During my trip to New England in late September, we drove to upstate New York on our first afternoon to visit the High Meadows Farm. Before we even climbed out of the van, the two farmers and their main farmhand stood outside of their giant barn, ready to welcome us and show us around their organic dairy farm.
After introducing themselves and sharing a bit about how they had fallen into the farming business, they led us into one wing of the barn. As we walked inside, they mentioned that certain parts of the building had been around since the farm first started in the 1700s or 1800s, like the floor and interior tile walls.
A large pen with lots of adorable calves took up most of that wing, and we immediately started snapping pictures. When I looked around, I spotted one owner’s young son with his hand stuck through the pen and inside of a calf’s mouth.
“Does it hurt?” I asked him curiously. “Do they nibble or bite?”
He shook his head with a smile, and he explained that the calves liked to suck on people’s fingers and hands. “Try it!” he encouraged.
I saw a friendly-looking calf standing nearby, yet I still held my breath as I cautiously stuck my arm into the pen. I really wanted to leave the tour with all ten fingers intact! The calf wandered over, sniffed my hand, opened its mouth, and…
No bites! She sucked on my fingers, just like the little boy said she would, and her tongue felt warm and wet as she tasted my hand. I grinned in relief. “You’re right!” I exclaimed, and the young boy smiled right back.
Although nearly impossible to pick just one favorite memory from my trip, the calf gently sucking on my fingers is definitely towards the top of my list! And the farm tours certainly inspired a long list of recipes I want to make, so I’m starting with…
These Healthy Cowboy Cookie Scones! Although not a cowgirl or a dairy farmer, I definitely enjoyed every bite of these fun scones—and I bet my new farmer friends and their families would, too!
These healthy scones are really moist and tender on the inside, yet they have a hint of a crust on the outside. The perfect texture contrast! Unlike many traditional scone recipes, these contain no heavy cream, refined flour or sugar, and they’re just 141 calories!
Yeehaw! Hip hip moo-ray! (Insert all of the fun cow puns here! ?)
So let’s go over how to make these healthy cowboy cookie scones!
This recipe is actually super simple! You just need 30-ish minutes to prep and bake these healthy cowboy cookie scones. To me, that means they’re perfect for a quick weekday breakfast treat and lazy weekend brunches (because sleeping in on the weekends always feels amazing, right??).
You’ll start by mixing together instant oats (this kind—or this for gluten-free!) with Greek yogurt, pure maple syrup (like this!), milk, and a touch of vanilla. Pure maple syrup is so abundant in New England, especially in Vermont where we stayed, because there are acres and acres of maple trees. So beautiful! The only ingredient should be “maple syrup,” and it’s generally sold in thin glass bottles or squat plastic jugs.
As for the instant oats, they’re also called “quick cooking” or “one minute” oats. They’re smaller and thinner than traditional old-fashioned rolled oats, so they ensure your healthy cowboy cookie scones turn out really soft and tender. Mixing them with the Greek yogurt, milk, and vanilla first also helps them soften more ahead of time, which helps even more with the moist texture!
Just remember to measure the oats (and flour!) correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) This is extremely important because too much of either ingredient will dry out your scones and make them crumbly, rather than moist and tender. This is especially true of the oats because they act like little sponges in baking recipes and soak up lots of moisture!
Next, you’ll whisk together whole wheat flour (or gluten-free, if you prefer!), cinnamon (this is my favorite kind!), baking powder, and salt. The cinnamon adds such a lovely richness and coziness to these healthy cowboy cookie scones!
Time to work in the butter! You’re just using a very small amount: only 2 tablespoons, compared to the full stick or two in traditional recipes! That really helps keep these healthy cowboy cookie scones low calorie. The rest of their tender texture comes from the Greek yogurt!
It’s very important that your butter is cold and straight from the fridge. (Freezing isn’t necessary for this recipe!) When you put the scones in the oven to bake, the butter melts and creates tender little pockets in the dough. You don’t want it to soften or melt ahead of time and miss out on that!
Ready for the cowboy part of these healthy scones?
Rumor has it that “cowboy cookies” were named for one of two reasons (or maybe both!): (a) the cookies were hardy enough to survive a long trip out west or (b) they were first created in the west during a time where there were more cowboys than regular homesteaders. Regardless of the true reason, they certainly contain lots of yummy things!
And those ingredients are oats (we already added those!), chocolate chips, pecans, and shredded coconut. I use these mini chocolate chips because they taste really rich and ensure every bite of your scones contains a morsel of chocolate. I opted for these diced pecans as a quick and easy shortcut, and I sprinkled in this shredded unsweetened coconut to avoid the refined granulated sugar found in shredded sweetened coconut.
Now all that’s left to do is bake! And when the timer rings…
Try to share and not eat them all by yourself! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your healthy cowboy cookie scones!
| Healthy Cowboy Cookie Scones | | Print |
- ½ cup (50g) instant oats (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp + 2 tsp (55mL) nonfat milk, divided
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 2 tbsp (28g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
- 1 tbsp (7g) finely diced pecans
- 1 tbsp (5g) shredded unsweetened coconut
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, Greek yogurt, maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (highly recommended!) or the back of a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in the center. Add in the oat mixture. Stir until just incorporated. Gently fold in 1 ½ tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips, pecans, and coconut with a spatula.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. Using a spatula, shape the dough into a ¾” tall circle, and brush with the milk. Slice the dough into 8 triangular segments with a sharp knife. Gently press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 425°F for 24-28 minutes, or until the tops and sides are lightly golden. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
For a gluten-free version, use the following blend: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca flour, ¼ cup (30g) brown rice flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will work as well, if they’re measured like this.
Make sure to measure the oats and flour with this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much of either will dry out your scones and make them turn out crumbly, rather than moist and tender.
It’s very important that your butter is cold, straight from the fridge. (Freezing it isn’t necessary for this recipe!) With very cold butter, it won’t heat up until you put the scones in the extremely hot oven, and it will create little air pockets and a very tender crumb when it melts.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
As written, these scones aren’t overly sweet. If you prefer sweeter scones, substitute an additional 1-2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup for an equal amount of milk.
I used these finely diced pecans as a shortcut!
This is the shredded unsweetened coconut that I used. Shredded sweetened coconut may be substituted.
I’m not a big fan of nuts or coconut in my baked goods, which is why the amounts are fairly small. You can definitely add more of either one, if you prefer! (Or you can omit them altogether!)
In a pinch, coconut oil may be substituted for the butter, but the texture of the scones will be affected. Very cold butter is required to achieve their tender texture, and since coconut oil melts at a much lower temperature, the results will not be the same.
For a vegan version, I recommend Earth Balance sticks in place of the butter, your preferred non-dairy yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt, non-dairy milk in place of the nonfat milk, and non-dairy miniature chocolate chips (or finely chopped dark chocolate!).
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Classic Cowboy Cookies
♡ Healthy Flourless Chocolate Cowboy Cookies
♡ Healthy Pumpkin Cowboy Cookies
♡ Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Scones
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy scone recipes!
Oh man these sound amazing! Definitely pinning for later.
You’re so sweet — thanks Helen!! I’d love to hear what you think of these scones if you try them in the future! 🙂
Hi I was just wondering since you use greek yoghurt in a lot of your recipes what could I replace it with? Can I use normal yoghurt would that work?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Tahira! It depends on the recipe, but in general, if the Greek yogurt is used inside of a batter or dough (like these scones, muffins, or cupcakes!), then regular non-Greek yogurt should be fine. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making these scones!
You may want to fix the line in the ingredients on the “front” page of the recipe that includes one cup of gluten….you might get more responses to this otherwise yummy recipe.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Joyce! I’m not quite sure what you mean. The recipe includes an option for 1 cup of gluten-free flour in the Ingredients list. (I’m sure it can be easy to skip right past the hyphen and just read “gluten” instead of “gluten-free” — perhaps that’s what happened?) I’d love to hear what you think of these scones if you try making them!
I love trying out your recipes! In this one the vanilla extract was not listed in the steps so I added it with the wet ingredients as one normally would. I also found the oven at 425° was way too hot. The bottom of my scones were burnt black by 20 mins, baked on the middle rack. I was able to salvage them by cutting off the burnt bottom though and they taste great! I will definitely try this one again. I will add more coconut next time because I love it so much! 🙂 and I will try oven @ 375° to see if that works better. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!!
Thanks so much for catching that detail about the vanilla, Aimee! I just updated the recipe’s instructions accordingly. 🙂
That’s really strange that your scones burnt so quickly though, so I’d love to help figure out why that was, if you’d like! In order to do that, I have some questions for you…
Do you have a regular oven or a countertop-style oven? (The latter is usually fairly small and only between 1-2 feet wide!)
How many oven rack positions does your oven have?
Did you use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper?
Did you use a light or dark metal baking sheet?
Did the tops burn too, or was it only the bottoms?
How was the texture of your scones on the inside?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons for all of the ingredients, especially the flour, oats, and maple syrup?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a better idea of the culprit once I know your answers to all of them!
Thanks so much for the reply and helping me figure out what went wrong! You Rock! 🙂 I used a kitchen scale to measure all my ingredients. I forgot I also subbed Unbleached pastry flour for the whole wheat flour (perhaps that caused the quick cooking time). I don’t have a wall type oven, my oven is a full size stand alone kind that sits on the floor with the attached stove top and the drawer in the bottom. It has 4 rack positions. I used the 2nd from the bottom which is the closest to the middle (when measured in inches from the burner). I also use an internal oven thermometer to ensure the temp is accurate. I used parchment paper on a metallic insulated baking sheet. Only the bottom 1/4 inch burned black. I was able to neatly slice it off with a knife and there was no burnt taste in the remaining scone. The were beautifully golden on the top and the sides. Texture was perfect (even my 18 yr old son loved them and he turns his nose up at everything!). I would love to hear any suggestions as I will definitely be making these again!!! 🙂 Stay Safe!
It’s my pleasure, Aimee! I’m happy to help. I’m so glad your son loved them too — that’s a HUGE compliment, if he’s particular about his baked goods! 🙂
Your answers are SO helpful. Thank you for sharing all of them!!
That sounds like a regular oven to me! It doesn’t matter whether it’s a wall oven or stand-alone type. If you’re using an internal oven thermometer, then I feel pretty confident that the baking temperature is correct! (Sometimes people have convection ovens and don’t realize they need to turn the temperature down 25°F to compensate. If you’re using an oven thermometer, that shouldn’t be the issue!)
Was your metallic insulated baking sheet light in color or dark? (I’m assuming light since that’s the case for most insulated baking sheets I’ve seen, but I did want to double check to be safe!)
And to confirm, you used a kitchen scale to measure the milk and maple syrup, correct? Did you use its setting for liquid ounces, mL, or grams?