Recipe: Scones

Why do I blog?

I was reading the “celiac husband” blog and his question was:

“Why does he blog?”

So, I thought about it on my last walk and I came to many conclusions:

I blog to assist other people with celiac disease by providing recipes, and products that I have tried that work, or do not work. There are many gluten-free products on the shelves that simply taste horrible. There are gluten-free products that taste good. I have purchased the good and the bad – why should you go through those trials too?

I blog to learn. I am learning about how to take better photos, I am learning how to write better (or as my son says, “Mom, you need to write full sentences.”) I am learning how to write recipes – more precisely how to actually “measure”. In my pre-celiac years, I never measured anything. I really mean, I did not measure. You can ask my Mom. It drives her crazy when she asks for a recipe. I had always just added things in; a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Now, I have to measure EVERYTHING. Gluten-free baking REQUIRES it! I have had my share of non-edible gluten-free baking; breads so hard that you couldn’t slice them; cookies spread so thin when baked that they looked like panes of glass; and tasted like it as well.

I am a 44 year old woman who loves to cook and especially to bake. I loved to bake before I became celiac, and I have not lost that love. Do I have to learn all over again? You bet! I am up for that challenge and blogging keeps me focused on continuous improvement.

In fact, the biggest compliment I can get from anyone these days would be: “Is this gluten free?” I love that! To me it means I have succeeded and inspires me to continue to get that response. So I am sharing my experiences; both good and bad.

Today I am sharing my experiences with the cookbook: Enjoy Life’s Cupcakes for Everyone by Betsy Laakso

I made the Chocolate Chip Scones.

The recipe:

1T ground flax
3 T water
¾ cup brown rice flour
¾ cup tapioca starch
1 cup gluten free oat flour(I used oat bran)
¼ cup garbanzo bean flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t xanthan gum
½ t salt
¾ cup vanilla rice milk(I used reg milk)
1 ½ t vanilla
2/3 cup spectrum shortening
¾ cup choc chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend the ground flax with the water and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Mixture will get thick and gummy. Set aside.

Blend the brown rice flour, and the next 7 ingredients-set aside.

Blend the rice milk and vanilla. Add the flax mixture and stir well-set aside.
With a fork, cut the shortening into the flour mixture until it forms pea-sized crumbs.
**I used my food processor for this.

Add the rice milk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in choc chips.

Knead dough and form into a ball. Place dough on a greased parchment- lined baking sheet. Flatten the outer edges of the ball (I put the dough on a silpat and placed handi-wrap over the dough to flatten it).

Cut the dough into wedges. Separate the wedges to bake.
(I found that the dough was quite sticky-so I put rice flour on my knife and the silpat.

Bake 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Cool, and serve.

On a side note, I attend a wonderful exercise class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The ladies are great, and they have allowed themselves to be guinea pigs for my recipes. Every Thursday I bring some sort of baking – most would prefer chocolate (right Jacquie?)

The verdict for these scones?

YES! YES! YES!

Enjoy!