Decadent Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scones

Tis the season for holiday baking and these Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scones are a rich and delicious recipe to try this year! They are full of chocolate and pecans, topped with a fluffy cream cheese icing and caramel drizzle.

In my opinion, scones are one of the most perfect baked goods. They require no mixer, are quick to make and they are great enjoyed at anytime of day! Whether you want a sweet treat for with your morning coffee or an afternoon treat to share with a friend. these Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scones are perfect.

If you have never made scones with your sourdough discard, they are extremely easy. You are adding sourdough discard into a scone dough to give it a bit of that sourdough flavor. They do not require any rise time and only take 20 minutes to bake!

These Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scones are a light chocolate scone studded with dark chocolate and pecans. They are then topped with a fluffy cream cheese frosting and caramel drizzle. Lightly crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Add these to your baking this holiday season for a fun treat to enjoy with a hot drink.

Tips for Making Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scones

1. Use a sourdough discard that is not active at all! Given the nature of scones and how you don’t want them to be as soft and fluffy as bread, you want your sourdough discard to act as a flavor enhancer not a leavening agent. They will however come out slightly more caky than a traditional scone even if your sourdough discard isn’t active.
2. When making the dough, you want all of your ingredients to be nice as cold (straight from the fridge). This helps ensure the butter isn’t melting into the dough before baking and helps build nice fluffy scones.
3. Try not to over bake the scones. You want to pull them out of the oven when they still seem a bit soft inside. As they cool they will firm up and this prevents you from overtaking and getting dry scones.

Turtle Cheesecake Sourdough Scone Ingredients

Flour– All purpose flour is all you need for this recipe.

Cocoa– Unsweetened cocoa powder gives these scones a nice rich chocolate flavor.

Sugar– Just a simple white granulated sugar is what you need.

Baking Powder- Because you are not using active sourdough starter, you do still need a leavening agent.

Butter– I use salted but you can also use unsalted, just make sure you add salt to the dough if you use unsalted butter.

Milk– Whole milk is ideal but 2% will work too.

Egg– Just 1 eggs is needed for these scones.

Sourdough Discard- As mentioned above, you want to use a sourdough discard that isn’t active at all. I always recommend using it before it’s been in your fridge too long as they can start to develop strong flavor that can be off putting in baked goods.

Chocolate– You can use dark chocolate or semi sweet chocolate, in chips or chunks. I like using dark chocolate to offset the sweetness from the icing.

Pecans– Of course you can have a classic turtle flavor without pecans. If all you have is walnuts, those would be delicious as well.

Cream Cheese- This goes in the icing to give you that cheesecake flavor. Use brick cream cheese to get a nice thick icing.

Powdered Sugar- You will need this in order to make the cream cheese frosting smooth and sweet.

Caramel Sauce- This can be homemade or store-bought caramel. Bonne Maman Dulce De Lece is my favourite caramel sauce to use. Tons of grocery stores carry it.

The Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Start by whisking together the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Once mixed, grate the cold butter and stir it into the flour mixture until all the butter is coated in flour. You want this butter as cold as possible so it doesn’t melt before baking.
4. Then, whisk together the egg, milk and sourdough discard in a measuring cup.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until a thick dough starts to form. You just want to stir it until the dough starts to come together but there is still dry flour.
6. Next, dump the dough and any dry flour in the bowl onto the counter. Knead just 1-2 times to get some of that flour incorporated.
7. Take some of the chocolate chunks and pecans and press them into the top of the dough.

1. Then, fold the dough over its self and gently press down. Repeat that step about 3 times, creating layers, and adding all the chocolate and pecans into the dough.
2. Finally, press the dough a little bit flatter and form it into a round disk. You want it to still be a couple inches thick.
3. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut the disk into 8 triangles. Transfer the cut disk onto the baking sheet, keeping the triangles close together.

1. Bake the scones for 20 minutes.
2. While the scones are baking, add the softened butter to a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat the butter until light while and fluffy. Then add in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Lastly, add in the cream cheese and continue to beat just until smooth.
4. Allow the baked scones to cool for 10 minutes before piping or spreading the cream cheese icing on top and finishing with a drizzle of caramel over each one. Enjoy!

If you give this recipe a try leave a comment or review below 🙂

Looking for more delicious sourdough treats to try?

https://cmbarndominium.com/perfectly-soft-gooey-sourdough-monkey-bread/

https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-brown-butter-apple-sourdough-coffee-cake/

https://cmbarndominium.com/fall-pumpkin-sourdough-coffee-cake/

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