I loved the original Starbucks Cinnamon Chip Scones and was disappointed when they stopped selling them many years ago. I even tried a few of the copycat recipes on the Internet, but I was never happy with the results.
Years later, John did his graduate work in the UK and raved about the English scones and clotted cream. I decided to try making scones again and looked for a traditional English scone recipe. I found one that looked good, but it had raisins in it. Since most of our family doesn’t like or eat raisins, I decided to try swapping out the raisins for cinnamon chips, while also making a few other changes to make the recipe more like the Starbucks Cinnamon Chip Scones that I missed. It worked out well and became a favorite for a few members of our family. I’ve made these many times over the last few years and learned a few things along the way. Here are some recommendations that will help make them easier and better in general.
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- Get a good biscuit cutter set. It makes it so much easier to cut out the scones from the dough. I use this one: HULISEN Biscuit Cutter Set (5 Pieces/Set), Round Cookies Cutter with Handle
- Bowl scrapers and bench scrapers are a must. My favorite is this one: Sapid Flexible Curved Edge Silicone Bowl Scraper
- The recipe calls for using Caster Sugar. You should be able to find it in the store, but you can make it quickly if you can’t. You can use regular granulated sugar pulsed in a grinder for a few seconds to achieve a texture that is between granulated sugar and powdered sugar.
- DO NOT USE BREAD FLOUR. I tried using bread flour in my most recent batch, and the texture came out wrong.
The original recipe can be found here:
Ingredients
- 660 g All-Purpose Flour (King Arthur Brand Preferred)
- 2 tbsp Baking Powder
- 2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (cubed)
- 1 cup Caster Sugar
- 1 cup Cinnamon Chips
- 2/3 cup Whole Milk
- 4 Eggs
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt.
Step 2:
Cube the butter by taking the stick out of the wrapper and making two full cuts lengthwise (vertically) down the stick of butter to split it into three long, equal, rectangular lengths. Then rotate the stick 90 degrees and repeat. The butter should be in 9 long rectangular strips (like a tic-tac-toe board if you looked at it from the end). Then go along the length of the stick, making cuts (horizontally) that create 9 small cubes of butter with each cut.
Step 3:
Add the butter cubes to the dry mixture. Keep the little cubes separated so they don’t clump up (mix them to the bottom and middle with your fingers as you add more cubes). Using your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. This will take about 5 minutes or so to work through all of the little cubes to crush, and mix them into the dry ingredients. Stir in sugar.
Step 4:
In a small bowl, combine the milk and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the milk and egg mixture, and using a butter knife, fold/stir together just until a soft, wet dough forms. Add the cinnamon chips and fold them in.
Step 5:
Turn out the dough onto a heavily floured surface, and sprinkle with flour. Gently knead dough by folding in half and then turning through 45 degrees. Repeat until dough is smooth and springs back slightly when pressed. (Be careful not to overwork the dough. This is a light, very brief action. You are not kneading bread; it is more of a folding motion to create a smooth dough and incorporate a little air.)
Step 6:
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly sprinkle dough with flour, and roll to about 1-inch thickness. Using a 2-3/4 inch round biscuit cutter, cut the scones out of the dough, rerolling scraps as necessary. You can use a 3 inch round biscuit cutter, but the scones are a bit too large in my opinion. When cutting the scones out, push the cutter into the dough using a straight up-and-down motion. Then spin the cutter and cleanly lift it from the dough. Place the scones on the prepared pan. Let the scones rest for 1 hour uncovered.
Step 7:
Preheat your oven to 390 degrees while the scones are resting.
Step 8:
Bake the scones until they are golden brown on top, about 15 minutes. This recipe makes about 14 scones.
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