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Photo: Cooking Gluten Free / Flickr

This wheat-free, dairy-free and sugar-free scone recipe comes from Babycakes. Erin McKenna says that ‘nothing in the bakery garners more attention than straight-from-the-oven biscuits and scones.’ McKenna’s biscuit and scone recipes are made from four basic ingredients which include spelt flour, agave nectar, baking powder and coconut oil. As with conventional scones, these scones shouldn’t be overworked. Her rather intuitive hot mixing tip is that your dough is fully incorporated as soon as you begin to wonder if it is.

Preparation

You will need the following ingredients for these vegan or wheat-free, dairy-free and sugar-free scones: 2 cups of whole spelt flour, 1 level teaspoon of fresh baking powder, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of coconut oil, 1/3 cup of agave nectar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and ¼ cup of hot water.

Should you wish to make raspberry scones then allow for a cup of fresh raspberries. You will also need extra agave nectar and coconut oil for brushing.

Prepare ahead by preheating your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and place the baking rack in the centre of the oven. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet or greased baking paper.

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Mix them together and then add the agave nectar, oil and vanilla extract. Stir the ingredients together until a ‘thick, slightly dry batter is formed.’ Then pour the water into the bowl and mix again. If you’re using raspberries, add them next by folding them in very gently ‘just until they are marbled throughout the batter.’

Use a third of a cup of batter for each scone, placing each scoop onto the baking sheet. Allow for a good few centimetres between each one so that they can spread. Brush the tops lightly with some coconut oil before baking.

Baking

McKenna advises to ‘bake the scones on the centre rack for 14 minutes, rotating the sheet 180 degrees after 7 minutes.’ The scones should be golden in colour and slightly firm. They can then be brushed with agave nectar.

The scones should be left to stand on the baking sheet for a quarter of an hour. Then ‘carefully slide a spatula under each and transfer it to a wire rack and cool completely.’ The scones can then be stored for up to two days in an airtight container if kept at room temperature.

Serving

Although Babycakes makes no mention of how to serve the scones, non-vegans may wish to serve them with butter, jam and cream or cheese. Vegans may opt to serve them with a nut-cream, a vegan frosting or alternatively, eat them plain as they are.

Tip: If you’re into vegan baking, the Babycakes recipe book is a treat. Scone lovers will be intrigued by McKenna’s recipe for chocolate shortbread scones with caramelised bananas. Once again, spelt flour replaces normal cake flour, agave nectar replaces sugar and coconut oil replaces butter.

Tags: baking, recipes