Get your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a cookie tray. You can use cooking spray, a little butter, or line it with parchment paper. Whatever works for you.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, mini dark chocolate chips, and salt. Whisk this together really well so the baking powder is distributed evenly and the chocolate chips are separated.

Add your cold butter pieces to the dry mix. Using a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs. This is the step that creates texture. Those little butter pieces create pockets that steam up when baking, giving you that tender crumb. Don't skip this step or rush it. Take a few minutes and actually do the work.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, and buttermilk. Whisk until combined. It doesn't need to be super frothy, just combined.

Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir to combine until even. The key word here is "slowly." You're folding everything together gently, not mixing vigorously. You want to combine everything without overworking the dough. Overworking develops gluten, which makes tough scones.

Knead the dough together a few times until it becomes one solid ball. We're talking maybe 3-5 gentle kneads. You're just bringing everything together, not developing gluten.

Roll the dough into a circle about an inch thick or less. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can just pat it with your hands. It doesn't need to be perfectly even. Slightly less than an inch is actually better because it ensures your scones will bake all the way through without the edges getting too dark.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out small circles. A 2-3 inch cutter is about right. You should get 8-12 scones depending on your cutter size. Don't twist the cutter. Press straight down and pull straight up. Twisting seals the edges and prevents rising.

Place the scone circles on your greased cookie tray. Brush the tops with a little milk. This creates a pretty golden-brown crust when they bake. If you want to be fancy, you could sprinkle a little coarse sugar on top too. It's optional but pretty.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Start checking around 15 minutes because oven temperatures vary. You're looking for the tops to be golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center to come out with just a few moist crumbs.

These are absolutely best served warm. Fresh out of the oven is peak chocolate chip scone experience. The chocolate is slightly melty, the scone is still warm and tender. Serve plain, with butter, with cream cheese spread, or just by themselves.