Gluten Free Sweet Potato Scones
Roasted sweet potato goes straight into the dough here, which gives you a soft scone with real flaky layers, plenty of cinnamon and ginger, and toasty bottoms from a preheated pan. They're gluten free with Cup4Cup, sweetened with just a little monkfruit, and finished with a plain milk wash, so they land more breakfast than pastry. Or, just makes them perfect with a sweet potato butter if you ask me!
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Small bowl
- Pastry cutter or box grater
- Bench scraper or sharp knife
- Plate or cutting board
- Pastry brush
- Thin spatula
- Biscuit cutter
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cup4Cup Multipurpose gluten-free flour 280g
- 2 tbsp granulated monkfruit sweetener ~24g
- 2½ tsp baking powder 10g
- ¾ tsp fine sea salt 4g
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon 4g
- ½ tsp ground ginger 1g
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg 0.5g
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed 113g
- ¾ cup roasted sweet potato purée, cooled 185g, about 1 medium sweet potato
- ¼ cup cold milk 60g, plus 1 tbsp (15g) for brushing
- 1 tsp vanilla extract 4g
Instructions
- Place a baking sheet in the oven and heat to 400°F (200°C).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, monkfruit sweetener, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Add the cold butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter (or grate it in frozen on a box grater) until the biggest pieces are about pea-sized. Those butter pieces are your flaky layers, so don't chase them down to crumbs.
- In a small bowl, stir together the sweet potato purée, ¼ cup milk, and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold with a spatula just until a shaggy dough forms. A few dry streaks are fine.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, press it together, and pat it to 1 inch thick. Pressing straight down and lifting straight up, press your circle cutter into the dough. You can also turn it into an 8 inch round 1 inch thick circle and cut into 8 wedges alternatively!
- Arrange the rounds (or wedges) on a parchment-lined plate or cutting board and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Brush the tops with 1 tbsp milk. Carefully remove the hot baking sheet from the oven, line it with parchment, and quickly transfer the scones with a thin spatula, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 16 to 22 minutes, checking the bottoms at 15 minutes, until the tops are golden and the bottoms are deep golden and toasty.
- Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before moving or eating. Gluten-free scones are fragile while warm and set as they cool.
Notes
Substitutions
Sweetener: ¼ cup (38g) coconut sugar can replace the monkfruit for a sweeter scone. Add 1 tbsp (9g) coconut sugar over the milk wash for a crackly top. This keeps them refined sugar free but they're no longer sugar free.
Flour: Cup4Cup Multipurpose worked best in testing. Other 1:1 gluten-free blends with xanthan gum can work if you swap by weight, but the texture may change.
Dairy: Cup4Cup Multipurpose contains milk powder, so swapping in vegan butter and plant milk makes these dairy-light, not dairy-free or vegan.
Canned purée: Plain canned sweet potato purée works, same weight. Make sure it's unsweetened with no added spices. Canned pumpkin also works. Optional Add-ins
½ cup (55g) chopped toasted pecans, folded in at step 5
A pinch of black pepper or cardamom with the other spices Practical Tips
Roast, don't boil, the sweet potato. Boiled sweet potato holds a lot of water and will make the dough gluey. Roast it whole at 400°F for 45–60 minutes until soft, then scoop and mash.
If your sweet potato is stringy, push the purée through a fine-mesh sieve or blend it before measuring. If it looks wet, blot it with a paper towel.
Keep everything cold. If the dough gets sticky or the butter starts to soften while you're shaping it, put the whole thing in the fridge for 10 minutes and try again.
The preheated pan gives you toasty bottoms fast. If your oven has been preheating a long time, the pan will be extra hot, so start checking at 15 minutes.
Some monkfruit blends contain allulose, which browns faster than sugar. Keep an eye on the tops if so!! Storage
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Rewarm at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes.
To freeze, freeze the cut, unbaked pieces on a sheet pan, then move them to a bag for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 3–5 minutes.
Sweetener: ¼ cup (38g) coconut sugar can replace the monkfruit for a sweeter scone. Add 1 tbsp (9g) coconut sugar over the milk wash for a crackly top. This keeps them refined sugar free but they're no longer sugar free.
Flour: Cup4Cup Multipurpose worked best in testing. Other 1:1 gluten-free blends with xanthan gum can work if you swap by weight, but the texture may change.
Dairy: Cup4Cup Multipurpose contains milk powder, so swapping in vegan butter and plant milk makes these dairy-light, not dairy-free or vegan.
Canned purée: Plain canned sweet potato purée works, same weight. Make sure it's unsweetened with no added spices. Canned pumpkin also works. Optional Add-ins
½ cup (55g) chopped toasted pecans, folded in at step 5
A pinch of black pepper or cardamom with the other spices Practical Tips
Roast, don't boil, the sweet potato. Boiled sweet potato holds a lot of water and will make the dough gluey. Roast it whole at 400°F for 45–60 minutes until soft, then scoop and mash.
If your sweet potato is stringy, push the purée through a fine-mesh sieve or blend it before measuring. If it looks wet, blot it with a paper towel.
Keep everything cold. If the dough gets sticky or the butter starts to soften while you're shaping it, put the whole thing in the fridge for 10 minutes and try again.
The preheated pan gives you toasty bottoms fast. If your oven has been preheating a long time, the pan will be extra hot, so start checking at 15 minutes.
Some monkfruit blends contain allulose, which browns faster than sugar. Keep an eye on the tops if so!! Storage
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Rewarm at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes.
To freeze, freeze the cut, unbaked pieces on a sheet pan, then move them to a bag for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 3–5 minutes.