Although I live in Ireland there's one bit of Englishness that will stay with me forever, and that's my love for home-baked scones.
Those featured above are the long-time favourite sugar-free spelt & wholewheat, my own recipe, which I (used to) eat every single day... until I made my mind to take that last step to veganism.
In England we have the tradition of "afternoon tea" - usually scones with lavish amounts of jam & butter, or jam & cream, served together with a nice big steaming pot of tea. If they're fresh out the oven you can't beat them... the best snack in the whole world.
(source)
However, the problem with traditional scones is that they rely heavily on animal products - namely butter, milk and eggs. A recipe that requires only one of these ingredients is hard enough to make vegan, but all three? Tricky.
This was the one recipe that was holding back my impending veganism!
You may wonder why I wouldn't simply bake myself an easier vegan snack and save the trouble. But you see, for me there's just no substitute. I don't eat much bread (though I bake plenty for my family!) and scones are one of those wonderfully versatile snacks that you can make plain or fruity, savoury or sweet, light and fluffy or crumbly, and never get bored of the endless options.
But a few days ago I finally cracked it! Look at these beauties of which I'm so proud...!
Although not quite as 'light and fluffy' as traditional buttery/milky/eggy scones, they are an excellent vegan version. As you can see they have risen well, they slice well, and they taste, well, like scones!!!
One of the many reasons I love baking is it's soooo sensual.
And this is a very important thing to realise, because if you can get the raw mixture feeling right at each stage of the process, then the product is likely to turn out successfully.
The ingredients you substitute have to behave in a similar way to the original otherwise it might - quite literally - fall apart!
For example, 'scoopable' coconut oil behaves similar to butter, whereas olive oil doesn't. For me, flavour is a secondary consideration rather than the first, and is usually easier to accomplish.
My son has never been able to tolerate dairy very well, and I'm pleased to now have a stock of vegan scones for him to snack on too. Like his Mama he loves a good scone!
And as a Mama you do anything for your children and their health :-)
We even left a few crumbs for the birdies...
Watch out for the RECIPE post this week!!!
If you have any healthy suggestions or recipes that would make great snacks, please tag your post with #makeithealthy and they will feature in the new curation series "Make It Healthy LUNCHBOX". Let's get our children eating healthy NOW so they don't have to learn how to heal later on in life!
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