Strawberry Scones - Dairy Free
Sconedays: How to Make Fresh Fruit Scones
Strawberries are coming into peak season, so it’s a great time to enjoy these scones for brunch, with tea, or just because.
We first made strawberry scones a couple of weeks ago for Easter brunch. Our friends and family found them hard to resist, especially with a side of non-dairy clotted cream (recipe coming soon). We enjoyed the scones so much, we made them again the following week on blog day.
We’d been wanting to make a fresh fruit scone, but most recipes use frozen fruit in order to keep the fruit from disintegrating and making the scones soggy. We experimented and found that lightly kneading in the sliced fresh strawberries allowed the fruit to stay whole without the red juice running into the dough.
(Accidental) Taste Test Kitchen
An interesting result occurred when we made two batches on two separate days. We found that each of us measured the flour in different ways. That was a good, although accidental, test that helped us improve the instructions. We added flour measuring tips to the recipe notes to ensure that you’ll get fluffy, tender scones.
Flour that’s been sitting in a container or bag on the shelf gets pretty packed down. If you measure it right out of the bag that way, you can end up with more flour than the recipe calls for. That’s why many bakers prefer to weigh dry ingredients. Without needing to own a kitchen scale, another simple method is to stir the flour while it’s in the container or bag, which breaks up the clumps and lets air in. This method makes for a more accurate measurement in most cookie, scone and biscuit recipes.
How can you tell if you’ve added too much flour? Scone dough when it’s ready to be shaped should feel sticky and not too dry. Even though our second batch turned out a little dryer than we wanted, they still tasted good.
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Strawberry Scones - Dairy Free
ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup well-chilled, vegan margarine
- 1 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy)
- 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or regular white vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sliced strawberries (about 8 medium)
- 1 beaten egg (or non-dairy milk)
- turbinado sugar (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Strawberry Scones - Dairy Free
- Heat oven to 400°
- Wash, trim and hull the strawberries. Pat them dry to avoid adding excess moisture to the scones. Slice enough of the strawberries to fill 1 cup: cut in half lengthwise and slice crosswise into 1/4" thick pieces.
- In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, stir white balsamic vinegar into the almond milk. Set aside.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour (see notes), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Slice the margarine into small cubes. Cut in the margarine with a pastry blender or fork until coarse and resembles the size of small peas.
- Mix the vanilla into the almond milk.
- With a fork, stir in the milk until the dough just comes together. The dough should be sticky.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board. With floured hands, divide the dough in half, setting one half aside. Lightly press the remaining half of the dough into a 5-6" circle. Drop half of the sliced strawberries evenly over the top. Gently knead the dough 2-3 times to distribute the strawberries without crushing them.
- Pat the dough into a circle about 3/4" thick. With a dough scraper or large knife, cut into 6 or 8 triangles.
- Place on an ungreased baking sheet. For easy cleanup, use silpat mats or parchment paper.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Lightly whisk the egg (or use non-dairy milk) and brush over the tops of the scones. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar before baking.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until golden brown and done in the middle (around the fruit). Store leftover scones in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
