Healthy Gingerbread Oatmeal Scones
These healthy gingerbread oatmeal scones are perfect for the holiday season! Beautifully tender and moist, they’re lightly sweetened with plenty of soft oats, warm spices, and festive flavor. Paired with a steaming mug of coffee, tea, or even hot cocoa, these scones are a delicious breakfast or snack for any winter day — even Christmas morning! Leftover scones will keep for at least four days (if not longer!) if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (50g) instant oats (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ¾ tsp ground ginger (see Notes before beginning!)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp (21g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ¼ cup + 2 tsp (70mL) nonfat milk, divided
Instructions
- 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, molasses, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, 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. Pour in the oat mixture and ¼ cup of milk. Stir them together, then gradually stir in the surrounding flour mixture until just incorporated.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. Using a spatula, shape the dough into a ¾” tall circle, and brush with the remaining milk. Slice the dough into 8 triangular segments with a sharp knife (but don't separate them!). Bake at 425°F for 28-31 minutes, or until the tops are deep brown and the center feels firm to the touch. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
IMPORTANT MEASURING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: It's very important to measure your oats and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) Too much of either will make your scones turn out dry and can sometimes give them a crumbly texture – especially the oats! They act like little sponges and soak up lots of moisture from the dough.
IMPORTANT BAKING NOTES – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: Do not separate the 8 dough wedges before baking in Step 3. Instead, leave them touching on the baking sheet! This helps make the insides really moist, soft, and fluffy.
Because of the molasses, these scones brown more quickly and turn substantially darker than other scones. Don’t be alarmed — if they’re not black, then you haven’t burned them!
IMPORTANT FLAVOR NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: As written, these scones aren’t overly sweet. If you prefer sweeter scones, substitute pure maple syrup, honey, or agave for an equal amount of milk in the dough. (For example, use 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, and decrease the milk in the dough to 2 tablespoons.)
If you like a stronger spice flavor in your gingerbread (like I do!), then use an extra ¼ to ½ teaspoon (or up to 1 teaspoon!) of ground ginger.
OATS NOTES + ALTERNATIVE: Instant oats are also known as “quick-cooking” or “one-minute” oats. They’re smaller and thinner than old-fashioned rolled oats. (They're not the ones that come in individual brown paper packets with flavors like "apple cinnamon" or "maple brown sugar.") Instant oats only have one ingredient: oats!
In a pinch, to make your own, add the same amount of old-fashioned rolled oats to a food processor, and pulse 10-12 times, or until the oats are about ¼ to ⅛ of their original size.
FLOUR ALTERNATIVES: White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the regular whole wheat flour.
SPICE NOTES: I highly recommend Saigon cinnamon! It’s a bit stronger, richer, and sweeter than regular cinnamon. Many grocery stores now stock it, but I normally buy it online here. (It’s basically the only kind I use in my baking recipes now!)
I prefer my gingerbread on the spicy side, so I often add an extra ½ teaspoon of ground ginger.
IMPORTANT BUTTER NOTES + ALTERNATIVE: 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 soften or melt 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.
For this reason, I don’t recommend substituting tub-style spreadable butter. (It’s already soft and more likely to melt!) I also don’t recommend substituting coconut oil. It melts at a much lower temperature, which affects the texture of your scones. (See the “no warm ingredients” header in my blog post above for more information!) If you do decide to substitute spreadable butter or coconut oil, just keep this in mind!
Salted butter may be substituted for the unsalted butter. For a dairy-free option, I recommend using stick-style vegan butter instead. (I really like this one and this one.)
SWEETENER ALTERNATIVES: I don’t recommend substituting anything for the molasses, if at all possible. It’s required to produce the iconic gingerbread flavor. Do not use blackstrap molasses; it’s too bitter.
However, I understand it can be hard to find molasses outside of the US, so in a pinch, you can substitute pure maple syrup, honey, or agave. They’ll produce the same texture, but keep in mind your scones will have a noticeably different flavor.
I don’t recommend substituting sugar-free maple syrup. Because it’s often water-based, it makes the scones turn out denser and collapse some while cooling.
MILK ALTERNATIVES: Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
EGG-FREE VERSION: No modifications necessary!
DAIRY-FREE + VEGAN VERSION: Use stick-style vegan butter (I like this one and this one). Substitute your favorite dairy-free yogurt in place of the Greek yogurt and your favorite dairy-free milk in place of the nonfat milk.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Use certified gluten-free instant oats (or use certified gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats to make a DIY version, as outlined above!). For the gluten-free flour, 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. Many store-bought gluten free flour blends (I like this one from Bob's Red Mill) will work as well, if they’re measured like this.
HOW TO STORE: Store your scones in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for at least four or five days, if not longer.
I highly recommend reheating leftover scones in the microwave before eating. It really improves their texture and makes them soft and fluffy again! I heat them on 30% power until they’re warmed all the way through.
These scones also freeze really well!
{gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free option, vegan option, clean eating, low fat}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.