The Perfect Scone

I’ve been working on my scone recipe for the last couple of weeks, and if I do say so myself, these are perfect. Feel free to substitute half of the AP flour for wheat, oat, spelt, or whatever you feel like, but this will somewhat decrease their high rising fluffiness. You’ll also want to add a little sweetener with the alternative flours, such as a 1 TBS agave nectar. One critical habit is to keep the nut cream and Earth Balance as cold as possible before adding them to the mix.

Ingredients:

2 C All Purpose flour

1 TBS baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 TBS cold Earth Balance

1 C cold nut cream or Mimicreme

1.5 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 C fruit and nuts (optional)

Instructions:

1. Add ACV to cream, and put back in fridge to curdle for several minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put dry ingredients in a food processor along with the Earth Balance, cut into a few pieces. Give it a few pulses to cut the butter. This won’t take long, and you don’t want to go for longer than necessary.

2. Transfer everything to a large bowl. Add the cream, and any mix-ins. Stir with a knife just until the milk is absorbed.

3. Transfer to a well floured surface. Kneed a few times, with a press and fold technique. Press mound out to 1/2 an inch, or so, then fold in half and repeat 4-6 times. This will make the scones pull apart in heavenly layers.

4. Shape into a round, flat cake, about 1 inch thick. Cut into 6 wedges. DO NOT give in to the temptation to clean up the cut edges by patting them down, as this will inhibit their rising.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until browned.

6. Serve with Earth Balance and jam along with your tea. 🙂

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Redux: Oat Surprise Muffins

Ok, so here’s something Jo and I have been talking about doing..a recipe revival from time-to-time with minor variations on already posted recipes. For this category, I dub thee “Redux” – I basically took Jo’s yummy Oat surprise muffins, and topped them with a basic streudel topping. I used the addictive East Texas Blueberry Jam from New Canaan Farms for the surprise…but I bet they’d be excellent with leftover cranberry sauce with dried cherries as the center surprise for a festive holiday flavoring!

Ingredients:

3/4 C lightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C oat flour
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
tiny pinch ground cloves
4 TBSP Earth Balance vegan butter, room temperature

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and spices. Stir to blend.
2. Cut in the vegan butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives, or for super fun..your fingers! Sprinkle atop the uncooked batter-topped muffins and bake according to Jo’s initial directions.

Notes: Feel free to add in chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts, in the streudel topping. Also, feel free to double the recipe if you want to add stuedel inside the muffin for a double surprise along with the jam! Woo, and might I add, hoo!

Happy Baking!

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Cornbread Stuffing

Mmm… stuffing. It wouldn’t be a holiday meal without some delicious cornbread stuffing, that you just can’t get enough of.

Ingredients:

one batch of Texas Cornbread, broken up in a large bowl (you can make it the night before and let it dry out overnight)

2 medium poblano chiles (or 1/4 tsp cayenne)

4 TBS Earth Balance Buttery Sticks

2 small onions

2 medium celery ribs

4 medium carrots

2 TBS minced garlic

1 TBS dried oregano

1 TBS dried sage

1 TBS salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 C veggie broth

Instructions:

1. Roast chiles over a gas flame, or under the broiler until skin is charred. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let steam for 15 minutes. Peel, core, seed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

2. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with Earth Balance. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a large skillet, melt the Earth Balance over medium-high heat. Saute onions, celery, carrots and garlic until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in oregano, sage, salt, pepper and roasted chiles.

4. Add to bowl with cornbread, along with the veggie broth. Stir everything together, and transfer to baking dish.

5. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir and bake an additional 15-20 minutes.

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Texas Cornbread

At mine and Sara’s first vegan Thanksgiving nobody even knew we were doing things differently. Granted, we’d been having vegetarian Thanksgivings for a while, so the lack of carcass was expected. But when we let the humanely treated cat out of the proverbial bag, one of the dishes that surprised people the most was the cornbread stuffing. The stuffing recipe will appear someday soon, but the cornbread is delicious on it’s own, too!

Ingredients

2 C all-purpose (AP) flour

2 C corn meal (yellow or blue)

1/4 C sugar (turbinado is my preference)

1 TBS salt

1 TBS baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 TBS flaxseed meal soaked in 1/4 C warm water

2.5 C hemp milk (or other vegan milk)

1 stick melted Earth Balance

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish, or cast iron skillet (or muffin pan, if want individual cornbreads). In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Add wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour batter into baking dish and bake 40 minutes (25 for muffins), or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting.

Variation: Add a chopped jalapeno or two to the batter for a spicy cornbread.

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Oat Surprise Muffins

Now that I’m an adult with gainful employment, I think it’s time to start eating a proper breakfast (as opposed to the crust of bread and tea I used to eat). So I’ve designed an oat muffin with a jam center surprise! The great part is that the muffin base is very simple to throw together, and the jam flavor can be changed on a whim, making a different muffin each time!

I like mini loaves, because they’re super cute, but muffins work too.

Ingredients – Base:

1.5 C spelt flour

1.5 C oat flour (or oats put through the food processor)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 C agave nectar

1.25 C hemp milk

1/3 C oil

1 Tbs flax meal soaked in 2 Tbs warm water

Ingredients – Flavor:

12 tsp jam

1/2 C nut or other chunky nibblet – coconut, chocolate chips, etc.

Have fun with your flavor combos; I like cherry jam with coconut flakes, or blueberry jam with pecans.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil or line muffin pan. Start the flax meal soaking in the warm water.

Mix dry base ingredients in a large bowl, then add liquids. Now you have muffin batter! Stir in the nuts of you choice. Fill muffin cups half way, and drop 1 tps of jam into the middle of each. Cover with remaining batter.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (for mini loaves) or 25 minutes for muffins, or until golden brown. Let sit on cooling rack for 15 minutes, before removing muffins.

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Lemon-Cherry Cornmeal Scones

It’s a cross between a scone and a cornbread muffin. It goes perfect with soup or 3-bean chili, and also will satisfy the cornbread craving without committing to a huge batch – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But sometimes you want something a tick different, and the cherries in combo with the cornmeal do just that! These were extremely yummy and simple to throw together! I highly recommend for anyone who loves cornbread to try these out for an alternative! This recipe makes about 12-14 drop scones, depending on how big you make them.

Ingredients:

1.5 C all-purpose or oat flour
3/4 C cornmeal
2 TBSP ground flax
1 TBSP baking pwdr
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon extract or fresh lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C brown rice syrup
3/4 C hemp milk
1 C dried cherries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, flax, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In another bowl, or large measuring cup, mix together the lemon extract or zest, vanilla extract, canola oil, brown rice syrup, and hemp milk. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. You don’t want to over work it…
3. Fold in the dried cherries, and drop heaping tablespoon sized drops onto a lined baking sheet. They won’t spread very much, so don’t be afraid to get them too close, maybe an inch or two between each one. Bake scones for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown on top.
4. Let cool and enjoy. Serve warm or reheat if eating later.

And remember, if you need gluten-free use an appropriate flour like buckwheat. Oat flour reduces the gluten levels, but not to the point of zero..so plan accordingly! 🙂

Happy Baking!

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Double-Blueberry Drop Scones

Another exciting culinary adventure during my short trip to Houston was to make blueberry scones from blueberries acquired at the Farmer’s Market – yeah, it surprised me too that they still had some, and that they still tasted good..of course, Houston is pretty much a ‘year-round’ summer spot so who knows.. Anyway, instead of making scones like I normally do, cutting them into cute little triangles, I decided to take a route inspired by Jennifer over at Small Space Sweets. She made my french puff muffins and turned them into drop scones, and ever since I’ve been wanting to do drop scones. I followed our blueberry scone recipe, but I also decided to add in a tablespoon of blueberry ‘crack’ jam – Jo and I call it crack jam, because this jam is by far the BEST blueberry jam either of us have EVER tasted! EVER! It is so addictive, like crack! It provides a multi-blueberry experience, thus Double-Blueberry..

1 batch blueberry scones
1 TBSP blueberry jam

Directions:

1. When making the batter, add in 1 TBSP of blueberry jam. Drop large spoonfuls of batter onto a lined baking sheet or stoneware. Preheat oven to 350°F and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until done.
2. Let cool on baking sheet, serve warm.

Happy Baking!

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I found my thrill…on Blueberry Hill Scones

Now, if you don’t know that song..look it up! Stat! Fats Domino playing in the background, a cup of morning tea, and a warm blueberry scone – it doesn’t get much better! If he wasn’t singing about some lovely lady, he might have surely been singing about these scones! At the Farmers Market this weekend, I procured the second BEST blueberries ever! Second only to a batch I bought from an Omish stand at the FM a few years back – they were that good, I remember them years later…mmmm… But I digress. I almost didn’t want to do anything with these blueberries but eat them by the handfuls. I was strong and persevered. I made these lovely blueberry scones!! So moist and delicious..hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 C oat flour
1 C pastry flour (*or just use all oat flour)
1/2 C brown sugar
2 TBSP baking powder
2 TBSP almond meal *optional
2 TBSP flaxseed *optional
1/4 tsp salt
1 C fresh blueberries, rinsed
1/4 C canola oil
3/4 to 1.25 C oat (or hemp) milk, chilled
1 TBSP lemon extract
turbinado for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients, including berries, in a large bowl.
2. Add wet ingredients. Stir until just combined – resist the urge to overmix.
3. Dump out dough onto floured work surface and cut into triangles. Sprinkle tops with a bit of turbinado sugar.
4. Let dough rest while oven preheats to 400 F. Bake 12-15 min. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

*Note: With the addition of flaxseed, you get a dose of omegas – so it’s not essential to the recipe, but gives it an extra health-boost! The addition of almond meal gives a nice ‘buttery’ appeal about them..again, optional if you don’t have any on hand – not essential, but adds an extra dimension to the scone! For gluten-free, use buckwheat or other gluten-free flour. And for more info on the nutritional benefits of blueberries, check this out!

Happy Baking!

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Blueberry Bran Mini Loaves

For my birthday, my mother sent me some bakeware and accessories from the Pampered Chef stoneware collection. I LOVE getting things for the kitchen as presents – a few Christmas’ back, Jo got me an outstanding set of cookware, and big brother got me a set of Wusthof Classic knives. It couldn’t have been a better Xmas if I had won a bizillion dollars, for which I would spend a great deal on kitchen stuff! But I digress…one of the gifts for this birthday was a mini-loaf stoneware pan which I have been wanting for some time now. Last night I wanted to make bran muffins, and then remembered that today (the 11th) is National Blueberry Muffin Day. So I grabbed a bag of blueberries and decided to make blueberry bran muffins. When I went to fill my muffin pan with liners, I was about 6 liners short! I didn’t want to go to the store just for muffin liners, and that’s when I remembered my gift! Ah, ha ha! Blueberry Bran Mini Loaves!! I was so excited at this notion. Plus, I have been on a mission to recreate the vegan bran muffins Jo and I would eat in Albuquerque from the hippie Coop. And I think I’ve done it!! Or at the very least, come up with an acceptable substitute that is pretty close to the real thing. This recipe is a combined adaptation from several I found on other websites (some not vegan), which I veganized and reduced the gluten levels (but not to 0 for you celiacs..) by using oat instead of wheat. Makes 12 muffins or 4 mini loaves.

Ingredients:

3 C oat bran
1.25 C oat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp (12g) baking soda
1 tsp (6g) baking powder
1/2 tsp (4g) salt
2 TBSP flaxseed + 1/2 C warm water
2/3 C (5oz by weight/156g) almond milk (or other alternative of choice)
2/3 C (5.5 oz/156g) soy yogurt
1/3 C (2.25 oz/65g) canola oil
1/3 C (3.75 oz/108g) molasses (or cane syrup)
1/3 C (3.75 oz/108g) agave nectar
1 tsp (6g) vanilla extract
1/2 C mini blueberries (typically found frozen, thaw before using) – but feel free to use fresh normal size blueberries too, this is just what I had on hand

Directions:

1. Place oven rack in middle of oven and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard size muffin pan or mini loaf pan (I use canola oil) or line the muffin tin with paper liners (which makes cleaning up a breeze).
2. Combine oat bran, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Combine warm water and flaxseed, set aside. Combine milk, yogurt, canola oil, molasses, and nectar in a small bowl and mix well. (Note: you can use all nectar or all molasses instead if desired.) Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, including the flaxseed mixture, and mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon just until combined.
3. Generously fill muffin cups/mini loaf pan with batter. Bake about 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325, cover with foil, and continue to cook an additional 8-10 min, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and serve warm, or let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy them plain, drizzled with a little nectar, or spread with peanut butter and a slather of your favorite jam. Store muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze.

Variations: I think next time I’m going to add about a 1/2-1 C of shredded carrot!! Mmm… Other variations could include the addition of vegan chocolate chips, any other shredded veg like zucchini, any other type of fruit like raspberries or blackberries, addition of various other spices and drizzling with a glaze or even Jo’s Cashew Raspberry Icing to sweeten these up a bit..the possibilities are endless!

*Note: Using oat bran and oat flour reduces the amount of gluten – relative as if you used wheat bran and wheat flour, which is always an option if you so choose. You could do a 50/50 ratio of wheat and oat bran, and a 50/50 ratio of wheat and oat flour. I don’t, however, have any idea how this could be made 100% gluten-free..alas.

Happy Baking!

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Life’s a bowl of cherry scones..

And when that bowl comes fresh from the Farmer’s Market, even better! When I got out of yoga on Saturday, and perused through the Farmer’s Market that is across the street from the studio, I rounded up all the usual suspects: green beans, peaches, zucchini, tomatoes, watermelon… But wait, I spy some red grapes! And what’s that sitting next to them…could it be? Cherries!! Yes! Oh, beautiful cherries! The man let me have a taste of the cherries, and that was it..I couldn’t leave here without some cherries.

So, after a few nibbles..what to make with them. Silly woman, scones of course. I made these with oat flour to get that gluten-free goodness, but any flour will do. This recipe makes about 10-12 scones (depending on how you size them).

Ingredients:

3 C oat flour (for 100% gluten-free, use buckwheat flour)
1/2 C turbinado sugar
2 TBSP baking powder
2 TBSP almond meal
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C almonds
1/2-3/4 C cherries
1/4 C canola oil
3/4 to 1.25 C oat milk (or any other milk alternative)
cap of almond extract

Directions:

1. Pit the cherries (either with a pitter, or by hand like I did). Cut in half, remove pit, cut halves in half – so you’re left with 4 bits per cherry – unless you like a nice hunk of cherry per bite.
2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add almonds and pitted cherries. Stir to mix.
3. Add wet ingredients. Stir to combine – but don’t go nuts with the mixing. Overmixing/overkneading will result in tough, less than flaky, fluffy scones.
4. Dump onto lightly floured work surface. Knead only twice. Cut into triangles.
5. Let dough rest while oven preheats to 400. Bake 12-18 min. The thicker you make them, the longer they need to bake – unless you like that slightly underdone appeal. *Note: In this last picture, it’s only half the batch shown..

Variation: I like to sprinkle my scones with turbinado sugar before baking. It provides a nice crunchiness that appeals to me. Also, this recipe will work for any fruit, such as cranberries (fresh or dried). Experiment with various combo’s of fruits and nuts.

Happy Baking!

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