Healthy Oatmeal Rosemary Scones

Rustic and luxurious all in the same bite! Healthy with whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and plain yogurt, these oatmeal rosemary scones shine with rosemary essence and sweet butter tenderness. Magical! Hard to resist!

Rosemary in pastry treats? Usually we think of rosemary for savory foods like meats or tomato sauce, right? Yet the herb’s distinct floral flavor–pungent, lemony, and lightly piney–infused into biscuit-like scones makes taste sense. After all, rosemary belongs to the mint family and we incorporate mint in desserts all the time.

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Fresh rosemary is essential! Dried rosemary is not at all the same flavor–make these scones only when you have fresh rosemary!

Chop your rosemary needles very finely. You want the pieces to be tiny, tiny, tiny minced pieces no bigger than the head of a pin. To impart the most flavor from the fresh rosemary, we stir those tiny bits into hot, almost-simmering whole milk yogurt, and let it steep while the infused yogurt chills down.

For sweet/tart sparkle, we mix in golden sultana raisins. Even folks who say they don’t like dark raisins in their oatmeal cookies will be delighted with the subtler fruity golden raisin flavor in oatmeal rosemary scones. Go for the gold. Find golden raisins in your grocery store alongside dark raisins and other dried fruits.

So good. After enjoying just the one, you’ll be baking oatmeal rosemary scones all the time, for breakfast, brunch, after school snacks, and even dessert!

Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and bake something delicious!

You don’t have to shape them square. Other scone shapes:

• Using a plastic food wrap-lined 9-inch cake pan as a mold, form the soft dough into a thicker round. Chill the round. When it’s cold, cut into 8 to 10 triangle-shaped wedges. (See recipe notes for more detail.)
• Another option is to dollop the dough into big cookie-like mounds and bake like they do in some bakeries.
• Prep ahead: Freeze the 3-inch squares and when you feel like scones, all you do is arrange the frozen squares on a baking sheet and bake!

About culinary and medicinal rosemary:

• Rosemary’s dark grey-green needles have long been esteemed as both a culinary and medicinal herb. Ancient Greeks and Romans considered it a symbol of fidelity and friendship. Brides to this day wear garlands of rosemary in their hair. Last year in Mexico, walking by a wedding party about to enter the church, I saw rosemary twigs in the men’s boutonnieres!
• Rosemary is brain food. Greek students tucked rosemary sprigs behind their ears during examinations. Rosemary more than symbolizes remembrance–scientists are now testing the woody herb’s potential benefits in the treatment of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

What other fun sweet things can you make with rosemary?

• Steep into rosemary simple syrup.
• Mix rosemary simple syrup into fun cocktails.
• Try rosemary simple syrup in lemonade. You might also like my basil lemonade recipe.
• Add minced rosemary to your favorite shortbread recipe for buttery “Italian” rosemary cookies.
• Chocolate complements fresh rosemary. Healthy rosemary chocolate truffles.
• Nothing sweet about this whole wheat rosemary focaccia— except it’s the easiest yeast bread ever!

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Coconut sugar vs. cane sugar? What is coconut sugar?

• You can use either sugar for oatmeal rosemary scones. Cane sugar makes a slightly sweeter scone.
• Coconut palm sugar is a healthier alternative to high fructose sweeteners and processed cane sugars. It is vegan, paleo-friendly, and low on the glycemic index.
• Coconut sugar has a soft caramel flavor, similar to light brown sugar.
• I usually buy coconut sugar in the bulk bins at natural food stores. You can also buy it online. (Affiliate link.)

*** This recipe for oatmeal rosemary scones is adapted from the one my cookbook, Chocolate Snowball: and Other Fabulous Pastries from Deer Valley Bakery. (Affiliate link.) At Deer Valley, we use half-and-half cream, and of course that’s an option.

***This is an revision with new photos of the rosemary oatmeal scones I posted here on the blog a few years back.

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*** Nutrition information is meant to be an estimate only. The numbers will vary based on the quantity consumed, brands used and substitutions that are made.

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5 from 1 vote

Healthy Oatmeal Rosemary Scones

These oatmeal rosemary scones are healthier with whole wheat flour, rolled oats, plain yogurt, and fruity golden raisins. Prep ahead: Make the dough, cut into squares, and freeze. When you’re ready, arrange on baking sheet and bake.

Prep Time1 hr

Cook Time20 mins

Chilling time:30 mins

Total Time1 hr 45 mins

Course: Brunch, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American, Vegetarian

Keyword: Oatmeal, Rosemary, Scones

Servings: 12 scones.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 cup whole milk yogurt, plain or vanilla, or plain
  kefir
• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar or organic cane sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 1 tablespoon coconut or organic cane sugar, optional

Instructions

• Heat the rosemary and the yogurt in a small saucepan over medium
  heat, stirring until very hot but not boiling. (It will thin out and curdle a
  bit—no worries.) Refrigerate until the yogurt is cold, about 30 minutes. (see
  notes)
• Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a large bowl, and stir in the rolled oats.
• Cut the butter into the dry ingredients, using your fingers, a pastry blender, or a stand mixer with paddle. Mix until the mixture resembles coarse meal with little pea size pieces of butter. (see notes)
• With a fork, stir in the cold rosemary yogurt and the raisins, and mix with your hands until the dough comes together.
• Preheat oven to 375˚. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, or coat lightly with butter or cooking spray. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 10 x 8-inches and about ½-inch thick. So the dough is easier to cut into squares, chill the rectangle for about 15 minutes before cutting into squares. (See recipe notes to form a round of dough so you can cut into triangle wedges.)
• Cut into 12 (roughly 2 ½ to 3-inch) squares. (You can freeze the squares at this point and bake them another time.) Arrange the squares about ¾ inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugar, or not.
• Bake 15 to 20 minutes. or until the bottoms are light golden brown and your finger doesn’t leave an indentation when you touch the tops. Let cool before removing from pan.

Notes

• To chill the infused cream quickly, place nestle the pan in a large bowl of ice water and stir until cold.
• A heavy-duty mixer with paddle cuts the butter into the flour and oat mixture.  Easy and efficient.
• For higher altitudes: Remove 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and reduce baking powder to 2 teaspoons.
• To form the soft dough into a round instead of squares, line a 9-inch round cake pan with plastic wrap. Pat the dough into the pan and fold the plastic wrap over to completely cover the dough. Press the dough into an even round disk, about 1/2-inch thick, by pushing the dough around under the plastic wrap. Refrigerate or freeze about 1 hour, or until cold enough to cut. Before baking, cut the dough round into pie-shaped wedges, 8 or 10 or 12, depending on the size desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 313mg | Potassium: 257mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 370IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 1mg

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