These dirty chai scones are the perfect pick-me-up. A warm chai-spiced scone is topped with an espresso glaze and chocolate covered espresso beans. Everyone can enjoy this gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan snack.
These Dirty Chai Scones are the warm, soft, and cozy. Perfect for the fall season, these chai spiced scones are topped with an espresso glaze and chopped chocolate covered espresso beans. They are both a chai and coffee lover's delight.
These soft yet sturdy scones contain no gluten, eggs, nuts, or dairy. And you would never guess it!
Enjoy for breakfast, a snack, dessert, or on-the-go. These scones are the perfect treat to bring with you to school or work. They are sure to blow away any gluten-free and vegan scone you've had before.
With just a few minutes of prep time, you too can prepare perfect dirty chai scones. Want to learn how you can make them yourself? Keep on reading!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfectly spiced. These scones are the taste of fall with a kick of caffeine!
- Allergy-friendly for everyone to enjoy. These scones are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan with an easy nut-free option.
- Bakery quality at home. No need to spend $6 a pop when you make them at home! These scones are moist and fluffy with a bakery-style look and texture.
- Freezes well for later. See below for storage and freezing instructions. These scones are great to keep on hand for autumn breakfast and snacks.
What is Dirty Chai?
A dirty chai is a classic off-menu coffee shop drink where an espresso shot is added to a chai latte. Originating in India, chai is a mix of black tea and warm spices steeped in water. The chai latte adds steamed milk, and a dirty chai adds an espresso shot as well. These dirty chai scones take the drink as inspiration with flavours of warm chai and espresso.
Ingredient Notes
Here is everything you'll need to make these dirty chai scones:
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum: I often use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 All-Purpose Baking Flour (in the blue bag) or Robinhood's gluten-free mix.
- Instant espresso: I use Nescafe Gold Instant Espresso. It comes as a very fine powder and has great flavour. If your instant coffee comes in large granules, run it through a coffee bean grinder or food processor before adding to the dough. If it is not a fine powder, you may eat chunks of instant coffee, and that's not nearly as tasty.
- Unsalted vegan butter: I recommend Becel plant based bricks.
- Dairy-free milk: I use almond milk, but use coconut or soy milk to keep this nut-free.
- Chocolate covered espresso beans: These add a nice crunch to the top of the soft scones. I used Healthy Crunch Dark Chocolate Superfoods.
- Chai spice mix: If you have a pre-mixed blend, use that! See below for my homemade chai spice mix.
Make Your Own Chai Spice
If you can find a pre-made chai spice mix, use about 1 tablespoon of that in this recipe. But you can absolutely make your own with the below recipe.
Makes just over 1 tablespoon—enough for this recipe
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp black or white pepper
Substitutions
There are many ways to change up these gluten-free scones depending on your mood. Here are some substitution suggestions:
- Dairy. Both regular dairy products and dairy-free options will work for the butter in this recipe. You can use dairy if you aren't vegan.
- Flour. You can use regular all-purpose flour if you are not gluten-free.
- Instant espresso. I use Nescafe Gold Instant Espresso. It comes as a very fine powder and has great flavour. If your instant coffee comes in large granules, run it through a coffee bean grinder or food processor before adding to the dough. If it is not a fine powder, you may eat chunks of instant coffee, and that's not nearly as tasty.
- Chai spices. If you don't have one of the spices, the chai spice mix should still work. I don't recommend substituting for liquid chai tea though, as the texture of the scone will change significantly.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Be sure to read the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and instructions for how to make dirty chai scones.
(Prep) Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
(1) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, instant espresso, salt, and chai spice mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dairy-free milk and vanilla extract.
(2) Place the vegan butter cubes into the bowl of dry ingredients. Toss to coat them, then use your hands or a pastry cutter to break apart the butter pieces and blend them into the flour. Keep cutting the butter into the flour until the pieces are small and the mixture looks like sand. Work quick to avoid the butter melting.
(3) Pour the milk and vanilla into the dough and mix with a fork until you can squeeze the dough into a ball.
(4) Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out of the bowl. Flour your hands and gently pat the dough into a circle about 8-inches wide and ½-¾" thick. Cut into 8 slices and transfer the scones to the baking sheet.
Freeze for 15 minutes to firm up before baking.
(5) Brush the top of the scones with dairy-free milk. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
(6) While the scones bake, stir together the powdered sugar, espresso powder, and milk for the espresso glaze.
(7) Chop the chocolate covered espresso beans.
(8) Allow the scones to cool for just 15 minutes, then spread the glaze on top and immediately sprinkle with the chocolate covered espresso beans. The warmth of the scones will help spread the thick glaze.
Scones are best enjoyed on the day they’re made!
How to Serve
There are many ways to enjoy dirty chai scones. Here are some suggestions:
- Eat for breakfast alongside some pumpkin banana muffins or gluten-free english muffins.
- Bring on the go with you as a snack.
- Make a scone spread accompanied by some Starbucks copycat pumpkin scones or gluten-free cheese scones.
- Heat it up and spread with softened (vegan) butter, pumpkin butter, or nut butter.
- Enjoy with a warm dairy-free pumpkin spice latte or a cold brew with pumpkin cold foam.
- Enjoy on their own!
Storage & Freezing
Scones will keep in a closed container at room temperature for 2 days, or wrap in plastic and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost on the counter for best results.
Expert Tips
Here are some of my top tips and tricks for the best gluten-free scones:
- Keep the butter and milk cold. Cube the butter and measure the milk before preparing scones. Place in the fridge until you are ready to make the dough so that they can stay as cold as possible.
- Don't let the (vegan) butter get too warm. See point number 1. Cold butter = flakey, fluffy scones = delicious snack with no mess. Warm butter may cause the scones to leak and not shape properly.
- Let the scones cool for just 15 minutes before adding the glaze. This is the perfect amount of time for the scones to be cool enough to not completely melt the glaze, but warm enough to help it glide evenly across the top of the scone.
- Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Fresh from the oven or cooled.
- Best served on the day they're made, or freeze. This will keep the scones in peak freshness and keep the glaze in good condition without condensation. Thaw at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scone dough should not be so sticky that you can't get it off your hands. Dust your surface with a little extra gluten-free flour and knead for a minute. They should some together so you can shape and cut the scones. Freeze scones before baking to avoid the butter leaking out.
You may have kneaded in too much additional gluten-free flour when shaping the scones. It's okay, they will still bake up deliciously. Be sure to brush the tops with dairy-free milk for some moisture before baking.
Scones will be dry to the touch. They won't have much golden colour, but the edges should be firm and ever so slightly coloured. You will be able to see the layers and texture of the sides of the scones.
No! This recipe is developed with specific proportions of wet and dry ingredients. Brewed tea would cause these scones to have way too much liquid and spread in the oven.
The Nescafe Gold Instant Espresso used in the recipe contains approximately 70mg of caffeine per teaspoon. Therefore each scone yields about 26mg of caffeine. For reference, the average cup of black tea has 30-50mg of caffeine. You could use decaf instant coffee if you are sensitive to caffeine.
There you have a delicious gluten-free and vegan autumn breakfast, snack, dessert—you name it! These dirty chai scones taste just like they came from a bakery, only they are healthier and allergy friendly. Share with family and friends and enjoy with your favourite warm beverage.
More Gluten-Free Fall Recipes:
- Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Pumpkin Tiramisu
- Pumpkin Banana Muffins
- Starbucks Copycat Pumpkin Scones
- Lightened Up Pumpkin Cold Foam
- Baked Apple Fritters
- Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
- Healthy Halloween Dirt Cups
- Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Latte
Related Recipes
Have you made these dirty chai scones? I'd very much appreciate it if you leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review below, and tag me on instagram @fromoliviaskitchen!
Recipe
Vegan Dirty Chai Scones
Ingredients
Scone Dough
- 2 ¼ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon instant espresso, finely ground
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted vegan butter, cold and cubed
- ¾ cup dairy-free milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chai Spice Mix
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon black or white pepper
Espresso Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 4 teaspoon dairy-free milk
- ¼ cup chocolate covered espresso beans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, instant espresso, salt, and chai spice mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dairy-free milk and vanilla extract.
- Place the vegan butter cubes into the bowl of dry ingredients. Toss to coat them, then use your hands or a pastry cutter to break apart the butter pieces and blend them into the flour. Keep cutting the butter into the flour until the pieces are small and the mixture looks like sand. Work quick to avoid the butter melting.
- Pour the milk and vanilla into the dough and mix with a fork until you can squeeze the dough into a ball.
- Lightly flour a surface and turn the dough out of the bowl. Flour your hands and gently pat the dough into a circle about 8-inches wide and ½-¾" thick. Cut into 8 slices and transfer the scones to the baking sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes to firm up before baking.
- Brush the top of the scones with dairy-free milk. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
- While the scones bake, stir together the powdered sugar, espresso powder, and milk for the espresso glaze and chop the chocolate covered espresso beans.
- Allow the scones to cool for just 15 minutes, then spread the glaze on top and immediately sprinkle with the Dark Chocolate Superfoods. The warmth of the scones will help spread the thick glaze.
- Scones are best enjoyed on the day they’re made.
Notes
- Dairy: Feel free to use regular milk and butter if you are not vegan.
- Instant Espresso: Ensure your instant espresso is very finely ground. I use Nescafe Gold and it's great. If your granules are larger, grind them to a fine powder before use.
- Chai Spice: Instead of using individual spices, use about 1 tablespoon of a pre-mixed chai spice mix, if you have access to it.
- Storage & Freezing: Scones will keep in a closed container at room temperature for 2 days, or wrap in plastic and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost on the counter for best results.
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