Best Gluten Free Scones Recipe with Buttermilk (2024)

The BEST Gluten Free Scones Recipe makes scones which are soft, moist and fluffy AND stay fresh. Moistened with buttermilk, this recipe takes the gluten free scone to a better level…

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A Quest for the Best Gluten Free Scones Recipe

Finding a great gluten free scones recipe is not as easy as you’d think it should be. There are so many recipes on the internet to choose from. But deciding which ones will be soft and fluffy and which will be rock hard or crumble as soon as cut is tricky to decipher. As for stay-freshness? Another question to ponder! Whilst you wouldn’t expect the average scone to last for days and days, you would hope that it would last more than a couple of hours… even a gluten free one. Sadly however, this is often not the case.

Although I’ve made some great basic scones since going gluten free, the perfect plain gluten free scone recipe remained a little elusive… In my search, the question ‘what makes a great scone?’ has frequently been asked. And to answer, I have recalled my pre-gluten free days and some of the bestCream Teasin my history.

The Most Memorable Cream Tea

My most nostalgic Cream Tea memory dates back (way too many) years to when I was a mere slip of an adolescent. I took a holiday to Devon with my sister in the family ‘hand me down’ orange Mini. In those days, Minis weretinyand noisy, but so much fun. I still have the number plate indelibly etched on my brain, so memorable was that Mini… RUR 598M. How many of you remember that ordering of letters and numbers? I may be old, but I am proud to say that we owned a Mini in the 70’s…

But back to Cream Teas… That Mini took us down the empty motorways of the 70’s to Devon, where we stayed in the palm-littered town of Torquay. There, we did what any self-respecting young women do and sought out beaches to bask… And we found the best ice creams, fish and chips and cream teas we could. Being at an age when eating vast quantities of sugar, carbs and fats made little dent on our weight, we indulged to our limits…

It was at Badgers Holt that we found the best, softest, tallest, jammiest, clotted creamiest Cream Tea ever. The weather was scorching and sitting on a grassy bank, we scoffed until we were bursting… Compelled to lie on the grass for a good couple of hours, before we could subject our stuffed bodies to further movement… The scone memory was made!

What Makes a Scone Great?

But what made those scones so great? They were a perfect texture… Soft, but close of crumb and slightly dense… Tall in rise, with little crinkles and cracks around the edges, but still slightly warm… They were also mild in flavour, but with a hint of sweetness to complement the cream and jam which was generously delivered… Rich, decadent, smooth, creamy, slightly clumpy dollops of Clotted Cream spread in a thick layer across the top of each half, begging to be crowned with a spoonful of joyous, dark red, gooey strawberry jam… The Devon way.

So, there you have it. The perfect Devon Cream Tea… just needing to be recreated with a gluten free scone recipe.

The BEST Gluten Free Scones Recipe… Buttermilk Scones

Which brings us to the BEST gluten free scones recipe. Made with my rice free flour blend B which is still mild in flavour and appropriately pale, these scones are light and oh so soft to the touch (see recipe NOTES). The addition of buttermilk and a little ground almond moistens the bake. It takes them to a level which is more than comparable with their glutenous cousins. And whereas gluten free scones will often be stale and hard within hours, these gluten free buttermilk scones are still soft two to three days after they come out of the oven.

Of course the best way to enjoy them is with my delicious home-made Strawberry Jam and some gorgeous Roddas Clotted Cream. Or if you prefer butter, why not make your own?

Gluten Free Buttermilk Scones or Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits?

For those of you across the pond, this is an interesting question. I have no idea why, when or how the English Scone morphed into the American Biscuit or why there was a necessity to change the name. But then, I also have no idea why your cookies are our biscuits either. Given the suggestion that the Scone originated in 16^th Century Scotland however, I am going to stick my neck out and lay claim to culinary ancestry on this one.

Made the Best Gluten Free Scones Recipe?

Why not create your own cream tea memory with this delicious gluten free scones recipe? I promise you won’t regret it…

And please let me know what you think of them. I’ve been contacted by a few people who already made and loved them. But it also helps other people to find them if they are star-rated and if you leave a comment below.

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If you are looking for other Scone Inspiration, we have plenty of recipes at Gluten Free Alchemist. My favourite recipes include our EPIC Blueberry Scones with Lemon, Cherry Bakewell Scones, our Hot Cross Scones and Chocolate Chip Scones… and of course, our Cheese Scones and Pumpkin Scones. But there is also lots of other inspiration on our dedicated Scones Index Page.

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