Today is just not my day. It’s one of those days when every earnest attempt at productivity is slowed by unforeseen circumstances. Like, my dog ate my lunch. My sidebar doesn’t look right. And I need to hurry to the post office so I can mail my life savings to Uncle Sam. So it goes.
If these scones look familiar, it’s because they are a riff on last fall’s pumpkin pecan scones. Those scones have quite a few fans and the banana version turned out so well that I couldn’t keep it to myself. Frankly, I don’t think banana scones get better than this.
Feel free to play with this recipe. I made my scones with solid coconut oil instead of butter, which means that these scones are vegan/dairy free. Bonus: it’s much easier to cut coconut oil into the flour than butter. You could swap in other nuts or skip the nuts altogether. I think whole spelt flour would be a fine substitution for the whole wheat flour, too.
The scones are lightly sweet before topping with the maple glaze. If you want to avoid processed sugar altogether, try topping the scones with pecan butter or another nut butter and a light drizzle of maple syrup or honey. Let me know how you like them!
Vegan Banana Nut Scones
- Author:
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Hearty banana pecan scones made with coconut oil and whole wheat flour.
Ingredients
Scones
- 1 cup raw pecans or walnuts
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup solid coconut oil or 5 tablespoons cold butter
- ¾ cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium bananas)
- ¼ cup milk of choice (almond milk, low fat milk, etc.)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar*
- ⅛ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup maple syrup, add more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast the nuts in the oven until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Chop the nuts into very fine pieces.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, ¾ths of the chopped nuts, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the coconut oil or butter into the dry ingredients. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use a fork to cut the coconut oil into the flour, or use a knife to cut the butter into tiny pieces and mix it into the flour.
- In a liquid measuring cup, measure ¾ cup mashed banana. Add milk until you have a total of 1 cup liquid. Pour in the maple syrup and vanilla extract, and mix well.
- Pour the banana mixture into the dry mixture and combine with a big spoon. At first it will seem like there isn’t enough liquid to wet the dough, but keep mixing until you have thoroughly incorporated the wet and dry ingredients. If you must, use your hands to knead the last of the flour into the dough.
- On a flat surface (like a cutting board), form dough into a circle that’s about an inch deep all around. Use a chef’s knife to cut the circle into 8 even slices.
- Separate slices and place on the baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes to 17 or until lightly golden brown.
- While the scones are baking, whisk together the glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. (If you’re using coconut oil and it solidifies on contact with cold syrup, gently warm the glaze in the microwave or on the stove, then mix again.) Let the scones cool for a few minutes, then drizzle the glaze generously over the scones. While the glaze is wet, sprinkle it with the remaining chopped nuts.
Notes
Scones adapted from my pumpkin pecan scones.
*To make your own powdered sugar: Blend sugar in a blender or food processor until it is a fine powder. I used organic cane sugar but I have read that turbinado sugar works, too.
Change it up: For a less sugary topping, spread homemade pecan butter and a light drizzle of maple syrup just before serving.
Storage suggestions: These scones keep well, covered, for a couple of days at room temperature. They also freeze well for longer term storage.
Make it gluten-free: Claire commented to say that her scones turned out great when she substituted one cup brown rice flour and one cup almond meal/flour for the two cups whole wheat flour.
Make it vegan: Be sure to stick to maple syrup instead of the honey when making the scones.
Make it nut-free: Skip the nuts!
▸ Nutrition Information
More banana goodness: gluten-free banana oat pancakes, honey-sweetened banana bread, banana coconut muffins, banana almond smoothie, banana trail mix bread and banana nut waffles!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Vanessa
Hey Kathryne,
I love your blog and your book!
The carrot cake breakfast cookies have been a fixture in my morning routine so I decide to try scones to add some variety.
The coconut oil is melting on contact with the other ingredients. I add flour to make it into a cohesive shape which still results in tastiness, but the texture is more like bread. Do you refrigerate your coconut oil?
Next time I might just try butter. :)
Kate
Hi Vanessa! So glad you’re enjoying the breakfast cookies. I probably made this recipe when my kitchen was on the cooler side (not during summer, when it’s warmer). You could try refrigerating the oil for just 5 minutes in advance—it gets too hard if it’s fully chilled. Hope that helps. :)
Vanessa
It does, thank you! :)
Tanya Mel
Awesome recipe, thanks! I was a bit worried because I added more flour to help with the kneading – I must’ve used too much bananas or milk. Coming out of the oven, it looked a bit chalky on the outside but was nice inside and when I added the glaze it was superb! Wow! Tastes like a cinnamon bun from the mall. Yum!
★★★★
Erica
Yikes, this recipe required AT LEAST 1.5 more cups of flour. I measured out the exact amounts of everything including weighing the flour. My guess is flour was not weighed and instead scooped out, making 2 cups as written inaccurate. Looking at the comments, I wasn’t the only one with this issue.
★★
Danielle
I have made this recipe several times, not weighing, just measuring out as it says in the recipe, and have never run into that issue. Maybe measuring it by scale instead of following a cup measure led to the inaccuracy. I would recommend following the recipe as written, as scale to cup conversions are rarely precise and she didn’t put a weight measurement. This is a fantastic recipe.
★★★★★
Jak
Made them yesterday. The dough was a little wet and so it was harder to shape. I basically separated (not cut) the slices. Transfer was sloppy so I kinda nudged them on the sides to take some shape. Left dough as is and did not add any more flour (newbie at baking), kept my fingers crossed and I say they still turned out nicely after 15 mins in the oven. I adjusted the glaze: 1tbsp melted butter and 1tbsp powdered sugar, a li’l splash of vanilla extract, dash of salt, brushed it lightly over the scones, then added lots of (mallet) ground walnut bits. They were delish! So Kate, do you have a photo/video of this so we can see how the dough is supposed to look? Thanks!
★★★★
Kate
Hi Jak, sounds like you may have needed just a little more flour for it to be so wet still or step 3 wasn’t followed. What did you think of the flavor?
Thalia Calixto
Hey there!
Was wondering if I could swap the mashed banana for apple sauce to make these a apple nut scone? Do you think that will work?
Thanks!
Kate
Hi! I haven’t tried it and wouldn’t be certain without trying it. Baking can be quite precise and changing one this could impact it. Wish I could help more!
Piikea
These were a big hit with my family. I used 1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour and .5 c almond flour and it worked well. The batter was wetter than what I think of as a “dough”and it was a little tricky to pull apart the wedges, but they turned out great! Thank you for a delicious recipe.
★★★★★
Giselle
This is an incredible recipe! I followed it exactly and it worked out amazing. I also must note that sometimes a recipe can be great but without good instructions the recipes fail. The details, instructions and photos in your recipe are amazing!! Thank you so much!!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy they turned out amazing! I appreciate your review.
Mikayla A
Super yummy! I didn’t have pecans nor walnuts so I subbed in chopped almonds instead. The consistency was great and the glaze was super yummy on top. This is another great recipe for those that have ripe bananas just sitting on the counter. The whole family ate them up :)
★★★★★
Danielle
One of my absolute favorite cookie and kate recipes!! have made several times and my non-vegan family members all love them as well! I usually omit the glaze and drizzle w/ almond butter and a pinch of maple syrup instead…absolutely divine!
★★★★★
Cathy McFarlane
Super tasty! I eat gluten free and dairy free, so I had to make some adjustments, but they turned out well. I used about a cup of gf flour mix and a cup of almond flour at first, but ended up adding at least another half cup of flour because it was too sticky. I also used about 1/4 cup less powdered sugar in the glaze. A couple friends came over and one told me they were better than the bakery scones she gets. I’ll take that as a thumbs up!
★★★★★
Sarah
These were amazing! Big hit in my house definitely making again. I used almonds instead of pecans.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Sarah!
Edith-Nicole Cameron
These are wonderful! I substituted oat flour 1 for 1 for wheat flour to make them gluten free, and they worked great. Also added chocolate chips. Thanks!
Edith-Nicole Cameron
Follow up comment: I should clarify that the dough was softer using oat flour in place of wheat, so I formed them into drop scones rather than sliced triangles. Baked for 20 minutes. Really, really delicious, rustic appearance notwithstanding!
Jeanne Gaffney
Hi there!! I love all the recipes in your blog as well Love Your Food. I was a little confused about the oven temp. You state to bake the pecans at 425 but you don’t state the temp for the scones. I looked at your recipe for Simple Honey Scones on pg 35 of the book and baked 25 min on 350 as that recipe states. Yummy but would they have been better 15 min at 450?
★★★★★
Kate
Hi! This one is the same for the entire recipe, so 425. I hope that helps!
Pat
I really am happy with these vegan scones. I used Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter and whole spelt flour. The glaze is great but I had about half left over and I was generous. I’ll find another use for it for sure. Your recipes never disappoint!
Keep it up for all of us and thank you.
Kate
I’m glad it worked for you, Pat!