In January of 2015, I started working on my first major cookbook, Healthier Chocolate Treats. After writing the proposal and establishing the Table of Contents, I penciled in a schedule of the recipes I needed to test over the next three months, plus a little extra “wiggle room” at the end of that timeframe in case my perfectionist side needed the extra week to ensure every recipe met my standards. (Are you a perfectionist too? Can you relate?)
The next day, I drove over to the grocery store to stock up on baking staples before I dove headfirst into recipe testing. I nearly bought out their entire inventory of my favorite cocoa powder and chocolate chips… And did that again a few weeks later!
I strategically planned my schedule of cookbook recipes to avoid testing five desserts in a week (plus the recipes I still baked for this blog—it’d be impossible to run enough miles to compensate!). Instead, I worked on one snack, one or two breakfasts, and two desserts each week, and I always found myself staring at countertops and a fridge full of baked goodies every Saturday… Then knocking on my friends’ and neighbors’ doors with big platters of them to give away!
Because I absolutely adore muffins and scones, those were the first few breakfast recipes that I tested. I love pairing them with Greek yogurt for breakfast, nibbling on them alongside coffee as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, and even reaching for them as a pre-bedtime snack. Those types of baked treats never last long at my house!
Since I’m super excited that my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook is coming out as an eBook next week (you can see a sneak peek and preorder it here!), I’ve been staring at pictures of the muffins and scones that I included in the cookbook for the past few days… Which inspired me to bake these Clean Triple Chocolate Scones!
Yes, triple chocolate! Chocolate dough. Chocolate chips. Chocolate drizzle. And they’re healthy too… They’re a chocoholic’s dream come true!
Mmmmmmmmm…. Doesn’t that look good??
You’ll start with a combination of white whole wheat flour and unsweetened cocoa powder. White whole wheat flour is made from a special type of finely ground white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from heartier red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits of regular whole wheat flour.
You’ll just need regular ol’ unsweetened cocoa powder. No need for Dutched or special dark—the scones already taste plenty dark without those! You’ll use a full ½ cup of cocoa powder in these scones, so using those other types will make them taste bitter instead of rich and chocolaty. So stick with the regular variety!
For the perfect light and tender texture, you’ll want to use very cold butter. Unlike traditional recipes that call for an entire stick or two, you just need 2 tablespoons in these healthier scones! You want the butter to stay cold until you put the scones in the oven because when the butter starts to melt at that high temperature, it creates little air pockets, which gives the scones their light and tender texture.
Note: For this reason, coconut oil and spreadable butter won’t achieve quite the same texture. You can use them in a pinch, as long as you remember that the texture will be slightly different.
To keep the scones really moist, you’ll use my favorite ingredient in healthier baking. Do you know what it is? That’s right… It’s Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt provides the same moisture as extra butter for a fraction of the calories, and it gives these scones a protein boost too!
And of course… The mini chocolate chips! I highly recommend using mini chips because they ensure that every bite contains a little morsel of melty chocolate. These are my favorite because they taste really rich and melt very well!
Just before baking, you’ll brush the dough with milk. This little trick helps seal the moisture into the scones, and it also gives their outsides a hint of a crust. That texture contrast is so irresistible… It’s probably one of the biggest reasons I have very little self-control around scones! ?
Once they come out of the oven, it’s time to add the dark chocolate drizzle! It’s super simple to make: just cocoa powder, maple syrup, and milk. That’s it! Drizzle on top of those warm chocolate scones with their melty chocolate chips, take a bite, and…
Pure chocolate bliss! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your scones!
And if you enjoyed these scones, you’ll love all of the recipes in my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook! See a special sneak preview and order yours here!
| Clean Triple Chocolate Scones | | Print |
- for the scones
- 1 cup (120g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ½ cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, very cold and cubed
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp + 2 tsp (55mL) nonfat milk, divided
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp (28g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- for the drizzle
- 1 tbsp (5g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or the back of a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the Greek yogurt, maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla. Gently fold in 1 ½ tablespoons of chocolate chips.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet, and shape into a ¾” tall circle using a spatula. Brush with the remaining milk. Slice the circle into 8 triangular segments with a sharp knife. Gently press the remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake at 425°F for 15-18 minutes, or tips of each scone triangle in the center of the pan feel firm to the touch. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the drizzle, stir together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, and milk in a small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a zip-topped bag, and cut off a tiny piece of one corner. Just before serving, drizzle on top of the scones.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
It’s very important to measure both the flour and cocoa powder correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. I highly recommend the latter! This is the one I own (it’s the best $20 I’ve ever spent!), and I use it every day. A kitchen scale ensures that the recipes you make will turn out with the perfect taste and texture every time. Too much cocoa powder in these scones will make them dry and bitter.
In a pinch, solid-state coconut oil may be substituted for the butter, but I warn against doing this, if at all possible, because the scones’ texture won’t be quite the same.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
These scones are meant to taste similar to 72% dark chocolate. For sweeter scones, substitute additional pure maple syrup for some of the milk in either the scone dough, the drizzle, or both.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
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♡ Fudgy Triple Chocolate Cookies
These look so chocolatey and fantastic!! My kind of scone 😉 I was SO excited when I saw your Snapchat yesterday, I’m pre-ordering the cookbook right now! You deserve this Amy and I cannot WAIT to start working my way through the book! 🙂 YAY!
You’re so sweet — thank you SO much Marina!! ❤️ I’m so, so excited to hear what you try first when the eCookbook comes out next week!
These look great. Have tried a couple of your other scone recipes and they were awesome! Am a chocoholic so will try these. Agree about the mini chips. Get a lot more chocolate happiness for fewer calories than the big chips. For some reason your emails stopped coming through but was able to sign up again with my alternate account so getting them again-yay! You bake like me, making things healthier, but now you have done all the experimenting for me so I can just enjoy them w/o packing on the pounds eating the not so awesome versions:)
I’m so glad you were able to re-subscribe with a different email Tracy! And I’m thrilled to hear that you’re enjoying my scone recipes too — that means a lot to me! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these too!
I’m so excited for the cookbook! These look so good!
Thanks Shannon! I can’t wait to hear which recipe you try first from my cookbook! 🙂
These look absolutely incredible!! I love dark chocolate and am currently living with someone who is trying to be gluten-free so I want to try these with a gluten-free flour blend! Do you know if coconut sugar can be substituted for the maple syrup? Would I maybe just need to add a bit more milk? Also do you think hershey’s special dark cocoa powder would work? I’m so sorry for all the questions!
That’s really sweet of you to want to make them GF Alex! Coconut sugar + an additional 2 tablespoons of milk may be substituted for the maple syrup. As for the special dark cocoa powder, I already answered that in the blog post above the recipe. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the scones!
Finally reporting back! 🙂 These turned out delicious! The texture honestly wasn’t like a scone but was more fudge like instead, which I am perfectly okay with! They are a bit toothsome, probably due to the gluten-free flour, but I honestly don’t mind one bit. I ended up using the special dark just because that’s what I had, and I also used dried blueberries instead of chocolate chips, again because of what I had on hand. I froze most of them immediately because I was headed out of town and since returning been taking them out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge and then have been enjoying them cold from the fridge. Just so good and chocolatey! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the scones Alex! And thank you for including your modifications — I love hearing what works! 🙂
these look great, will try making a batch on weekend.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of the scones! 🙂
I absolutely love your recipes. Never been much of a baker but since I discovered yours, i always have fresh baked stuff in the cupboards 🙂 especially the loaf with couchette. To die for. I do have a question: in all the recipes that have Greek yoghurt in them you use baking soda. In this one you don’t. Is that correct? And why don’t you use it in this one? Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for your kind comment Jael; that means the world to me! 🙂 All of my scone recipes just use baking powder, not baking soda. I don’t always use baking soda with Greek yogurt, but I think you just happened to have tried many of the ones where I do! I tend to use baking soda more when there’s an acidic ingredient, like lemon juice, but not always. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these scones!
Thanks for the quick reply! Good to know. And yes, most of your recipes I tried had baking soda in combination with the yoghurt. I really liked the scones! Still doesn’t compare with the zucchini loaf (which I meant) and the carrot cookies! With those I actually added chai tea as an ingredient which gave them more flavor dept. as said before, big fan of your very simple, easy to make, healthy recipes.
My pleasure Jael! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the recipes. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these scones too!
One more question 🙂 in your newest recipes you often use stevia creme. Since I live in the Netehrlands we don’t have this ingredient. I love your usual use of maple syrup and honey. If stevia is in a recipe, with what and how much can I substitute it for?
I almost always include a liquid sweetener substitute like honey or maple syrup in the Notes section of those recipes underneath the Instructions. The amount will vary between recipes, so check there first! 🙂
I’d thrown some butter in the freezer to make this weeks ago and finally got around to making it today. It didn’t come out perfectly, but tastes great! I’ve already downed two slices!
I found the final batter very very sticky and close to impossible to shape. I used two different spatulas and tried to coax it into a nice disc, but every time the spatula came in contact with the batter, it took away a good amount of it. Which wasn’t a terrible hardship since the batter was yummy, but I’d like to be able to make neater scones. Also, The very edge of the scones turned a touch crunchy like I’d expected, but the overall texture is still more chewy than crumbly. Not sure where I went wrong since I carefully weighed all the ingredients and followed the instructions to a T.
With all that said, I’m still pretty pleased with the scones. I skipped the glaze but added a lot more than 2 T of chocolate chips and the chocolate flavor of these is very good! I’ll try it again with grated butter so I spend less time cutting chunks of frozen butter into flour.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the scones’ flavor Krithika! 🙂 The interior of the scones is supposed to be soft and tender, while the outsides turn a little crisp while baking at that high temperature after brushing them with the milk. I haven’t made the scones with frozen butter, only very cold butter straight from the fridge, so I don’t know whether that affected the dough and resulting scones. If the dough is that difficult to work with the next time you bake them, brush the dough with the milk before trying to shape it into a disc with the spatulas. The milk helps prevent the dough from sticking to the spatulas, and you can always brush the dough with a little more milk after shaping it to ensure the outsides get that wonderful crisp texture!
Hi could you substitute sugar-free syrup for the pure maple syrup to lower the calorie count?
Yes, that should work. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the scones Amal!