Pretty little bursts of berry sprinkled throughout *the best* gluten free scones, for a delicious breakfast upgrade!
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The first day of spring, and a new recipe to celebrate!
We welcomed the first days of spring last weekend with all the hiking, biking, and even Lake Michigan toe dipping! All that fresh spring air got us excited about the amazing produce that will be growing here shortly, and with Easter next weekend, I decided to grab some berries and try a new breakfast treat for our Easter brunch this Sunday!
A familiar scone base, with a sweet berry change up!
If you’ve been around these parts in the last year, you know that last spring I perfected a Funfetti Birthday Scone for my middle kiddo’s birthday! That scone base then became a Thanksgiving morning treat with warm fall spices and molasses in my Pumpkin Scones. So for this spring inspired version, I used pretty berries! I cannot wait to get our hands on fresh Michigan berries this summer and make them again!
The Method :: The Scone Dough
Scones can feel intimidating, especially with squishy berries in the mix, but I promise this is not fussy. A simple dry ingredient combination, and let the butter shine! Crumble the cold butter into your flour, and then mix in your buttermilk. (I left instructions for making your own buttermilk or coconut buttermilk, which will give these scones a fluffed up, soft texture on the inside.) Once your dough is moist with buttermilk, you’ll fold in the berries gently with a rubber scraper to start, and then I found using my hands was the easiest way to get it all to come together into a loose dough.Once you flour your counter, use your hands to gently form a disk, then use a rolling pin to gently roll the disk to about just over an inch. After cutting your disk into eighths, place the scones a baking tray to bake. You can brush the tops of your scones with more milk and sprinkle a bit of sugar to make for a crispy, top.
The Method :: The Lemon Glaze
We played around with this lemon glaze a lot! My husband and I enjoyed a good tablespoon of lemon juice, while the kids were more into just a couple teaspoons. It really depends on your palate, so I recommend starting out with a teaspoon and working up from there to your taste. Remember the glaze will be drizzled over very lightly sweetened scones, so the sweet lemon flavor will blend into the scone some too. Berries and fresh lemon – what’s not to love?!
Freezer friendly!
I popped this whole batch of scones in the freezer for Easter this weekend! After a few days, I took them out to see how they would thaw and feel, and they are perfect. That means you can bake ahead of time if you want. Or you could even get the dough ready and cut out into triangles, and freeze the dough triangles so that you can bake them fresh on the morning you want to eat them.
Berry Ideas
One of the things I am super pumped to hear from YOU is all of the great berry combos that you are able to make with these scones this summer! Please keep me posted on your favorites, and others will be able to try your favorite combinations. From blackberries and raspberries, to mulberries, blueberries, strawberries, and more!
Let’s talk about swaps
I am pretty sure most Gluten Free Flour blends will swap in the recipe fine. Scones are treats in my house, so I don’t worry about the protein content, or try to get extra special “healthy” flours into the dough, because I don’t serve them daily. This is meant to go with a brunch table for Easter, or for a special breakfast in the summer served with sausage and eggs. I do think if you are not gluten free, and want to use an all purpose flour, it should work ok. I also think that if you are dairy free, you could use a good quality palm shortening instead of the butter.
Gluten Free Mixed Berry Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk or coconut buttermilk to make 1 cup of buttermilk, put 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a liquid measuring cup, and fill with full fat milk or coconut milk to the 1 cup line. Stir together and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients together
- 3 cups Namaste GF Flour Blend fluff the flour before measuring so it isn’t packed down
- ¼ cup organic pure cane sugar plus a little more for sprinkling the tops of the scones if you wish
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp zest from a lemon this is the zest from 1 small lemon
- 8 oz cold butter 2 sticks, cut into cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups berries if using strawberries, be sure to cut them about the same size as any other berries in the scone so they mix uniformly.
- 1/3 cup organic powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp juice from the lemon you zested for the scone
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make your buttermilk first if you don’t have store-bought buttermilk.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cane sugar, baking powder, sea salt, and lemon zest
- Use a pastry cutter or your hands to cut the cold butter into the flour. You want to still be able to see small pieces of butter throughout. See the picture above for reference. I do not have a pastry cutter – I just use my hands!
- Pour the buttermilk and vanilla extract into the flour/butter mixture and use a rubber scraper to mix. Add the berries to fold in gently. I use the rubber scraper to start, and finish with my hands gently.
- Flour your counter, turn the dough out onto the floured surface, and gently make a disk with your hands. You can use a rolling pin to gently roll the dough to about 1 inch thick, and then use your hands again to shape the disk into a perfect circle.
- Cut the disk into eighths, and place the triangles onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a light coating of milk or coconut milk, and sprinkle with a little sugar if you wish.
- Bake the scones at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool the scones completely before icing.
- To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar and 1 tbsp of lemon juice in a small dish and drizzle over the tops of the cooled scones. The icing will dry and harden within about 20 minutes.
Notes
- You can swap the lemon juice in the icing for coconut milk or regular milk/cream if you don’t want the extra lemon flavor.
- If you want a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar, or decrease the amount of liquid in the glaze (lemon juice or coconut milk)
- The scones freeze very well! Just cool completely, put the icing on and let it harden, and then freeze them in freezer bags.
Is there anyway that you could add Coconut sugar instead of the organic cane sugar and powdered sugar?
Hi Chelsea! I think coconut sugar would be fine for both. It will change the color obviously, but it should be fine. For the powdered sugar, just buzz the coconut sugar up in a grinder into powder and a little tapioca starch to make it thicken.
Also I don’t suppose there’s any other substitute for this particular flour blend? I tried to stay away from grains especially for my son. I know this would be something I wouldnt make often but I was just curious if there was an alternate such as almond or coconut flour
Hi Chelsea! I would have to really re-work the whole recipe to figure out the right ratio for almond or coconut considering they bake up completely differently than a GF Flour blend. I’m sorry that isn’t more helpful!
Excited to try these with all the huckleberries we collected recently! Do you think it would work to sub maple syrup for the cane sugar? Thanks!
Hi Robyn! The sugar does give the scone structure in this particular recipe. You could swap for coconut sugar for lower glycemic if you wish!