This was originally intended to be a one off post for scones. My decision making abilities being absolute nil however “forced” me to turn this into a themed month. What could I do? You see, I’ve never made scones in my life (and though I find them absolutely delicious, I’ve only even eaten them a small handful of times). There were so many unique flavour option ideas that came to mind that I just couldn’t settle on one. Now I don’t want to completely blow your mind, but hold on to your hats here people because this will not just be a sweet dessert month. I’m going to deviate from the norm somewhat and do two savoury (gasp! Say what!!! False advertising alert! False advertising alert! Do I need to change the name of my blog now? 😉 ) scones and two sweet scones. I couldn’t help myself. When certain savoury combination ideas entered my brain, the flavour profiles sounded so delectable that I insisted to myself that I must still make them. Now I very strongly considered just making them and not sharing them here, but sharing is caring, and thus, how could I keep something from you guys just because it’s not “technically” a sweet dish? Now if you really feel strongly about it, feel free to just shake some sugar over the savoury scones and maybe roll them in cinnamon or something. I can’t promise it will taste great, but that’ll definitely make them sweeter. There, bases covered 🙂 .
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it on here before, but I love all things olive. In fact, I’m not sure if Kevin and I would have ever gotten together if it weren’t for the fact that he completely lied to my face the night we met and feigned a level of passion for olives that equaled or rivaled my own (well…probably not “equaled” or “rivaled” since that’s basically impossible, but he pretended to love them). I have since discovered however that Kevin is of an extremely rare breed of human that, much like the unicorn, I had thought only existed in myth – he is ambivalent towards olives. I’m not sure about the rest of you out there, but in my experience, people have tended to really love olives (smart, sophisticated genius’ 😉 ), or really hate them (people who clearly need to have some brain surgery done since something has obviously gone awry in their brain chemistry somewhere 😉 ).
In trying to back up my little olive rant here, I actually did a little research on why people love or hate olives and discovered a somewhat disturbing thing that all you olive haters can feel free to use in defense of your position (I can’t believe I’m the one providing you with the ammunition here, but I’m all about being upfront and above board with my informational discoveries. There will be no olive-gate here). Because olives are incredibly bitter and virtually inedible straight off the tree, they need to be “debiterized” in some way before they go to market. One can do this a couple of ways, soak them for months in a salty brine (which is the way better quality, high end olive bar-y olives are done), or, to expedite the process, they can be soaked in sodium hydroxide (aka lye) which can be done in seven days. Apparently virtually all versions of canned olives are processed with lye (you can read this article here if you’re interested). For all you olive lovers out there though, I’m sure you will agree with me that low quality and canned olives basically have little to no taste and you prefer the more briny olives that you get from those olive bars anyway. So now you can add to you arsenal of olive defense a sound scientific reason for spending a little bit more on higher quality olives 🙂 . Also, if you’re an olive lover, here’s a little more fodder for thought – according to this article, they’re apparently incredibly healthy, so you should really be eating more of them! (You don’t have to ask me twice 🙂 ).
Anywho, embracing my olive-loving self, the first scone up for creation was this delightfully savoury Mediterranean olive and sundried tomato scone. I found them delicious (especially if dipped in tomato soup, or used to soak up some tomato sauce when served alongside pasta). If however, you’re mentally unsound (aka an olive hater 😉 ), then feel free to either remove the olives entirely, or perhaps substitute with spinach, or maybe add some fresh herbs (basil or rosemary would go very nicely) instead. Bon appetit!
Yield: 12 medium sized scones
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 2 1/2 tablespoons water (this is for your egg replacer, alternatively, use egg replacer of choice, I just had this kicking around, so I used it 🙂 )
- 3/4 cup non dairy milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- pinch of sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegan butter, softened
- 1/2 cup chopped black olives
- 1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
- a couple of tablespoons of melted vegan butter for brushing on top
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
- In a small bowl combine ground flaxseed and water, then add non-dairy milk. Whisk to combine.
- In a separate medium sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, oregano, pepper and salt.
- Add vegan butter and use a fork to mix it into your dry flour mixture until no big pieces remain.
- Slowly add your flax/milk mixture to the dry ingredients stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Fold chopped olives and chopped sundried tomatoes into the mixture. The mixture will be fairly wet and sticky so not to worry.
- Transfer dough to a heavily floured surface and use your hands to form it into a log about 1 inch high. Cut the log into 6 equal squares, then cut the squares diagonally, so you should now have 12 triangular scones.
- Using a floured spatula, carefully transfer the scones to your baking sheet. Brush the top with your melted vegan butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to lightly brown at the edges.
- Let cool slightly before consuming. Enjoy topped with vegan butter, or with some tomato soup (or with pasta with tomato sauce, yum!)
- Leftover scones should be kept at room temperature in a well-sealed container.
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