Almond Flour Carrot Cake Scones are a gluten free, low-carb breakfast or snack rich in heart-healthy fats. Incredibly moist and decadently delicious, these scones are the perfect addition to any brunch or dessert spread. 
Gluten Free Carrot Cake Scones
As spring approaches, these nutrient-rich scones are a must on your baking list. Brimming with warm spices and speckled with fresh, grated carrots, they offer the essence of carrot cake in a heart-healthy pastry.
These scones are also super easy to make. The idea of homemade scones seems to intimidate most, however if I can pull them off, anyone can.
They may even be simpler than baking a carrot cake (and take HALF the time). Plus, they’re WAY lower in sugar than most scones/breakfast pastries.
The texture of these scones is quite different than your average. I find most scones to be too dry unless their dunked in hot coffee or tea. The almond flour lends a buttery texture, making them supremely moist and almost a cross between a scone and a muffin.
In true carrot cake fashion, they’re also studded with walnuts, coconut flakes, plus some fresh orange zest.
The glaze is optional (but highly recommended!). The scones themselves are subtly sweet, so if you prefer your breakfast pastries on the sweeter side, you’ll want the citrus glaze.
Plus, it’s only two ingredients (powdered sugar and fresh orange juice), so why the heck not.
How To Make Almond Flour Carrot Cake Scones:
Firstly, let me provide you with a couple tips to make the BEST homemade scones:
- Scones, like biscuits, are most tender when handled minimally. So, have your ingredients ready and use a soft touch when mixing and patting the dough.
- The dough will still be sticky after mixing, but refrain from adding more flour, as any extra could dry them out. Even though we’re working with a gluten free flour here, and you don’t have to worry about the dough becoming gummy from overworked gluten, you still want to achieve as light a crumb as possible.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
- Combine your wet ingredients: egg, maple syrup, carrots, and vanilla in a small bowl; whisk to combine.
- Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl: almond flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, spices, and salt; mix well.
- Add the coconut oil and combine using a pastry cutter (or your hands) until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients and combine with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Next, fold in walnuts.
- Work the dough into a ball with floured hands and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Press into a neat 8-10″ disc and cut into 8 equal wedges with a sharp knife. Sprinkle turbinado sugar overtop, if desired.
- Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before cutting through into 8 wedges. Lastly, prepare glaze by gradually whisking orange juice into powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle glaze over scones right before serving.
Instead of wedges, you can also scoop and drop the dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet for easier prep and more crispy browned edges. Store any leftover scones in an airtight container for three to five days, or freeze up to one month.
What is the Difference Between Almond Flour and Almond Meal?
They’re quite similar, and some brands may even label them interchangeably, however there are slight differences between the two.
- While they are both made from ground almonds, almond flour is typically made from blanched almonds that are pulverized more finely.
- Almond meal has a grittier texture (similar to cornmeal) and generally requires more structure and binding agents for optimal leavening.
I generally find that almond flour works best for gluten free breads, muffins, cakes, and pancakes.
Enjoy these easy homemade scones for brunch, a mid-morning snack, or even dessert with tea or coffee. Easter and Mother’s Day approved!
If you give these almond flour scones a try, take a pic and tag #dishingouthealth on Instagram so I can see your beautiful creations. Also, follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for the latest recipe updates!
Other Gluten Free Breakfast Recipes:
Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Coconut Chia Pudding with Blueberry Compote
Strawberries and Cream Energy Balls
Almond Flour Carrot Cake Scones
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup finely grated carrots
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg or allspice
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/3 cup solid coconut oil (at room temperature)
- 3 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts, plus more for garnish
- 1 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice + 1 tsp. grated orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Place egg, maple syrup, carrots, and vanilla in a small bowl; whisk to combine.
- In a larger bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flakes, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; mix well. Add the coconut oil and combine using a pastry cutter (or your hands) until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Drizzle egg mixture over the flour mixture and combine with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Fold in walnuts. (Dough will be a little wet/sticky.) Work the dough into a ball with floured hands and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Press into a neat 8″ disc and cut into 8 equal wedges with a sharp knife. Sprinkle turbinado sugar overtop.
- Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before cutting through into 8 wedges.
- Prepare glaze by gradually whisking orange juice into powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. (if you need to thin it out more, add more orange juice in 1 tsp. increments.) Stir in orange zest.Drizzle glaze over scones right before serving. Garnish with extra finely chopped walnuts, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Made your healthy carrot 🥕 cake scones today to honor my mom on our 1st Easter without her bc I know she would have just loved them! Ty for being such a light and sharing your special AND delicious recipes with us! These are moist, tender, healthy, and sooooo good! Not heavy at all! Ty, Jamie! You’re a gem 💜💕
Hi Can I freeze the scones prior to baking ?
Thank you
These were even better than expected! I am a HUGE carrot cake fan and hadn’t made scones in a while so the combination of the two was desirable for me. These were moist and perfectly sweet. I couldn’t just eat 1! Thanks for the delicious recipe 🙂
These were absolutely delicious. Loved the crumb texture, level of sweetness. Forgot the chopped nuts in the dough so I sprinkled them on top of the drizzle. Made me want seconds!
Hi Terry–I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review!
This were delicious! I made them vegan by subbing in a flax egg and used cold vegan butter which worked perfectly! My family loved them and said they tasted like fall fair donuts! Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
Hi Molly–I’m so glad you enjoyed these! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review!
Could I sub butter for the coconut oil?
Yes butter should work fine! Just make sure it’s room temperature.
Have made these scones several times. They are excellent! I am allergic to gluten & dairy and sensitive to sugar & yeast. I am so thankful to folks like you who devlop delicious recipes without those ingredients, easy to make (I don’t like to bake), and use common products we keep on hand. I also appreciate these scones freeze nicely.
Hi Joy–I’m so glad you enjoy them! I’m not a huge baker either, and enjoy how simple these are. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
I have made these lovely scones several times now but today I wanted to have little muffins. And so I added about 1/3 cup of nut milk to make them a little moister and I much say that they turned out lovely!
I have made this recipe many times and I’m always amazed at how good these turn out. The extra spices really shine and make some complex flavors. I am gluten-free and dairy free and I make these for all of my gluten eating friends and they constantly request them.
Wow! This was such a good tip. The muffins were delicious!
My favorite recipe of hers! All are good (lasagna soup, brown butter pumpkin tahini bars, the list goes on) but this one is my favorite! A must make!
Hi there! I’m excited to try these for a nice breakfast change! I have to watch how much coconut oil I consume due to ulcerative colitis. Could I suv avocado oil for the coconut oil?
I was out of coconut oil, subbed canola oil. Came out perfect, delicious.
Hi Gail, I’m so glad to hear! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Could I use the same amount of whole wheat flour/unbleached all purpose flour in place of almond flour?
Hi Nancy, unfortunately whole wheat and all-purpose flour don’t work well in this recipe. The extra fat from the almond flour is what helps moisten them with little added oil.
Just made these with Trader Joe’s almond flour. I used an egg for 1/4 cup of the water, and added xanthan gum. I made two smaller circles and baked them for 25 minutes in a 325 degree convention oven. They are tender and not dry. I will certainly make these again, and use more almond extract and coconut, because the flavors were mild, imho.
I have made these about five or six times now, and all I have to say is that these are TOP NOTCH. I love carrot cake anything, and this recipe lets me have it for breakfast, mostly guilt free, AND lets me sneak some veggies into my kids, too!
A couple of notes: the first time I made these, I forgot the coconut oil, and they came out just fine, so I’ve omitted it ever since… but eventually I’ll get around to trying them with it. Secondly, I’ve tried them with and without the glaze, and I definitely recommend taking that extra little time to put it on, because it fills out the other flavors so much! My favorite substitution is swapping the nuts for raisins, but sometimes I use them both. Great job on this recipe!!
This recipe looks amazing! I bought all the ingredients to make for a brunch tomorrow. Do you think if I prepared them tonight, but waited to bake until morning they would turn out? I would just keep dough in fridge overnight…
Hi Nina,
Sorry for the late reply!! I think the dough would hold up fine! I hope you enjoy them.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I substituted fresh ginger and added two drops of Stevia and chopped organic dates. I love the flavor burst! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get them not to crumble after baking. I will try again though for sure!
Love those additions you made! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Have you frozen these?
If so, how were they?
Made these this morning for a neighborly visit. They are good, but we felt they need a bit more sweetness. I will include 1/4 cup brown sugar next time. All-in-all this recipe is a keeper, and I thank you for sharing it!
What can I substitute for the coconut? Not fond of flaked coconut.
Hi Mary,
You can either leave out the flaked coconut or sub in golden raisins. Enjoy!
Verdict: scrumptious!! I even forgot to add the coconut oil, and they still came out moist, tender, and very flavorful! I will confess to omitting the walnuts and adding raisins instead, because I absolutely love raisins in my carrot cake, and I also added a dash of cloves and some nutmeg, because I like my carrot cake spicy. I will definitely be making these again!
Hi! I am going to try these this morning, because I love all things carrot cake ^_^ but I had a question. I know you’re not likely to answer before I make them, but I’d still like to know—in a gluten free dough like this one, why should it matter if you overwork it? Usually, in a baked good with gluten, overworking produces a tough finished product because of the overproduction of gluten. But that’s not the case here. So I’m curious. 🙂
Hi Jamie, this recipe looks Felisha. I am on a dairy, grain and sugar free cleanse. What can I use instead of the eggs?
Thank
Hi Janine—I have not made these without eggs and I honestly don’t think they’d do well without the structural integrity/binding agent of the eggs. I’m sorry!!
Made them so easy can’t wait to taste! But mine didn’t rise much is that how they are.
Hi, Baskuta! Hmm… were your leavening agents within the suggested use date? I hope they still turned out delish despite not rising as much!
Thanks for the suggestion! Yes it’s still within usage date. They were delicious! Shared the recipe with my friends. They all loved it. I didn’t have coconut oil. Made with olive oil. Going to try tomorrow with coconut oil.
Oh I’m so happy to hear that!! Thank you for coming back and leaving a review. Cheers!
This is a awesome treat. I substituted the ginger for nutmeg and cinnamon for pumpkin spices.
Also, no walnuts so I used what I had which was
Almonds. I added 1/3 cup brown sugar and it turned out great. Without the 1/3 cup of brown sugar it was slightly unsweetened. We enjoyed!
Thanks,Yah Bless!
Can I substitute brown sugar for the maple syrup in the recipe?
Hi Rebecca, I haven’t tried using brown sugar myself, but I’d imagine it would work fine.
What can I substitute for the coconut oil? Butter? Or canola oil?
Hi Barbara, canola oil will work just fine!
If I dont add the coconut should I just add more almond flour?
Hi Nicole! You can just leave the coconut out. No need to swap in more almond flour. Enjoy!
These are delish, I made them today to send with my daughter for the weekend because one of her friends is gluten intolerant. This is my first try using almond flour, they turned out wonderfully, very moist and tasty. Will definitely make them again.
Thank you,
Michelle
Hi Michelle, I’m so happy to hear this!! Thank you for taking the time to leave a note. Cheers!
Are the walnuts just for flavor/texture? I’m allergic and wondering if they can just be omitted? The recipe looks delish!
Hi Rachele, you can totally leave them out or sub them for pecans. They’re just for a texture/flavor boost.
The instruction to cut the disk into 8 wedges is repeated twice. Are you supposed to cut the wedges before baking, after baking, or both?
I think when she says cut through the second time, it’s just to separate them.
I made them last night and because I do not eat sugar, maple sirop, honey or any substitute …. I added 1 cup of carrots instead of 1/3. …I used toasted coconut and more walnuts. They are so yummy.. . Thank you
I can’t eat egg whites… Do you think just an egg yolk will work?
HI Shawna,
I can’t say for certain since I haven’t tried that route, but I would probably use 2 egg yolks in place of the 1 whole egg., and then cut down the coconut oil to 1/4 cup. I hope they turn out!
I love scones. Always looking for a healthy. Low carb recipe. Thank you. I can enjoy scones again.
That’s wonderful, Chrislyn! I hope you enjoy these!