Starbucks Copycat Date Scones

While at my friend Wendy’s house for lunch, she told me about these date scones. In fact, she had some frozen, so she gave me one; I was skeptical, dates? EW!

I was delightfully surprised when I tried them. She shared the newspaper recipe clipping (remember those?) with me, called “Starbucks Date Scones.”

I have never seen them in their coffee shops, but they should bring them back, because they are delicious and semi-nutritious!

I’m trying to reduce white flour where I can, so I also added some oat flour for moistness displacing some of the white flour and finished them with a pretty buttermilk glaze.

Don’t let the dates scare you away! While delicious by themselves, I am not a fan of dates or raisins in baked goods.

It’s a texture thing, that mushy plumped up texture after baking just grosses me out (sorry mom). But, I don’t mind these scones!

In fact the dates are blended in so well you only taste the natural sweetness, requiring only ¼ cup of brown sugar!

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup oat flour
• ¼ cup bran (wheat or oat, I used wheat)
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ – 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup butter, chilled, cut into chunks
• ⅔ cup fresh dates, chopped
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• ⅔ cup buttermilk
• Demerara Sugar (for sprinkling – optional)

• ¼ cup sugar ( all natural cane sugar )
• ⅛ cup buttermilk
• ⅛ cup butter
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp (rounded) baking soda

1. Pour in the all-purpose flour, oat flour, whole wheat flour, bran, brown sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until blended. No food processor? Working in smaller batches, you can achieve the same results using your blender.
2. Fresh dates are best, they are soft, sweet and light. Cut the date in half lengthwise, slip out the seed (kinda looks like a pecan)…

…chopping them into smaller pieces for a total of ⅔ cups.

Toss them into the bowl with the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to mix in dates.

No buttermilk? No problem! Measure 1 cup milk and stir 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice, let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Then use the amount needed.

Prep a  parchment lined half sheet pan, pat into a 1-inch thick round disc; the original instructions called for a rectangle, either way would work. Or divide into two dough balls and make two smaller discs.

Cut into even triangles, making them as large or small as you wish. Using a spatula, pull them slightly away from each other.

Cover loosely with a clean tea towel and let rest for 10-15 minutes while your oven preheats to 350°.

After resting, you may sprinkle with coarse natural sugar, such as Demerara (pictured below) OR make a delicious buttermilk glaze below.

1. In a small saucepan add your sugar, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, organic corn syrup (or try date syrup!) and baking soda.
2. Heat over medium-low heat until melted and combined, stirring constantly,  it will start to foam up from the baking soda, reduce the heat and keep stirring, the foam will go down as you stir.

Allow to cool 10 minutes on pan, then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely.

You may have to run a knife through your slices one more time before transferring scones with a spatula to the wire rack.

Yes! I love making a batch of scones, splitting the dough into two separate discs and freezing one disc for another time.

Once the scone dough is made, formed and cut into wedges, wrap the entire thing in wax paper, parchment or plastic wrap, then store in ziplock baggie for up to 3 months in freezer.

When ready to bake, remove from freezer and place on parchment lined pan while oven preheats, bake as directed, adding 1-3 minutes until scones spring back lightly.

Cool COMPLETELY! Then wrap in parchment, wax or plastic wrap and place in a ziplock baggie, may be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

Warm in 250 degree oven for 10 minutes, if the scones do not have a glaze.

Delicious warm or room temperature, serve alongside a fruit salad or with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee as the case may be!

Pin Starbucks Date Scones to a Breakfast Board!

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