Sprouted Spelt Scones

More on Sprouted Flours... For breakfast this morning, my husband asked for scones. Little does he know, I've converted the not so good for you ingredients in my scones to ones that are better for the body. Starting with replacing all purpose flour with sprouted spelt flour.

You may be wondering, Spelt Flour? What is that? Well, Spelt is a very old grain that was used years ago before wheat became popular. It does have some gluten, but it's gluten breaks down easier than wheat and thus requires less kneading than regular wheat recipes. Spelt also has a nutty flavor and more protein than standard flour. I have found that it is a heavier grain and thus some substitutions don't work as well, but for scones, which are a heavier, crumbly pastry, I've found spelt works beautifully. 

Then, I prefer to use sprouted flours over standard flours. The sprouting allows the seeds to go to a sprout, i.e. starchy grain to a vegetable. This provides a different type of conversion in the body when digesting. Think, which is healthier for the body to process, a potato or a tomato? (yeah, I know a tomato is actually a fruit, but you get the picture...)

Now, for the recipe:

Ingredients
2 c sprouted spelt flour
3 TB coconut sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c butter
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 TB olive oil
2/3 c cranberries
2 tsp milk
1 TB xylitol

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl, stir well. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yogurt, vanilla, egg and olive oil blending to wet dry ingredients. Stir in the cranberries.

Knead dough a few times on a lightly floured surface (I usually keep it in the bowl with a little flour to save on dishes to wash later). Pat dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet to make an 8-inch circle. Brush the top with the milk and sprinkle the xylitol all over. Using a sharp knife, cut 8 wedges. Use the knife to separate the wedges slightly. (This will help the insides of the wedges to cook more evenly and not be raw.) Bake for 14 - 16 minutes or until lightly browned.

 Notice that even though I separated the wedges quite a bit, they puffed back up after baking. 

I also didn't mention why I chose to use coconut sugar and xylitol as opposed to brown sugar and standard white table sugar. Well, I made the switch in my kitchen about a year ago and use coconut sugar instead of brown and xylitol instead of white. They are a 1:1 substitute with more benefits than what is used in the mainstream. I'll go into depth at a later date on these alternate sweeteners.

Try them out and try out these scones. Again, as with all recipes, you can change out some of the ingredients to suit you and your family and personalize it to make it your own! Happy and healthy eating!