honey nut scones

Of all the tasty treats I bake, scones are my favorite. I often bake them right before my kick-ass group cycling class on Saturday mornings. A time when I wake up a little too early, but not super early.  They’re perfect, because, with scones you don’t have to wait for room-temperature butter, the ingredients come together quickly, and they’re unfussy.

Honey Nut Scones were baked by the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers in November of 2011. Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake was the host and you can find the recipe HERE or in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking…From My Home to Yours.

Maple-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits

For a slightly different take on biscuits, you might want to try a batch of Maple-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits. They are not the fluffy cloud filled with butter type of  traditional biscuit. Instead, with the addition of cornmeal, they are a bit gritty. The subtle, sweet taste of maple syrup compliments the texture. The mix of the two components makes it work. Speaking of work, there’s not much. No rolling and patting and cutting. These are drop biscuits. Just my kind. 🙂

The Tuesdays with Dories v1.0 baked these biscuits in May 2011. Lindsey of A Little Something Sweet was the host. You can find the recipe here: Maple-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits.

Chocolate! Peanut Butter! Scones!

Need I write more? Who doesn’t love the combination of chocolate & peanut butter? Hannah of BitterSweet had the genius of making scones with them. Scones! Yes, scones. A treat you can call breakfast.

Chocolate-Glazed Peanut Butter Scones was the second recipe I tried from Hannah’s book, My Sweet Vegan. Not only is there peanut butter  (chunky!) in the scones, there is peanut butter (smooth!) in the chocolate drizzle.

Like all scones, the dough quickly came together. Instead of making four large scones as directed in the recipe, I made 12 mini-scones. The texture was very scone-like–a little dry, crumbly, and with just a hint of sweet. I’ve made vegan scones that were more cake-like in texture. When I make a scone, I want it to taste like a scone and they did.

I baked them for a meeting and they were enjoyed by all. The problem with making minis is that people can’t just eat one and they were gone quicker than it took to bake them–12 minutes.

If you would like the recipe, buy the book.

Vegan Cranberry and Spice Scones

I didn’t realize Thanksgiving was so close. I knew I would be out of the country and wouldn’t have to plan a dish, dessert, or two. I didn’t pay attention to where the holiday fell on the calendar. I was vaguely aware of that the holiday was coming up. It’s hard not to be aware of it with every magazine cover screaming Thanksgiving or all the wonderful blog posts about delicious sounding dishes.

It took me by surprise then when a coworker told me Thanksgiving was next week {I wrote this on November 18}. Really? Next week? Wow.

Anyway, I made these scones and brought them in my last day of work before I left for vacation as a Thanksgiving/Holiday treat. The recipe comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch and is an incarnation of autumn flavors and scents. While they baked (and cooled!!) they made my kitchen smell so good. It almost made me a bit sad to be missing Thanksgiving. Almost. Until I remembered I would be sailing the South Pacific today. 😛

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry and Spice Scones

Adapted from Vegan Brunch

• 1 1/4 cups almond milk
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Raw sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together almond milk and vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
3. In large bowl, whisk  flours, baking powder, spices, sugar, and salt together until well-combined. Stir in dried cranberries. Make a well in center.
4. Add oil and vanilla to almond milk mixture and pour into dry ingredients. Stir until just moistened and combined.
5. Use a 1/4 measuring cup or large ice cream scoop to place mounds on baking sheet. Sprinkle tops of scones with raw sugar. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 22 minutes until the scones are lightly browned and firm to touch. Remove from oven and place scones on rack to cool for at least 20 minutes.

Makes 12 large scones.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones

They may not be the prettiest scones, but they sure are tasty. For today’s Pumpkin Week recipe I baked Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones from Veganomicon. These vegan scones are perfectly spiced and really more cake-like than scone- like.They also use fresh cranberries, which I had to coarsely chop. How do you coarsely chop fresh cranberries with out them rolling all over the place?