Sunday, October 25, 2009

Almond Flour Scones - Passing on the Pleasure


My friend, Cindy, brought over a batch of these amazing scones the week I gave birth to Emmanuelle. They gave me the much needed energy that was necessary for nursing a newborn and for regaining my strength. Plus they tasted amazing! I asked her for the recipe and for some reason JUST got around to making them. I have no idea why I didn't make them sooner, they are truly EASY PEASY. To somewhat start a tradition I made them for a friend who recently had her third child... We brought them over along with a batch of soft pretzels from a local bakery. The intention was to eat the pretzels with cream cheese and to leaving the scones for them to eat but instead I think everything were gone by the time we went home. There were three women and six children after all...

I wrote the recipe below as I made them but I put additional options in parenthesis. This is a great recipe for people who can't have gluten or grain flours. The egg can also be replaced with flax seed emulsion and the honey replaced with agave or maple syrup to make this recipe vegan.

Almond Flour Scones
8 servings

2 cups blanched almonds, ground (you can grind your own or buy them ground into meal for the same price as whole at Nutter's. Go on 20% off day and buy a large bag, you can freeze it.)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large free range egg (1/4 cup flax seed emulsion can be used in place of egg, see below *)
1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup)
1/2 cup organic cooking dates, chopped to about raisin size (can use raisins... see variations below)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Grind almonds to a fine powder in a blender or coffe grinder (I just use the course almond meal AS IS from Nutter's, our local bulk health food store). Mix in baking soda well, rubbing into the almonds with your fingers to combine. Add cardamom and set aside. Whisk eggs or flax seed emulsion with honey or maple syrup and vanilla. Stir whisked egg and syrup into almond flour and stir in dates. Let batter sit for about 5 minutes to thicken. Drop onto oiled cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool before removing from tray (or they may break apart).

Variations
- 1/2 cup grain sweetened dairy free or regular chocolate chips and a pinch of cinnamon
- 1/2 cup frozen blueberries and a tsp or organic lemon zest
- 1/2 cup chopped frozen cranberries and a tsp or organic orange zest
- a dollop of fruit sweetened jam in the middle of each unbaked scone

*Flax Seed Emulsion
Combine 3 part ground flax seeds with one part water. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

Please feel free to leave a comment with more suggestions on variations. Also, leave me a link to your favorite gluten free recipe. Cheers!

10 comments:

Serena said...

Wow! those sound incredibly easy! I can't wait to give them a try :) I seem to be baking up a storm here, not for Christmas but for my return to work mid December. I imagine the scons will freeze great!

Tiffany Teske said...

Hi Serena! Sorry I missed this comment. How has it been back at work? Did you try these scones?

Geek+Nerd said...

These look delicious! Thanks for sharing :)

Unknown said...

This looks like a super recipe - thanks indeed! = )

But...I'm wondering what 'size children' are...?

Tiffany Teske said...

Hi Geek+Nerd & Carol! Enjoy the scones. Carol, that was a typo, "size" should have been six. I made the correction, thank you! LOL!

funkisockmunki said...

Thank you for sharing this recipe, it sounds delicious! We can't do eggs... has anyone tried this recipe with flax substituted for the eggs? I'll probably try whipping up a batch this week. :-)

Tiffany Teske said...

Hi Funkisockmunki! Good point :) I will update the post with how to make the flax seed emulsion I mentioned, but will also put it here so you receive my comment. I have not made it with this emulsion and would love to know what you think...

Flax Seed Emulsion
Combine 3 part ground flax seeds with one part water. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

Unknown said...

These are delicious! I have PCOS and so am trying to eat a low carb diet but have been struggling with wanting cake. I substituted the honey with xylitol, and used dried cranberries as that was what I had on hand. These were so easy to make and really delicious, I gave one to my fussy boyfriend and he said they were lovely too, didn't even realise they were in any way "different". Delightful! I'll definitely be making these again! Thanks so much for a great recipe!

Rachel said...

Is there really no rice flour or anything in these scones? Just the almonds ground into a powder?

Tiffany Teske said...

Hi Kiri! Thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate that you posted your variation. I am thrilled your boyfriend likes them :)

Hi Rachel! Yes, just the almond flour.