Vegan (Almost) Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones 5/5 Spoons

Well I am going to brag, this is my own recipe and it is AWESOME. Okay, so I kind of just tweaked the Vegan Tomato Rosemary Scone (which is so delicious) from Vegan Brunch but I say it's different enough that I can call it my own. (And I kind of fudged up and bought the non-vegan Ghiradelli chips by accident, but this can be easily remedied on my next trip to the store!)

One day on the bus I was contemplating how I can change up this scone but still a. keep it vegan and b. keep it moist. I know scones aren't supposed to be all moist and shit, but I don't care, this is my recipe. I was thinking of other wet ingredients that could replace the tomato sauce in this recipe. And bam! Pumpkin! Duh. Making a dessert version of this scone was the first on my list. And since I'm trying to start my own Etsy shop of my baked goods, I thought this one would be a great way to start!

(Excuse my awful phone photos, once I'm an acclaimed baker with a cookbook deal, then I will buy a nicer camera.)

Here is the recipe:

Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones (this is exactly as I did it, but if you change it up, please let me know what you did to make it your own!)

3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (and extra for your kneading surface)
2 T. baking powder
1/3 c. sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw, but ya know, do your thang)
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. cinnamon (I used my fancy Penzey's Spices for this recipe!)
1/4 t. ginger, cloves and nutmeg
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/3 c. vegetable oil (This is ideal but olive oil would work in a pinch.)
1 1/2 c. pumpkin (Ya know, the unsweetened canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix and I doubt anyone has fresh pumpkin puree just hanging around, but please use that if you do!)
1 t. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep your sheet pan with a Silpat, parchment paper or some light cooking spray.

Sift the flour with the baking powder in a large bowl. Add the spices, salt and sugar; mix well.

In a separate bowl/measuring cup whisk together the pumpkin, oil, vanilla and vinegar until well combined.

Add the wet to the dry and mix until it just comes together. Just before completely blending everything together, add your chips. It is good to have a few spots of flour left before you dump it out on your floured working surface. Knead the dough on your floured surface a few times just to incorporate everything but not until it is too tough to move around. This should be a soft dough but still easy to manage.

Fold your ball into a disk shape about 2 inches high and about 8 inches across. Or ya know, the size of like a medium size dinner plate. Take a knife or a bench scraper and cut the dough in half. Take one half and cut the dough into 6 triangles. Repeat with the other side. I actually ended up making 10 scones instead of 12 (we like our scones big). Take each scone and place it on your sheet with just a little bit of room in between (they don't puff up too much).

Mine took about 25 minutes to bake. They were firm and dry on top but still gave a little when I pressed their middles. I also tested them with a toothpick to make sure they were not too doughy. And voila! Scones! Let these cool and eat. And if you have leftovers, just throw them under a paper towel overnight or a container with a lid for a few days. I doubt they will last that long.

(That is me being excited!)

I just want to thank you all for reading my blog. I really mean it. It's so nice knowing there are people everywhere reading and enjoying my love for food with me. Don't forget, I have an e-mail address (nomeatmama@gmail.com) where you can ask questions, request a recipe for me to make and review or ya know, if you want to pay me to make things for you, I'm more than excited to do that. I'll be back again soon with more deliciousness!

Cara's Buttermilk Bread 5/5 Spoons

Did you know that toast is my favorite food? Yeah, that's right. I am an immense lover of food and to me nothing is better than two perfectly crispy, crunchy, toasty and buttery pieces of soft, dense bread. It can go wrong obviously like any meal. You could over toast your bread (although I like it pretty dark), use bad butter/butter substitute (I use Earth Balance, it is my favorite) or you could just flat out use the wrong bread. Obviously everyone's toast tastes are a very personal thing. My ideal toast is thick, chewy sourdough bread toasted until dark brown and slathered with Earth Balance.

I stayed up until 2 am last night baking/proofing/caressing Cara's Buttermilk Bread and it was worth every minute of sleep I lost. This is decidedly easy and a great way to use up extra buttermilk if you have it in the fridge. This was not hard, but you do need some time management skills. You need to make sure you have 3 hours (give or take) to make, check, form and bake your bread. It is worth it, trust me. I woke up this morning to an amazing loaf of healthy, homemade bread and TOAST. My god, the toast was splendid. I love knowing exactly what went into that loaf of bread. There are no hidden ingredients or weirdo chemicals I can't pronounce. I think I'm gonna start making a loaf of bread for myself every week instead of buying my regular challah at the grocery store.



(Pictures courtesy of One Hot Stove)

Here are my few tweaks and just general impatient bread maker notes:

-- I used half unbleached all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. That's pretty much what I do now for all my dough recipes.
-- I skipped a step and just kneaded it, formed it into a loaf like shape, oiled the pan and let that rise for about 2 1/2 hours. This is instead of step 5 and 6. It worked well and there was less kneading and fooling around with the dough then.
-- When I baked it, I only left it in for about 30 minutes. It says 45 and I think that would be good too, but I wanted my bread to be a bit doughy. And it was, deliciously so.
-- And this was my bad, but I didn't take the bread out of the loaf pan overnight. I set it in the microwave to cool but keep moist but when I took it out this morning, the bottom was a tad soggy. So before you let it cool, take it out of its loaf pan to let it dry out.



I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

If I could give it more I would. I realize I skipped my Vegetarian Taco Tater Tot Casserole, I'll get around to it but this was far more important to me to write about. Hope this finds everyone well!

Kentucky Biscuits Recipe 5/5 Spoons

So once again, I decided to make these at like midnight last night. I always have a hankering to bake in the middle of the night. I will say that when I wake up in the morning with fresh biscuits it really starts your day off right.



(photo courtesy of TheLitterbox101 at allrecipes.com)

I honestly don't have much to say about these biscuits besides praising them highly. The only thing I changed is putting 1/2 t. of kosher salt instead of a dash. At first I thought they weren't salty enough (I used unsalted butter) but this morning when they were at room temp, I thought they had the best flavor. So if you can stand letting them come to room temp, you won't be sorry. The biscuit is super easy to make (about 30 minutes total mixing and baking) and it is so tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.

You could easily make these vegan by using about 1/2 - 1 t. of vinegar or lemon juice and filling it up to 3/4 c. with soymilk and Earth Balance for a butter substitute. I haven't tried it because it is hard to find Earth Balance sticks here unless it is at Whole Foods. If any one of my vegan friends/readers make these, please let me know. I would be curious to know how they turn out.

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

You will hear from me soon with the Buttermilk Lemon Bars I mentioned in the previous post. Obviously at this point I'm trying to use up the rest of the buttermilk in my fridge, haha. I hope they are worth the wait!