Yesterday morning I had a craving for scones. I have never made scones before and to tell you the truth my experience with scones is rather limited. The only ones I can vividly remember were these English Toffee Mini Scones that we used to get from the grocery store when I was little. I think they still sell those but alas, they are very un-vegan.
I wanted something healthy and I came across a Bob’s Red Mill recipe that fit the bill. It was also un-vegan however, it could be very easily veganized.
Verdict? Well, when the dough was first formed I was skeptical, it was very sticky and rather than roll it into a ball on a baking sheet as the recipe suggested, I found it much easier to press into a pie pan. When they were finished baking, I still wasn’t convinced that this recipe was a success. They were very crumbly and difficult to cut. The taste wasn’t amazing either, I liked it, it had a health vibe to it which I do enjoy, however my mother found them very bland. I let them ‘rest’ over night in a container and tried one for breakfast this morning. Much better! Still a tad crumbly but not too bad. The taste improved as well, the cinnamon sugar shone through I think next time I’ll make some changes to the recipe, perhaps add dried fruit as the original recipe said? (I didn’t have any to add yesterday)
Here is the recipe with my changes.
Scottish “Buttermilk” Steel Cut Oat Scones
1 cup Steel Cut Oats
1 cup soymilk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ground oats (the original called for oat flour but I just grinded quick oats in the food processor)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs earth balance margarine, cut into tiny pieces
1 tbs soymilk
cinnamon sugar (my mixture is 1/4 cup + 4 tsp cinnamon but you won’t need that much)
*You may also want to add 1/3 cup of dried fruit.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place steel cut oats in a pie pan and toast for 20 minutes, stirring often.
3. Combine toasted oats with soymilk/vinegar mixture and let sit for 20 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, sugar, baking powder and salt. (and dried fruit if using)
5. Set the oven to 400 degrees F.
6. Lightly oil a baking sheet or a pie pan as I used.
7. Cut the 4 tbs of earth balance into the dry mixture until coarsely crumbled.
8. Stir the oat/soymilk mixture into the dry mix until combined.
9. Flour your hands and form the dough into a ball (note-dough was very sticky) and press on to a baking sheet or into a pie pan, forming a 3/4 inch circle.
10. Score the dough into 8 wedges.
11. Brush the surface of dough with the soymilk (honestly though the dough was so sticky I’m not sure the soymilk is necessary) and sprinkly with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
12. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool.
