Most vegans will confess that giving up cheese is one of the hardest challenges when first changing their diet, for me it was not only the cheese but now suddenly not being able to bake with butter! Having to completely change the way I cooked left me feeling a bit lost, confused (and useless if I'm honest) because I had always prided myself on my buttery cookies, tasty banana breads and fluffy cheese scones! After almost resigning to the sad realization that I might never again enjoy perfect baked goodness I decided to play around with an old tried and trusted New Zealand cheese scone recipe from the Edmonds Cookbook and I was pretty blown away by the results!
So let's get right into it; first of all the oil you will need to use for this recipe is coconut oil (normal oil wont work) this is because the key to the success of your scones is all in the way the flour rubs in with the butter (or oil in our case) as coconut oil behaves in a similar way to butter, (hardening when cool and softening when warm) it's perfect at replicating the consistency needed for fluffy light scones. You can use margarine if you don't have coconut oil but in my experience it didn't create the same fluffiness. Secondly to get that super cheesy flavour you'll need two types of vegan cheese (I used nutritional yeast and vegan mozzarella). You also want to make sure you season the scones well as regular cheese adds a lot of flavor so make sure you taste the batter before putting it into the oven. The technique when making the scones is really important too so be careful to follow the recipe closely and not to over mix the batter, you want to work fast!
The scones are best enjoyed fresh out of the oven topped with vegan butter and tomato relish! Enjoy!
Prep time 20 mins
Ingredients
3 cups of plain white flour (substitute with chickpea flour for gluten free option)
6tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
Pinch of pepper
75g of coconut oil firm (refrigerate if you live in a hot climate)
3 tbsp of nutritional yeast
1/2 cup of dairy free cheese
3/4 cup of dairy free unsweetened milk
More milk to brush on top of scones before putting them in the oven
Method
preheat the oven to 230 degrees celcius
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and combine with salt and pepper
Rub in the coconut oil (you want the oil to be soft like butter but not liquid) use your hands and rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Make a well in the centre and add the nutritional yeast, cheese and milk and quickly combine using a blunt butter knife - the mixture should look like soft dough and be a little sticky, add a little more milk if you need too
Cut the scones to the size you want and place on a greased baking tray
Brush on a little more of the milk on top of the scones
Bake for 10-15mins or until golden brown
Serve fresh from the oven with your favorite toppings