Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Scones

Even a trip that is ill-conceived, poorly planned, and plagued with wrong turns can get you to the right destination.

This week, the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers are making the chestnut scones from Baking From My Home to Yours. I couldn't easily find chestnut flour, so I decided to sub hazelnut flour, which I have in my freezer. I was all psyched about it once I realized I could add chocolate chips and make these taste like Nutella. That was the last good idea I had.

I weighed my dry ingredients, set them aside and went to bed. The next morning, I happened to check Twitter and read that Nancy thought almond flour was more suitable since it's fine like the chestnut flour was. Uh oh. So I quickly piled the dry ingredients (double batch) in the dry blending container for my VitaMix. I kept checking it and tamping it down. Not much was happening, so I dumped it back in the bowl. It was then that I realized I stopped just this side of making hazelnut butter. So I tried redistributing the pasty hazelnut flour with the all-purpose flour and hoped for the best.

I carefully measured out the cream, added the egg and vanilla. Then I added the butter to the flour and turned on the mixture. Then it seemed like a good idea to chat on Twitter with my Twitter buddies. By the time I remembered that the mixer was on and grinding the butter into the flour, it was too late. The butter lumps were gone. It was pretty well incorporated into the flour. Was I in the next room, unable to hear the mixer? No, I was about four feet away.

So I dumped in the wet ingredients and to my amazement/horror, the "dough" was VERY wet. Like, almost a batter. I added 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and the chocolate chips, mixed it with a spatula and hoped for the best. Cutting out circles from a dough that is two steps away from being a puddle is challenging, but I managed to get all the scones on the sheet pans and into the freezer. I figured it would all work out if they weren't practically a liquid when they went into the oven.

The approach seemed to pay off as they came out resembling scones, though they cooked a little longer than I normally cook Dorie's scones. I took them to work, where the lovely people I work with said kind things about them. They were crumbly, but the flavor was amazing. Definitely reminiscent of Nutella. So good in fact, that I just added hazelnut flour to my grocery list. I'm going to give them another try, and hopefully not mess up the recipe quite so much this time.

I have Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen to thank for choosing the chestnut scones this week. Although I didn't make them the way Dorie intended, I know Dorie's a fan of making do with what you have. The other TWD bakers are better at following directions than I am. You can find them here. Andrea has the REAL recipe for chestnut scones here.