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These gluten-free potato & olive scones are a savoury bite-size full of chopped black olives and fresh rosemary.
Making savoury scones from mashed potatoes is a great idea to use up leftovers and most importantly, to create amazingly fluffy scones. The potato flavour is actually not that notable, but what does stand out in these scones are the salty black olives and fresh rosemary.
They are outstanding served warm with some lemon pepper butter to be enjoyed on their own or with soups, pasta, risotto or casseroles.
Make them fancy
Serve these at your next gathering, split in half with different spreads such as olive tapenade, cream cheese with smoked salmon or a strong slice of Brie or goat’s cheese.
Some tips for perfect potato and olive scones
- Let the mashed potatoes cool down before adding them to the scone mixture.
- Use good quality black olives and remember to remove the pits!
- If using tinned black olives, rinse the brine from the olives and dry well with paper towels to prevent streaking the scone dough with excess brine.
- Fresh rosemary works better than dried rosemary in this recipe. Alternatively, use fresh basil or parsley if you prefer these herbs, but it has to be fresh, not dried.
- As gluten is missing to give it that stretch and rise in doughs, adding baking powder and using gluten-free self-raising flour is essential for these scones to work. Follow this link to make my homemade gluten-free self-raising flour blend.
- Either psyllium husk powder or xanthan gum is needed to give that extra bind – a crucial ingredient used in most gluten-free baking recipes.
The Paprika Glaze
This glaze is a milk wash that has been seasoned with either smoked sweet paprika or cayenne pepper. Before baking, the glaze is brushed onto the tops of the scones and transformed into a rustic hue and peppery flavour once baked. If you rather leave out the paprika or cayenne, keep it plain with milk and salt. The colour will be a pale golden instead.
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Behind The Scenes
Taking photos for my recipes is my second best hobby after cooking. My photography is a work in progress and I am constantly trying to take different styles of photos with a variety of backgrounds.
I wanted to share this cute photo of my King Charles, Kia, who loves her food and was extremely intrigued by my photo studio and the scones (on this occasion taken directly on my clean wooden floor).
Gluten-Free Potato & Olive Scones
Equipment
- 5-cm round cookie cutter or scone cutter
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
- 250 g potatoes, peeled and chopped coarsely
- 125 ml milk
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
Gluten-Free Potato & Olive Scones
- 250 g store-bought or homemade self-raising flour blend
- 3 tbsp glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour
- 3 tsp psyllium husk powder, or
- 1½ tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- 30 g butter, chilled and cubed
- 3 tbsp black olives, pitted and chopped coarsely
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped finely
- 100 ml room temperature water used to cook the potatoes *
Scone Glaze
- ½ tbsp milk
- ⅛ tsp smoked sweet paprika or cayenne pepper
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
Lemon Pepper Butter
- 50 g butter, at room temperature
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
- a pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Mashed Potatoes
- Place the potatoes in a small pan and cover them with cold water.
- Partially cover the pan and cook the potatoes for 15 mins on medium-high heat.
- Pierce the potatoes to see if they are fully cooked and soft.
- Pour the required amount of potato water into a measuring jug. Set aside.
- Drain the rest of the water from the potatoes and return them to the pan. Lower the heat to medium and let the potatoes dry out briefly in the pan.
- Add the milk to the pan.
- Mash the potatoes and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside to cool down.
Scone Glaze
- Mix the milk with the paprika and salt in a tiny bowl. Set aside.
Gluten-Free Potato & Olive Scones
- Gather and measure all the ingredients to make the scone dough
- Preheat the oven to 210°C/415°F.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, sift the flours and mix in the psyllium husk powder and baking powder.
- Rub in the butter, using your fingertips until it has blended into the flour mixture.
- Add the olives and rosemary, and stir until just combined.
- Make a well in the middle and add the mashed potatoes and potato water.
- Using a fork, mix the mixture and then knead briefly using your hands until the dough comes together. Add more potato or regular water if the mixture seems too dry. If too wet, add more flour in small doses.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and knead for one minute, adding more flour if needed.
- Shape the dough into a round disc and using a lightly flour-dusted rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of 2 cm.
- Using a 5-cm round cookie or scone cutter, press into the dough and transfer the scone to the baking tray.
- Place them 2 cm apart and brush the tops with the glaze.
- Bake for 15 mins, or until golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom of the scone.
Lemon Pepper Butter
- Using a fork, in a small bowl, soften the butter and mix in the black pepper and lemon zest. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover and set aside at room temperature or chill if serving much later.
Notes
- Best eaten on the same day as baking
- Keeps for 3 days chilled
- Suitable to freeze
- Reheat by spraying the scones with some water, covering with foil and heating in a moderate oven for 5 mins or in an air fryer for 3 mins. Not suitable to reheat in the microwave.
- Lemon pepper butter keeps for one week chilled
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Hi Sandra,
Made these delicious scones and had it with chives and onion cream cheese and smoked salmon. They were a hit and eaten up so quickly😊. Thanks for all your delicious recipes that I enjoy making.
I must admit that I will not be adding the salmon the next time that I make it.
Thanks, Vathsala for your feedback. I am happy you liked the scones. Perhaps the salmon may be too overpowering for the scones and is best eaten on its own or with the cream cheese.
I had a craving for potatoe bread and ventured to make these savory scones.
I did use a GF multigrain blend as I made it recently and thought why not? Instead of fresh rosemary (didnt have at hand) I used 1.5 TBSP of green onion. Only the green parts. As always, I use goldent flax instead of xantham gum. I only had green olives at hand and I used that instead.
Everything else I followed your exact steps. They are delicious! As always. Your recipes yield great results for me. I do have pics. Although mine do not look artsy. They look very homemade rustic 🙂 heh..heh. But is the flavor I’m after. Very yummy. I am about to have “one” more with lactose free cream cheese.
Thank you Sandra! 🙂
Thanks again for your great feedback!! Interesting ingredient substitutes, glad they came out well!