Banana, Chocolate & Oat Scones

I've always been a lover of scones; plain, cheese, fruit...you name it and I'll be right on it. I think people consider them old fashioned nowadays, bit of an old persons treat, perhaps since it's always been a traditional element to an afternoon tea and guaranteed to be in any twee tearoom and national trust cafe up and down the country flocked with those people of a certain age.

But once you've nailed your perfect scone recipe, they really are a baker's delight to make, relatively quick, easy and simple which is why I think I usually resort to making them whenever I need a quick baking fix and I can't decide what to make...it always ends up being a scone, the need for just a few store cupboard ingredients makes the decision a straight forward one. 

It's not often that I come across some innovative and uniquely flavored scone, probably because no one dares mess with a British classic and I'm not saying that my banana, chocolate and oat scones are that unique in it's combination, however I really liked the twist on the traditional recipe and the indulgent addition of chocolate chunks makes it that bit more of a treat. Feel free to pile on (more calories, who cares) chocolate spread, peanut butter and to be honest you could even go clotted cream too but butter worked nicely as well with these, think a cross between banana loaf cake and a scone!

Banana, Chocolate & Oat Scones

Makes about 10 large scones

Ingredients

450g (2 1/4 cups) self raising flour 2 tsp baking powder 75g (1/3 cup) softened butter 50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar 30g (1/3 cup) rolled oats, plus extra handful for sprinkling on top 90g (1/2 cup choc chips) chocolate of your choice 2 bananas 150ml milk 2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7/ 425°F. Flour two baking trays. 
Put the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it in between your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, oats. Chop up the chocolate into small chunks and add to the bowl. 
Peel and mash the bananas with a fork in a separate bowl and add the mashed banana to the dry scone mixture. Measure the milk into a jug and crack the eggs in. Whisk the milk and egg together and then slowly pour the liquid into the dry scone mixture until you have a soft dough, you probably won't need all the liquid and should reserve about 2 tbsp to glaze the scones later, but depending on how big the eggs and banana are, you might need more or less milk so add it in bit by bit. The scone mixture should be on the wet side, sticking to your fingers, as the scones will rise better. 
Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and flatten it out with your hands or a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1-2cm. Use a 5cm (2 inch) fluted or round cutter to stamp out the scones  (try not to twist the cutter when lifting them out to ensure the scones rise evenly and keep their shape). With the remainder dough, gently push together and re roll until you have used all the dough. 
Arrange the scones on the floured baking trays and brush the tops of the scones with the remaining milk/egg to glaze. Sprinkle a small amount of oats on top of each scone using the glaze to help it stick. Bake the scones in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until well risen and golden. 
Once baked, transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool, a great tip is to cover the scones with a clean tea towel to help keep them moist. Serve cut in half and spread generously with your preferred toppings, such as peanut butter, chocolate spread, cream or butter.