Luxury afternoon teas are popping up all over the place, however even before I became gluten free I used to find that some of the scones which formed part of the afternoon tea disappointingly dry and crumbly and not that pleasant to eat even when ladled with obscene amounts of jam and cream.
Mr LF loves scones with jam and cream, particularly home baked scones with homemade jam, so the challenge was set as to create a gluten free scone. I must say that actually prefer the gluten free version, yes they don't rise as much but they are more moist and a lot less crumbly, they are also the perfect vehicle for large dollops of cream and jam.
After lots of research on the internet and baking up several storms (well disappointing versions) here is our current favourite recipe.
What you need
- 1.5 cups of gluten free self raising flour (if using plain add 1 tsp baking powder)
- 2 tsp xanthum gum
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 4 tbsp caster sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter - cold
- 2 eggs free range
- 2 tbsp Greek yogurt - made up to 5 fl oz with skimmed milk
What you do
- Preheat the oven to 220c
- Prepare your baking tray - I used a non stick silicone sheet, you could used non stick baking paper
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
- In a measuring jug or separate bowl mix the yogurt/milk mixture with the eggs
- Rub the cool butter into the dry ingredients until the texture of knobbly breadcrumbs
- Add the milk/yogurt/egg mix to the large bowl and mix until well incorporated
- Leave for a few minutes to allow the flour mixture to swell (this is necessary due to the gluten free flour)
- Using an ice cream scoop, create even sized blobs on your baking sheet
- Brush the top with the remnants if the egg/yogurt/milk mix
- Bake in the hot oven for 10-12 minutes until golden and well risen
- Cool for 5 minutes or so on the tray before removing to a cooling rack
- Serve sliced with lots of jam and a cream
