Happy weekend everyone! As summer is sadly (for those of us who haven’t experienced much summer in the UK this year) coming to an end, I’ve had a hankering for something baked with blueberries. I already have a bunch of blueberry themed desserts on the website (including these Polish blueberry buns, this delicious blueberry & lemon loaf and a blueberry studded cheesecake), but I have not yet made vegan blueberry scones so here they are.
They are really quite easy and quick to make and equally quick to eat (unfortunately). We’ve enjoyed all the trial versions this week, which I made in between my driving lessons (Duncan has kindly become my instructor in the absence of my actual instructor and thanks to him, I made so much progress!) and fixing my walls up after our rewire – who knew that I can operate a trowel 😉 . Vegan blueberry scones are a little different to regular vegan scones due to the presence of blueberries, which apart from contributing delicious flavour, also contribute a lot of unwanted moisture and which is why they will never rise as tall as they blueberry-free cousins, but the trade-off is worth it in my opinion. I hope you’ll agree 🙂
Sift flour, xanthan gum (if using GF flour mix), baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar, lemon zest and cardamom. Mix well. Grate cold butter into the bowl with dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until there are no large pieces of butter left.
Mix in blueberries and gradually trickle in plant milk while mixing everything – start off using a knife and then just use your hands. Gently bring the dough together until it just holds together – do not worry about it being smooth.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, flatten it gently with a rolling pin until 2 cm / ¾” thick. Using a 5 cm / 2″ diameter cutter dipped in flour, cut the dough into rounds. Arrange on a baking tray and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, then bake until golden.
BLUEBERRY SCONES
- 250 g / 2 cups all purpose white wheat flour or GF plain flour (I use this one)
- ¾ tsp xantham gum (for GF version only)
- 9 g / 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp fine salt
- 100 g / ½ cup caster sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ tsp freshly ground cardamom (optional)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 60 g / 2.1 oz vegan butter
- 140 g / 1 cup blueberries, fresh (or frozen)
- 135 ml / ½ cup + 1 tbsp plant milk
GLAZE
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp plant milk
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp maple syrup
- demerara sugar or coconut sugar, to sprinkle (optional)
- Place vegan butter in the freezer for 30 minutes or so.
- Sift flour, xanthan gum (if using GF flour mix), baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar, lemon zest and cardamom (if using). Mix well.
- Grate cold butter into the bowl with dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until there are no large pieces of butter left.
- Mix in blueberries and gradually trickle in plant milk while mixing everything – start off using a knife and then just use your hands. Gently bring the dough together until it just holds together – do not worry about it being smooth.
- Set the oven temperature to 200° C / 390° F (no fan) and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, flatten it gently with a rolling pin until 2 cm / ¾” thick. Using a 5 cm / 2″ diameter cutter dipped in flour, cut the dough into rounds. Arrange on a baking tray and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
- Mix all the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl, use a pastry brush to apply the glaze to the scones, sprinkle each scone with a pinch of brown sugar.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 23-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms are cooked. Consume on the day.