Strawberry Scones

While visiting my family in South Florida during spring break, my mom and I had an excellent lunch at Farmer's Table in Boca.  On our way out, we noticed the little take-out cafe on the side had 3(!!!) vegan dessert options, including a fabulous blueberry scone.  The next day, I got the itch to bake.  Although we didn't have an blueberries at home, we did have some beautiful fresh Florida strawberries.  I did a quick Google search and found a recipe that I was able to vegan-ize quite easily.  The original recipe can be found here.


Strawberry Scones:

• 1 cup strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance, cut into cubes and softened
• 2/3 cup almond milk + 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 400.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Sprinkle strawberries with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and set aside.  Combine 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt with a fork.  Using a pastry cutter, cut in Earth Balance.  Stir in strawberries.  Then add almond milk mixture and vanilla.  Use a spatula to gently stir the dough until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead the dough gently, adding a little bit of flour at a time if the dough is too sticky.  Press the dough into a circle that's about 3/4 of an inch thick.  Cut the circle into 8 wedges.  Place the wedges on your prepared cookie sheet, about 1/2 an inch of space between each wedge.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle scones with remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar, then bake 5-10 more minutes until very lightly golden brown and the tops spring back when touched.  Do not over bake, because you do not want dry scones!

I enjoyed mine warm out of the oven with a cup of Earl Grey tea.  These would also be great with some vegan pastry cream on the side.  You could also sub other fruits for the strawberries.  Let me know what scone creations you make!