Cinnamon Choc Chip Yoghurt Scones

These are delicious scones and so easy to make. They make use of Greek yoghurt in place of buttermilk and eggs and result in a lovely soft and tender scones. I decided to flavour them with some dark chocolate chips and cinnamon which is a combination I love – well I love anything with cinnamon as I’m sure you know but dark chocolate works particularly well with cinnamon.

I often cut my scones into rounds, probably because this is the most traditional way and recognised shape for a scone, but as I was jazzing up the scones I chose to jazz up the shape too and cut them into triangles.

As I was glazing them with a little milk I hit upon the idea of sprinkling the tops with cinnamon sugar, which gave them a wonderful thin cinnamon sugar crust, which added a slight crunch and a good burst of sweet cinnamon flavour to the finished scones.

The scones are baked in a very hot oven, hotter than I would normally consider but I’m sure this helped the scones be extra light and tender as they puffed up and browned quickly, without being in long enough to dry out the middles – and nobody likes dried out scones. Look at all the fluffy layers and little air bubbles.

These were delicious when eaten warm from the oven, I ate my first one plain, enjoying the taste of the still molten chocolate chips, and then had another one later on with Nutella. If you are not going to eat them all within 12 hours, I would suggest freezing them and then perking them up again in the oven as scones are best eaten fresh. They make a tasty and relatively healthy breakfast too!

Cinnamon Choc Chip Yoghurt Scones
(An Apple & Spice recipe creation)

Ingredients
450g plain flour
25g caster sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
50g cold butter
150g 2% fat Greek yoghurt (I used Total)
125-150ml milk
50g dark chocolate chips
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Topping
20g caster sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Milk to glaze

Method
Preheat the oven to 250C (yes it sounds hot!) and have a baking tray to hand.
Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour mixture using the tips of your fingers. Lift your fingers up above the bowl as you rub in the butter, letting the crumbs fall back into the bowl. Continue until all the butter has been evenly distributed and some small crumbly clumps have formed.
Add the chocolate chips, yoghurt and half the milk. Use a round bladed knife to mix everything together until it stars to form a dough. Add a little more milk as necessary, then bring the mixture together using your hands. You want a soft but not too sticky dough. Don’t knead it like dough though as this makes it tough.
Turn the scone mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat or gently roll it out into a large circle, about 1inch/2.5cm thick.
Cut the dough into 8-12 triangles – depending on how big you want your scones.
Brush the tops with a little milk to glaze and help the cinnamon sugar stick to them.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the topping together and then scatter it over the top of the milk brushed scones.
Transfer the scones to a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes. (8 for smaller scones, 10 for larger ones)
Once baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly and eat while still warm.
Delicious served with honey or Nutella or just some good butter.
Makes 8-12 scones