Count on these gluten free, paleo & keto blackberry scones to be tender, moist, and surprisingly easy to whip up! And, needless to say, absolutely scrumptious.
Gluten Free & Keto Blackberry Scones 🍋
With A Bright Lemon Glaze!
Berry-loaded scones are a breakfast must chez gnom-gnom come summer. And my particular penchant has always been for blackberries paired with a super lemony glaze. The resulting scones are tender, moist, and surprisingly easy to whip up. Plus, you can make a large batch, freeze shaped, and bake-on-demand!
This is one of the forty brand new recipes from our special summer edition ecookbook! And a personal favorite of mine (think special breakfast or brunch treats!).
The Deets 🔍
Easy-peasy really, and easiest done in your food processor. You simply pulse the flours together, add the butter and pulse until pea-sized, mix in the liquids, and cut-out onto a baking tray.
Just note that the trick lies in keeping the butter pea-sized, and not blending it all together with the flours. This will ensure a light rather than super dense texture.
But if no food processor is at hand, you can also ‘cut’ the butter into the flours with a pastry cutter, two knifes, or simply your cold fingertips. Work quickly, without melting the butter. Then you’ll simply pour in the egg mixture and mix with a two spoons until shaggy.
The Main Ingredients
There’s a reason classics become classics, and so the butter and sour cream version is more akin to tradition (and my favorite). But if paleo, or dairy is out of the question, the coconut oil and cream version is also delicious in it’s own right.
And you can also use ghee. Possible subs, and amount adjustments, are listed next to the ‘main ingredients’ in the recipe card.
Almond flour. You truly need a super finely ground almond flour here, as if you use meal your shortcake will turn out dense and oily. Super fine almond flour brands include Anthony’s , WellBees and Bob’s.
Flaxseed meal. You’ll want to use golden flaxseed meal (we use Bob’s), and regrind the flakes in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until finely powdered. Great way to avoid slimy breads. If intolerant to flax, you can use finely ground psyllium husk (absolutely must let them cool completely before cutting!).
Coconut flour. We favor Anthony’s, but Bob’s works great too.
Whey protein isolate. This one helps to get a fluffier and lighter texture. Keep in mind that this ingredient varies tremendously from brand to brand, and we’ve only tried (and are super happy!) with Isopure’s Zero Carb Unflavored. You can substitute it with more almond flour, just keep in mind your scones will be a tad denser.
Xanthan gum. Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like (and your cream cheese, well cream cheese-like). And it’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking. And while we do prefer the results with it, you can sub it with twice the amount of flaxseed meal- not a huge deal here.
The Sweetener 🍯
These keto scones work well with erythritol (Lakantoor Swerve), xylitol and Pyure (at half the amount). And if paleo (or not restricted by sugar), coconut sugar is your best bet here. So you’ve got options.
If you’re opting for the lemon glaze, which comes highly recommended, your best option for no aftertaste is xylitol. But it must be powdered.
So get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered. Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor. Or you can always grab a bag of powdered erythritol (Lakanto or Swerve).
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
Gluten Free, Paleo & Keto Blackberry Scones
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto blackberry scones
- 1 egg
- 77 g sour cream or coconut cream + 1 TBS apple cider vinegar, at room temp
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- zest one lemon freshly grated
- 96 g almond flour
- 60 g golden flaxseed meal or psyllium husk, finely ground
- 21 g coconut flour
- 20 g whey protein isolate or more almond flour
- 3-5 tablespoons erythritol xylitol, or sweetener of choice
- 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum or 1 TBS flaxseed meal
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 112 g organic grass-fed butter or 7 TBS. ghee/coconut oil
- 170 g blackberries fresh or frozen
For the lemon glaze
- 3-6 tablespoons powdered xylitol or erythritol, to taste
- zest 1/2 lemon
- 1-3 teaspoons lemon juice as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F/230°C. Line a baking tray with parch- ment paper or a baking mat.
- Add sour (or coconut) cream, egg, apple cider vinegar, va- nilla extract and lemon zest to a medium bowl and whisk for a minute or two until fully mixed. Set aside.
- Add almond our, axseed meal, coconut our, whey pro- tein, sweetener, baking powder, xanthan gum (or more ax) and salt to a food processor and pulse until very thoroughly combined.
- Add in the butter and pulse a few times until pea-sized. Pour in the egg and cream mixture, pulsing until combined. The dough will be very shaggy.
- Lightly our the prepared baking tray with coconut our and dump the dough. Fold in the blackberries gently with your hands and form into a round. Cut with a knife onto 6 wedges, separating them to allow room while baking.
- Brush with melted butter and bake for 15-20 minutes until deep golden. Allow the scones to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Make the lemon glaze by mixing the powdered sweetener with the lemon zest and adding lemon juice as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- These guys keep well, stored in an airtight container at room temperature, for 3-4 days. You can freeze the raw shaped scones for 1-2 months, and bake straight from the freezer as needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Excellent! Very light and fluffy! I made mine dairy free (except for the whey protein isolate). The dough was pretty wet rather than shaggy and was a little difficult to separate into the pieces on the baking tray. I may have overpulsed the processor when adding the coconut oil, which I would put in the fridge to harden it up more next time. I used a spatula to lift/push the pieces around and reshaped with my fingers. Anyway, they tasted wonderful, and the lemon glaze added a lot of flavor. I used the upper amounts of erythritol, which was perfect. I baked for 15 minutes, and they were already pretty brown, so I took them out. So keep an eye on them. Other reviewers mentioned that they burned theirs at 450F, and that they had more success baking them at 350F, and I think I agree. One more minute, and mine would’ve started to char. Also, they spread out horizontally a fair amount when baking so they were touching each other again, which surprised me, but made no difference in the end. Really good!
These we AMAZING. I used honey, stevia and coconut sugar because im not keto. I also used phsylium husk, which really kept things together and replaced the egg with baking powder and vinegar. Just delcious. I think the key to the recipe is the cold butter blended throughout.
Is there one or two tablespoons apple cider vinegar in this recipe? One with sour cream and one more on its own?
How does every single thing I bake from this Gnom Gnom turn out so good?? These scones were DELICIOUS; I just love how they weren’t too sweet and the lemon glaze adds a perfect touch! I ate 2 in a row with whipped cream on top whoops they’re just too good! I think this recipe is supposed to say 350 Degrees NOT 450. I baked them at 350 for 14 minutes and they turned out perfect, even a little burnt on the bottom so 450 would be way too high and would likely burn the scones quickly because almond flour burns easier!
I am curious as to how you consider these to be paleo with all the dairy. Whey protein?
They are substitutions listed for both the butter and whey protein.
I agree! Fortunately I read your comment when i still had 4 mins left on the timer. Pulled them out immediately. Still burnt but edible. Face-palm! Read comments first!
I think the 450 degrees is way too high. I just burned a double-batch almost beyond salvaging.
Hello! I’d like to know if these are dense like American scones or more like English scones, biscuit-like? I looked through the comments but couldn’t find my answer. Thanks! Love your recipes. Y quisiera saber dónde encuentras tus ingredientes en la ciudad de México. Tal vez mudamos allí en un año y no quiero dejar de keto-vida. 😘
Has the potential to be amazing.
However, I messed up. Probably too much liquid.. my dough never became shaggy so I tried to add more almond flour and coconut flour into it after the blackberries were in. The texture is off and they’re a bit bland. I messed up big time lol. I definitely could have made them sweeter too.
Ah well, potential for scones is great. Could get rid of the berries in the scone and make a forest fruit cobbler. Or even mock apple cobbler with mini scones. That’d be awesome!!!
Hi! I tried your recipe and it’s very, very good. Almost like the real thing! My only teeny, tiny complaint would be, and I think it’s a global thing with gluten-sugar-free baking, it’s the texture. It’s lovely and tender, but how does one get a firmer bite? My dough came out more like a thick batter, too. I followed everything to a T. Would adding more whey isolate help? That’s the protein part, right? Or a little vital wheat gluten? I don’t know how much that would raise the total carbs but I would sacrifice carbs elsewhere in my diet to have a proper texture in my low carb baked goods. Anyway, you’re doing a great job and love your dedication. I’ve recommended your site many times. 🙂
These are fabulous, just made them with blueberries. Nothing to whine about, keto at its finest.
Is there any way to give us the gram measurements in cups or ounces?
I already have! Just click on US Cups below the ingredients 😉
Hello! I love your recipes but I had a question on this one. My dough didn’t get shaggy and I used no subs. Also the outside got really dark and they weren’t done when I took them out. Also is there a reason why temp is so high? I really want to make this recipe work. Maybe a lower temp but longer bake. Anyways thanks so much! The bagels turned out fabulous though.
Should the butter be cold or room temp for this?
Cold! xo
Ohhhh these are ON POINT! Seriously I just ate 2 in a row because they are so good.
Readers: there is a reason there’s several paragraphs of information on ingredients before every recipe. Brown flax and golden flax are completely different ingredients! You can’t sub one for the other! You WILL NOT get the same results by throwing in whatever substitutes.
I followed this as faithfully as possible….pre-ground the flax, etc etc, and they came out really, really beautiful. As always, anything with coconut flour is prone to browning and burning so don’t be like me and cook them on the bottom rack! Haha.
Paola, do you find that it’s better for these kinds of recipes to work with the dough a bit before baking I notice you said to work the berries in after turning the dough out on the pan. Just wondered if that makes a difference in the final product instead of mixing them in the bowl.
This dough didn’t get “shaggy” for me. Instead, it was super-sticky, as if it had too much liquid in it. I weighed all the ingredients with a kitchen scale, as I always do for gluten-free baking. I read too late that using golden flax really mattered to the texture, but surely it wouldn’t affect the consistency of the dough that much. I’d planned to freeze some of these so that I wasn’t baking a whole batch at once. The dough was too sticky for me to pick up.
If I’d been thinking, I would have experimented with scooping part of the dough and using a fair amount of coconut flour to pat it out. As it was, I had to use a knife to separate the dough and push it around on the parchment paper. I definitely expected to be able to lift the dough without it sticking to my hands too much, but that just wasn’t the case.
The texture of the finished product WAS kind of slimy, as another baker commented. Next time, I will slightly increase the amount of Swerve in the dough itself, use golden flax, and reduce the temperature of the oven to 400°. It’s extremely moist inside, more moist than I’m used to in a scone, but the flavor is good.
Hi Christy! What did you use in place of the golden flaxseed meal? Believe it or not, keto ingredients matter A LOT, so making a sub = not making the recipe = not getting desired outcome unfortunately xo!
Regular brown flax meal. Definitely affected the color!
It would account for the sliminess too Christy! xo
These really are delish! I made up my second batch yesterday. I have 2 gallons of frozen blackberries in my freezer (from my folks backyard), so I’ll be able to enjoy these quite often. 😀 I’m currently in LOVE with lime, so the first time I used lime zest and juice – love!! 2nd time I used lemon oil (no zest) and lemon juice. Still quite yummy, but lime with blackberry is a match made in heaven! 🙂
I’m at altitude also (plus the frozen berries) so I do bake mine at 450F for 20-25 min (takes longer for the insides to get cooked when they start out frozen hehehe). First time I didn’t cover them and the scones got quite dark on the outside – not burnt, but not golden brown either. Yesterday, I just put a piece of foil over the top about halfway through. Again, winner recipe!
Hi! I had some trouble with my scones, which turned out over-browned on the inside and completely slimy/soggy on the inside (much like a way under-cooked muffin in texture)
Only a few slight deviances from the recipe:
– I used the non-golden flaxseed meal by bob’s red mill and ground it in my blender.
– The blackberries were frozen
Everything else was exactly according to the recipe.
I baked for 20 minutes and they were very dark on top, but the inside was very slimy so I put them in for another ~10 minutes covered with foil. After letting them cool they are still extremely slimy and taste horrible. Yikes. Where did I go wrong?
The non-golden flaxseed definitely makes a big difference in the texture- they’re VERY different ingredients.
Though the burning could just be a big difference in ovens as I had someone on instagram say they burned theirs too (though it works fine for most peeps). So just try using golden flax and lowering the temp by 50F next time xo!
There are more than a few typos in these directions. Shaggy instead of soggy, almond our (flour), axseed (flaxseed).
I’m going to mix them up for breakfast
The description of the dough is shaggy not soggy. Standard for scones xo!
Pretty sure I did everything wrong when I made these. I was in a hurry so I didn’t read everything… that was my first mistake! I used regular flax seed meal because it was late and I was too tired/lazy to get out the golden flax seeds and grind them. That probably would have been okay if I had put it in the blender, but I completely missed the note about regrinding the meal. Then I somehow skipped over the part in the instructions where you put the dry ingredients in the food processor, and instead I added the almond meal directly to the wet ingredients. Did I mention it was late and I was really tired? 🙂 My daughter is not a fan of fruit in baked goods, so I omitted the lemon/blackberry combo and added walnuts and Lilly’s chocolate chips instead. All things considered I thought they turned out great! They were on the dense side, but that is no surprise as I made so many changes and mistakes. I’m looking forward to making these again and following the recipe a little more closely.
I do have one question… my scones cooked surprisingly fast. I set the timer for 15 minutes and ended up taking them out with more than two minutes left because they had gotten very dark and were getting close to burning around the edges. I was afraid they might not be done in the middle, but they were fine. Do you have any thoughts as to why this might have happened? Could it have something to do with the dough containing less moisture (since I left out the blackberries)? Using regular flax instead of golden? I am stumped.
Yum! These were so good! I only had regular ground flax, so mine turned out a little more whole-wheaty looking. Oh! And I made a second batch, omitted the lemon/blackberries and added a chopped Lily’s dark chocolate bar instead… also super good!!
These turned out even better than I was expecting, they are AMAZING! After baking for 12 min. the tops of mine were already very brown so I covered them for the last 3 min. I would make these even if I wasn’t Keto!
I really liked this recipe! I’m used to scones being harder and a bit drier, but these were more like a really thick, moist cookie. The flavor is absolutely delicious.
Changes I made:
– Used Lily’s chips as the mix-in instead of berries.
– Sifted my almond flour. I wanted to eliminate any larger pieces or stuck-together bits.
– Omitted the unflavored whey protein. Didn’t have any.
– Used Truvia instead of straight erythritol. Again, it was what I could find at the store.
– Used lard instead of butter. Lard gives baked goods more flakiness and a shorter crumb than butter, and a less rich flavor, all of which was what I was going for.
– Baked at 400, not 450. I was worried about the coconut flour burning.
I also accidentally rested the dough for a bit after I cut the lard into the dry ingredients (as in, I got interrupted so I stuck the bowl in the fridge and came back a couple of hours later).
This is definitely a keeper recipe! I’m looking forward to trying it with the berries and glaze.
Hello,
I’d love to make these for my mom, but she is allergic to coconut. Any substitutions?
Hi!
These sound amazing! I was wondering if the glazing will turn out sticky or dry. I’m looking for a lemon glazing for my lemon cake and this one might be it!
Keep up the great work and thanks for being so inspiring!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne! Sugar alcohols behave a little different in glazes, so if you want it sticky I would do say xylitol and actually heat it up and dissolve it in a little water (it works a bit like an inverted sugar and takes AGES, as in a couple days, to dry out so it stays sticky). And for dry powdered erythritol has worked best for me.
Thanks a million!
I am a big Fan, Paola!
These are taste fantastic and they are so light!
I have also made your Key Lime Pie (I made fat bombs) and they are swoonable.
I also made Choc Mint ice cream – delish but like you I don’t like Choc chips, so I have “magic ” organic 70% choc chunks for next round!
Hollis!
What is the purpose of the apple cider vinegar in all of the dough recipes?
Various Amber! Reacting with the rising agents, tenderness, acidity xo!
These are …amazing! The texture is great I doubled the recipe (put 11tbsp of monk fruit seeetner ) & used lg organic sweet blueberries…& added a bit more …mmmmm
Husband is new to sugar free & low carb and he ate 3…immediately! Even w/o frosting there great!
Thank you so much! 🌹 It took me a bit longer then expected but worth it!
I ground golden flax seed and I’m pre- measuring for a 6 scone recipe to have on had in fridge!
I do that with biscuits too!
I Love gnom-gnom..recipes!
Baking these up right now….looks beautiful in the oven😀👍🏼
Yay!!