I feel like this might be the last post I write in a while…

It’s not that I won’t be baking but it might just be that you don’t get to hear about every little adventure. Nothing exciting is happening, it’s just I might spend my evenings reading and listening to podcasts. I realised I have multiple un-listened to podcasts and audiobooks on my phone and unread books on Kindle. I have this weekend finished listening to ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E Frankl and ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker, both fascinating. I’m just starting ‘NW’ by Zadie Smith. So I think that’s how I want to spend my time over the next few months and may I won’t write so much about cake, bread and biscuits!

In the meantime I’ll share that last thing I baked last week. Vegan lemonade scones. I wanted to use up the lemonade that was still in the fridge. I had made scones in the summer, seems a lifetime away, using a recipe that involved 3-ingredients, at the time we were in the height of the pandemic (well the 1st wave and lockdown at least) and baking was my refuge and relief. They were quite nice and ridiculously easy to make. So I thought, why not make some more? I did not have any double cream so I Googled vegan lemonade scones, and this was one of the first recipes to come up:

It was quite easy but I have to say, messy , very messy and sticky ! They were very tasty (bearing in mind that I used sugar free lemonade) and bouncy. I find myself munching on one when I am hungry, they go well with a cup of tea, nice for breakfast and somehow nice with scrambled eggs. I’ve not yet eaten with anything remotely jam or cream-like but there is still time!

Ingredients 

•  1 cup dairy-free milkcold
•  1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
•  3½ cups self-raising flour self-rising
•  ¾ cup lemonade Sprite, cold

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 210°C (410°F) and line a baking tray.
• To make the vegan buttermilk, combine the milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl and set aside. 
• Sift the flour in to a large mixing bowl and, using a butter knife, create a well in the centre. 
• After 5 minutes, add the buttermilk and the lemonade. Bring the mixture together using the butter knife. 
• When it is loosely combined, tip the mixture out on to a floured surface. Touch the dough only enough to bring it together in to a rectangle. 
• Dip a round cookie cutter – or the rim of a glass – in to flour and cut the dough in to rounds. Dip the cutter in to the flour after each round. 
• Place the rounds so they are just touching on the prepared baking tray and brush them with a little milk. 
• Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes or until risen and golden. 
• Remove the oven and separate to serve with jam and coconut whipped cream. 

Notes

1. Sift your flour for deliciously fluffy and light scones
2. Use cold lemonade and milk. This will make them rise up beautifully when they hit the hot oven.
3. Use a butter knife to bring the batter together in a bowl not a spoon.
4. As soon as the dough comes together tip it out on to a floured surface and, with floured hands, bring it together in to a rectangle about an inch tall. No need to knead!
5. The less you touch your scone batter the lighter and fluffier they will be. The dough is super sticky but that’s OK. Don’t be tempted to add flour or work it too much.
6. Dip your cookie cutter in plain flour before cutting each scone to avoid it sticking to your mix.
7. Place the cut rounds on the baking tray so they are just touching. This will help them rise up and keep each other from drying out on the sides.
8. Separate each scone using the cutter with a push motion not a twist – twisting will give you wonky scones. Having said that, my scones are often wonky and I love them anyway!