08 Mar The Best Vegan Scones & Clotted Cream

I just adore the taste and tradition around scones and cream teas. Many of us who live in the South of England (or anywhere in the UK come to think of it) will know this as a quintessentially English Afternoon High Tea Treat. And you can still have it even when you’re vegan, with all the trimmings.

Here at the Vegan Larder after a lot of cream tea eating (someone has to do it) , we finally cracked the recipe, and knew we just  had to recipe up and over to you in time for Mother’s Day.

Imagine serving these up to Mum.. Surprise!! All Vegan!!

For the scones, I used aquafaba (the water from a tin of chickpeas) instead of egg. You literally drain the chickpeas, keeping the water, and whisk this up. It takes about ten minutes and needs to look white, fluffy and airy (like eggwhites when they’re whisked). You can use other egg replacements,  such as milled linseed however, aquafaba gives the best, smoothest, & fluffiest result.

(And you can make hummus with the left over chickpeas. Yummm… hummus.)

You can switch up this recipe in so many delicious ways. Make them savoury by leaving out the sugar, and topping with whatever you fancy… olive tapenade, hummus, sundried tomatoes, vegan cheese, cream cheese, chutney. Or leave out the
dried fruit – my family loves scones with sultanas in so that made the decision for me! I think we might try traditional Aussie style pumpkin scones, like Louise’s Granny used to make next. mmmmmm

Endless possibilities.

I like to make my own fruit compote, which is really just a fresh jam, and this is another area you can get creative with flavour combinations. The recipe and details are coming soon (watch this space, we’ll link it here once it’s up!)

As for the clotted cream, we were really pleased with this. I first tried to make it with vegan cream cheese instead of coconut cream. However, Louise tried it and said it was vile. So off I went again to test something else! My worry was that it would taste too much of coconut, but actually this worked brilliantly . No coconutty aftertaste and a delicious creamy texture.

To make coconut cream pop a tin of coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours and it will separate into the cream and milk. Use the
hard cream at the top. The rest is good for cakes, tea, curries…. You can always freeze the rest too. The scones will also be good to freeze, however, I find family and friends tend to devour them before I get the chance!

Now, who can help us out with the age old question. Cream first? Or Jam?

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The Best Vegan Scones & Clotted Cream

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr 15 mins

 

Thought you could never have Cream Tea again? Nope, The Vegan Larder is to the rescue. This delicious scone and clotted cream recipe will please every High Tea lover. All vegan. All Delicious. 

Course: Afternoon Tea, High Tea, Snack

Cuisine: Cornish, English, Vegan

Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the Scones

• 225 g self-raising flour
• 40 g caster sugar
• 75 g vegan butter
• 50 g dried fruit optional
• 60 g aquafaba chickpea water (Equivalent to one egg)
• 3-4 tbsp non-dairy milk plus extra for brushing scones
• A little extra flour for rolling

For the Clotted Cream

• Vegan butter 50g
• 75 g icing sugar
• 4-6 tbsp coconut cream

Instructions

For the Scones

1. Pre-heat oven to 220⁰C.
2. Sift the flour into a bowl, then add the sugar.

3. Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingers until the mixture looks crumbly

4. If using dried fruit, add this to the mixture.

5. Whisk up the aquafaba using the whisk attachment on you food processor or an electric whisk. Start on a low speed, and work up to a high speed. It should take about 10 minutes to get the right consistency.

6. Pour the whisked aquafaba in to the dough mixture. Mix it into dough with a knife, then bring the mixture together with your hands. The dough should be soft but not too sticky. If the dough seems to dry, add more milk.

7. Form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured work surface.

8. Use a rolling pin to roll it out so it’s around 3cm thick. If too thin, the scones will not rise.

9. Use a pastry cutter to cut out scones. Make sure the cutter goes all the way through the dough, and do not twist it, or the scones will be a strange shape. If you don’t have a cutter, you can use an empty clean food tin or glass. 

10. 10. When you’ve cut as many as you can, knead the remaining dough together, and repeat the process.

11. 11. Put scones on a baking sheet and brush each with a little non-dairy milk.
12. 12. Put scones on top shelf of oven.

13. 13. Bake for 12-15 minutes. They are done when they have risen and gone a golden brown

14. 14. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Serve warm or cold with compote and clotted ‘cream’.

Method

1. Mix together the vegan butter and icing sugar using an electric whisk.
2. Whisk for a few minutes until you have a buttercream.

3. Add the coconut cream a bit at a time until you have a light fluffy cream with no lumps.

4. Put in the fridge or serve with scones right away. It will last in the fridge for 2-3 days (in a sealed container) or can also be frozen.