These gluten-free chocolate chip scones are light, fluffy, and melt in your mouth! And who wouldn’t love any reason to eat chocolate chips for breakfast?
Looking for an easy scone recipe? Even if this is your first time making gluten-free scones, this recipe includes all the tips you need to get light, fluffy, and rich chocolate scones!
Chocolate chip scones are like the more mature, grown-up version of chocolate chip cookies. They’re sweet (but not too sweet), rich, flaky, and the ultimate breakfast or brunch sweet treat.
I love that you can eat these scones on the go or have them for a fancy breakfast gathering with friends and family.
No one will ever guess this is such an easy scone recipe, or that they’re gluten-free!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love These Scones
- Light and fluffy
- Rise well
- Easy to make
- Perfect touch of sweetness
- Rich flavor
You also might like these recipes for gluten-free blueberry scones, gluten-free cheese scones or this post on how to make gluten-free scones!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are some of the ingredients that make this chocolate chip scone recipe really shine!
- Baking powder: A full tablespoon of baking powder helps gluten-free scones turn out nice and light.
- Sour cream: Sour cream gives these scones richness but also helps them hold their shape during baking.
- Frozen grated butter: Frozen grated butter is KEY to creating the best scones, with a light and flaky texture. The cold butter and breadcrumb-like mixture of flour melts as the scones bake, releasing steam and creating air pockets. These pockets are what create flaky scones with crisp edges.
- Chocolate chips: Mini chocolate chips give the perfect dose of sweetness sprinkled throughout the dough!
- Vanilla extract: Be sure to use real vanilla extract (not imitation) to get the best flavor for these chocolate chip scones!
How to Make These Scones
- In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs.
- Stir in the mini chocolate chips to the flour mixture until evenly distributed. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg until combined.
- Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, until no dry bits of flour remain and a soft dough forms (do not over-mix).
- Spread out a large piece of plastic wrap. Using wet hands, transfer the scone dough to the parchment paper. Clean and wet your hands again then pat the gluten-free chocolate chip scones dough to form a 6-inch round that is 1-inch thick. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Do not refrigerate longer than 30 minutes.)
- Heat oven to 500F. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- After 30 minutes, transfer dough out of the fridge. Spray a sharp knife with vegetable oil and cut the dough into 6 equal wedges. Arrange the scones on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse cane sugar, if desired.
- Lower the oven temperature to 425F and bake the scones for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. (You want the oven temperature to be hot to start so the scones turn golden brown as they cook through.)
- Transfer the scones to a wire rack and let cook for 20 minutes before serving these delicious scones.
You also might like these top-rated gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.
Storage Instructions
This gluten-free scone recipe is best enjoyed on the day the scones are baked. However, you can also store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze them for up to 2 weeks. Place frozen scones in the microwave for 15-30 seconds to thaw when you’re ready to eat.
FAQ
To get the perfect scone that is light and fluffy, be sure to use a full tablespoon of baking powder, like in this recipe. Double-check to make sure the baking powder is fresh (less than 6 months old), don’t over-knead your dough, and don’t add more flour than the recipe calls for.
A good scone recipe calls for frozen butter (to create a light, flaky dough), baking powder (to get a nice rise), and sour cream (for added richness.)
Frozen grated butter helps to keep scones from spreading in the oven and keeps them more moist. Sour cream also adds richness and makes a more moist scone dough.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Resting the gluten free chocolate chip scones dough for 30 minutes before baking allows the gluten-free flour blend to hydrate. (Gluten-free baking flour takes longer than regular flour to absorb moisture.)
- You can use any type of chocolate chips you like, including dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips.
More Gluten-Free Recipes
I hope you love these scone recipes as much as we do! If you try these chocolate chip scones, be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Scones (Bakery Style!)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free 1:1 baking flour 240 grams
- ¼ cup granulated sugar 50 grams
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter frozen, 113 grams
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Coarse sugar for topping
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs.
- Stir in the mix-ins to the flour mixture until evenly distributed. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg and vanilla until combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, stir the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture until no dry bits of flour remain. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
- Spread out a large piece of plastic wrap. Using wet hands, transfer the dough to the parchment paper. Clean and wet your hands again then pat the dough to form a 6-inch round that is 1-inch thick. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Do not refrigerate longer than 30 minutes.)
- Preheat the oven to 500F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- After 30 minutes take the dough out of the fridge. Spray a sharp knife with vegetable oil and cut the dough into 6 equal wedges. Arrange the scones on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
- Lower the oven temperature to 425F and bake the scones for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. (You want the oven temperature to be hot to start so the scones turn golden brown as they cook through.)
- Transfer the scones to a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour: I like to use a high quality gluten-free flour blend like gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend like King Arthur Flour in my baked goods. It works best to use a blend that contains xanthan gum in this recipe.
- Sour cream: Sour cream gives these scones richness, but also helps them hold their shape during baking.
- Frozen grated butter: Frozen grated butter is KEY to creating light, flaky, buttery scones. The cold butter and flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, releasing steam and creating air pockets. These pockets are what create flaky scones with crisp edges!
- Resting the gluten free chocolate chip scones dough for 30 minutes before baking allows the gluten-free flour blend to hydrate. (Gluten-free baking flour takes longer than regular flour to absorb moisture.)
- You can use any type of chocolate chips you like, including dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips.
Is there any point where the dough of scones can be frozen?
Thanks, Lori
Hi Lori! Yes absolutely. After shaping the scones, place the unbaked scones in the freezer for 1-2 hours or until the scones are hard. This step ensures that the scones won’t stick together when you transfer them to a freezer safe bag. Remove the scones from the freezer, and place them in a freezer safe bag or an airtight container in a single layer.