Chocolate Mint Scrummies

Looking at different, beautiful tea houses online has become a calming way to pass the time in these uncertain days. In these tea houses, I find inspiration for unique ways to enjoy my tea or set a tea party, even if just for myself. Recently, I stumbled across Pine Cottage Tea House and Catering and fell down a rabbit hole of delicious treats and adorable themed settings. Their most recent creation, chocolate mint scrummies, caught my sweets lovin' heart's attention.

A scrummy is a small, indulgent scone of different flavors, played off of the British slang word for something delicious. I was smitten. Sadly, I can't make the trek from Maryland to Downers Grove, Illinois, but I can make my own version of a scrummy here in my kitchen and pretend I'm in a lovely teahouse.

Scrummies and Tea

After scanning through their flavors, I decided to try to make a chocolate mint scrummy to pair with a bag of our Chocolate Mint "Like the Cookie" oolong tea. This tea truly tastes and smells like a mint chocolate cookie, and has just enough caffeine to wake me up without making me jittery. This combination makes it a new favorite in my tea cabinet.
Pinecone Cottage's chocolate mint scrummy is a small chocolate mint scone with a Hershey kiss and mint white chocolate drizzle. I have to have one for my tea.
To make the scrummy, I started out using a sour cream and buttermilk scone recipe and added cocoa powder and mint extract to get that chocolaty mint taste. Then I shaped the scones into small rounds and sliced them into eighths, so they would have the smaller size of the tea house’s scrummy. Once the scones were out of the oven, I placed a Hershey kiss into the warm scone so it would melt in. When the scones were cooled, they get a drizzle made up of white chocolate, cream, and mint extract.
Even though they look like chocolate cake, the scones themselves are barely sweet. They get most of their sweetness from the dots of chocolate chips and mint white chocolate drizzle. The scones are light, with a crackly crisp top, and pair perfectly with a pretty teacup full of oolong.

How to Make Chocolate Mint Scrummies

There are some tricks I want to pass along that I used to make my scrummies, which come in handy for all scone making.
First, whisk the dry ingredients together to break up any clumps and make sure your batter comes out evenly distributed.
The next step in scone baking is cutting in the butter. The easiest way to cut the butter in is by grating it on a cheese grater and mixing it into the dry ingredients. This takes a lot of the fuss out of having to chop the butter and it works the butter into the dry ingredients so much faster.
After the butter and dry ingredients are combined, you need to mix up the wet ingredients. The recipe calls for buttermilk, which I never have on hand. You can make your own by combining white vinegar and milk. Add a tablespoon of vinegar per cup to a measuring cup, then top off the milk from there. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to curdle and then use it in your recipe.
To finish the dough, mix your wet ingredients together and make a well in the center of your dry mixture. Then pour in the liquid. Stir it together with a wooden spoon until it is incorporated, then add the chocolate chips.
Once all of your ingredients are combined, dump the dough onto a cutting board and knead it until it comes together. I know we don’t usually knead a scone dough, but it works for this recipe and still comes out airy and light. Once you have a shaggy dough ball, divide it in two and place half onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press the ball into a six-inch circle, then cut into eighths but don’t separate the scones. Repeat with the second half.
Bake your scones at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for twenty minutes. The tops should be cracked and hard, while the scone should have puffed up. Remove from oven, and place an unwrapped kiss onto each scone. Let them cool completely before adding the drizzle.
When your scones have cooled, mix white chocolate, heavy cream, and mint extract together. Melt the chocolate however you prefer, microwaving at 20-second intervals and stirring between or double boiler method. I put the melted chocolate into a Ziplock bag and snipped a small piece off of the corner to drizzle my melted chocolate onto the scones.