Sugar-free raspberry Spelt Scones

I tried baking these scones for the first time only this evening – and they were a success! Minus a few tweaks which I will share in the recipe so that you may perfect yours!

This recipe is adapted from Green Kitchen Stories Raspberry and Nettle Spelt Scones, you can get their recipe (among many others) on their app, also called “Green Kitchen Stories” – I highly recommend!

These scones are made with spelt flour and are free of any sugar or sweetener besides the fresh raspberries. I recommend eating them smothered with almond butter or fresh jam – you could also make these into savoury scones quite easily as well by omitting the raspberries and adding any flavourings of your choice!

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups Wholemeal Spelt Flour (may need to add more, but start with this)
• 2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
• Pinch Salt
• 2 tbsp Ground Flaxseeds
• 50g cold Butter (good quality)
• 125g fresh Raspberries (1 punnet)
• 1 Egg (organic free-range only!!!)
• 125ml (or ½ cup) Soy milk or other plant based milk of choice – could even use regular milk here (good quality milk)    

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius

Mix together flour, baking powder, pinch salt, ground flaxseeds in a large bowl.

Cut the butter in to small pieces and rub into dry ingredients using only your fingertips, until it resembles breadcrumbs and is well combined.

Stir in the raspberries (don’t be alarmed if they mash up in to smaller pieces, this will happen inevitably and it is a good thing!)

Whisk together the egg and the milk until combined.

Make a well in the centre of the raspberry and flour mixture and pour in the egg and milk.

Use your hands to begin with to incorporate the flour mixture in to the wet mixture, drawing the dry mixture towards the centre until it is all combined (I like to finish off mixing using a spatula).

You may need to add more flour here, do this by eye, depending on how wet the mixture is – it is a wet mixture but should be able to come together in to one dough ball (that is what we are aiming for here).

Once you have achieved this – place the dough on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, and cut the mixture in half and place on either side of the tray.

Then slice each half in to 4 different pieces, but don’t fully cut all the way through the dough (as once they are baked, you will be able to then break them apart!)

The recipe says to bake the scones for 10 minutes in a 220 degree Celsius oven – it took me 25 minutes in my slow Irish gas oven but this really varies depending on your own oven – I would be checking them after 10 minutes anyway.

They will be cooked when you can break them apart and they are evenly cooked through (it’s okay if they are a little doughy).

Serve immediately however you please and enjoy!

Tips:

·      The original recipe called for ½ tsp salt, I used this much and for a sweet scone, they are too salty, so I have amended this to just a pinch of salt in this recipe – if you are making savoury scones, then you could keep it at ½ tsp.

·      If you want to make them savoury, you could add any additional ingredients such as dried herbs, olives or sun-dried tomatoes – delicious!

·      If you want them to be even sweeter than this recipe, you could add in some sweetener of your choice such as a small amount of coconut sugar, some maple syrup or some honey – but I recommend leaving this out and eating them with jam or some nut butter, this way they are a low sugar treat and you can add as little or as much sweetener on top as you like – also makes them suitable for breakfast!

THE BEST (VEGAN) COOKIES IN THE WORLD

Before I start gushing about these biscuits, I would just like to acknowledge my lack of blog posts for the past two years or so, not too long really...I have recently made the move to Dublin, Ireland for the next 9 months or so - I am currently living here with an oven I barely understand, but that's what this is all about and my plan is to revitalise my passion for this blog because it has been way too long! I thought what better way to do that, than to blog about these little pieces of heaven. So without further ado... 

These cookies are by far my most favourite thing ever to bake, which is a huge statement – but I am going to make that statement! I really am! The reason that they are my favourite thing to bake, is because they are my favourite baked thing to eat. These are the only baked item that I make and absolutely gorge myself on – no joke, I will eat 4-5 of these a day (which is kind of disgusting) but I’m not going to deny it, I may as well own it. These biscuits/cookies are gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free as well as completely vegan. They are expensive to make as they use expensive ingredients but they are quality ingredients and therefore quality cookies - they're "class" as the Irish would say.

They are inspired by my friend Juanita – it is her recipe and we usually call these cookies ‘Baked Juanites’, but I have tweaked mine slightly to make them vegan and to suit my tastes; as well as using ingredients that I can access more easily in Ireland! So Juanites – this post is for you! But almost this entire batch of cookies, is for me :) 

*This recipe yields approximately 25 small-medium sized cookies

Ingredients:

·      - 4 cups Almond Meal

·     -  1 cup chopped Walnuts

·      - ½ cup Pumpkin Seeds

·      - 1 cup Shredded Coconut

·      - 90% Cacao Lindt Chocolate

·      - ¾ cup Dried Cranberries

·      - ¾ cup Coconut Oil (original recipe calls for Macadamia Oil which is a delicious alternative to Coconut Oil – but more expensive!)

·      - ¾ Maple Syrup (original recipe calls for Rice Malt Syrup which is also a delicious alternative to Maple Syrup – and cheaper!)

·      - 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (the more expensive here – the better!)

Method:

·      1. Preheat oven to 150 Degrees Celsius (Or in my case, try and figure out how to use the Irish Gas lit oven and hope for the best)

·      2. Combine all dry ingredients in one large bowl and mix together

·      3. Whisk together wet ingredients (maple syrup, oil and vanilla) until well combined

·      4. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until well combined

·      5. Form into cookies as big or as small as you like – I figure, the smaller you make them, the more you can eat! (at least that is my reasoning)

·      6. Bake in the oven – this will vary depending on your oven – in my normal fan forced oven this would take around 17-20 minutes for the cookies to bake; in my Irish oven – they took about 30 minutes

·      7. They are finished cooking when they are lightly golden brown – remember they will continue cooking a little bit out of the oven so try to avoid overcooking them – these are a dense, moist and filling cookie so will be a little softer than your regular chocolate chip cookie