The worst part about having a wheat allergy as an adult versus being a kid is that as an adult you know all the things that you are missing. I never cared about the stuff I couldn’t have as a kid. They were foods I’d never had so I didn’t miss them. When I outgrew my wheat allergy I was introduced to the wonders of wheat; crusty breads, flat breads, pastries, and morning foods. It was as if a whole new world had opened up to me. It might have played a part in my love of baking; that later introduction into the joy of wheat flour, the softness and chewiness that gluten brings to the table.
When my wheat allergy returned three years ago, I was not the happiest person out there, but I figured I’d get by. After all, the gluten-free world had expanded. Well, not just expanded but had been created since I last had to avoid wheat. There were so many options now for those of us that had to avoid wheat for one reason or another. Some are better than others, and there will just be some things that wheat-free will never be able to replicate. The soft, stretchy interior of a loaf of crusty bread being one of those.
But other items wheat/gluten-free have done a pretty good job of. There are several companies out there who have started making boxed mixes for gluten-free baked goods and one of those is King Arthur Flour. Now I do have to admit that I have a bit of a bias towards this company. Before my allergy returned I almost exclusively used their flours in my home. They were always consistent and made my baking easier. As a professional baker their industry supplies were spectacular. So when I saw that they had created a line of gluten-free mixes I jumped at the chance to try them.
I love a good scone. Part of that might come from being born in Tacoma, Washington and going to the Puyallup Fair (pronounced Pew-all-up, not Pew-a-loop). One of the largest draws at the fair is the Fisher’s Scone booths. You’d get large soft scones split and topped with whipped butter and raspberry jam. Nothing better than that for fair food.
When I moved to Virginia I lost those scones but had managed to find a recipe that made a fair approximation of those scones, but then the wheat allergy struck. It had been three years without a scone so when I saw the King Arthur Gluten-free Scone Mix I knew that, that was going to be the first one I tried.
It’s a simple mix. You only have to provide 8 tablespoons of cold butter, one large egg, and a ½ cup of milk. You cut the butter into the mix, in a separate bowl you mix the milk and egg, then mix that into the dry ingredients, and add more milk as needed, one tablespoon at a time.
I did have a bit of trouble getting it mixed, it didn’t want to hold together and I had to add quite a bit more milk. So it ended up getting mixed a lot more than I would have preferred, which resulted in a rather flat scone that was a bit on the dry side. They do give you the option of sprinkling course sugar on the top of the scones before baking. I’m glad I didn’t choose to do that, as the scone was on the sweeter side.
These would be excellent as an alternative for strawberry shortcake. While I would have liked it to be a bit less sweet it was still a tasty scone. The dryness of it was offset by the butter that I spread quite liberally.
If you make them as drop scones, you’ll get 10 scones, but I went with the traditional triangle, which was very tricky with how sticky the dough was. The triangle results in 8 scones.
After all is said and done, I’d give the King Arthur Gluten Free Scone Mix a “B”. I will definitely make it again, in fact I’ve already gotten another box. It may become easier to make as I get used to the vagaries of the gluten-free mixes. I’ll be sure to update this page as I find tricks to the scones. But I do have to say that if you are missing scones from your life and don’t want to deal with the different types of flour and gums to make scones from scratch, I do recommend the King Arthur mix.
~~ Cookie Girl Kim