The truth behind this recipe is that I had an overripe banana, (a black one to be exact) that I didn’t want to throw away because I hate wasting food. The result was that I came up with a recipe for lighter banana walnut scones that have a fraction of the fat but a ton of flavor. As a bonus, I made them miniature so they came out tiny, adorable, and the perfect little treat without the guilt.
Makes about 17 mini 2 inch round scones
Lighter Banana Walnut Scones
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup oat flour
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ stick (1/4 cup) cold salted butter
- 1 tbs milk
- 1 tbs nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 super ripe banana
- 1 egg
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, plus more for garnishing
Glaze (not light, but you only use a small amount on each scone)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and start with the dry ingredients. Combine flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl until well combined. Next, grate your butter. Instead of having to cut up the butter and have it stick to your knife, just take your cold butter from the fridge and grate it on a regular old box grater. I think it’s so much easier and faster, and it seems to actually incorporate into the dry ingredients better. I often use a food professor to make scones, but these lighter banana walnut scones are so simple that I decided to do it all by hand. Cut the butter into the flour mixture by hand using a pastry cutter until it is strewn throughout the mixture in pea size pieces. Once the butter is distributed throughout the dry ingredients, add in the walnuts and mix to combine.
Next focus on the wet ingredients. Blend the milk, yogurt, vanilla, banana, and egg in a blender until smooth. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and fold them together until the dry ingredients are just moistened and everything is combined.
Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure all ingredients are combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1 inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 2-inch rounds with a plain or scalloped edge cutter (I used the scalloped edge) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.
NOTE: If you aren’t going to bake them right away or have to bake one cookie sheet of them at a time, put the rolled out and cut scones on a cookie sheet in the fridge. This way they will be ready to bake when you’re ready, and the butter will stay cold, creating a flaky scone.
Bake the lighter banana walnut scones at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes until the tops are slightly gold and the scones are cooked through. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before you glaze them.
To make the glaze, mix the egg white and vanilla until frothy, then add the powdered sugar. Whisk to combine so you get all of the lumps out and end up with a smooth glaze. Note*** I only used about half this glaze across all of the scones, but there’s no easy way to divide an egg white. You could always freeze the rest of the glaze and thaw to use in another recipe.
Once the scones have cooled, drizzle each one with about a teaspoon of glaze and additional chopped walnuts for garnish. If you are going to transport these or serve them, I recommend waiting a couple of hours until the glaze has set so they aren’t sticky. Once the glaze has set, you can enjoy these lighter banana walnut scones at a party, for breakfast or as a less indulgent sweet treat.