Applewood Smoked Ham Scones with Maple Butter - Gluten Free

At our house Saturday mornings are our special family time. My husband and I started this tradition when we were first married. We would sleep in and then cook a traditional breakfast meal together. Then we would spend the rest of the morning talking, catching up and planning our weekend together. Once we had children, we continued our Saturday morning family time tradition and it is now their favorite part of the weekend. Since becoming gluten-free, our breakfasts haven't included any or our favorite classic breakfast breads, something my husband and I have really missed.

One of my favorite scone recipes was a Country Ham Scone recipe, originally published in a Southern Living Christmas Book. This recipe was made so many times, the page in the book looks wrinkly and worn. I wanted to add this scone back into our Saturday morning breakfast menus, so I began to work on modifying this recipe so that it was gluten free. The final version of this recipe is wonderfully buttery with sweet ham and pepper.

Scone Recipe

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup arrowroot
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tb cane sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 Tb cold butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Ham, finely chopped*
1 cup whipping cream
2 tsp kudzu (kuzu) powder, dissolved in the whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line an 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl place the first 9 ingredients and blend. Then add the butter pieces and cut the butter into the flour mixture. Work until the blend is crumbly. Add the ham and blend. Add the whipping cream and kudzu powder mixture and blend until the mixture is moistened. Using your hands kneed the mixture in the bowl until it is blended together. Place the dough into the pan and press it out. Next score the top of the dough with a knife into 8 wedges, taking care not to cut all the way through the dough.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 24 minutes or until golden brown. Allow it to cool before serving with Maple Butter.

Maple Butter Recipe

1/2 cup softened butter
2 Tb maple syrup
Optional: 2 Tb chopped peans

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and then add the maple syrup. Blend. Serve with the Applewood Smoked Ham Scones.

How did they go over? My husband and I really enjoyed these scones. My daughter wasn't crazy about the flavor of the scone. My son thought they should have more ham than bread, but they didn't taste too bad.

6/11/07 Note: Niman Ranch Customer Service says that all their products are gluten-free with the exception of the St. Louis pre-cooked ribs.