If you love coffee cake, snickerdoodle, or anything cinnamon, you are going to go crazy for these Gluten Free Cinnamon Scones. These gluten free and dairy free scones are the perfect texture, not too dry, and topped with a delicious cinnamon crumble. Made refined sugar free and allergy friendly, these coffee cake style scones are soft, flaky, and delicious.
Scones are not generally my favorite baked good, probably because I've had one too many super dry scones. Nobody likes that. Getting the texture just right on scones can be tricky, especially with gluten free baking, but these cinnamon scones are just right!
Add a crumble topping to anything and I'm happy, but put a cinnamon crumble on top of a scone?! I've just become scones biggest fan! Flaky layers of gluten free pastry are topped with a sweet cinnamon crumble then drizzled with a simple glaze for coffee cake in scone form.
Why These Cinnamon Scones are Different:
- Allergy friendly: gluten free, dairy free, nut free, corn free, and soy free, these scones get the allergy friendly mark of approval!
- Healthier scones: made without refined sugar and less added sugar than traditional scone recipes, you can feel a little better about indulging in these coffee cake scones for breakfast.
- Crumble topping: you don't often see a crumble on top of scones, but I'm on a mission to add a crumble topping to everything I can and scones are no exception (see my Raspberry and Cream Scones too!). We're elevating a basic cinnamon scone into a hand held coffee cake treat by adding a cinnamon streusel topping.
Want more scones? Try my AIP Sweet Potato Scones or Grain Free Ginger Orange Scones.
Gluten Free Cinnamon Scone Ingredients
Gluten Free Scone Dough
- Gluten free flour: use a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour blend for best results.
- Tigernut or almond flour: tigernut flour is a nut free alternative to almond flour, but either will work. They both add some nutty sweetness that pairs perfectly with the cinnamon flavor.
- Tapioca starch: helps keep gluten free scones soft and prevents dryness.
- Coconut sugar: the unrefined sweetener used for the scone dough.
- Dairy free butter or coconut oil: either will work, although I do find the scones puff up a bit more with butter. Just make sure you keep the fat cold!
- Egg: 1 large egg helps hold the dough together and help it rise.
- Yogurt: stick to a plant based yogurt to keep this recipe dairy free. You'll want to use a higher fat yogurt like coconut yogurt for these scones.
- Baking powder, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract
Cinnamon Crumble Topping and Sweet Glaze
- Gluten free flour
- Coconut sugar
- Cinnamon
- Butter or coconut oil
- Yogurt
- Powdered sugar: make your own to keep this recipe refined sugar free.
How to Make Gluten Free Cinnamon Crumble Scones
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk flour and other dry ingredients together in a large bowl and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- While the flour chills, make the crumble topping by mixing everything together in a small bowl. The crumble should be sandy, but hold together when pinched.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes then add to the flour mixture and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until you have a sand-like mixture and butter is evenly distributed.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the flour-butter mixture and use a fork to combine everything into an even dough. If it's too dry and not coming together, add in more yogurt/cream 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Shape the dough into a disk about 8-9inch in diameter on a parchment lined baking sheet. Crumble the topping over the scone dough then place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350F.
- When ready to bake the scones, cut scones into 8 and spread them out on the baking sheet. They need some room to expand.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops of the scones are golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Substitutions and Variations
- Coconut sugar: maple sugar or date sugar are great refined sugar free substitutions. Light brown sugar will also work, but is not refined sugar free.
- Butter: regular butter, dairy free butter, or coconut oil works in this recipe.
- Yogurt: coconut cream also works for these dairy free scones. Heavy cream would work if you tolerate dairy.
- Variations: add cinnamon chips or white chocolate chips to the dough. You could even melt white chocolate and drizzle it on top of the scones instead of the glaze!
Serving and Storage
These coffee cake scones are delicious for:
- Breakfast with a cup of coffee
- As part of a brunch spread
- As a sweet afternoon treat with a cup of tea
- For dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or cinnamon ice cream.
Store any leftover scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The crumble topping will soften, but they'll still be delicious. Scones taste best fresh, so I don't suggest freezing them. You can make the dough and crumble topping ahead, then bake fresh the next morning.
Tips for Baking the Best Gluten Free Cinnamon Scones:
- Measure flour correctly: be sure to scoop flour into your measuring cup then level it off, otherwise you can end up with too much flour resulting in dry scones.
- Keep all ingredients cold: you want to use cold ingredients, especially the butter, because it helps with the flaky and tender texture. If the butter melts into the dough before baking, the scones can spread flat or be too dense.
- Make sure dough isn't too dry: to make sure your scones aren't too dry and crumbly, ensure the dough holds together well when mixing it. If it's hard to form into a ball or cracks a lot when forming a disk, add an extra tablespoon or two of yogurt until the dough holds together well.
- Coconut oil vs butter: I've made this recipe with dairy free butter and coconut oil and it is delicious both ways. With butter, the result is a higher rise and slightly flakier scone. Coconut oil results in a very moist scone, but flatter.
- How to work with coconut oil: If using coconut oil, measure out the amount needed then scoop into a parchment lined plate and pop in the fridge until solid. Pull the oil out of the fridge when you gather your other ingredients. This keeps it solid without being unworkably hard.
FAQ
You either over-packed the flour or didn't add enough fat. Make sure to measure your flour correctly or add a little extra yogurt if needed (see baking tips above).
I have not tested making these scones paleo, but you could try substituting the gluten free flour for cassava flour. If you try it, let us know in the comments how it went!
I have not tested a vegan version, but I think an egg substitute would work. If you try it, let us know in the comments how it went!
If you used coconut oil, they won't rise much and that's okay. If they flattened out too much though, it could be that your baking powder was old, you mixed the dough too much, or the fat wasn't kept cold and melted into the dough before baking. That's why it is important to keep the ingredients cold.
If you are making them for an event, I would suggest not making them more than a day ahead of time.
Technically you can, but I don't suggest it as scones taste best fresh. Freezing and thawing makes them more dense and chewy.
More Wholesome Crumble Recipes
If you love crumbles or cinnamon then you'll also love these recipes:
Gluten Free Banana Bread with Walnut Crumble
Gluten Free Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Gluten Free Coffee Cake Cookies
Healthy Paleo Coffee Cake Bread
Baked Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
If you try this recipe, please leave a rating and review. Drop any questions in the comments and don't forget to tag me on social media!
Gluten Free Cinnamon Crumble Scones
Ingredients
Scones
- 1 cup 1:1 gluten free flour
- ¾ cup tigernut flour, sifted or almond flour
- 2 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoon cold (dairy free) butter or coconut oil*
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoon coconut yogurt or coconut cream
Crumble topping
- ½ cup 1:1 gluten free flour
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon (dairy free) butter or coconut oil melted
Glaze
- 1-2 tablespoon yogurt of choice
- ½-1 cup powdered sugar
- cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Mix together the crumble ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix together the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Cut the butter or oil into cubes when ready to use, then add to the flour mixture and cut in with a fork or pastry cutter until you have a sand-like mixture and butter is evenly distributed. Coconut oil can be hard, so you may need to use your fingers to squish it into the flour.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and use a fork to combine everything into an even dough. If it's too dry and not coming together, add in more yogurt/cream 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Shape the dough into a disk about 8-9inch in diameter on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over top then place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350F.
- When ready to bake the scones, cut into 8 and spread them out on the baking sheet. They need some room to expand.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Mix the glaze by combining 1 tablespoon of yogurt with ½ cup powdered sugar, add more yogurt if the glaze is too firm or more powdered sugar if it's too wet. You want a consistency that is easy to drizzle.
- Drizzle glaze over scones once they are completely cooled.
Lisa says
Hi, can I substitute the tapioca starch? I have corn starch and tapiocas flour on hand.
Victoria Faling says
Tapioca starch won't work as a 1:1 sub for the gluten free or tigernut flour. It's much starchier (hence the name) and will result in a gummy result.