Cinnamon Raisin Scones for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally

Scones, a most delightful breakfast treat - especially while watching the The Royal Wedding of William and Kate!  How perfect that scones happen to be this months challenge for the gluten free ratio rally.  I remember learning about pound cake as a teenager in home-ec class: a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of sugar; or a 1:1:1 ratio.  That's what the gluten free ratio is all about - using weight to figuring out gluten free baking/cooking ratios in hopes of creating an end result of perfect gluten free deliciousness.  Lauren, over at Celiac Teen is our host this month.  Head over to her blog for the complete list of scrumptious gluten free scones created in this months rally.

Scones, at least the traditional English kind, were a first for me.  Not only had I never made them, but I'd never eaten one before this challenge.  Yes, I'd seen them in the glass cases through coffee shop windows, but since I don't drink coffee or tea, I never really thought to eat scones. 

For many of the ratio rally challenges we will be using Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio and adapting as needed to make things gluten free.  Ruhlman does not have a scone ratio so we (a collection of very talented gluten free bloggers) did a lot of experimenting to find the ratio that works best for us.

I had success with a ratio of 3 parts flour/ 1 part liquid/ 1 part egg/ 1 part fat.  I started out by weighing my egg.  I usually use large eggs, but since my local store was practically giving away medium size eggs for Easter, that's what I had on hand.  Due to the size of my egg I measured everything in grams so that I would be more accurate.  The nice thing about using ratios is that you can easily adapt the recipe swapping out ingredients and making more or less depending on your pantry!

 Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Scones

50 grams sweet rice flour
100 grams gluten free flour mix
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

50 grams milk
50 grams egg (my egg was 49 grams. I added water to make it 50)
50 grams cold butter, cut into small pieces

70 grams raisins (about 1/2 cup raisins)

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Add butter and mix on low until flour mixture looks like course meal, 1-2 minutes.  Place flour mixture into a small bowl and stick in the freezer to keep cold while you beat the egg.  Beat the egg in the same mixing bowl that the flour was in. (you don't need to clean it).  Mix on medium for 3-4 minutes or until the egg is very light and foamy.  Turn off the mixer and add the milk, raisins and the flour mixture from the freezer.  Mix on medium low just until mixture comes together (about 30 seconds).  Scoop dough onto a piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat and pat down to a 3/4 inch thick disk.

Cut out the scones with a small cookie cutter or use a pizza cutter to cut it into 6- 8 wedges.  I cut out 5 triangles then pressed the dough scraps together into a small disk and got 2 more triangles plus a free form circle with the last of the scraps.

Place cut scones on a baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar crystals.  At this point I covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight so I could bake them fresh for breakfast.  If you don't want to wait, go ahead.  Skip the refrigerator, bake and enjoy!

Baking instructions:  Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place baking sheet into preheated oven and turn down the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (20 minutes in my oven for 7 scones).

If desired, drizzle a simple glaze of powdered sugar mixed with a little milk over each scone.