Gluten Free Scones

I love scones. There is something about them that is so inviting and homey. Maybe it's because the oven always makes the kitchen warm and butter really can't do anything but remind you of home cooking. I recently moved out to LA so I am finally experiencing some cooler weather. Coming from the east coast I never thought I'd feel autumn in southern California! What a relief.

Baking is one of my guilty pleasures but catering to those that aren't so hot on gluten is a whole different sort of baking (read: lots of failure). I made this recipe as a half recipe out of fear of gluten free baking. Luckily the recipe was more than a success. This size recipe works perfectly if you want to have breakfast for two and still feel stuffed. It yields about six medium sized scones. This is a perfect base recipe to work off of and throw in different ingredients to make savory scones, etc.

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Gluten Free Scones

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Yields six scones Preheat oven to 425°F 1 C brown rice flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 C cold salted butter* 1 Tbsp lemon zest 1/2 C buttermilk** 1/4 C raisins /currants / craisins

Grease a baking sheet with butter. Combine the flour and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or two knives. Add the lemon zest and create a well in the center of the ingredients. Pour in the butter milk and add the raisins. Mix until just combined. On a floured board press out the dough into a rectangle until about 1/2 inch thick. Be sure not to overwork the dough or you will loose the flaky texture and create a gluten free, cardboard mess. Cut out into triangles and place on the baking sheet. At this point you can choose to brush some melted butter on top or stay "healthier". Bake for about 15 minutes or until the tops/edges are golden brown. Serve hot with honey and Greek yogurt. Yum!

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* I used salted butter because that's all I had. If you have unsalted, used the same amount and add a pinch of salt (less than 1/4 tsp) to the dry ingredients.

** I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I used an old trick that has always worked for me: Curdle your own milk by adding lemon juice or white vinegar to whole milk. The ratio I typically use is 1/2 C whole milk to 1 Tbsp lemon juice/white vinegar.

Extra notes: the scones were so delicious hot that I honestly did not have time to pull out my camera. Hence, you get a scone drawing. Yay photoshop! :) You can also make these scones with the same ratio of all-purpose flour.