Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! And a grain-free scone recipe

 

I could not live without sweets. In fact, I plan to open a healthy cafe full of allergen-free treats and smoothies! For me it’s an adventure coming up with dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free and often refined-sugar free versions of regular desserts. Vegan is infinitely harder when added to the mix, but completely doable!

After stumbling across this blog post of NYCityEats and their Almond Flour Strawberry Scones, I adapted it to Cranberry Orange Scones. This CAN be made vegan! For my mom’s coffee get-together, I had prepared both a vegan and a regular version of these scones, and some actually preferred the vegan ones! Just sub egg replacer for the eggs and you’re good to go! 🙂 I have another version I’ll upload in either spring or summer, so keep an eye out for that!

Note: These do not taste like your regular scones. They’re more cake-y and moist, than the dry crumbly scones you eat at a cafe. Nevertheless they’re a great healthier option for the occasional treat. Just remember that almond flour is also heavy in calories, so eating half a batch (like I may have or have not done at one or more points in my life) is probably not the best thing to do, if you want to fit in your skinny jeans!

 

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Cranberry Orange Scones:
(gluten-free, grain-free, can be vegan, dairy-free, refined sugar-free)      

adapted from Dr Oz & NYCityEats

 

Ingredients:

 

4 eggs, beaten well
3 cups almond flour
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple sauce
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups orange-infused dried cranberries (Trader Joe’s carries them)

optional: orange zest (but it seriously helps with the flavour!)

for the icing:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1-2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with coconut oil or other fat, and set aside until needed.

In a large bowl combine the eggs, flour, maple syrup, apple sauce, baking powder and vanilla extract. Mix well and then fold in the dried cranberries and orange zest.

Pour batter into the baking sheet and evenly distribute.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix together the ingredients for the icing then spread over scones when cooled.

 

Substitutions:

Instead of honey: maple syrup. Agave nectar or coconut nectar might work out well, as well (though I haven’t tried it!).

Instead of eggs: egg replacer. (Keep in mind, the egg replacer will change the texture and make the batter thicker.)

Instead of apple sauce: canola oil

Instead of orange-infused cranberries: regular dried cranberries covered in orange juice. (You can use that orange juice for the icing later on.)

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Enjoy!

Love,

           Maxi