Tea and the remainders of a scone (with butter and jam).

I’ve shied away from gluten-free baking so far, other than a couple of already-adapted recipes (few of which I was really excited about). I decided, on this cold, rainy afternoon that I needed some scones in my life, stat. I had hidden away my favorite scone cookbook after my diagnosis out of ire and despair, but I dug it back out and looked for a likely recipe. This one is mostly an adaptation of the author’s Spiced Whole Wheat Scones, but with multiple adaptations and changes. Mainly, I subbed gluten-free white flour for regular flour, and buckwheat flour for whole wheat. I also took out the baking soda and just used powder, since I didn’t have a dairy-free version of buttermilk available. My dried apples were actually crunchy dehydraded apples, so I soaked them in orange juice to soften them up until I was ready to add them. I also used palm sugar instead of cane sugar for the lower glycemic index, and added a little flax just to health it up a bit. The streusel was a riff on the accidental streusel I made last week. It worked well! If I was using it on a coffee cake I’d add some butter.

Whole Grain Apple Pecan Scones with Orange Coconut Steusel

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (I use King Arthur)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup palm sugar
6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup culinary coconut milk (regular or lite)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1/2 cup chopped dried apples
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Streusel:
1 Tbsp fine shredded unsweetened dried coconut
1-2 Tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp orange zest

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees f.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients: coconut milk, vanilla, and egg. Set aside.
3. Add flours, flax, salt, sugar, and spices to food processor. Pulse to mix.
4. Add chunked butter; blend until butter is fully distributed.
5. Pour in wet ingredients and blend until fully mixed.
6. For streusel, you can either mince your zest, or add all the ingredients to a clean coffee/spice grinder and pulse until fine.
7. Prepare a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
8. Using about 1/4 to 1/3 cup scoops, roll dough into balls, place on cookie sheet, and smash down to about 1 inch thickness.
9. Sprinkle streusel generously on top.
10. Bake for about 14 minutes; turn pan halfway through if your oven is freaky like mine.
11. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
12. Eat ’em hot with butter and jam or honey and some tea.

Yum.