Earl grey and lemon scones

Picture the scene, perfectly brewed earl grey, a slice of lemon and a freshly baked scone. Hmmmm, a perfect match. So perfect in fact, how about if we merged them? This idea came about as 1) I wanted fresh scones for breakfast and 2) the letter for this months alpha bake is 'E'.

I decided to soak raisins overnight in earl grey tea, before incorporating them into my scone along with plenty of lemon zest.

Earl grey and lemon scones

Earl grey tea bag

60g raisins

120ml almond or soya milk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

185g plain flour

120g oats

50g golden caster sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

110g dairy free spread (I use pure)

Zest of a lemon

1/2 tsp vanilla paste/ extract

The night before you make the scones, make a strongish small cup of earl grey tea, and soak the raisins in it overnight. Come morning they will be plump and infused with earl grey.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and dust a baking sheet with flour. Mix the milk and vinegar together and set aside to curdle.

Mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Rub the dairy free spread in with your fingertips until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the zest of a lemon. 

Add the vanilla to the milk and stir the milk mix into the dry ingredients until just combined, do not overmix. Dollop 8 equal blobs onto the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before enjoying warm with butter, lemon curd, marmalade or jam.

Enjoy any leftovers the next day refreshed in a warm oven for five minutes.

The lemon and earl grey complement each other beautifully, the earl grey adds a fragrance and takes away a little of the sweetness of the raisins. For an experiment I was very pleased and would definitely make them again.

Vegan ginger spice cookies

I find I am stumbling across more and more vegan blogs as I look for lactose/dairy free recipes. I have no issue with eating eggs but I am happy to make entirely vegan recipes, its fun to try new things, and besides which I can bake for vegan friends when they visit.

These little ginger cookies are delicious, if I were to make them again I would flatten them more before baking just so that the texture was less cake like in the centre. I may also make them with treacle or half treacle, half golden syrup just for a variation in flavour.

Ginger spice cookies

makes ~ 12

1 tsp egg replacer (found easily at Holland and Barret)
50g golden syrup
50g dairy free spread
50g light brown sugar
110g spelt flour
25g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
2 balls stem ginger, finely chopped

caster/granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C FAN and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. At the last minute I realised I had run out, a greased tray worked just fine too.

Mix the egg replacer with a couple of tablespoons of water. Beat the egg replacer, golden syrup, dairy free spread and sugar together until smooth and combined. Add the the rest of the ingredients, except the stem ginger, and beat until nearly combined. Finally stir in the stem ginger until evenly distributed. 

Dived the dough into 12, roll into balls then in caster or granulated sugar. 

Place onto the prepare baking sheet and flatten with your hand. 

Bake for 12 minutes till golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.