Last month Tony and I had a fun trip to Maine to learn about wild blueberries. There were many fabulous takeaways, but the one thing I could not get out of my head were the Panera Wild Blueberry Scones. They are reportedly Panera’s top seller, but of course we’ve never tried them since they aren’t dairy-free. That was something I was determined to rectify!
I analyzed the Panera wild blueberry scones recipe and nutrition facts, and what do you know, they are relatively simple cream scones! All I needed to make these beauties happen was a secret dairy-free ingredient.
Rich, full fat coconut milk swaps in for the cream to make wonderfully simple, delicious wild blueberry scones. Do you see how thick it is in the picture above? This should not be confused with coconut milk beverage, which is wonderful in its own right, but is far too thin (more like 2% milk) for this recipe.
Not a fan of coconut? Don’t worry, the coconut flavor is quite muted and actually negated by the vanilla. The result is just a wonderfully sweet scone letting the fruit take center stage.
As you might notice, there are two different-looking types of wild blueberry scones shown here. One is with fresh / frozen wild blueberries, the other is with dried wild blueberries. The fresh ones are a little harder to work with and do take on more moisture, which is why they look a little more “rustic”. If you want that “perfect scone” look, dried fruit is the way to go with this recipe.
The Panera wild blueberry scones are sweet, but I did test “less sweet” scones with equal satisfaction. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist drizzling some icing on those. What can I say, when I’m craving a baked treat, I like to go all the way.
This post is sponsored by So Delicious Dairy Free, but the wild blueberry scones, photos and opinions are all mine. The recipe is adapted from my Vanilla Cream Scones recipe in Eat Dairy Free: Your Essential Everday Cookbook.
For a quick icing, simply thin powdered sugar with a little dairy-free milk beverage. In this picture, I used 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon So Delicious unsweetened dairy-free coconut milk beverage, and 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract. My icing was quite thin. I would start with just 2 teaspoons milk beverage and drizzle in more drops as needed.
Reader Raves
Thanks to Janina for providing feedback on this recipe via Facebook: “I made these last weekend. They disappeared in less than 1 day. Yummy!”
Thank to Jeanette for providing feedback on this recipe via Instagram: “They were yummy this morning esp with added almond extract ?”
Thanks to Alissa for providing feedback on this recipe via Facebook: “This is one of my favorites! So delicious!”
Thanks to Ashley for providing feedback on this recipe via Facebook: “I’ve made this many times they’re so good!!”
Special Diet Notes: Wild Blueberry Scones
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.
I have not yet tested this recipe gluten-free, but it may work with your favorite gluten-free flour blend. Let us know in the comments if you do try these wild blueberry scones gluten-free, what you used, and how it worked out!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour*
- ½ cup sugar*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup frozen wild blueberries or ¼ cup dried wild blueberries
- 1 cup full-fat canned coconut milk (use a good quality one, with lots of cream - NOT coconut milk beverage), or as needed**
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and lightly dust two spots with flour.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Add the frozen wild blueberries to the flour, and toss lightly to coat, breaking up any berry clumps.
- Drizzle in ¾ cup of the coconut milk and add the vanilla. Stir to bring everything together. Drizzle in more coconut milk as needed (I use 1 cup total) to get a cohesive dough that is somewhat workable but not too sticky.
- Divide the dough in half and place both on the prepared baking sheet. Gently pat each into a circle that is roughly ¾ to 1-inch high. Place in the freezer while you preheat your oven to 425ºF.
- Once the oven is preheated, remove the baking sheet from the freezer an cut each disk into 4 wedges. Pull the wedges apart about 1 inch to give them a little space.
- Brush the tops of the dough with a little coconut milk, and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool 5 minutes. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or individually frozen for longer.
**Coconut Milk Note: Do not use "lite" and do not use "milk beverage". See post above for pictures.
121 Comments
I have a can of full fat coconut milk. Can that be used? Thanks!
Yes, full fat coconut milk is what I use!
Nice recipe. Needs twice as many berries.
If you use *real* coconut cream (Goya brand, available in many grocery stores and Latin markets) instead of coconut milk, you Do Not need any added sugar. If you add sugar to coconut cream the scones are so sweet they almost make your teeth hurt!!!!
My second batch I used ‘way less than a cup of coconut cream — about 2/3 cup.
Hi Ken, glad you enjoyed the recipe! That’s very odd on the sweetness though – as these are just lightly sweet. Just to double check, you used coconut cream, not cream of coconut, correct? Coconut cream and coconut milk are unsweetened, pure coconut. That’s what I use in this recipe (and you might have too!). But cream of coconut is sweetened. I just want to clarify for others, too.
I did make these gluten free. I used Cup4Cup gluten-free flour. The dough was easy to handle throughout. They taste good too!
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing the gluten-free flour you tested the recipe with.
Hi! I’m not sure if you are still responding to this page, if so they no longer offer the So Delicious Culinary milk. It’s not on amazon and not on So Delicious website. Can I substitute with Thai Milk (it’s the coconut cream or milk in a can). I think I used it at Christmas but I mucked up the recipe (too many blueberry’s I think…I know, when are there EVER too many blueberries) but I went overboard and it was a bit…sad! My fault. But maybe it was the milk? I needed more than in the recipe. Thoughts? Thanks.
Well indeed, I still run the site and post content daily! Yes, they sadly discontinued it a while ago, I just haven’t had the chance to do a full update on all of the recipes we did with it (there were quite a few – it was one of my favorite products!). Their Culinary Coconut Milk was basically a really good quality coconut milk with quite a lot of coconut cream. Any good-quality, full-fat coconut milk should work well. If you’re dough is too soft or wet, then the coconut milk was too runny. Enjoy!
I have these in the oven now. I did substitute chocolate chips for the blueberries and so far they look amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
Fantastic! I hope you love these scones Angi.
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Great recipe. I made these as is for my DF daughter and I and added white chocolate chips for my non DF family members.
I love a baked good that is DF and still tastes amazing. For those looking for the coconut milk, it’s in the “international” section with a lot of the Thai and Indian foods in my grocery store. I use it for a sub in anything that has cream – works great in soups and sauces.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Kelly!
These are a family favorite, love, love, love. ^.^
We also do cranberry lemon by adding lemon juice to a 1/4 cup of dried cranberries until the 1/4 cup is half to all the way full. (I hope that makes sense, we actually keep the dried cranberries in the 1/4 cup measuring cup when we add the lemon juice.)
And sometimes we do chocolate with 1 Tbsp cocoa instead of blueberries and, if we’re feeling super indulgent, dairy free chocolate chips. ^.^
That’s a cool flavor idea! Thanks for sharing this Ann.
I made these for my kids to eat while watching the royal wedding. Easy recipe with perfect results.
What an honor! Thanks for the feedback on my recipe. 🙂
I’ve been dying to bake these forever and I finally did! I also calculated the calories and with the brand of ingredients I used and it came out to be about 200 calories for 1 scone. Which is less than half of the 460 calorie original! I did have to bake them about 10 mins longer due to being partly frozen from the freezer part.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing the good news and your feedback Lily 🙂
Anyone trying making these with all purpose gluten free flour?
Yes, see the comments before yours Julie!
I contacted So Delicious yesterday and they are temporarily discontinuing their culinary coconut milk used for this recipe. Something about ‘supply challenges’. I supposed you already answered this in the above comment but should I use full-fat coconut milk or a can of coconut cream? Which would work better? I appreciate the help!
A good quality full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream should work well. I find that a lot of brands of coconut cream are no richer than coconut milk! So just choose one that typically has a nice thick layer of cream when it is refrigerated.
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I wonder why we have to use coconut milk. I don’t use it because of its saturated fat content. I will try this recipe with homemade soy milk and white whole wheat flour and let you know how it comes out. But I think you are doing a disservice to all vegans by using something that is as bad for us as cow’s milk.
These are “cream” scones Barbie. It is the coconut cream that makes them scones and that makes the recipe work. Please do not substitute a milk beverage, like soymilk, and expect proper results.
This is a fantastic recipe! I will definitely be making these again, they turned out amazing. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed my recipe Tara and thank you for the feedback!
I made them with America’s Test Kitchen gluten free flour blend from their Gluten – free cookbook. It worked great, I also added a 1/2 tsp xanthan gum and I also refrigerated it overnight.
They were the perfect sweet for my 4 year old’s birthday-tea! Yum!
Glad they worked out gluten-free for you Laura. Thank you for sharing your feedback!
You can tell So Delishious their marketing worked! Didn’t know there was such a thing and ran out an bought it right away! Excited to try it out!
Haha, glad my recipe enticed. I hope you love the scones and the coconut milk Emily!
Can I use canned coconut milk?
Yes, that is what I use! The So Delicious version is just in little aseptic packages instead of cans. Make sure to use regular, full-fat!
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