Okay, if you’ve spoken to me, read any of this blog, or know me at all, you know by now I usually steer clear of the “substitutions”. I mean, yes I have gluten free toast with breakfast sometimes, but generally if you’re trying to make something that was once based on gluten, and then you take OUT the gluten, chances are it might be crap. Sorry. Not saying it ALL will be, I’m just saying maybe…

It’s like vegetarian beef tips (sorry roommies), fat free mayo, or vegan cheese. I don’t get it. However, I do understand that sometimes you really want that pasta. And sometimes you really want that muffin, scone, or cake. So when I came across a new blog (well, new to me) on my radar Jenn Cuisine and she mentioned worthy gluten free scones, I had to make a brunch.

So… I’m new to the blogging world. I look at the Statesman and see a gillion bloggers out there, half of whom are gluten free. When I saw Jenn’s blog (she’s based in Switzerland, so NOT in the Statesman) I must say it stood out a whole bunch because she echoes my own sentiments about simple = better, naturally gluten-free= tastier. You know, that whole mantra. Now, I haven’t tried much of her stuff yet so we’ll see what happens, but so far so good. AND most importantly, I got over my fear of the blogging world and sent her an e-mail. And she sent me one back! AND through her site I’ve seen a few other gluten free folks in the international blogging world that also fall onto my natural and delicious spectrum. I think I have a whole lot of experimenting to do!

Okay, enough with this verbosity. Verboseness? The link on Jenn Cuisine’s blog was for strawberry scones: Flour Arrangements (another new blog to me). I had a banana in the house and some walnuts. Blonde Roommate went to the store in the morning to pick up some currants and yogurt for me too. Brunette roommate started to eat that banana until I smacked it out of her hand.

I invited 10 girlfriends over to taste and taste we did. Soon enough I’ll put my not-so-delicious muffins up, as well as my always-pleasing GF/DF quiche. We started with the scones…

There was a very long list o’ ingredients. It was intimidating. It was the kind of thing I usually steer clear of: guar gum, xantham that, sourghum this. I had a friend read the instructions to me as I mixed and eventually we were mixed and ready for the oven.

Here is Flour Arrangement’s recipe with my tweaks.
Banana, Walnut, and Currant Scones
1 banana cut up into small chunks
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c currants
1 c white rice flour
1/4 c brown rice flour
1/3 c sweet sorghum flour
1/3 c tapioca flour or arrowroot powder
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/4 t guar gum
1/2 t salt
4 T white sugar
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t cream of tartar
2/3 c yogurt*
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 T cold butter (I used earthspread)
2 t vanilla extract

Remove the 2 tbsp of butter from the fridge, cut into small cubes and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together all flours, xanthan gum, guar gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar.

Next, create a well in the center of the flours and add sugars, vanilla, and then all other wet ingredients. Then add the cold butter to the flour/wet mixture in the large bowl, and knead together until just mixed. Add the banana, walnuts, and currants and fold in.

Spray a large cookie sheet with nonstick spray, then start shaping the dough into 8-9 disks and place them about an inch apart on the baking sheet.

Bake for about 12 minutes at 425 or until slightly brown on top. Flour Arrangement says you can store these in the fridge for a few days but we ate them all that first morning.

*I loved the banana, nut, currant mixture. The original recipe called for strawberries and had orange zest. I think this would also be good simply with orange zest and currants. Or chocolate chunks, dried cherries, and orange zest. Delicious.

**The original also called for buttermilk but the chemistry between buttermilk and yogurt is so similar and yogurt is easier for me to digest. So…