Spelt Chocolate Chip Walnut Scones

Oh Hai there internuts...
so yeah in June I may or may not have said something about it being a week until I posted again but uh...clearly that didn't happen.
BUT now I have a brand spankin new computer, a real internet connection and a kitchen to cook in so maybe I can get this together.

Anyhoodles, lately I've been experimenting with alternate flours and the Gentleman brought me home some spelt flour and coconut flour to play with. Spelt has less gluten than regular wheat flour and some people with wheat allergies can eat it.

Now, normally I am a cookie freak but this week I've made these scones 3 times and they are an excellent cookie alternative as they use less earth balance and you just drop them onto the cookie sheet instead of having to shape them. Plus they're so easy I memorized the recipe after the first time. Honestly I have been trying to get this recipe up here for a week, but we keep eating all the scones before I get pictures.

If you can't get coconut flour you can just grind up some unsweetened coconut flakes in a food processor or coffee grinder.

Chocolate Walnut Scones with Spelt and Coconut flours
Ingredients:
-1 3/4 cups spelt flour
-3 teaspoons baking powder
-5 Tablespoons cold margarine, cut into small chunks (I use Earth Balance soy-free)
-1 Tablespoon raw or brown sugar (I use florida crystals)
-1 Tablespoon flax meal
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt
-1 cup almond milk (you could use soy milk, but rice milk might be too thin)
-1/4 cup coconut flour
Optional:
-1/3 cup chopped walnuts
-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Dry bowl:
-Sift together the spelt flour and baking powder.
-Using a fork, cut the cold margarine into the spelt flour until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Be careful not to over work the spelt flour or it will get tough. Using cold butter helps keep the flour from getting overworked.

Wet bowl:
-mix coconut flour, sugar, flax meal and almond milk together.

Add chocolate chips, walnuts and the Wet bowl to the Dry bowl. Using a spatula or a spoon, fold the wet into the dry. Be careful not to over mix.

You can either make 6 big scones or 10 medium size.
Bake until the outside is slightly firm and a toothpick comes out clean. This usually takes between 10-20 minutes depending on how large your scones are.

You can choose to omit all the sweetness and maybe add caramelized onions or rosemary or vegan cheese or spinach or garlic or you can top a pot pie or take over the world...really the possibilities are endless.

The point is that these are an excellent base for your sconey imagination.
Let me know what you come up with!

Chocolate Filled Scones

These were supposed to be chocolate chip scones, but somewhere along the line I forgot about the chocolate and ended up looking at chocolateless scone dough and a pile of chocolate chunks. The solution was clear and huzzah happy mistakes! The scones themselves are slightly less sweet than traditional scones, which blends really nicely with the sweetness of the chocolate.



Ingredients:
2 c flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp vegan margarine (I use earth balance brand)
1 1/2 c chocolate chips
1/3 c "milk" (I used soymilk but any milk alternative will work)
2 flax eggs: 2 Tbsp ground flax, 6 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Step 1:


mix flour, baking soda and salt in a big bowl. I sift them together but its not vital.

Step 2:

Mix together your flax eggs, milk and sugar

Step 3:

cut in* your "butter". You want the mix to be the texture of breadcrumbs.
If you're making chocolate chip scones instead of chocolate filled scones, now would be a good time to throw in your chocolate chips.

*you're essentially cutting the butter into teeny teeny pieces so that little tiny balls of butter are surrounded by flour. This means when it bakes, all those tiny balls of butter melt and make it all flaky and delicious. I just use a fork to mash up the butter with the flour. Try and keep your butter cold or it will just make a gooey mess instead of cutting in properly.

Step 4:

Mix till it forms a dough, then turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead it for 15 seconds and roll it into a 2" thick circle.

Step 5:
Use a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 8 triangles.

Step 6:

pile your chocolate on the biggest part of the triangle then fold the little corner up...

then pinch the seams closed. You want to make sure there are no holes or else the chocolate will leak out and be messy.
If you're into that kind of thing, feel free to sprinkle some sugar on top before baking.


Squidgy reigns over his scone kingdom.

Step 7: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Don't let them get too brown or they'll be hard and dry, which is no fun.

Let them cool for a few minutes before you eat them because that chocolate is nuclear straight out of the oven and you will burn your face off. I've seen it happen.


NOMNOMNOM