From the Lass's Kitchen: GF, Egg-Free Scones!

Well, I thought that I would keep with the theme of sweet bread today. Sweet breads, by the way, are only called sweet breads if they use any sugar, which does not make them inherently sweet. found that out the hard way. BLECH (different story, sorry).

Today, we shall reach back into history and think of the Lass's first few years of having celiac disease. After the little, gritty bricks that I made with the brown rice flour and not understanding the conversions in bulk and taste (let me tell you, 1 1/2C of white, granulated sugar is NOT the same as 1 1/2C of white, powdered sugar, and is NOT the same as 1 1/2C of brown sugar), after going through the GF gauntlet, I began to feel comfortable with making my own recipes. And so, the story of the scones begins. I got a wee book from Ireland, with recipes for all things Irish.

But they were all glutenous.

Eh, I was young and willing, so I tried.

I learned that extra baking powder and baking soda have limits. BLECH
I learned that fresh berries have lots of fluid and make your dough extra sticky, which you compensate for by adding more flour and xanthan gum. BLECH BLECH
I learned that I'm still fascinated with how my Grandma can drink buttermilk. BLECH
I learned that, if you're using GF flour, you don't have preservatives. EWWWWWHHHH

And so, all of my pain and suffering have led to a great recipe, well, more than one. And it's actually easy! But before I give you the recipe, you need to know what a scone is. Scones originate from Scotland, actually, where there is a little town named...yes, Scone! Well, there used to be a town there, now I think it's just an Abbey. It was a long time ago (Medieval, really). It's traditionally a "quick bread", which means that it doesn't have any eggs! It's eaten mostly at High Tea (2-4pm in the afternoon), with Devonshire clotted cream (guess where that's from!) and jam. There are all types of scones, but mostly they are broken into two categories: sweet scones and savory scones. The recipe I have for you today is for sweet scones.



Irish Lass' Gluten Free Sweet Scones

2C glutinous rice flour
1/4C tapioca starch or potato starch
3 tsp Xanthan Gum
2 1/2tsp powdered buttermilk**
2 1/2tsp cream of tartar
4Tbsp Butter, melted
2/3C Orange blossom honey (any kind will do, but the orange is the BEST here!)
3/4C Milk
2Tbsp orange or lemon peel, grated (Penzey's has a great dried lemon peel....)
1C dried cranberries (if you get sweeten cranberries, decrease the honey to 1/2C)

DO NOT USE AN ELECTRIC MIXER FOR THIS RECIPE

1. Preheat oven to 375*F with a pan of water on the bottom rack, and grease two cookie sheets. If you're using baking stones, don't grease these. If you're using Silpat, good IDEA!
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients.
3. Add the butter and honey and mix well. Sometimes, it's easiest to mix the honey in when it has been warmed up a bit. It still should be stiff, though!
4. Add the Milk. At this point, you have a dough. It should be thick and pasty. If it's so sticky that it's all over your hands, add 1/4C rice flour until it's firm enough to handle.
5. Add the citrus peel and dried cranberries and mix well.
6. Pinch off 1/2C of dough and make into a ball. Place on the cookie sheet and press down with the bottom of a drinking glass until it is 1/2" thick. If it's too much taller, it won't bake completely, too thin, and it's burning.
7. Continue until your cookie sheets (or stones) have scones that are 2" apart. Roll the rest of the dough while this batch is baking.
8. Bake on the top rack of your oven (water's on the bottom) for about 8 minutes, or until the edges are browning.
9. Remove and cool on wire racks. If you like your scones a little mushier, then immediately wrap them in foil when they come out of the oven (before cooling). This traps the steam against the baked good. I, personally, like mine dried out and more willing to be cut.
10. Once cool, refrigerate these. No preservatives, remember?


**Powdered Buttermilk can be found in the baking aisle at your local grocery. If you drink buttermilk and don't want to use the powdered stuff, substitute 1/2C buttermilk and 1/4C milk for the milk above.

Oh, clotted cream? I have found it in the cheese section of the grocery- not the deli section, the cheese section. It's a little round, glass tub. If you want some that's cheaper, stay tuned for tomorrow!

Enjoy your GF goodies!
The Irish Lass