Banana, Apple and Currant Scones, Gluten Free

Wow I cannot believe that we are on to our third ratio rally event already!  This month, Lauren of Celiac Teen challenged us to make gluten free scones – and after my horrible biscuit failure the other week trying to make strawberry shortcake, I have to say I was a little nervous. But we are daring and fearless, ready to take on any challenge in the name of gluten free awesomeness!

Scones are one of those breakfast items that I love to have out at a café but hardly ever make at home.  I love them loaded with fruit and not too sweet, and so tried to emulate that a bit in this version I made of drop scones.  Drop scones just mean that the scone “dough” is simply scooped up and then literally dropped onto the cooking sheet – no rolling, no cutting, just mix, spoon, drop, and bake.  How could it get any easier?  This lets me be totally lazy about making them, which can be good, especially if I want to sleep in on a warm sunny weekend

I decided to choose a scone ratio that definitely contained a good amount of egg, so that I could be sure to have a bit more binding going on holding them together.  I also tried to use a few lessons I learned from my biscuit adventures to give myself the best chances at successful scones – scones are in between biscuits and muffins on the baked items continuum, and the quality of a good scone is all about texture – so I figured it would be best to try something a little different from my biscuit attempt.

What I did differently for this recipe was to increase the starch:flour ratio to around 50% starches up from my usual 30%.  Starches are a bit more gluey than regular flours, and so I was hoping that property would help trap in air better and allow the scones to actually stay puffed up a little bit after rising in the oven.  It seemed to be a good idea, because unlike my biscuits, with the egg and the higher starch ratio, these held together quite nicely and even rose a little when they were baking! It made me giddy with excitement – I always like to see gluten free baking experiments turn out well, and I’ve been having much more consistent results ever since I started really thinking about the ratios and weights of the ingredients and trying to approach my recipe development techniques in a more systematic fashion.  It’s such a great feeling when you can think about a problem, see a possible solution to fix the issues that came up before, and then find out that applying a little logic and rules actually works!

So these scones were a definite hit.  I loved that I didn’t even need to add any sugar into them – instead, to make them sweeter, we drizzled a little of our favorite raw creamy honey on top.  The scones themselves weren’t very sweet, and rather just carried with them a light flavor from the fruit that I used.  I think this helped make them acceptable for breakfast or lunch, or tea time, or snack…

Really, is there a bad time to eat a scone? I think not

My resulting ratio ended up being 7 : 4 : 2.5 : 1 (flour : liquid : fat : egg) if I counted the fruit purée as part of the fat (which I think, next to sugar, is what it helps replace the most as far as the functionality of the recipe).  It’s not the cleanest/neatest ratio combination, but it’s one that worked for me. I have a feeling that there are going to be many different ratios for this months’ event, so you’ll want to be sure and check out all of the other great posts from all the participants.

It was a fun month, many scones were tasted and enjoyed, and now I can’t wait for next month when Erin of The Sensitive Epicure hosts and we all work on pâte à choux!

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Apple Banana & Currant Scones
Adapted from Gisslen’s Professional Baking

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 

Ingredients:
handful currants
75g apples/bananas, puréed together
1 egg yolk (50g)
55g butter, cubed
1 tsp or so ground cinnamon
350g flour:

• 100g tapioca starch
• 75g potato starch
• 50g glutinous rice flour
• 25g millet flakes
• 50g chestnut flour
• 50g hazelnut meal

17g baking powder
pinch salt
200g milk

Directions:
1. In a small pot, add currants and enough water to cover them (about 2″).  Turn on the stove and bring to a simmer, and let simmer until the currants are soft, about 20 minutes.  Then remove from heat and drain any excess water.  Preheat the oven to 200º C (400º F).
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the fruit purée, egg yolk, butter, and cinnamon, creaming the ingredients together until relatively smooth and homogenous. Add in the currants.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour ingredients along with baking powder and salt and sift them or give them a nice light airy toss with a whisk.
4. Add about 25% of the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, and stir lightly.  Then add the wet ingredients to the rest of the dry ingredients and mix loosely.
5. At this point, use your hands so it starts to come together, and then slowly add the milk in until the batter gets wet and thick and can come together. Let sit 5 minutes, which will allow the batter to thicken some.
6. On to sheets lined with parchment paper, spoon about 1/2 cup sized amounts and bake for about 15 minutes or so or until they start to brown and are cooked through.

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Make sure to also check out the rest of the gluten free scone ratio entries for this month!

Amie of The Healthy Apple made rice crispy scones
Britt of GF in the City made blueberry buttermilk scones
Brooke of B & the Boy made coconut scones
Caleigh of Gluten-Free[k] made scones
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten-Free made savory jalapeño cheese scones
Caroline of The G-Spot made carrot raisin scones with cinnamon glaze
Charissa of Zest Bakery made amaretto soaked cherry and almond scones
Claire of Gluten Freedom made strawberry banana scones
Erin of the Sensitive Epicure made millet scones
Gretchen of Kumquat made maple oat nut scones
Irvin of Eat the Love made savory green garlic bacon thyme scones with white pepper maple glaze
Jeanette of Jeanette’s Healthy Living made coconut pineapple scones
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine made banana apple & currant scones (that’s me, this post!)
Karen of Cooking Gluten-Free made oat scones with currants
Kate of Katealice Cookbook made cinnamon fruit scones
Lauren of Celiac Teen made scones and hosted the event!
Lisa of Gluten-Free Canteen made bisconies
Lisa of With Style and Grace made lavender earl grey lemon scones
Marla of Family Fresh Cooking made vegan avocado scones
Meaghan of Wicked Good Vegan made simple scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam
Melanie of Mindful Food made hazelnut cream scones with blackberry jam
Meredith of Gluten Free Betty made cinnamon raisin scones
Mrs. R of Honey from Flinty Rocks made classic cream scones and almond fig scones
Peter and Kelli of No Gluten No Problem made mesquite scones
Sea of Book of Yum made dairy free scones
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef made currant scones
Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen made pecan streusel scones with cinnamon drizzle
Tara of A Baking Life made ginger scones
TR of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made cinnamon pecan scones
Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie made red velvet scones
Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen made coconut raisin scones