Gluten-Free, Vegan, Huckleberry Scones

Breakfast used to be my favorite meal of the day. I loved a Sunday feast of French toast and bacon, or hashbrowns and eggs, or banana pancakes and ham.

Now that I’m gluten-free and mostly vegan, I still enjoy some of those old-favorites, but I have to say that I’m not always up for making gluten-free baked goods in the morning. I usually opt for a bowl of fresh fruit, or some beans and salsa with greens. I know, I’m not my old self, thank goodness!

Sometimes though, I just decide to spice things up a little bit, and when I can whip up a batch of scones the night before (as this recipe requires) and bake them for breakfast, I am one happy girl. Especially when I use fresh, wild huckleberries, my favorite fruit of all time.

Huckleberries are a wild variety of blueberry and they are a highly-sought prize for berry pickers and grizzly bears in Montana (and hopefully both are not seeking them at the same time). They are smaller, firmer, and tastier than blueberries, but this recipe will work with fresh or frozen blueberries too. You can also substitute cane sugar (brown sugar would probably be best or whole cane sugar) for the maple sugar since it’s difficult to find in most grocery stores (I found mine in the organic section of Rosauers). The scones are excellent with fruit-sweetened raspberry jam or wonderful warm with tea. Your choice! This recipe makes 8 large scones.

Ingredients:

 2 cups brown rice flour

3/4 cups white rice flour (or you can substitute for brown rice)

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon garbanzo bean flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup olive oil

1 cup maple sugar (or cane sugar)

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

3/4 cup frozen or fresh huckleberries (or blueberries)

 Directions:

1. Combine the brown rice flour, white rice flour, garbanzo bean flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil and maple sugar. Add one quarter of the flour mixture and then one quarter of the coconut milk, alternately, into the flour mixture until it’s well-mixed. It should be a fairly thick consistency. Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight.

2. In the morning, preheate the oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Dust a clean working surface with rice flour and knead the huckleberries into the chilled dough. Shape it into a 2-inch-thick disc and slice the dough evenly into 8 wedges. Places the wedges onto a greased baking sheet spaced evenly apart. Bake until the scones are golden brown and firm to the touch, about 30 minutes.

4. Enjoy with tea and jam.