How to Decorate Your Own Gingerbread Scones
Just about every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas involves baking, right? Honestly, any Saturday of the year, I’m probably making biscuits or scones, but during the holidays? You better believe I’ve got gingerbread scones going.
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Why would you skip past gingerbread scones? They’re fluffy, spicy, sweet, and warming. Plus, they smell better than any holiday candle or essential oil blend out there. If you’re not already like, “Yes! I need that!” then let’s dig more into how easy they are to make.
Don’t Be Intimidated by Gingerbread Scones
I think people worry about scones because they associate them with fancy British tea parties and assume the recipe is really fussy. That’s not true.
Think of them like biscuits that pack a lot more flavor (especially these gingerbread ones… seriously, WOW!). It’s just a little flour with leaveners, butter, milk, and add-ins.
You don’t have to mix them that much, in fact, you shouldn’t. They don’t take a lot of effort to form, and they bake up really easily. And with that very little effort, they look pretty in their own right.
Of course, I’ll show you how to make them look like something sold at a bakery, too. But I’m also going to explain how to make these the easiest way possible so you can save your time for sitting on the couch watching Hallmark holiday movies.
Option #1 Simply Dust on Sugar
My favorite way to dress a batch of scones regardless of flavor is to brush them with a little egg white or milk and sprinkle on turbinado sugar.
Turbinado sugar has large crystals and a light brown color from the molasses still present in the grains. It gives muffins and scones a bakery-style finish that looks sparkly and rustic and gives your cakey treats a bit of crunch for texture.
Option #2 Get Creative with Icing
Because this is a holiday recipe, and specifically a gingerbread recipe, I felt like there was room here to really decorate these beauties for fun. This will be especially enjoyable if you’ve got kids who love to decorate cookies.
Start with your standard royal icing recipe, and either leave it white or make a couple of batches in green and red. Have fun piping snowflakes, candy cane stripes, or full-on designs on your scones.
Here’s a great recipe for royal icing from Alton Brown.
Option #3 An Elegant Drizzle and Toppings
For an elegant option, you could even drizzle a bit of icing or glaze over your scones and decorate with a few bits of crystallized ginger. We learned how to make that for our gingerbread cake in a previous post, or you can buy it at the store.
This is similar to how Starbucks dresses their gingerbread pound cake, and I think it’s a striking but simple way to show off for the holidays.
Can You Make Gingerbread Scones Healthier?
I know a lot of my friends chose to go the vegan route in 2020, and for good reason. I also know a lot of my friends are diabetic and need to make healthier choices. So, if you’re sitting there having read all the way to this point, let me assure you, there are healthier ways to enjoy these scones.
I’ve already done a little here by using whole wheat flour and ground flax. This is better for your health in that it increases the fiber content. When paired with the cinnamon and ginger, these are actually good for your gut.
I’ve also reduced the fat a bit by using light butter, but if you want to, you can use full fat, or see the notes below about going dairy-free.
Replacing the Dairy
Now, the butter and milk can be swapped very easily for your favorite vegan substitutes. Cold coconut oil and vegan butter are great. Oat milk is probably the best milk alternative.
Reducing the Sugar in Gingerbread Scones
But let’s talk about sugar. For the brown sugar, you can use a substitute like Sukrin Gold that is natural and won’t cause a blood sugar spike. If you’re concerned about the molasses, you should know that it may not cause blood sugar spikes like refined sugar.
Be careful, of course. You may also want to use blackstrap molasses specifically because it has higher nutrient volume and that may help reduce the effect on your blood sugar.
And, of course, don’t top them with anything you’re not comfortable with.
Tools That Make Decorating Gingerbread Scones More Fun
Before I send you on your way, here are a couple tools I use to make gingerbread scones and decorate them up all pretty for the holidays.
So, comment below and let me know when and how you’re serving up your gingerbread scones! If you make up real cute, please tag me in the pictures so I can see (Instagram: @ellejayathome). And don’t forget to subscribe for weekly updates and a really cute meal planning worksheet!
Gingerbread Scones
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup ground flax meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 4 Tbsp light unsalted butter frozen and grated
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup 1% milk
- 1/4 cup molasses
- **optional: 1 Tbsp egg white and 1 Tbsp turbinado sugar for finishing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
- Combine the dry ingredients first: flour, flax, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and sugar.
- Sprinkle in the grated frozen butter. Toss to coat the bits of butter in the dry mix, and then use your fingers to work the butter into the dry mix until it is a little crumbly, but there are still largish chunks of butter.
- Whisk together the wet team in a separate bowl (I used a glass measuring cup): molasses, milk, and egg.
- Use your fingers to create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet mixture into the hole.
- Gently fold it together to create a sticky dough using as few motions as possible.
- Once it comes together, dump it out onto a floured surface. Work it into a ball, and then roll it out to 1-inch thick circle.
- Cut it into 8 wedges.
- Place the wedges separately onto a lined baking sheet.
- If you want to make them fancy, brush the tops with egg white and sprinkle with a pinch of turbinado sugar
- Bake at 450°F for 12-15 minutes.
- Allow them to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Cool completely if decorating with icing or before moving them to an airtight storage container to save for later.
