Maple and oat scones, gluten free

I am loving Stateside inspired baking at the moment, albeit this one's with a Canadian twist.

This recipe came in handy when our plumber came over last Sunday to help fix a broken shower. With no biscuits in the cupboard and a need to reward his gallantry, I set about making some scones.

The mix may seem a bit random as we didn't have enough sugar and milk, yet the substitutions - maple syrup and yoghurt, gave a wonderful, earthy balance of flavour. These gluten free versions don't rise quite as well as a standard flour scone either, but they taste just as good straight out of the oven with a sliver of cold butter. Even better, as we discovered, with some Yorkshire forced rhubarb compote.

Either way they won't last you long.

Maple and oat scones
(adapted from a Barefoot Contessa idea).

8oz self raising flour (gluten free here but you can use normal SR flour)
2oz cold salted butter, cubed
1 1/2oz sugar
3tbsp maple syrup
3tbsp goats milk yoghurt (you can use any thick yoghurt)
2tbsp rolled oats

Method:
1. Turn your oven on at about 180 degrees. In a large bowl, rub the flour, sugar, oats and butter together with your fingertips until you have a fine sandy mixture.
2. With a table knife, work in the liquid (in this case the yoghurt and maple syrup) until you have a dough that you can work with, which starts to form a ball as you work it. The key is not to overwork with your hands so use the knife as much as you can.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 4-5cm high, then cut out scone shapes with a fluted round cutter. You could tear with your hand or cut triangle shapes but I find the dough bakes more evenly this way.
4. You can glaze the top of each scone with a beaten egg mix, milk or just water. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-20 minutes depending on cutter size. The scones are done when they turn pale golden brown