Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Mother's Day Scones



We'd like to dedicate this mother's day recipe to Jo-Ann and Deborah. Thank you for all your love and support throughout the years. Even though we are miles apart this mother's day, we will be celebrating you and the impact you have had on our lives. We are so grateful and we love you.

Okay, enough of the gushy stuff. I have a story to tell.

The first time I had Cherry Chocolate Chip scones was when Jaime made them for my baby shower. I couldn’t believe they were vegan. To be honest, even my guests had no clue, until they asked for the recipe. I mean these were good…really, really good.

Several months later, Jaime mentioned another scone.... A tangy and sweet, delicate lemon poppy seed scone drizzled with lemon glaze and sprinkled with lemon zest. Well, they sounded good, "but I'd probably prefer the cherry chocolate chip", I thought.

Well, I was wrong. One bite, and my taste buds went crazy. These were just as good as she and her family said they were. So thanks Jaime, for broadening my taste bud horizons. We are even now. ;)

So, with Mother's day just around the corner, we knew these would be the perfect addition to our blog. So forget about spending money on mom this mother’s day, she’ll love the idea of having a special tea party with her little angels. These scones are heavenly. Oh, and did I mention they're vegan?
What? You don’t drink tea? Oh. Well that’s okay these are really a perfect treat with any beverage of your choice. Don't worry, we won't be offended.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Scones
What you’ll need:
2 cups flour
5 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 Tbsp vegan butter, cut into the flour
1 ½ cups of vegan chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup of dried cherries, chopped
1/3 cup of soy milk
Egg replacer for 2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.


Preperation:
Place medium sized bowl into freezer. Measure butter and place in freezer until needed. In small bowl/container, combine soymilk and egg replacer and place in freezer until needed. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine; flour, 3 tbsp of sugar, baking powder, & salt. Put flour mixture into chilled bowl, and cut in the vegan butter. Using a fork, incorporate butter into flour gently, making the mixture look a bit like sand. You can also use your hands to do this, but make sure to not handle it to much, as you want your dough to stay as cold as possible. Work quickly. Add chilled soymilk and egg replacer and stir to form dough. Once mixture is dry enough, add chocolate chips and cherries. Fold until well incorporated.


Place dough on floured surface and press evenly into 2 inch thick circle. Transfer to non heated baking stone. Sprinkle with sugar, bake and let cool. Cut like a pizza into 8 triangles.


For mini scones shape dough into 2 inch thick square and transfer to cool baking stone. Cut into 2x2 squares, then cut diagonally to create triangles. Space triangles out a tiny bit, so they are really close, but not touching. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for about 10 minutes (check around 8 minute mark just in case). When slightly brown, they are ready.

Tips:

Make sure to chill bowl, butter and soymilk/egg replacer at least 15 minutes prior to use.

Work as quickly as possible. The dough should stay somewhat cold.

Use a very sharp knife for cutting the mini scone dough into squares and triangles.

To bake mini scones, place close together, but not touching on baking sheet, as it will force the scones to rise up,instead of expand out.

Cut into shapes directly on cool baking stone. The less you handle the dough, the better the scones will look.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Then slice like a pie into eight triangles and then in half again.

Variations

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
What you’ll need:

Same recipe as above, just replace soy milk with juice from one large lemon. Instead of cherries and chocolate chips, add zest from one lemon and 2 tablespoons poppy seeds. Fold and incorporate ingredients. Follow the rest of the directions from above.

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup lemon, juiced and zested
1 Tbsp vegan butter, melted
Zest from one lemon

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

While baking prepare glaze.

Melt butter over low /medium heat and whisk in lemon juice. Whisk until translucent. Add powdered sugar slowly while whisking to keep translucent. Repeat until sugar is all incorporated. Stir in lemon zest. Make sure to have a bit extra for presentation.

Remove from oven and pour glaze over scones while still warm. If dough is shaped in large circle, let glaze cool and harden. Then slice like a pie into eight triangles. Dust powdered sugar on top and remaining lemon zest. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden.

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