Notes: Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
For a gluten-free version, use the following blend: 1 cup (120g)
millet flour, ¼ cup (30g)
tapioca flour, ¼ cup (30g)
brown rice flour, and 1 teaspoon
xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends will work as well, if they’re measured
like this.
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 in place of the nonfat milk.
The cranberries should be measured when whole, then diced! To quickly dice the cranberries, I add them to
my food processor and pulse until they’re no larger than ¼ of their original size.
Frozen and thawed cranberries that have been patted dry to remove any excess moisture may be substituted for the fresh. In a pinch, ⅓ cup of diced dried cranberries that have been hydrated may be substituted. To hydrated the dried cranberries, add them to a microwave-safe bowl, add water until it rises ½” above the cranberries, and cover the top with a lid or plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Let the cranberries sit while preparing the scone dough. Just before mixing them in, drain and pat dry.
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.
To see how these are made, watch my video
here located directly above the recipe. (It’s for a very similar recipe!)
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}