Lemon Pecan Mini-Scones

We're having a lazy day here today. I didn't get good sleep this week (time to reevaluate the coffee consumption again) so last night I kicked all of the animals out of bed and left the alarm turned off. When I finally rolled out of bed around 10 am, I decided it was a good day for a "big breakfast".

I much prefer savory food for breakfast. I'll take a plate of bacon and eggs over pancakes any day, but I admit that I do enjoy a nice pastry with a cup of coffee on occasion. In fact, my absolute favorite way to spend Sunday morning is to hit my local farmers market and while there, indulge in a cup of Zeke's coffee and a pastry from Stone Hearth bakery.

So this morning I decided I'd test out a new paleo muffin or scone recipe to have alongside my bacon and eggs. I searched around online a bit, but wasn't finding quite the inspiration I wanted. Since the lemon pecan scone is my most frequent choice at the market I decided to try my hand at making a paleo version of those. I chose this recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones from Elana's Pantry to work from and made some modifications. Here's my recipe:

Paleo Lemon Pecan Mini-Scones

2 c blanched almond flour (I used Honeyville)
1/4 t kosher salt
1 t baking soda

1/2 c chopped pecans

1 egg
2 T honey
2 t lemon zest
1 t lemon juice

I combined the almond flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, mixed well, then add the chopped pecans and mixed to distribute.
In a smaller bowl, I combined egg, honey, lemon zest, and lemon juice and whisked well to incorporate the honey. The wet ingredients went into the dry and I kneaded the dough until everything was mixed well.
From there I followed her instructions to make the dough into scones and loaded them onto my parchment lined baking sheet:

I baked them for about 8 minutes and then let them sit in the oven with the door open and the oven turned off for another 5 minutes and then moved them to a rack to cool:

The resulting scone was pretty satisfying. I don't like my scones to be super dry and crumbly, nor do I want my scones to have the texture of a muffin like the "scones" at Starbucks do (if I wanted a muffin texture, I'd have a muffin!) and these seemed to really hit the mark somewhere in between.

I did have a non-paleo friend taste test them for me as well and he felt they were good and not obviously paleo, although he agreed that the lemon flavor was too subtle. Next time I will use a full tablespoon of lemon zest and I may also sprinkle some raw sugar on top before baking (I know, the horror, actual sugar! Hey, these are meant to be an occasional treat). I am also going to try baking them for a slightly longer time at 350 rather than the shorter time at 375 as I felt the edges got dark too quickly. All in all though, I would call these a success!