Cathy's Gluten Free

Simple Nutritious Recipes for Restricted Diets

Gluten Free Drop Scones

Breads

Quick Gluten Free Scones [Grain Free with a Dairy Free Option]

These gluten free scones are drop scones. There’s no rolling or cutting involved. They are soft, moist, and a great accompaniment to morning eggs, coffee, tea, or fruit. I also like them with soup or salad.

Gluten Free Scones are great split open with butter on them - or make the dairy free version.

Gluten Free Scones are great split open with butter on them – or make the dairy free version.

Tea Biscuits or Scones?

I love a nice tea biscuit or scone. Either will satisfy a carb craving without being too sweet. So what’s the difference between a tea biscuit and a scone? According to my research, scones generally contain eggs while tea biscuits don’t. That doesn’t always hold true, however. Even Martha Stewart has a scone recipe without eggs. You’ll find my recipe for Gluten Free Tea Biscuits here.

Scones for Tea

Either tea biscuits or scones would be great for Mother’s Day tea, a baby or bridal shower, or even a Victoria Day tea. We Canadians celebrate the queen’s birthday each year with a holiday in the month of May. This year, we also have a very special royal wedding to look forward to.

Food Processor Method

I used my food processor to make my scones for the video. In case you don’t have one, the recipe instructions below explain how to make them by hand.

Gluten Free Scones

My recipe for Gluten Free Tea Biscuits involves rolling and cutting the dough in the traditional manner. For these scones, I decided to make the process even simpler. The batter is just mixed together and dropped out onto a baking sheet. These Gluten Free Scones with raisins should have a rustic, somewhat ragged appearance. I never like my food to look “overly handled.” How about you?

These rustic scones are completely grain free!

These rustic scones are completely grain free!

Light, Flakey Scones

The key to light, flakey scones is cold butter (or lard if you’re making them dairy free). Avoid over mixing the batter, so butter remains in small beads. As your scones cook and the moisture evaporates, the beads of fat will leave little air pockets. Hence, their flakiness.

Batter is dropped by large scoops and baked until starting to brown around the edges as seen here.

Batter is dropped by large scoops and baked until starting to brown around the edges.

Grain Free Drop Scones
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Drop Scones

CathysGlutenFree.com
Course Bread
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 12 scones

Ingredients

  • 1 cup arrowroot flour
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 3 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 1 tablespoon organic raw sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 cup cold butter or cold lard for DAIRY FREE
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup dairy free milk
  • 3/4 cup raisins or currants

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Grease or line with parchment paper a baking sheet. (This step is optional depending on your baking sheet.)
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.
  4. Cut in butter or lard with a pastry blender until evenly distributed.
  5. In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk eggs, then whisk in milk.
  6. Stir egg mixture into the dry ingredients in the larger bowl.
  7. Stir in raisins or currants.
  8. Drop by approximately 1/4-cup amounts of batter onto prepared baking sheet about 1/2-inch apart.
  9. Bake for 15 minutes, or until beginning to brown around the edges.

Recipe Notes

If you're eating these scones plain, they taste best when made with butter. However, if you cannot have any dairy, the texture is fine when they're made with cold lard. If you're topping them with jam or nut butter, I don't think you'll notice the difference.

SHOP EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES FOR THIS RECIPE

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You don’t need a food processor to make these scones, but it does make the job easier. This is the one I use. It cleans up nicely in the dishwasher.

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Grain Free Scone Recipe

Grain Free Scone Recipe

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I LOVE scones (and tea biscuits too!) Excited to try this recipe ~ perfect timing and inspired to try these!
    I am NOT a baker, though, so a bit nervous. Looking forward to the upcoming Royal nuptials. Have not decided if I will get up at 4am — may need to record it and get my beauty sleep!
    Thanks so much for this recipe. I am going to try it. I have all the ingredients. Wish me luck!

  4. These look so delicious! I’ve never attempted to make scones at home but you are giving me so much inspiration!

    • Yes! I can’t get clotted cream in my town, but if I can persuade my sister to join me early Saturday morning for the wedding, I’ll get some whipped cream.

  7. So yummy! I love a good scone and also enjoy “rustic” looking food too 🙂 Love that these are made with such wholesome flour choices.

  10. I am a huge scone fan and I have recently started using arrowroot flour and I am impressed with it’s ability to sustain a baked good – it is my favorite gluten free flour at the moment. These look great 🙂

    • Thanks, Katie. I’m also very pleased to have found a grain free flour with the texture and neutral taste of arrowroot.

  13. Everyone in my family just adores scones… my boys call them “breakfast cookies”! Thank you for a recipe that is not loaded with added sugar – I can’t wait to try it!

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