There’s nothing quite as delicious as a perfectly executed pastry or loaf of bread. Unfortunately, pulling off artisan-quality baked goods usually requires ample amounts of gluten and sugar. But these gluten-free, sugar-free, cornbread scones are a delicious exception.
I’ve always been conflicted about baking. Although I love the science of baking and the end products, I don’t do it much because after baking something, I tend to eat it. It’s difficult to keep my sugar intake at healthful levels while also having traditionally prepared baked items around the house. But every now and then, I do want to do a little baking and I recently realized that I’d never made a savory scone.
This recipe was born out of my desire for a versatile scone that isn’t too carbohydrate-laden — something that could be served at any time of the day and paired with lots of different foods. It was also important that it be tasty and added sugar-free (the buttermilk has naturally occurring sugars, which are what you’ll see if you look at the nutrition label on the container. But I don’t generally don’t worry too much about naturally occurring sugar). The end result were these fantastic little cornbread scones. They’re great at breakfast accompanying sautéed greens and eggs, at lunch paired with a hearty salad or soup, or at dinner (I most recently served them as part of our Thanksgiving meal). Depending on your texture preferences, you can adjust the ratio of corn meal to corn flour. I’ve made them with all corn meal (no corn flour) which works well and gives a heartier texture. While I’m sure many different gluten-free flour blends would work in this recipe, I’ve had great results using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour.
Enjoy!
- 1 cup gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour)
- ¼ cup corn meal
- ½ cup corn flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup cold butter
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup cold buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Whisk dry ingredients (gluten-free flour, corn meal, corn flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt) into large bowl.
- Cut butter into small chunks, add to dry ingredients and mix. You want the butter to be distributed evenly into the dry mixture in very small pieces. The resulting mixture should be crumbly.
- Put the eggs and buttermilk into a small bowl and whisk until they are a little foamy.
- Slowly add the egg and buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing as you pour.
- Mix until well blended. Batter will be sticky.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper over a baking pan.
- Drop ¼ cup dough balls onto pan & let rest for 15 minutes.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
*Not all calories are equal.