Several years ago one my mom’s staff gave me the Pink Princess Cookbook.

The book is full of cute foods, lots of pink things, and recipes varying from “dead simple” to “not very hard.” I was therefore quite surprised when my first go at these scones produced some awful unattractive (although still tasty) blobs. The dough was just way, way too sticky to shape in any sort of Princess-appropriate way.

I know, adorable, right?

I tried again, adding more flour to make the dough more of a dough, less of a sticky mess, and got something that almost holds a shape, although they’re still not nearly as perfect as the ones in the illustration. They’re a bit…cakier, than your standard scone, but still pretty tasty.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
• powdered sugar for dusting

They're practically little bullseyes, just asking to be smashed!

One of those little ‘1 for 59 cents, 2 for a dollar’ bags of peppermints you can get at CVS and everywhere else turns out to be about half a cup when crushed. You can definitely get away with eating one, and sharing with anyone else in the kitchen as well. I crushed up the whole bag, and had more peppermint crumbs than scones to pile them on.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir until well combined.

Oh boy. White on white.

Add the chocolate chips and stir until they are coated with flour and evenly spread through the flour.

Add one cup of the cream and stir until the mixture starts to hold together.

Turn the mixture out onto a heavily floured surface and knead until a soft dough forms. Holding the dough in one hand, re-flour your work surface. Pat the dough into a rough disk, putting it down on the floured surface when it gets too big to conveniently hold. The book said one inch thick, but then shows scones much, much thinner. I’d aim for half an inch thick, max.

Lightly grease a cookie cutter and cut out scones, placing them on parchment-lined baking sheets.

The Pink Princess Cookbook seemed to demand cutesy cookie cutters.

Reform the dough as necessary to keep cutting shapes out of it, keeping the work surface floured and the cookie cutters greased.

Brush the scones with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream.

Sprinkle the crushed peppermints on top.Bake at 375 degrees 15 to 20 minutes or until very lightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

One important tip: The peppermint bits will melt, and some of that will run off the sides of the scone. If there’s melted peppermint hanging on to the bottom of your scone and it’s still white, red, or pink – cool, eat it! If it’s started browning, break that off and throw it out, because WOW that is a lastingly horrid bitter taste. Oof.

These are best, texture-wise, when eaten the day they were baked. That did not stop me from breakfasting on them for the next several days, but they were very sticky by the end.

As the Pink Princess Cookbook says: Yummy peppermint treats!

Chocolate Chip Peppermint Scones

Adapted from the Pink Princess Cookbook.

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
• powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the chocolate chips and toss to coat with flour. Pour 1 cup of cream into the mixture and stir until just starting to hold together.

Turn mixture out onto a heavily floured surface and knead until a soft dough forms, about 2 minutes. Re-flour surface and pat dough to 1/2″ thick.

Grease cookie cutters and cut out scones, placing on the baking sheets. Brush scones with remaining 2 tablespoons cream and sprinkle with peppermint.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until very lightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.