Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Gluten Free Buttermilk and Cranberry Scones




Ellis and I are sitting here at the breakfast table and I'm realizing I haven't really posted anything since he was born.  I'm nearly positive that's because he hasn't slept through the night, more than 5 times since he was born, which combined with the lack of sleep at the end of pregnancy means I haven't slept right in almost a year.  I'm happy to report (and hope I am not jinxing myself) that he has finally started sleeping through the night a little more regularly and I now seem to have more energy, go figure.

Yesterday, armed with my new found energy I was inspired to use some of the buttermilk I have sitting in the fridge and bake.  I found a recipe for buttermilk scones and could not wait to try it, I'm always so tempted at Starbucks by the pretty scones in the case.  Fortunately I can always resist them, but it's getting harder and harder, until now!!  Ceci and I made these up yesterday afternoon while Ellis was sleeping and we could hardly keep our hands off them to save them for this morning's breakfast.  Ellis even ate bits of them for his breakfast, after I picked around the cranberries for him.

I love baking with buttermilk, it gives a really nice tang to the scones, as well as a velvety moisture, making them impossible to resist.  The recipe called for cinnamon to be sprinkled on top and gave a warmness to the scones.  I realized when we were making the scones that I take a lot of language for granted with Ceci, she is 4 and a half now and communicates with us incredibly well.  I told her to sprinkle cinnamon on, and turned to put some dirty dishes in the sink, I turned back to see her hand all the way into the (costco size) cinnamon jar, and piles of cinnamon on top of several scones.  Oops, guess I should have explained the difference between sprinkle and dump, one of the scones I had to dump the excess cinnamon off.  She is a crack up!  The scones were still delicious











Gluten Free Buttermilk and Cranberry Scones

1/4   Cup Soy Flour
3/4   Cup Sweet Rice Flour
1/2   Cup Oat Flour
1/2   Cup Brown Rice Flour
1      teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1/4   Cup Granulated Sugar
4      teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4   teaspoon Baking Soda
1      Egg
1      Cup Buttermilk
3 1/2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted
1/2   Cup Dried Cranberries (or any dried berries, raisins, or chopped up dried fruits)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F)
Whisk dry ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl and set aside.
Mix Egg, Buttermilk, and melted butter, then add all at once to dry mix, with dried fruit.  Stir with a rubber spatula until the dry ingredients are moistened, batter will be very wet.
Using a large spoon, or a muffin scooper with a 2 1/2 inch bowl, drop batter in mounds on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, sprinkle tops with cinnamon.
Bake for 12-15 min, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of scone comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack, or serve warm.
Inside view of Buttermilk Cranberry Scones