gently roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until roughly an inch thick. Cut the scones out with a 5cm baking ring.
4. Place the scones onto a floured baking tray, brush with milk, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cost:The only additions I made to my basic scone recipe for these was the chocolate and coffee. A little cocoa powder and instant coffee go a long way; the entire batchshouldn’t cost more than 80p– 8p a scone!