Cinnamon Swirl Scones
Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have a cool story to share with you about this recipe. I wish I did. Cinnamon scones deserve a good story.
I wish I could tell you that my great-grandmother handed down a timeworn cinnamon roll recipe to her daughter, who passed it along to her daughter, who passed it along to me. But that would be a lie. I think the only cinnamon rolls my grandmother ever made were the kind from a tube.
I wish I could tell you that I’ve slaved long and hard to develop this recipe for months, working on it every Saturday morning religiously. But that wouldn’t be true either. I got lucky and nailed these scones on my second attempt.
I wish I could tell you that my non-gluten-free neighbors raved over these, that they couldn’t even tell they were gluten-free (not to mention dairy-free and naturally sweetened) and that they begged me to open up a bakery and sell these exact scones. Truth is, I don’t know my neighbors very well and they’ve never even tasted my baked goods.
So I guess we’ll have to make up a story for these delicious breakfast treats, hmm? Alright, here goes. (Be warned that this is entirely a work of fiction.)
Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to make cinnamon rolls. But the very thought of proofing yeast and waiting for dough to rise and making icing and doing it all without gluten and dairy made her head spin! So she decided to take the less traveled road and make a humble scone instead.
She used only dates and low-glycemic coconut sugar as the sweeteners in her recipe, pairing them with healthy coconut oil, cinnamon, almond flour, brown rice flour, and a handful of other kitchen staples.
Although the dough was a bit delicate to maneuver, the girl found that any cracks could easily be pinched back together as she formed the rolls. She loved their rustic, homemade look. The dough itself was moist and tender inside with a perfect crumb. The girl confessed guiltily to her poodle later that day that she would happily eat the cinnamon filling with a spoon. (But shh! Don’t tell. It was okay for her to tell the poodle, because poodles are very good at keeping secrets.)
The girl declared the scones a smashing success. She and her poodle lived happily ever after, eating cinnamon scones for all their days.
THE END.
Okay, that’s my best shot. Now go make some scones.
Cinnamon Swirl Scones
Makes 12Filling:
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, at room temperature (not melted)
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamonDough:
1 cup (134 grams) brown rice flour
1/2 cup (54 grams) arrowroot starch, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup (48 grams) blanched almond flour*
3 tablespoons whole psyllium husks
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil, at room temperature (not melted)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond or rice milk
1 large egg, lightly beatenPreheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease 12 cups of a standard muffin pan with coconut oil.
Make the filling: in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, process the coconut sugar and dates until the dates are finely chopped, about 30 seconds. Add the coconut oil and cinnamon and pulse just to combine, about 10 one-second pulses. Set aside.
Make the dough: in a large mixing bowl, whisk the brown rice flour, arrowroot starch, almond flour, psyllium husks, coconut sugar, baking powder, and salt to combine. Using a pastry cutter, work the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until pieces of oil are no larger than a small pea. Stir in the milk and egg.
Flour a piece of parchment paper with arrowroot starch. Roll out the dough into a rough rectangular shape about 1/4-inch thick, flouring the dough lightly with arrowroot as needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking. The dough will be fairly delicate, so be gentle. Sprinkle the cinnamon filling evenly over the dough (leaving a 1/2 – 1 inch border around the edge).
Carefully roll up the rectangle, using the parchment paper to help you maneuver the dough if needed. Pinch any cracks in the dough back together as you work. Cut the dough into 12 rolls. (A bench scraper or sharp chef’s knife works well for this.) Place the rolls in the greased muffin pan.
Bake the scones for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
*Ingredient Note: Bob’s Red Mill almond flour will also work for this recipe, even though it’s not the brand linked to above.
Find more healthy recipes at Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.
They look delicious! Can’t wait to try them and thanks so much for sharing!
Mmm- your scones are beautiful! I love anything with cinnamon as the dominant flavor.
Hallie! Cute story, but let’s get to the scones :) Holy moly, they sound and look delish. I am such a sucker for cinnamon and sugar, not to mention scones!
Hallie,
You found a way around the reasons NOT to make cinnamon rolls and turned them into reasons TO make cinnamon scones. Thanks for coming up with this great idea!
Hallie. OMG. I love these. I want them right now. And I love your “story”. :)
Haha! My grandma makes the ones from the tube too :)
These look amazing – no story required.
I think I love you:D My husband burst out laughing when I saw your post title and how I reacted to it. Cinnamon is my all time favorite flavor for baked goods…these look divine and easy to make. I am hoping I can make these this weekend.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
SherriS. – Haha! Glad the cinnamon scone hit home with you. :) Enjoy!
What can you substitute for the psyllium husks?
Wow, I am very impressed by not only the scones but the great made up story :) This recipe looks delicious, I can’t wait to make these this weekend!!!
Barb: You could try substituting ground flaxseed. I haven’t done this, but another person commented on the Daily Bites Facebook page recently and said they subbed flax with good results. :)
Do you really have a poodle? I wasn’t sure how much of the story was true or not ;)
I know this much is true, these scones wouldn’t make it to my neighbors because I’d eat them all first!
Cara: Yes! I do have a poodle. Don’t worry…I don’t feed her scones. :) (even though she would LOVE that!)
So yummy!!!
These look fabulous! Just wondering if there is anything I can substitute for the almond flour (my son has a nut allergy)?
Michele: Thanks! I think you could substitute pumpkin seed flour (just grind raw pumpkin seeds in a coffee/spice grinder until a fine meal forms). Can’t guarantee that it will work, but because this is only a 1/2 cup, I’m thinking it will be fine. :)
I made these scones last weekend and they were AMAZING! I substituted an all purpose GF flour, and made a coconut butter/maple glaze for the top. Whoa. I would like to try the rice/tapioca/almond/psyllium blend though… do you think this would work as an all purpose?
Amy: That’s a great thought! I think this blend could definitely have “all purpose” potential. :)
I made these last night – DELICIOUS!!!! thank you for this awesome recipe. I exchanged the psyllium husks for ground flax seed and they came out perfect….not too difficult to roll out but I over mixed the filling so had to dot in on the dough and dot with arrowroot starch, top with wax paper and rolled it out. I am 3 months into candida treatment and wasn’t sure if I could eat dates – so far I have only had a few burps which is great because I love dates!
Well it’s taken me a while to make these and post back but I just want to say THANK YOU! These were even better than I imagined they could be.
Hi
These look delicioussss!!! 2 questions: Cornstarch can be easily substituted for the arrowroot starch right?
Also, since I don’t have brown rice flour on me, would I be able to just grind up my own flour from brown rice and use that? Ok, thank you !
Afrina: I don’t know if either of those substitutions will work since I haven’t tried them myself. Other readers have used cornstarch in place of arrowroot/tapioca in many of my recipes with success. As for the brown rice flour, I’m not sure that freshly ground brown rice would be fine enough (it might taste gritty), but you could try it. :)
I’m late to the game on finding this post, but boy, it looks like a winner. I know what I’m making for breakfast tomorrow morning! Thank you!