Spice up your holiday baking with these dairy-free and egg-free spiced apple scones baked with an oat crisp and drizzled with a cinnamon glaze! The chewy and flakey buttery layers plus the variety of textures present in the scone is sure to impress vegans and non vegans alike.
There is no better time to bake these scones than during the holiday season! These scones include all the familiar and comforting holiday spices, and would definitely be a nice addition to baked gift boxes. If you need an excuse to have dessert for breakfast, these scones are perfect for that as well. 🙂
Scroll down to see detailed, step-by-step images as well as a Scone Troubleshooting form and a a list of FAQs!
Ingredients
For the dry ingredients, we have all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice).
Other ingredients include non dairy milk (any kind, I like to use soy or cashew for baking), vegan butter, and diced apple. You can use any variety of apple, but I like to use ambrosia or fuji because of their bright red colour and crisp/juicy texture.
The scones will be baked with an oat crisp topping which is made with brown sugar, rolled oats (can also use quick oats), all purpose flour, and softened vegan butter.
The scones will be topped with a cinnamon glaze made with confectioners sugar (or icing sugar), maple syrup, and ground cinnamon.
How to make the scones
Start by making the oat crisp topping, which will be put on the unbaked scones and will melt into a sweet and crispy layer when baked. The topping is made by combining all purpose flour, brown sugar, rolled or quick oats, flour, and softened vegan butter.
To make the scones, start by whisking together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and spices) in a large mixing bowl. By whisking, you are removing any clumps of flour.
Add your cubed cold vegan butter to the dry mixture and use a pastry blender, two forks, or two dinner knives to cut/mix the butter with the dry ingredients. The butter should be cut up into small pea-sized chunks and the texture should be crumbly. This process is similarly used to make pastry dough (for pie crust), except cold water is added at the next step instead of (non dairy) milk, which is what we will be using to make scones.
To bring the dough together, gradually add cold non dairy milk such as soy or almond milk, and mix everything together using a fork.
With the dough barely mixed, add your finely diced apples and mix with a fork until the apples are more or less evenly distributed in the dough.
*An important thing to note is that the amount of milk you add may vary depending on how humid your environment is and how much moisture the apples add. If you feel that your dough is very dry, add extra tsps of non dairy milk at a time until a workable, kneadable texture is reached
Before proceeding, prepare a clean, floured surface such as a kitchen counter, a large wooden board, or pastry mat. Thoroughly wash, dry, and flour your hands.
Knead the loose dough inside the mixing bowl until you can pick it up, and transfer to the floured surface. Divide the dough into two and knead each dough into disks, about 4cm thick. Be sure not to over knead, as we want to maintain the air pockets and layers of the scones.
Using a pairing knife, dinner knife, or a pastry knife, cut each dough disk into 4 even pieces. You may need to dust flour on your knife to prevent it from sticking to the dough.
Transfer the scones onto a large baking tray lined with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat) and space them out so there is at least 3cm of space between each scone.
Brush/ drizzle the tops of each scone with non dairy milk, and sprinkle on a layer of the oat crisp topping. Use your hands to gently secure the crispy topping and don’t worry if some crumbs get on the baking tray (I won’t judge if you eat the yummy crumbs after they’re baked).
Bake the scones on the middle-top rack of the oven at 400ºF for 15-17mins, or until the crispy oat topping is melted and golden.
While the scones are baking, make the cinnamon glaze by vigorously whisking together icing sugar, ground cinnamon, and pure maple syrup. Refrigerate the glaze and bring it back to room temperature 10mins before using.
Once the scones are baked and cooled completely, drizzle on the glaze, et voila! See notes at the bottom of the recipe card for storage and reheating instructions.
Scone Troubleshooting
Don’t be afraid to use a generous amount of flour to work the dough! Just make sure not to add too much flour and try to incorporate the flour earlier on so you don’t end up over kneading the dough.
Add 1 tsp of cold non dairy milk at a time while mixing the loose dough and test the texture of the dough by feeling a small chunk with your fingers to see if it holds together.
One reason why your scones might’ve spread when baked is that your butter might not have been cold enough. When baked, the cold butter chunks in the dough should melt and form layers in the scone, but if the butter is already softened/melted, then the scone will not rise vertically.
A common cause for dense scones (or pastries in general) is the over-kneading of the dough. You only want to knead the dough to a point when it is just compact enough to hold its shape. The more volume the dough has, the fluffier it will be when baked!
The obvious reason would be that the scones are underbaked. However, it is possible that the outside of your scones are already browned. This has happened to me before, and I noticed that it depends on the brand of vegan butter that you use. If possible, try using a good quality vegan butter brand.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have not tried using whole wheat flour, but if you do, you will need to add more non dairy milk and the texture of the scones may turn out slightly different. If you try this recipe with whole wheat flour, do let me know in the comments!
The scones itself without the oat crisp topping and the cinnamon glaze is not very sweet. You can adjust the sweetness level by using sweetened/unsweetened non dairy milk, by choosing certain types of apples, and by adjusting how much oat crisp topping and cinnamon glaze you put on the scone. You will not be able to make the scones without the granulated sugar, as this will negatively affect the texture of the scones (spoken from experience… I once made a batch of scones and accidentally forgot to add sugar).
Absolutely you can! Just make sure to still brush the tops of each scone with non dairy milk before baking, as this will allow the scones to brown nicely.
Have a questions about this recipe? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me a DM on Instagram! I’d love to help you out. 🙂
Looking for more vegan scone recipes?
Vegan Apple Crisp Scones
Ingredients
Apple Spiced Scones
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegan butter, cold and cubed
- ½ cup cold non dairy milk, plus more for brushing
- 1 medium apple, finely diced
Oat Crisp Topping
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp rolled or quick oats
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp vegan butter, softened
Cinnamon Glaze
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 tsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF, set oven racks to the middle and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground allspice, ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- Using 2 forks, 2 dinner knives, or a pastry cutter, combine the cold vegan butter and the dry mix. The texture should resemble coarse oatmeal or little peas (see picture).½ cup vegan butter
- Gradually add the non dairy milk to the butter and dry mix. Using a fork, mix the dough until just combined.½ cup cold non dairy milk
- Carefully fold in the diced apples into the loose dough using a fork. Knead the dough inside the mixing until you can pick it up with two hands.1 medium apple, finely diced
- Generously flour a clean surface (such as a kitchen counter, pastry mat, or large wooden board). Transfer the dough onto the floured surface and divide the dough into two ~4cm thick disks. Be sure not to over knead!
- Use a lightly floured knife to cut each dough disk in 4 to make a total of 8 scones.
- Transfer the scones onto the lined baking tray, leaving about 3cm of space between each scone. Brush each scone with non dairy milk (if you don't have a pastry brush, use a small teaspoon)
- To make the crisp topping, combine all the ingredients using a fork or crumble with your hands.¼ cup brown sugar, 3 tbsp rolled or quick oats, pinch of salt, 1 tbsp vegan butter, softened
- Top each scone with the crisp topping and use your hands to gently secure the toppings onto the surface of the scones.
- Bake the scones for 15-17mins, or until the scones are golden in colour. Allow the scones to cool in the tray for 5mins before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before adding the glaze.
- To make the cinnamon glaze, whisk together all the ingredients until smooth.¼ cup icing sugar, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 4 tsp maple syrup
- Once the scones are cooled completely, drizzle on cinnamon glaze using a small spoon. Allow the glaze to harden if desired.
Notes
Storage instructions:
- once the drizzle on the scones is hardened, seal the scones in a zip lock bag and store them in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- To freeze the scones, wrap each scone with plastic wrap, store the scones in a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheating instructions:
- To heat up a refrigerated scone: microwave on high for 20-25 seconds OR bake the scones at 350ºF for 5-8mins
- To heat up a frozen scone: defrost the scones in the microwave for 30-35 seconds. Optionally, you can proceed to bake them at 350ºF for 5mins to make the scones crispier!
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