Gingerbread Scones with Maple Glaze
Perfect for a festive breakfast or a sweet treat with a cozy drink.
The holiday season is one of our favourite times of year. Not just because the season is so cozy and enchanting, but also because the flavours, aka gingerbread. Not too sweet, packed with comforting seasonings, and just the right amount of spice - gingerbread is truly the perfect holiday flavour.
These gingerbread scones with maple glaze are both fluffy and flaky, with just the right amount of crunch thanks to the course sugar topping. We love making scones for the holidays. They’re super easy to make utilizing minimal ingredients and they can come together in one big bowl. We promise these will be a new holiday favourite.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
Quick and easy to make.
Make ahead and bake from frozen for an easy morning treat.
Flaky layers packed with holiday flavour
Top tips for making vegan gingerbread scones:
Keep it cold. The key to flaky layers is cold butter. This dough, like pie dough, should still have small chunks of butter throughout it. Those layers of butter are what will steam up and cause the perfectly flaky layers you cannot get enough of.
Don’t over mix the dough. Scones should be tender and flaky, if you overwork the dough too much it will become chewy and not very enjoyable. For the perfect scones all you need to do is fold and mix until there is no more dry flour. Then fold into quarters ones last time to create yummy butter-y layers.
Handle minimally. The warmth from your hands is enough to melt the butter. So while you need to handle this dough a little bit, be very careful not to handle it too much or you will lose all those delicious layers.
Cut and stack for the best layers. We have made a lot of scones in the last few years and have learned a lot of techniques along the way. One of which is when the dough comes together cut in half and stack on top of one another, press into a disc and repeat 2-3 more times to create dozens of layers of dough and vegan butter to create the flakiest scone ever.
Freeze before baking. For the best results and the least amount of butter lost in the baking process, we like the freeze our scones before we bake them. This keeps the butter from melting before it can create the layers creating a flakier, taller scone.
How to make gingerbread scones:
Prep Time: 25 Min | Chill Time: 30 Min | Bake Time: 20 Min | Total Time: 1 Hr 15 Min
Makes: 8 scones
Ingredients
Gingerbread Scones
180 mL (3/4 cup) soy milk
15 mL (1 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
7 g (1 tbsp) ground flaxseed
60 mL (1/4 cup) fancy molasses
360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
12 g (1 tbsp) baking powder
3 g (1/2 tsp) baking soda
10 g (2 tbsp) ginger powder
3 g (1 tsp) cinnamon
1 g (1/2 tsp) cloves
pinch salt
170 g (3/4 cup) cold vegan butter
30 mL (2 tbsp) maple syrup
5 mL (1 tsp) vanilla extract
Optional Sugar Topping
15 mL (1 tbsp) non-dairy milk
15 mL (1 tbsp) maple syrup
25 g (2 tbsp) coarse sugar
Maple Glaze
240 g (2 cups) icing sugar
1 tsp cardamom
30 mL (2 tbsp) soy milk
5 mL (1 tsp) maple extract
Instructions
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a bowl combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Combine soy milk mixture with ground flaxseed and molasses. Set aside.
To a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix until combined.
Grate cold butter into the flour mixture and toss until the flour is coating all the butter pieces. Add soy milk mixture, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and fold until it forms a dough. Press dough into a disk and cut into 8 even triangles. Place on a lined baking sheet.
Set in the freezer for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 400F and remove the scones from the freezer.
If using the optional sugar topping, combine maple syrup and non-dairy milk and brush onto the top of the scones. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 19-22 minutes or until golden.
While the scones bake make the maple glaze by combining icing sugar, cardamom, soy milk, and maple extract until smooth.
When the scones are finished baking allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before drizzling with maple glaze.
Ingredient Notes
Non-Dairy Milk – We use soy milk for most of our recipes due to its neutral taste. But you can use any non-dairy milk you have available.
Apple Cider Vinegar – The apple cider vinegar added to non-dairy milk creates a vegan substitute for buttermilk – this can be substituted for lemon juice.
Flaxseeds – When ground flaxseeds are added to liquid, they begin absorbing it, creating a gelatinous egg-like consistency. Adding flaxseeds to this recipe adds more structure and stability to the recipe.
Fancy Molasses – Sweeter than blackstrap molasses, lending better to baked goods. We recommend fancy molasses for this recipe which is available at nearly all grocery stores in the baking section.
All-Purpose Flour – This recipe uses unbleached all-purpose flour, any brand should work.
Vegan Butter – The Becel Plant Based Sticks are used for this recipe, which we recommend as every vegan butter is different and can alter the final results. You can use another brand that you’re used to but it may alter the final scone texture.
Maple Syrup – We love maple syrup in our recipes, but you can use any liquid sweetener.