Poppy seeds drop scones with plum jam and cream cheese

These poppy seeds drop scones with plum jam and cream cheese are delicious as a decadent breakfast or perfect for a afternoon snack or even a desert.

This recipe & me

This recipe is inspired by a traditional Czech fried yeasted doughnuts, which are served with plum jam (or thick plum jam butter) and vanilla cream cheese.

I’ve taken the topping idea and changed the doughnut base from fried yeasted dough to a thick pancake also called drop scone.

Another favourite cake of mine has plums and poppy seeds, so that’s where the poppy seeds come from.

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What are drop scones?

Drop scones are usually slightly thicker than pancakes and much smaller in size than crepes. They are eaten like pancakes for breakfast, but they also make a great mid morning or afternoon snack.

Ingredients

Poppy Seeds

To get the right type of flavour it’s best to use ground poppy seeds.

If you are lucky enough you can buy them ready ground or ground them yourself with a fine coffee grounder or something similar.

If you live in UK, find the nearest European corner shop (Polish or Russian) and you can get the dried ground poppy seeds or even prepared poppy seeds mix for traditional cake fillings.

Gluten Free Flour & Spelt Flour

I’ve used pre-mixed gluten free plain flour, but you can use any kind of flour you like. If you want to use non-gluten flour, omit the xantham gum, which is in the recipe instead of gluten (it binds the flour together).

I like spelt flour, partly because of it’s taste and because it’s Low FODMAP, which means that it’s released slowly into the body and the sugar content is not that high.

Again, you can replace the spelt flour with other types of flours, but I like the wholemeal style of these drop scones.

Sugar

I’ve only used one teaspoon of sugar in the pancake batter, so most of the sweetness comes from the jam.

Toppings

If you don’t have plum jam or dairy free mascarporone or cream cheese, you can use any kind of jam, chocolate spread, peanut butter or even homemade vanilla ice-cream.

I love to add a dollop of dairy free cream cheese or mascarparone cheese, but I know that’s not to everyone’s taste.

Special equipment to make this recipe

I’ve used a pancake frying pan, but you are welcome to use any frying pan or a griddle.

The reason why I even have a pancake pan is because I’ve started to make a lot of pancakes, drop scones and zucchini (courgette) egg omelettes and the pancake pan has a handy portion size control.

The sides of each pancake area are also nicely deep, which makes the drop scones well risen and quite thick.

Dietary requirements

I’ve developed this recipe so that it’s Low FODMAP, dairy-free and low in gluten (you can make it fully gluten-free if you swap around the spelt flour) and served it recently when my mum came round for brunch before we were heading out to explore Prague.

Recipe quantity

You’ll notice that this recipe only makes 4 drop scones – since I usually cook just for myself, I find that that’s a perfect portion for me – eat two and keep two for an afternoon snack.

If you are cooking for more people, just double or triple the recipe to get the amount of drop scones you need.

How to make poppy seeds drop scones

In the mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients together first and mix – the plain and spelt flours, xantham gum, sugar, salt and baking powder.

Add all the wet ingredients – vanilla extract, milk and egg – and mix thoroughly.

Heat frying pan or a pancake pan to a low to medium heat and add a tiny bit of coconut oil or butter to grease the pan (or leave out if you have a non-stick one).

This recipe makes 4 drop scones, so I split all the batter mixture between the 4 cavities and leave on low heat until bubbles appear on the top. You can check the sides and once they are lightly brown, you can turn the drop scones over.

Carry on baking/frying on the other side until it’s medium brown (second side always takes less time)

Serve hot with your choice of jam (I used thick plum jam) and mascarporone or cream cheese topping. Extra poppy seeds on the top (with a bit of sugar) also taste good!

Can you freeze drop scones?

Yes, drop scones freeze really well. Make sure you freeze them on the same day you’ve made them and use a suitable freezer container.

I usually leave them to freeze first on a tray (individually lined and not covered) and then put them in a container with greaseproof paper in between. This prevents the drop scones from sticking together.

In this way, I can only take out what I need – even if it’s just one drop scone for an afternoon snack!

I defrost the drop scones either in the fridge overnight or defrost them on a low setting in a microwave.