Perfect?
Yes that is quite a claim, but after a least a dozen tries, I can say unabashedly, that these vegan scones are pretty pretty good. Classic scone recipes, dating back over one hundred years, include a fat (butter or lard), cream, sometimes eggs and often sugar. To get as close to perfect with these vegan ones, I used 👉🏼 cashew cream 👈🏼for, well, that creaminess, a little lemon juice to react with the baking powder for a good rise, flax eggs for some structure, and just a bit of sugar. Also raisins or currents are popular historically, so I added raisins as they add to texture and sweetness.
Prep your ingredients
I could go on about the history of scones, my current obsession with The Great British Baking Show, how I first made scones on a griddle when I was 12, but…let’s just get to it.
Gather your ingredients:
Mix your flax and water and set aside. Add the lemon juice to the cream and set aside. You want the flax eggs to gel a bit and this takes about 5 minutes. As for the lemon juice and cream, you are basically creating a buttermilk. This now acidic milk reacts with the baking powder in the recipe and allows the scones to rise nicely in the oven 🤓.
Measure and mix the flour with baking powder and salt. I have found quite a difference weighing flour rather than scooping; it is entirely more accurate and no added effort. And, yes, it will make you feel like such an accomplished baker! I’ve had the one pictured above for about 3 years, only $10 on Amazon.
Rub the Earth Balance (or other vegan butter) into the flour mix. I love doing this; it’s very relaxing and in a few minutes you’ll have a nice crumbly mixture. To this mixture you will add the raisins. Adding them at this point allows them to disperse nicely so they don’t fall to the bottom and, because they mix in easily, you don’t run the risk of overworking the dough. Overworking might happen if you add them after you have mixed in the liquid; overworking makes a tougher scone 😉 NO OVERWORKING!
Make the dough
Stir the sugar in with the cream and plant milk. This will allow the sugar to dissolve. Pour this along with the flax eggs over the flour mixture.
Gently stir it all to combine. A sticky soft dough is what you want. However, if it seems too dry, feel free to add a little more plant milk (the dough should stick a bit to your fingers). After that, sprinkle that remaining flour on your counter and tip the dough on top:
Fold your dough. Gently! Lift the top over the bottom and gently press, turn and repeat. Do this a few times to incorporate the flour. After about a minute or less your dough will be ready to roll.
Roll out your now perfect vegan scones dough to about an inch thickness.
Cut out scones by pressing a 2 inch cookie cutter or glass directly down on the dough, without twisting. You want these to rise as evenly as possible. When you twist your cutter or glass, the dough on the sides of the scones compress and, therefore, rise unevenly🤓! This recipe yields roughly 20 scones; divide to two baking sheets; brush the tops with plant milk and sprinkle with sugar:
Bake for 15-18 minutes and you’ll have gorgeously perfect vegan scones.
Ready, set…BAKE!
Crispy exterior, light and soft body, these perfect vegan scones are made with cashew cream and flax eggs. They are gorgeous warm from the oven or when toasted and topped with a little vegan butter or jam.
- 450 g flour (about 3 ¾ cups) divided take about 50g or ½ cup and set aside
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 50 g vegan butter (about 3½ tbsp) try Earth Balance
- ⅔ cup raisins
- 50 g vegan white sugar (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 250 g cashew cream
- 2 flax eggs 2T flaxmeal mixed with 6T water
- 2 tbsp oat milk or other unsweetened plant milk
- 1 tbsp plant milk to brush tops of raw scones
- 2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling
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Preheat oven to 425°F.
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Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In a small bowl or ramekin, mix flax meal with water and set aside.
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In a medium bowl whisk the cashew cream with lemon juice and set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, mix together 400 g of the flour (3 ¼ cups) baking powder and salt.
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Add the butter to the flour mixture and rub with your fingers until mixture resembles crumbs.
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Add in raisins and distribute evenly in flour mixture.
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Add the prepared flax eggs and oat milk to the cashew cream and stir together.
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Pour about half of cashew cream mix into bowl with flour mixture and stir gently to just combine.
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Gradually add remainder of liquid, again mixing very gently, until you have a soft sticky dough.
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Sprinkle the flour you set aside onto your worktop.
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Tip the dough onto the flour and very gently flip and fold the dough into the flour until smooth.
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Roll out dough to 1 inch thickness.
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Press 2 inch cookie cutter or glass straight down into dough WITHOUT TWISTING.
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Remove dough rounds to prepared baking sheets, keeping scones baout 2 inches apart.
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Gather and gently push together dough scraps and repeat cutting out scones. You should have about 20.
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Brush TOPS ONLY with plant milk and sprinkle with sugar.
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Bake 15-18 minutes until golden then cool on baking racks.
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Enjoy immediately, or cook completely and stoe in an airtight container.
Cashew cream is used in the recipe. If you don’t have any on hand, refer to my CASHEW CREAM recipe. You can also boil one cup of raw cashews for 20 min, drain then blend with one cup of water. Now you have cashew cream. Simply measure out what you need for this recipe.
