Nutella Scones

So, I've been meaning to create this blog for some time now. I am planning to post a whole slough of things right off the bat, and then I'm sure the posts will taper off a bit. I wanted my first post to be a brunch item, since brunch is my favorite meal. I love breakfast food, but really never take the time to eat a cooked breakfast during the week. It makes me a little sad, but that's why weekends were created. I'm convinced.

Back in April, I invited a few guests over for brunch. The menu included: Potato-Onion-Spinach frittata, Spinach Salad with Goat's Cheese, Berries and Grilled Chicken, Ricotta-Strawberry Napoleons, and Nutella Scones.

I'm posting one picture of the entire spread here, but will share secrets/tips to the perfect Nutella scone.

First of all -- use the recipe from the book Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. (See the recipe here.) Brooklyn bakers Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito know their stuff. The recipe is great, but I thought I would add a couple of my own little tips -- having made the recipe multiple times.

First: Use the best possible cocoa powder. Hershey's and Nestle's are NOT going to cut it. Think Williams-Sonoma quality. I've used Scharfenberger (my favorite). The recipe suggests Valrhona. If you use a cheap cocoa powder, your scones won't taste chocolatey. At all.

Second: Bake the scones as directed in the recipe, but turn off the oven completely about 8 minutes before they're done. I know this sounds mental, but it has proven a great technique to moist yet flaky scones -- time and time again.