Gluten Free Blueberry Scone Recipe #2

After a few bites, he said "This batch tastes kind of biscuity".

I said "Bingo. That's exactly what I was going for."

The perfect gluten free blueberry scone recipe. Using my own flour mix. I've had success in the past using Pamela's Mix to make gluten free blueberry scones. And I've made gluten free blueberry muffins using Annalise Roberts recipe (with her permission). But this time, I wanted to create a gluten free scone recipe using my own flour mix.

Not sure why, but I've had a real hankering for a scone to eat with my morning tea. For the last two weeks, I tried creating gluten free scone recipes that included eggs and those that didn't include eggs but used Ener-G egg replacer instead. I tried creating gluten free scone recipes that included a healthy dose of Earth Balance and those that included less Earth Balance. I tried gluten free scone recipes that had incredibly soft batter and required scooping into muffin tins. I tried creating gluten free scone recipes that incorporated a healthy dose of high protein gluten free flours (teff, sorghum, millet, quinoa) in the mix. And then this morning I had an epiphany. I realized that I needed to use gluten free flours that contained much less protein.


I rolled up my sleeves. I decided to pretend that I was enrolled in culinary school (I definitely have major envy - Amy Green of the wonderful blog Simply Sugar and Gluten Free is going to Culinary School - I get a vicarious thrill from reading about her experience!) and my class was studying how to create the perfect gluten free scone recipe. I started comparing and contrasting recipes. What did they have in common? How did they differ? Here's what I learned: a low protein flour is needed (totally against my usual style of gluten free baking, as I like to use as many high protein, multi-grain gluten free flours as I can when I bake), not too much sugar or sweetener, the liquid and the shortening needs to be REALLY cold, the batter cannot be overhandled and you especially shouldn't work so hard that you cream the butter (in my case, Earth Balance) into the batter because when the scones bake, you want the little bits of butter hidden in the batter to help create pockets of flakiness in the finished product.

By the time I turned the batter onto my granite countertop in order to cut the scones, I could tell that the 6th recipe was the charmer. After the biscuit cutter worked its' magic, I brushed the tops of the scones with soy creamer and then sprinkled them with turbinado sugar. Into the oven. 28 minutes later, I am clicking my heels.

Gluten Free Blueberry Scones
16 scones

click here for printable recipe

3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch (plus 1 1/2 tsp for blueberries)
1/4 cup sweet white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sorghum flour
2 tsp potato flour
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp pectin
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
6 oz VERY COLD EARTH BALANCE, diced (or use butter)
2 extra-large eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup soymilk creamer (put in freezer for 8 - 10 minutes)
3/4 cup blueberries mixed with potato starch - see above
handful turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of scones before baking
Extra soymilk creamer for brushing on top of scones

Sift the brown rice flour, potato starch, sweet white rice flour, cornstarch, sorghum flour, potato flour, xanthan gum, pectin, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt into the bowl of a stand mixer (alternatively, you can use a hand mixer). Add the diced Earth Balance and mix on low until the butter has been reduced to pea-sized pieces.

Whisk the eggs and soymilk creamer in a small bowl, and then add to the flour mixture, mixing until just blended.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Use a wooden spoon to mix the blueberries into the dough. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface. Flour your hands and shape the dough into a 3/4 inch circle. Use a biscuit cutter (I used a 2 5/8" cutter) to cut the scones, dipping the cutter into flour before each scone is cut. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving space in between each scone.

Brush the top of each scone with soymilk creamer, then sprinkle with a bit of turbinado sugar.

Bake for 25 - 28 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Insert a toothpick or cake tester into a scone to make sure that they are fully baked.

Remove from the baking sheet and place on a cooling rack for at least a half hour (or as long as you can wait!). If you cut them while they're too hot, they will appear wet and unbaked. They need to sit and mature for a little while after they come out of the oven.

So, put on your apron and get baking! You know you want to:).

This post is happily part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.