CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT RICOTTA SCONES WITH NUTELLA GLAZE (with SECRET INGREDIENT)

Hey Steemians!  Another food photo shoot (and recipe) for you today.  Happy Wednesday!

And yes, there is a secret ingredient to these scones.  It's guaranteed to solve the dreaded DRY scone.  Don't worry, I'll tell you what it is,....

Before I get to the scones, yesterday in my post, I made the mistake of announcing my ignorance as to the hardfork and how it was going to happen in just a few moments, and no kidding, within 7 minutes, they announced delaying it for another week.   I won't do that again!  I will say however, kuddos to the development team for listening to the community.  It actually gives me a great deal of confidence in this platform, knowing those that who write the code care.

Ok, on with the scones...

One of the things I like most about scones, they’re really good at toeing that line between breakfast items and dessert. Come to think of it, that’s probably why you don’t feel quite so guilty enjoying them with your morning coffee and yet they also make a marvellous dessert when the occasion calls for them. 

I feel like I’ve said this before, but I’ve always felt like scones have sort of a bad rep for being dry and tasteless. At least, that’s how it seems to be in my circles. But you know what, I also feel like they don’t have to be. Can we all just agree to give them a second chance? I think it’s only fair because if there was ever a scone that could change the general consensus for all of its fellow scone flavors, this is the one. 

 I’ve tried quite a few different scone recipes before and each one had its own merits and drawbacks but I have to say these are probably the best ones ever! Seriously, my whole family gave rave reviews and devoured every last one of them within the same day I’d made them. They were, needless to say, a huge hit. The secret, Ricotta!  You heard it right, RICOTTA!

Enter: these oh-so-delicious Chocolate Hazelnut Ricotta Scones accessorized by their delightful Nutella Glaze! Omg, the texture that they have when you use ricotta is amazing and with the complementing flavors of chocolate and hazelnuts I’d say they are definitely ranking near scone perfection! 

I have to tell you guys something though, this seems crazy with me being a food blogger and all, but I’ve never used actual hazelnuts in anything prior to these scones. Nutella and other product cotaining them, yes, but not the actual nuts. Mostly it’s because we’ve been trying to find a source to but them from and hadn’t up until about a week ago. The other day my mom came home with a small bag of them just for me because she knows how much I love new ingredients and for some reason my first thought was that they should be used in some scones. Of course, you can’t have hazelnuts and scones without inviting chocolate to the party (’cause chocolate’s got a bit of an ego, you know?) so that had to be in them too. 

 Basically, you’re just going to have to make these to understand my excitement because words are failing me right now. I just can’t even!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 16 scones

Ingredients

Scones:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or organic shortening, ice cold
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup ricotta
• 100g (about 2/3 cup) semi-sweet dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped

Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons nutella
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
2. -If using food processor (steps 2-3):
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of a food processor
4. Add cold butter to dry mixture and pulse until it is fine and powdery. Add ricotta, egg, and vanilla exract to mixture and pulse to combine until it comes together into a dough.
5. -If doing by hand (steps 4-5):
6. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Grate butter with a cheese grater then use a pastry cutter or pair of knives to cut it into the dry mix until you have a course, crumbly mixture.
7. Add the ricotta, egg, and vanilla exract to a small bowl and stir to combine, then pour into dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula until it comes together.
8. Fold in chocolate and hazelnuts then scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half and, with well floured hands because the dough will be a bit wet, flatten each half into a circular disc shape, about an inch high. Do your best to handle the dough as little as possible in order to keep it cold. (If you're having trouble with handling it you can chill it for about 30 minutes in the fridge or even the freezer to make it easier to work with.)
9. Make 4 cuts, straight, across, and diagonally, in the circle so that you have 8 equal triangles (see photos) Repeat with other half of dough. Seperate them and place each triangle about 2 inches apart to allow spreading room on prepared pan.
10. Bake for 12 - 16 minutes or until edges start to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
11. While the scones are cooling, whisk all ingredients together for the glaze until smooth. When completely cool drizzle glaze over scones and let dry for about 30 minutes. Store in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and A SPECIAL thank you to all of my FOLLOWERS!!

As is most often the case, I took all of these photos with my Nikon D5300 with my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G

AND A HUGE MASSIVE SHOUT OUT TO @rigaronib for designing my logo!!!!