I used to love baking buttermilk scones, they were a key feature of any afternoon tea party that I put together. But when I became vegan, I did wonder how I would recreate 'buttermilk' and therefore, recreate a standard dairy and butter recipe that I used to use.
As I've found out though - it's actually really easy to make vegan 'buttermilk'. You just mix a little apple cider vinegar with soya milk and hey presto, there you get a funny-looking curdled concoction that works well in any recipe calling for the stuff.
To be honest, the more confident I've become with my baking, the more I've realised that most recipes and foods can be 'veganised' (don't you just love that word?) in some way. So as I'm making an afternoon tea this weekend for a celebration party (I've been 'commissioned' to do it, no less!), I decided to give my old buttermilk scones a go, to test them out in a vegan-stylee.
And guess what? They turned out just fine. More than just fine really, they are delectable. And my son who is home from university at the moment has just given them a big thumbs up, dolloped with some raspberry jam (okay, I know strawberry is more traditional, but we only had the raspberry in).
Anyhow, here's the recipe if you want to give them a go, and I managed to do both UK and US measurements this time. It's really simple to follow.
And soon, I wll try out making a vegan cream to go with the scones - so watch this space!
Vegan 'Traditional' Buttermilk Scones
Makes 12 scones
3 cups/400g plain flour
½ cup/100g caster sugar
¾ cup/200g vegan margerine (I used Pure Sunflower)
1 cup/250ml unsweetened soya milk
1½ tsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1. Preheat the oven to 220 C / gas mark 7 / 425 F
2. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper
3. Pour the soya milk into a jug and mix in the apple cider vinegar. Leave to one side to curdle.
4. Sift the flour and other dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
5. Take the margerine from the fridge (leave there to stay cool until ready) and then cut it into the dry mix. Once the largest pieces have been cut down, get into the bowl with your fingers (clean ones, of course!) to crumb the mixture.
6. When the flour mixture is finely crumbed, stir in the curdled soya milk and mix well.
7. Once the dough is formed, tip out onto a floured surface. If it's too sticky or wet, add more flour into it first and knead in with your hands.
8. Divide the dough in half, then half the pieces again until you have four. Then divide each piece into three, so you have twelve scones altogether.
9. Place the scones on the tray, and bake in the over for about 12 minutes until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack.
10. When cooled, serve with jam and vegan butter or cream.
I'm Andrea, and am obsessed with creating fabulous food. After I managed to ditch dieting, the reason Chocolate and Beyond was born, it seemed natural to evolve my site into a foodie blog. More so since I also ditched animal produce to be vegan. Now, I love showing how inventive cruelty-free cooking can be. And sometimes I like to rant, too. I wouldn't be myself otherwise :) x 
Lovely! They look ace!I'm going to link to this from the CLF facebook page.
Posted by: Caroline | July 18, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Thanks! Yes - let me know if anyone bakes it on Sunday :) Shame I will be missing this month's CLF - will have to come in September!
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | July 19, 2012 at 09:50 AM
They look really scrumptious!
Posted by: JRaines | November 23, 2012 at 02:42 PM
Yummy! Five stars :)
Posted by: Ana C. | August 05, 2013 at 05:26 PM
Thank you Ana! I'm glad you tried these scones out! :)
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | August 06, 2013 at 01:16 PM