Susan Herbst’s extra-tender chocolate chip scones, adapted by Vaughn Vreeland.Credit…Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
And by “it,” I mean scones.
The other day, I told my friend I was bringing scones to brunch. Rather than oohing and aahing (the correct response), she made a noise I can describe only as a scoff-ugh (scugh?). I immediately knew why. She, like many Americans, was probably imagining a common reference point for scones: a hockey puck made of sand. Sad and crumbly, a desert on the palate. Done a grave injustice by chain coffeehouses; ordered only in moments of sheer desperation.
But these were not just any scones. These were iconic, extra-tender scones, fatefully introduced to me some seven years ago by one of my favorite humans (if you watch the video, you’ll see why) and the mind behind this recipe, Susan Herbst. She also happens to be the mother of one of my dearest friends, Becky Hughes, who runs our social operation and writes for the “Where to Eat” newsletter here at The New York Times. Susan’s scones can stop traffic, send any wig into orbit and please even the most discerning Brit.
Despite my evangelizing, my friend was still skeptical, so I made sure the scones were still warm when I got to brunch. She took a bite, and her eyes were an immediate tell. Almost lustfully, she confessed she never knew a scone could taste like that. I love proving people wrong.
Credit…Matthew Young
By Susan’s own description, her scones are a cross between a pound cake and a biscuit: tender, slightly flaky, extremely moist and incredibly buttery. They’re pretty giant by design, sparkling on first glance from the coarse sugar and flaky salt on top. They have a crisp exterior that yields to a pillowy soft underbelly, one that’s just sweet enough and dotted with chocolate chips.
Susan, who’s a political science professor and an avid home baker, has been tweaking this recipe for the better part of 30 years. This journey (obsession?) all started in Evanston, Ill., where she was taken with the gigantic scones at a bakery called Great Harvest Bread Co. She started going every morning, which turned into an attempt at making them herself and eventually snowballed into thousands of scones to try and get them right. She has tried various ratios of wet-to-dry and fat-to-flour, just about every type of flour you can think of, and a whole host of mixing and shaping techniques.
Credit…Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
She landed on a blend of cake and all-purpose flours as her tried-and-true mix. Together, they produce a super soft crumb that isn’t overly delicate. The butter gets worked into the dry ingredients until some pieces are pea-size and others are flattened into shards: The smaller pebbles of butter create a tender crumb, while the flat bits encourage flakiness. The addition of an egg may be unorthodox to some scone purists, but it lends structure and more of a cakelike texture.
The chocolate chips are by no means a prescription — toss in whatever mix-ins your heart desires. These scones are fabulous with golden raisins and toasted walnuts, white chocolate chunks and freeze-dried raspberries, or plain on their own with a side of good butter and sweet-tart jam. I like them slightly warm, but I’ve heard they’re just as great at room temperature (mine never last that long). However you dish them up, just be prepared to fall in love again and again.
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Credit…Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
Extra-Tender Chocolate Chip Scones
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