Maple Oat Scones

I love having something special for breakfast (and by special, I mean something other than toast with peanut butter or some such option). But because I also don’t really want to spend the early morning cooking, some of my favorite breakfasts are the make-ahead kind, like muffins or quick breads. I made a great coconut-lemon tea cake, but I can’t really make a post out of it because I lack good pictures (somehow, they were all taken in low light and turned out horrid). I do encourage you to try it, though! Another great recipe was these maple oat scones. The original recipe was gluten-free, but I used some white whole wheat flour for expediency’s sake. Note that if you don’t care about eating vegan scones, you can use lactose-free milk instead of plant-based milk here. I loved these because they were not too dense, just sweet enough, and had the oats that I often crave in scones. Plus, you can’t go wrong with maple!

For the oat scones
1 ¾ cups + 2 Tbsp. flour (gluten-free or not)
½ cup quick oats (I used rolled oats)
1/3 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. sea salt
4 Tbsp. vegan butter (margarine), chilled
2 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated shortening
1 cup unsweetened almond milk or lactose-free milk
1 tsp. vinegar

For the maple glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp. unsweetened almond milk or lactose-free milk

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or silpat. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, sift together flour, oats, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add chilled shortening and vegan butter. Using pastry cutter, cut in shortening and butter until small pieces remain. (I always do this step in the food processor, it’s faster.)

Mix together almond milk and vinegar in small bowl, then pour over flour mixture. Gently blend dough until it just comes together. Be careful to not overmix.

On lightly floured surface, place dough. Gently pat into 8-inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Using pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut dough into 8 triangles.

Place scones on prepared baking pan. Bake 16-18 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool slightly on cooling rack.

To make maple glaze, mix together powdered sugar, maple syrup and almond milk. Drizzle over cooled scones. Allow icing to set before serving.