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?
The Best Vegan Scones & Clotted Cream
Ingredients
For the Scones
- 225 g self-raising flour ((1 ¾ cups))
- 40 g caster sugar ((¼ cup))
- 75 g vegan butter ((⅓ cup))
- 50 g dried fruit (optional (¼ cup))
- 80 ml aquafaba (chickpea water (Equivalent to one egg) (⅓ cup))
- 3-4 tablespoon non-dairy milk (plus extra for brushing scones)
- A little extra flour for rolling
For the Clotted Cream
- 50 g Vegan butter (¼ cup)
- 75 g icing sugar (½ cup + 2 tbsp)
- 4-6 tablespoon coconut cream
Instructions
For the Scones
- Pre-heat oven to 220⁰C.
- Sift the flour into a bowl, then add the sugar.
- Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingers until the mixture looks crumbly.
- If using dried fruit, add this to the mixture, and add the non-dairy milk.
- Whisk up the aquafaba using the whisk attachment on your 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.
- Pour the whisked aquafaba into the dough mixture. Mix it in with a knife, then bring the mixture together with your hands. The dough should be soft but not too sticky. If the dough seems too dry, add more milk.
- Form the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it out so it’s around 3cm thick. If too thin, the scones will not rise.
- 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.
- When you’ve cut as many as you can, knead the remaining dough together, and repeat the cutting process.
- Put scones on a baking sheet and brush each with a little non-dairy milk.
- Put scones on the top shelf of the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes. They are done when they have risen and gone a golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Serve warm or cold with compote and clotted ‘cream’.
For the clotted cream
- Mix together the vegan butter and icing sugar using an electric whisk.
- Whisk for a few minutes until you have a buttercream.
- Add the coconut cream a bit at a time until you have a light fluffy cream with no lumps.
- 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.
Gina Witt says
Hi! If I use pastry flour, how much baking soda do I sub? Looks great...
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Just add 2 teaspoons of baking soda and they should rise nicely!
Aneeta says
Hi. Why would you add icing sugar to replicate real cream? Does this have to be added to make the recipe work or could I just leave it out so it resembles the type of cream you’d have with scones? Thanks
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
HI Aneeta, the icing sugar adds body to the cream & gives it more of the sweetness that you get with dairy cream. Feel free to leave it out if you don't wish to include it.
Sarah says
You can also just pop a can of coconut cream in the fridge for a few hours until very cold, then use the cream at the top of the can to whisk with a touch of added coconut flour and you will have a coconut whipped cream
Ben says
Tried the clotted cream 3 times and every time it curdled, has this happened to you before? any way of preventing it?
Vanessa says
Hi Ben. This hasn't happened to me, though I know this can happen. Are you adding the coconut cream a bit at a time? Try keeping the ingredients in the fridge first as heat can cause curdling. Also go slow with the electric whisk to not cause too much heat. Please let us know how you get on.
m Rasmussen says
I'm not familiar with gram weight for recipes, I've always baked with dry measures like cups & tablespoons, as well as ounces on a digital weight scale. Is gram weight measured on a digital scale or dry measure in cups? Do you have a conversion of grams to ounces for the vegan clotted cream recipe?
Vanessa says
Hi there. Thanks for the comment. All the gram weights were done on a digital scale. For the clotted cream recipe use:
2.6 oz icing sugar
1.8 oz vegan butter
4-6 tbsp coconut cream
Carolyn Edmond says
Hi,
I definitely want to make the clotted cream with more body to it rather than the plain coconut cream. If I want to reduce the sugar in this recipe would it work to add a little coconut flour and use half the amount of icing sugar? Also, is powdered sugar the same as icing sugar?
Looking forward to making this recipe!
Thank you,
Carolyn
Vanessa Sturman says
Hi thank you for your question. I've not tried that but I think it will work just fine. I am always a fan of trying to reduce sugar in things and coconut flour has good body. Yes - powdered sugar and icing sugar are the same thing. Would love to know what you think of this recipe when you make it. Thanks, Vanessa x