Apple Scones
If you’re ready for the flavors of fall, you have to make these delicious – and dairy free – apple scones. They’re tender, flaky and filled with bits of sweet apple, then topped with a drizzle of spiced cinnamon glaze.
Why we love this apple scone recipe
- There’s just something about the first flavors of fall that makes me so happy. Cool weather is on its way and we’re heading into the coziest time of the year.
- I’ve made dairy free scones before, but they just weren’t as flaky and tender as these. This time I used completely frozen vegan butter – a trick I learned while making my vegan peach cobbler – and it makes so much of a difference.
Ingredients & substitutions
** Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed. **
- Vegan butter – If you don’t have dairy free butter on hand, you can also use vegetable shortening. It will also need to be frozen or at least very cold for this recipe.
- Coconut yogurt – I love using this ingredient in my dairy free baking. It’s my favorite buttermilk substitute. In this case, it’s replacing heavy cream, so you could also use full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream.
How to make apple scones with cinnamon glaze
Mise en place. Preheat your oven to 425˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set it aside for later. Then, measure out all of your ingredients and make sure you have everything you need.
Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon and whisk them until everything is evenly distributed.
Cut in the butter. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the frozen butter into the flour mixture. When you’re done it will look rough with little pea sized bits of butter in the flour. It’s ok if it’s not all uniform in appearance.
Whisk the wet ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and until smooth. Don’t forget to keep things cold.
Combine everything. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula or spoon. It won’t combine completely, and that’s ok. You’ll get it together when you shape your dough.
Shape the dough. Flour your surface to prevent things from sticking. Then, turn the dough onto the counter and gently fold it over a few times to create some layers and bring the dough together (this is sort of like kneading but you want to be super gently).
Next, shape the dough into a large circle about 1.5″ in thickness before cutting it into 8 wedges.
Bake the scones. Transfer the scones to your prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with some thinned out coconut yogurt and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Then, bake for 15 minutes The scones should sound hollow when they’re done. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of water together until smooth. Add a pinch of salt and, if you need it, a little more water. Then, stir until smooth.
When the scones have cooled, drizzle with the glaze. I like to let the glaze dry before serving, but you can serve immediately if you want. They’ll just be a little bit messier.
Dairy free recipe tip: Normally scones are made with cold butter, but to get the best results for these scones, you want to freeze your dairy free butter. The water content is a little bit different with dairy free butter, so keeping your butter frozen will help keep the scones from spreading while they’re baking.
FAQs about apple scones
The secret to making perfect scones is cold ingredients. This helps keep the scones light and flaky. So keep your ingredients in the fridge until just before
Some recipes might call for chilling the dough before baking it, but you don’t need to do that for this recipe. Since we used cold ingredients, it will still be nice and flaky.
As with many baking recipes, overmixing or overworking the dough will result in tough scones. You want to handle your dough as little as possible for scones.
When you are baking scones it is best to have them touching on the baking sheet, think cinnamon rolls or biscuits. They will rise higher rather than rise slightly and widen slightly if you arrange them properly on the baking sheet with extra space between the scones.
The scones will rise and should have a nice crust, when tapped it should sound hollow. You can also use the toothpick method, insert a clean toothpick into the center of the scone and it should come out dry when the scones are done.
More baked apple recipes you will love
- Cinnamon apple bread with walnuts
- Apple pie bars
- Apple cider cupcakes
- Puff pastry apple tarts
- Apple tart cake
More dairy free breakfast recipes to try
- Apple cinnamon oatmeal
- Oatmeal banana chocolate chip muffins
- Apple kiwi green smoothies
- Chocolate chip waffles and ice cream
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 cup vegan butter small cubes and frozen
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup unsweetened plain coconut yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons water or dairy free milk
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a large mixing bowl until evenly distributed. Set aside.
- Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the frozen butter until small crumbs form.
- Stir in chopped apples until coated in flour.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt and lemon juice together until smooth.
- Stir apples into the dry mixture using a rubber spatula, being careful not to over mix the dough.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Shape the dough into a large flat circle. Fold the dough a few times to create layers in the dough. Then, shape it again into a round 1-inch thick circle.
- Cut into triangles and place scones on prepared baking sheet.
- Mix 1 tablespoon water with 3 tablespoons coconut yogurt and brush the tops of the scones. Then, sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Freeze before baking.
- 425˚F for 14 – 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow the scones to cool completely before adding the glaze.
- To make the glaze: combine powdered sugar, cinnamon, salt and water in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
- When cooled, glaze scones as desired.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Baker Bettie’s basic scones recipe.
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