I’m going to let you all in on a little secret: I didn’t always value a whole food diet. In fact, I valued anything but.
Every day after school, I dove head-first into the pantry. Cheez-its are a whole food, right? Oh, and Reese’s Cups…they have peanut butter! So like, protein! Salt and vinegar chips? Well. They’re just dannnng tasty. And when I used to work at a cafe and had the ability to order half-priced blueberry scones? Hellooooo, antioxidants!
Ah, to be young again.
Shockingly enough, my poor diet choices caught up with me during my freshman year of college. My body finally rebelled against the crap I was shoving down my throat every day with a resilient “HEEECKKK NAH!” I was unhealthy, unmotivated, and, frankly, unhappy. That kind of food made me feel like absolute crap, but it took limiting my diet of it to make me realize it.
Luckily, I had a wonderful role model in my life that taught me all of the finer points of leading a healthy life. Mama Fooduzzi, I’m talking about you.
She’s the one who has been drinking her green smoothies for years. She always knew how to indulge when it was time to indulge, but jump right back on track the next day. I’d like to believe that she was using flax and chia seeds…before it was cool.
Today is my mom’s birthday, so I decided to craft up these Lemon Chia Seed Scones in order to bring her world and my world together. Lemon poppy seed is one of my favorite flavor combinations (well, besides chocolate and peanut butter…I’m no monster), and she certainly loves her chia seeds. Tart, sweet, gluten free, and vegan, these Lemon Chia Seed Scones strike the perfect balance of healthy and indulgent.
These scones are so unique, in that they’re made with almond flour rather than regular all-purpose. Not only does this keep these scones totally gluten free, but it also adds some healthy fats and protein to our scones. This was the first time I had ever baked with almond flour, but consider me a convert! It lends such a chewy texture to the finished product, these scones almost have the same consistency as muffin tops. Yeeeeah, they’re insane.
To keep these scones vegan, we’re using chia seeds in lieu of a chicken egg. I love these tiny little nutrient powerhouses, and they couldn’t have worked more perfectly in these scones! Add a little lemon zest, baking soda, maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt, and you’ll have warm, delicious scones in a little under 30 minutes. Oh. Have. Mercy.
Happy birthday, Mama Fooduzzi! I hope you have an amazing day! In the meantime, enjoy these zesty little Lemon Chia Seed Scones. Put that oven to good use this Monday; it’s about to become best friends with this delicious tart sweet treat.
Lemon Chia Seed Scones
https://www.fooduzzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lemon-chia-seed-scones-5.jpg
| Prep: | Cook: | Yield: serves 8 | Total: |
Tart, sweet, gluten free, and vegan, these Lemon Chia Seed Scones strike the perfect balance of healthy and indulgent!
You'll Need...
- 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
- 3 Tbsp. warm water
- 1 cup + 1/4 cup almond flour (plus extra, if needed)
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. melted coconut oil
- zest of 1 small lemon
Directions
- Add chia seeds and water to a medium bowl. Mix to combine and set aside to "gel" for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine, being sure to get all of the clumps out of the almond flour, then set aside.
- In the same bowl that your chia seed mixture is in, add maple syrup, coconut oil, and lemon zest, and stir to combine. Pour into dry ingredients and mix. Add extra almond flour if your mixture is too wet until the mixture just comes together and is only slightly sticky (I needed about 2 Tbsp).
- Dump mixture onto parchment paper. Top with another sheet of parchment paper, and flatten until circular and about 1-inch thick. If necessary, shape mixture into a circle.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and slightly let cool. Cut into scones (see pictures) and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are slightly brown.* Remember that scones will continue cooking on the baking sheet. Remove, and allow scones to cool completely.
Additional Notes
*I like undercooking my baked goods so that they're incredibly melt-in-you-mouth delicious. You may need to increase the bake time to fit your scone needs.
Thanks to Sweet Laurel for the inspiration for this recipe!
Made these this morning. They are delicious. It was almost like having you here.
So glad you liked them! :)
Yum!! I love how simple and healthy these are. Lemon is such a pick me up, with it’s bright flavor. So these scones have go it going on!
Thanks so much, Meg! I’m glad you like these scones – lemon is one of my favorites, too!
Do you think I could sub something for the almond flour? As delicious as they sound with that, we have an almond allergy in the house so I can’t use it, but would really love to try them!?
Hi, Tiffany! GF baking is a bit finicky, but I would think that subbing out with another nut flour (hazelnut, walnut, etc.) may work! Let me know if you give it a try! :)
I tried this recipe and it was delicious! I did not have almond flour so I used all -purpose flour and added a touch of pure almond extract. I can’t wait to try it again when I purchase almond flour.
I’m so happy you liked them, Nettie! Glad to know that AP flour works!
You never added the chia seeds to the bowl in the recipe though.
Stephanie – Thank you so much for catching that!! I’ve had quite a few people make this recipe in the past (including my own mother), and no one called me out on forgetting that. ;) You just add the wet ingredients to your chia seed mixture, and then add the wet ingredients to the dry. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect!
I’ve just made these scones…Absolutely delicious. I topped mine with lemon curd.
I’m so glad you liked them! I’m lovin’ the idea of using lemon curd!! OBSESSED with that stuff!
Just wanted to say that I’ve made this recipe multiple times now and I LOVE it!!!….It is hard just to eat one or two and have often eaten the whole batch which can’t be healthy!!!
This makes me so so happy, Emily! I’m so glad you’re loving this recipe. Lemon baked goods are my FAVORITE! :)
Can anything else be substituted for maple syrup? We have to watch carbs right now. Would stevia be okay to use instead? Thank you!
Hmm…that’s tough. Maple syrup makes up the bulk of the wet ingredients in this recipe. I’d say swap the maple syrup for another liquid sweetener – honey, date syrup, agave… hopefully one of those solutions would work!
These sound great! But I have a question. Could I use buckwheat flour instead of almond? And a bit of honey or stevia as a sweetener?
Hi, Ana! Not sure about buckwheat flour…I’ve never cooked with it. You might be able to use a mixture of buckwheat and all purpose, but I’m not 100% sure. You can DEFINITELY use honey instead of maple syrup. Honey / lemon is one of my favorite flavor duos! ;)