Do you love scones like I love scones? I used to bake them up by the batch full. That was long before I became plant-based. And let me tell you, those scones had so much butter AND heavy cream! No wonder they were tasty… but the good news is that now we can enjoy scones again without any butter, oil or dairy. The secret is almond flour. These babies do not contain any added oils. No bad fats. No saturated fats. Only healthy fat from almonds!
If you're gluten intolerant or just cutting back on your grains, these are the perfect answer to being able to enjoy some yummy baked goodness. Have one for breakfast or as a dessert. They're not too sweet, with a moist, crumbly texture, are loaded with flavor and boast some extra nutritional punch from the flax and poppy seeds.
Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I researched some typical scones for their nutritional breakdowns. It wasn't pretty… Panera Bread's wild blueberry scone with 470 calories per scone, contains 20 grams of fat, including saturated fat and trans fat, coming in at nearly 50% calories from fat, 70 mg of cholesterol and a whopping 900 mg of sodium! What? That's crazy. Another popular bakery style scone was about the same. These yummy devils have 256 calories each, have less fat content, way less sugars and negligible sodium content.
To get more awesome facts about almond flour, check out this page from Nuts.com. I have ordered from them in the past and was very happy with their products!
Now, on to the recipe…
Ingredients:
~ dry
- 2½ cups tightly-packed blanched almond flour
- 6 oz. fresh blueberries
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 TBS poppy seeds (optional, or you can sub with chia seeds!)
- 2 TBS tapioca starch
- ¼ cup unsweetened plant-based milk
- 2 TBS liquid sweetener of your choice (maple syrup, agave, honey...)
- 1 TBS lemon juice
- 1 TBS flax meal + 2 TBS water
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
~ glaze (optional)
Directions:
Healthy trails,
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp water
 |
| before baking |
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Preheat oven to 300° F.
- Mix the flax with the water and set aside.
- Mix all dry ingredients together, except the blueberries.
- Combine the flax mixture with the remaining wet ingredients and combine with the dry ingredients.
- Add the blueberries and gently fold them in. I used my hands. Try to keep them whole.
- Turn the dough out onto the parchment paper and shape into a disk, about 9" in diameter.
- Slice the dough like a pizza, into 8 equal portions and gently separate each portion so there is at least 1" in between them.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Let cool.
- If you are using the glaze, mix the sugar with the water a little at a time until you have a thick consistency but still fluid and drizzle it over the scones. It will dry hard.
- Serve right away. They are best when fresh and lose their nice outer crunch after a while. If you do have leftovers, store refrigerated in an airtight container. Then just pop them in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes before serving.
Makes 8 scones. Enjoy!
Healthy trails,
