On my last trip to the grocery store I saw pomegranates. They’re sort of fugly on the outside, their skins are often blemished and they are usually a little bulbous in places they should be smooth and smooth in places they should be bulbous, but we don’t judge our fruit by it’s covers now do we? No. We don’t. I grabbed a pair of them and brought them home to sit on the kitchen counter until I figured out what to do with them. We have eaten the seeds plain on their own before and I’ve added them to a quinoa salad which was really nice too. I wanted something a bit on the sweet side this time.

Pomegranates are a pretty versatile ingredient and you can do a lot of things with them but I really love the combination of pomegranate and dark chocolate so that’s exactly where I went with these scones.

There’s nothing quite like biting a seed between your teeth and tasting the sweet juice that is released upon doing so. It’s very sensual. There’s a reason that pomegranates are rumoured to be an aphrodisiac and while I don’t know if there’s any truth to it, I do know that I loved the experience of eating these pomegranate and dark chocolate scones. If ever there was a sexy pastry it would be these (I can’t even keep a straight face as I type this, sometimes I crack myself up.)

Scones are one of my favourite things to bake – they’re just so easy and fast and the end result always knocks my socks off. Buttery, flaky and if you’re lucky, the edges will get crisp. Melt a little butter on them while they’re still hot from the oven and oh man. Is it getting warm in here? No wonder the term ‘food porn’ exists. (laughing, again….)

I’m getting carried away. How about I just share the recipe eh?

Pomegranate and Chocolate Scones

Yield: 6-8

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

So good. SO GOOD.

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Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (it's best to sift before you measure to avoid too much flour - this is one recipe when it's worth doing!)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, very cold and grated through a box grater
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• the seeds from two pomegranates
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• Egg wash:
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment.

In a large bowl combine: flour, salt, baking powder, sugar. Mix to incorporate.

Grate your very cold butter into the bowl - this is the trick to flaky scones. You want small, uniform pieces of butter layered through your pastry dough. With a fork, gently fluff the butter through the flour mixture until your butter is nicely coated and distributed.

In a separate small bowl, beat your egg and milk together.

Stir the milk and egg mixture into the butter and flour with a fork gently until mostly incorporated.

Add the pomegranate seeds and chocolate chips and stir through.

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and, working quickly so as not to melt the butter with your hands, knead into a rough ball until it is mostly sticking together.

Flatten the ball into a circle about 8" in diameter and 3/4 " thick.

Don't worry about having it perfectly smooth or round, the less you handle your dough, the better.

Cut into wedges - this makes 6 large coffee house sized scones or 8 smaller ones.

Brush each scone with egg wash before transferring with a spatula to the cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-18 min until lightly golden brown. I turned my cookie sheet halfway through cooking.

Allow to cool 5-10 min before removing from the baking sheet.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 407Total Fat: 17gSodium: 316mgCarbohydrates: 59.8gFiber: 1.3gSugar: 23gProtein: 7g

If you’re having company for the long weekend then put a batch of these in the oven for an easy breakfast idea. People can help themselves as they wish and it will save you time in the kitchen, because Thanksgiving Dinner calls for enough time in the kitchen I think! Tea and scones makes a simple yet impressive breakfast offering for your guests. Nobody will complain about receiving one of these babies!