Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

Yield: 8 brown butter chocolate chip scones // Total Time: 1 hr. 15 min. // Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.

Flaky yet tender scones, filled with toasty brown butter flavor, mini chocolate chips & topped off with a brown butter glaze.

Why you’ll love these brown butter chocolate chip scones

First of all, brown butter makes everything better. When you brown butter, you toast all the milk solids in it which gives you this complex toasty, nutty flavor which really comes through in the scones. These scones are also super tender yet also flaky. If you’re a skeptic of scones because you’ve had dry ones in the past – I assure you these (and any other scones you find on this blog) are not dry at all! Also, they’re filled with mini chocolate chips and topped with a brown butter glaze. Basically, I’m trying to say that these are super delicious and you should start making them asap!

Recipe tips

Weigh your ingredients

• Weighing your ingredients is important for getting the recipe perfect and getting consistent results. Not weighing your ingredients can lead to adding too much or too little of an ingredient and can easily throw off a recipe. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. This one is super cheap and worked well for me when I was starting out!

Keep the dough and ingredients cold

• The trick to getting those flaky layers and butter pockets is to keep the dough cold. If you notice the butter getting too warm at any point while making the scones, just pop the dough into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden it up again. Also, while almost all of my recipes say to work with room temperature ingredients, you will want to keep your butter, eggs and sour cream in the fridge up until the last second that you need to use them!

Freeze the dough before baking!

• I know, I know, it’s annoying to wait. This step is super important because it ensures that the scones will not spread much in the oven, and will bake up nice and tall! Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight before baking them off.

Make the brown butter the night before

• You’ll need to wait for the brown butter to solidify which takes quite some time. I recommend browning your butter the day before you want to bake the scones. (Honestly you can even do this up to 1 week ahead of time). This will make your process much easier the day you bake the scones!

Weigh the brown butter

• I highly recommend weighing the brown butter, especially since it will be split to be used in the scones and in the glaze. You will need 120g brown butter for the scones, and the remaining can be used for the glaze.

Ingredients and substitutions

For the brown butter chocolate chip scones:

All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.

Baking powder: for helping the scones rise.

Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the scones.

Unsalted butter: for tenderness and making those delicious flaky layers. We’ll also brown it for some great, toasty brown butter flavor. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to remove the excess salt from the dough!

Light brown sugar: for lightly sweetening and for moisture. You can easily substitute in granulated or dark brown sugar.

Egg: for binding and for moisture.

Vanilla: for flavor.

Buttermilk: makes these scones nice and tender and keeps them from being dry. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, a great substitute can be made by combining 65g of sour cream with 35g of milk.

Mini chocolate chips: I prefer using mini chocolate chips in because they distribute more evenly throughout the dough and are easier to cut. However, feel free to sub in your favorite chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped baking bar!

For the brown butter glaze:

Powdered sugar: the base of the glaze.

Salt: balances and brings out the flavor and sweetness of the glaze.

Brown butter: reserved from the scone dough.

Milk: thins out the glaze to a pourable consistency. Use your favorite milk here!

How to make brown butter chocolate chip scones

Prep work: make the brown butter

Brown the butter. Pour 120g (a little over 1/2 c.) of the brown butter into a heat-safe bowl and reserve the remaining brown butter for the glaze. If you’re making the brown butter ahead of time, cover it and place it in the fridge overnight. If you’re looking for a faster process, place the butter in the freezer and stir it every 5 minutes until it has solidified. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and vanilla and set it in the fridge.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut the solidified brown butter into small pieces into the dry ingredients.

Shape and freeze the dough

Mix the dough together slightly, then add in the chocolate chips. When the dough seems like it no longer wants to come together, transfer it all out onto a clean work surface. Gently knead until the dough fully comes together and pat it into a 6″ circle. Lightly wrap or cover the scones and place them in the freezer for 30 minutes, up to overnight.

Bake

Cut the scones into 8 triangles and evenly spread them apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake the scones at 425°F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Make the glaze

Melt the reserved brown butter and mix it with the powdered sugar and salt. Add a small amount of milk at a time until you get the glaze consistency you want. Once the scones have cooled to room temperature, spread the glaze over them. Top with more mini chocolate chips if desired, then serve and enjoy!

Brown butter chocolate chip scones q&a

Can I make these brown butter chocolate chip scones ahead of time?

Yes, you can! There are two ways you could go about this.

• Prepping the night before: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and leave in the freezer overnight. In the morning you can bake these scones off as stated in the recipe!
• Prepping further in advance: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze the dough for up to 1 month before baking. You can bake the scones right from frozen, they will just need a couple more minutes in the oven!

Can I double this recipe?

• Of course! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe and divide the dough into even circles. I (even more) strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.

How to store these scones

• Like most baked goods, these scones will definitely taste the best on the day that they are baked. They will last for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

A note on oven temperature

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature. For example, I always have to set my oven to 330°F if I want it to bake at 350°F. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

Brown butter chocolate chip scones troubleshooting

My scones turned out super dry

• The #1 reason for baked goods coming out super dry is not measuring the flour properly. I seriously can’t recommend using a scale enough for the best baking experience and outcome! They may also turn out dry if you over-kneaded the dough (only knead until it comes together), or if you browned the butter for too long and too much moisture evaporated. You need 120g (a little over 1/2 c.) of brown butter for the scone dough.

My scones spread a lot in the oven

• I would say there are three main reasons that this might have occurred. The #1 reason would be that the scone dough was not chilled for long enough. Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. This allows all the ingredients to get cold again, which leads to les spreading in the oven. Another reason could be that your oven isn’t getting to the right temperature. I recommend getting an oven thermometer, you might be surprised to find out that your oven runs too hot or cold! If those two reasons don’t apply to you – your baking powder might be expired. You can test if your baking powder is active by dropping some in a small amount of water. If it bubbles, it’s active, if not, it’s expired.

Tools and ingredients

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!