Publised on 25/01/2022. Last Updated on 24/08/2024 by Richard
Simple, classic vegan scones, just like Mam used to make! Perfect with jam and my vegan cream!
I have been searching far and wide for vegan scones that taste like home. My Mam is what we affectionately call a "scone hound", meaning that we'll be driving along the motorway at 80MPH and you'll see her nostrils start to twitch. She'll suddenly wrestle the steering wheel out of your hands and swerve you off the road and through the front window of a tea room. Whether it's lemon poppy seed scones, classic scones or blueberry scones, her desire for scones knows no bounds and she refuses to let ANYTHING stand in her way when the scent of fresh scones wafts before her.
But guess what? She's vegan now, so she's been hankering for some scones in a way that can only inflict long-lasting trauma. I HAVE A SOLUTION MAM - IT'S MY VEGAN SCONE RECIPE!!
Jump to:
🧈 What are Vegan Scones?
Some cultures don't appreciate scones, but I won't hold that against them. I actually weirdly understand it. In many ways, scones are actually pretty bland and kinda dry. But what people don't realise is THAT'S THE POINT! The scone is essentially the PUREST VESSEL for transporting jam and (vegan) cream to your mouth hole!
Done correctly, vegan scones are buttery, golden brown little craggy mountains of joy. Like a slightly sweetened, less flaky version of an American biscuit, made with plenty of vegan butter and ready to be cut open while still warm and slathered with jam.
🧈 Vegan Scones Ingredients
Here's a quick breakdown of what's ion vegan scones. Remember, this isn't the full recipe - you'll need to scroll to the bottom of the page for that. Here's everything you'll need to get started.
- Self-raising flour (plus more for dusting)
- Baking powder
- Fine sea salt
- Caster sugar
- Vegan butter (chilled in the fridge and cut into cubes)
- Soy milk (at room temperature)
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon juice
🥣 Method
As Queen Elizabeth the First once said "When making scones, less is more, binch!" and she was right! Less truly is more when it comes to scones. They're surprisingly easy and quick to make EXACTLY BECAUSE they're so low maintenance. The full recipe is below, but here are the steps to making perfect vegan scones broken down with pretty images.
1. Mix dry ingredients! Sieve together them dry ingredients my friend, sieve em good! Or, don't, actually you could very easily do a bodge job of sieving and you'd still end up with stunning scones. You'll see in the recipe that I call for self-raising flour. This is a standard when it comes to vegan scones recipes, but if you don't have any, don't worry. You can absolutely make your own by following these instructions.
2. Add vegan butter! Next up you want to add your cubed vegan butter. work it into the flour with your fingers until you have a nice sandy textured looking mixture. I can guarantee I'll get loads of people asking to sub the vegan butter with something I've never heard of like wild orchid treacle milked in the light of a waning moon. My advice is to NOT DO THIS. Scones need butter baby, even if that butter is vegan! So find your best sub. Ideally vegan block butter, but if you have to use margarine, that's fine too.
3. Add wet ingredients! This is where our vegan scones dough comes together. Our wet ingredients are essentially just soy milk, vanilla and a little lemon juice to help activate the baking powder. Yes, I'm sure you can use another plant milk in this recipe. No, I haven't tried any others. Yes, I will still attend afternoon tea at your house when the vegan scones inevitably turn out perfect because you have better baking skills than you give yourself credit for! Form a dough but DON'T OVERMIX THE DOUGH! I mean seriously, it should be very shaggy and crumbly, like my sense of humour.
4. Cut out and bake! Once you've got a vegan scone dough that's JUST ABOUT holding together, you'll want to cut out your scones. I've advised using 5cm cookie cutters. Another tip - don't use cutters with wobbly sides. Plain circle cutters result in the best rise on your vegan scones, so don't get fancy - there's no need.Another tip - it's a good idea to dunk your cutter in flour before cutting out each vegan scone. It just stops it from sticking to the dough and helps keep things smooth. And now we bake! See! Easy peasy!
🧞♂️ Hint
The rule for vegan scones is hot and quick! I have my oven at 200ºc usually and bake for only around 10-12 mins - just until they're golden on top. Speaking of golden tops, the key to a nice one is your vegan egg wash. Mine uses plant milk (pref soy) and some maple syrup. That's it. It'll help everything to brown beautifully.
🔄 Substitutions
This recipe is simple, but it's also super friendly to a whole bunch of dietary requirements! Here's how to tweak things so EVERYONE can enjoy:
- Gluten Free - If you're gluten free, don't worry. These vegan scones work great with a simple substitution of gluten free flour. My favourite brand is Freee or Bob's Red Mill.
- Soy Free - Again, super simple fix! Just swap out the soy milk for any other plant milk and double check that your vegan butter doesn't contain any soy. Easy!
Let me know via instagram if you make any swaps or subs. Did you try serving with fresh fruit? Did you sprinkle with cinnamon? I wanna know!
🥞 How to Serve Vegan Scones
Now it's time to fill your scones with some stuff! Traditional is either raspberry or strawberry jam and cream. I'd advise you use my vegan whipped cream, because it was LITERALLY CREATED FOR THIS PURPOSE!Now dive in! Wrap your gob around the entire thing and wash it down with a cup of hot tea! Ahhhh, HAPPY NOW MAM?!? Here are some other fillings if you fancy going rogue:
- Vegan lemon curd (aka the filling from my vegan lemon meringue pie!)
- Vegan nutella - my fave brand is Vego!
- Ice cream!! Make a scone ice cream sandwich? I don't know! Do what you want baby!
🔪 Equipment
Here's all you'll need to make my vegan scones!
- Oven
- 1 Large bowl
- Sieve
- Measuring Jug
- Baking tray
- Pastry brush
🤷♀️ Vegan Scones FAQs
A: Traditionally, no. Scones contain eggs, butter and milk. However it's super easy to veganise the recipe. Just follow my instructions below!
A: Scones are served cold or slightly warmed but not hot. Scones need time to cool after being baked, otherwise they'll be far too crumbly textured.
A: Keep scones in an airtight container once baked and cooled. Alternatively, wrap tightly and freeze until you need them.
And that's it! Don't forget to try my vegan strawberry shortcake recipe too, for a flakier, Americanised version of the delightful British Scone! Prefer to bake a cake? Why not try my vegan carrot cake, my vegan lemon poppyseed cake or my classic victoria sponge!
Vegan Scones
Equipment
- oven
- 1 Large bowl
- Sieve
- Measuring Jug
- Baking tray
- pastry brush
Ingredients
For the Scones
- 350 g self-raising flour plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoon caster sugar
- 90 g vegan butter chilled in the fridge and cut into cubes
- 180 g soy milk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
For the "Egg" wash
- 3 tablespoon soy milk
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
For Serving
- jam for serving
- my vegan cream for serving
Instructions
To Make the Scones
- Preheat the oven to 200c (fan) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- In a large bowl, sieve together the self-raising flour, baking powder, fine sea salt and caster sugar. Add the cubed vegan butter and rub it into the flour with your fingers until the mixture resembles sandy crumbs.350 g self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, 3 tablespoon caster sugar, 90 g vegan butter
- In a measuring jug, whisk together the soy milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add to the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle the top with a little extra flour.180 g soy milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- Pat the dough into a rough circle around 4 cm deep, then use a 5cm circular cutter to cut out as many scones as you're able. Pat the leftovers back into a 4cm rough circle and repeat until you can no longer cut out any scones - for me this process yielded 9 scones.
- Transfer the cut-out scones to a lined baking tray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the "egg" wash ingredients then brush the tops of the scones using a pastry brush. Place in the oven to bake for 10 minutes or until fully risen and lightly golden.3 tablespoon soy milk, 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving with jam and vegan whipped cream.jam, my vegan cream
Martha L Hughes
your scones are the best i ever made or eaten, they are our favorite in my house, thank you for sharing your recipe, God bless
Des
Fantastic Recipe - yummo
Chris
This was a great recipe, thick but soft, flaky, and easy to make. My family loves it. Thanks
Shama
This was nothing special but very easy to make. It definitely needed longer than 10 minutes in my oven. They were quite pale so be generous with the maple milk wash. They weren't flaky nor did they have stand out flavour or texture. However with traditional scone fillings, they are fine. So I would say follow this recipe if you are in a pinch as it's a simple no fuss recipe. This may not be for you if you're looking for a memorable scone to impress people
Mind your business
Less than meh. These were dry, flat and pretty gross. Tasted like a saltine cracker without the salt. Ate half a scone and threw the rest in the bin. No thanks.