Gluten Free Chocolate Scones

Well, it's been almost 2 years since I posted my first recipe. I figured I'd take another stab at blogging. I was mostly motivated by the gluten-free scones I made this morning that were so chocolatey and warm and yummy. I just had to share them with the world. So here goes.

What I like about this recipe:

1) You only need almond flour! After two years of gluten-free baking, I've come to resent recipes that call for a flour blend like my chocolate chip cookies (who has time for that?!). I am learning to truly appreciate the more simple recipes, the ones that take less than 10 minutes to prepare, and especially the ones that use ingredients that I usually have around my kitchen.

2) They are not DRY scones like what you would get when you purchase a scone from Panera or a coffee shop. These are the texture that I always imagine scones to be when I see them in a food display case-- crisp on the outside, soft and moist on the inside.

3) I just had the brilliant idea that had I added a touch of mint extract, these could've become mint-chocolate scones!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of almond flour (I bought mine at Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage)
• 3 tbs sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbs cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder)
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• about 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (more or less to your preference)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Combine almond flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl 
3. Mix the egg, melted butter, and vanilla into your dry ingredients 
4. Fold in your chocolate chips 
5. Place dough on a flat surface and flatten to about 1 1/2 inch thick (I just put down aluminum foil and flattened it with my hand, but if you want to get fancy I supposed you could use a rolling pin. The dough is pretty sticky, though.) 
6. Cut into wedges and place on a cookie sheet (I used an ungreased baking stone) 
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the outside feels nice and firm to the touch. 
8. Cool them on a wire cooling rack for a bit and then enjoy the chocolatey deliciousness!

I also sprinkled a little sugar on top of them before baking them but this is totally optional. This recipe makes 4 scones.