apple cinnamon scones

i know you're all looking for a new treat to enjoy with your tea or coffee and i can't stand to hear anyone suffering so i'm here to help.

no, really. i asked for recipe suggestions to work on and megan said she would like to see something with apples. the rest is history...or will be after i publish this post and everyone rushes to try these scones for themselves. then, and only then, will it be history.

if you want to make blueberry scones instead of apple cinnamon, leave the cinnamon and apples out and fold in about 2 cups of frozen blueberries...while they're still frozen. and add a little more lemon zest, perhaps a teaspoon. after you've added the soy yogurt and have kneaded the dough, let it rest for about 5 or 10 minutes to let those blueberries soften up a bit before placing them in the oven. and i would sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking too, but that's just me.

i adapted this recipe from a lemon ginger scones recipe i found while learning how to properly make scones on joyofbaking.com. apparently, leaving eggs out of a scone is perfectly acceptable and using soy yogurt and earth balance was all too easy...it's as though scones want to be vegan. the dough was a bit sticky when i was being very careful to not overwork it so i sprinkled some flour on top of the dough, as well as the counter top, and that seemed to bring it together nicely. i think coating my hands with flour would've been a good idea too - at one point i looked like this:

photo source

don't worry, i cleaned up nicely.

i should stop talking now and give you the recipe, huh? by the way, if these are ever on a menu somewhere they should be called megans because i told her i'd name them after her if i liked them since she provided the inspiration.

apple cinnamon scones aka megans!

makes 6-8 scones

ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
**plus extra for kneading the dough
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp of double acting baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) of vegan margarine (earth balance), very cold and cut into cubes
1 med-large (about 1 1/2 cups) granny smith, or another good baking apple. peeled, cored and diced small
**plus another 1/2 cup of apples for the tops of the scones (about 1 1/2 apples total)
a pinch of lemon zest
2 tsp of cinnamon
**plus another 1/4-1/2 tsp for sprinkling over the top
2/3 cups of plain or vanilla soy yogurt

preheat your oven to 400F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
peel, core and dice your apples. set them aside in a small bowl.
in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
add your chilled butter pieces to the flour mixture and blend using a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
stir in 1 1/2 cups of the apples, 2 tsp of cinnamon and the lemon zest.
add the soy yogurt and stir just until the dough comes together. be careful to not over mix your dough.
transfer the dough to a **lightly floured surface. cover your hands with flour and knead the dough 4 or 5 times. if it's too sticky sprinkle a little flour over the top as you're kneading.
form the dough into a disc about 7 inches across and 1 1/2 inches thick. sprinkle the **remaining 1/2 cup of apples on the disc and lightly press them into the dough. sprinkle the **remaining 1/4-1/2 tsp of cinnamon over the top.
cut the disc into 6-8 even wedges, like pie slices, and transfer them to the baking sheet.
bake on the center rack for 20-25 minutes, until they feel firm and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

tofurkey: mediocre at best

i hear vegans and vegetarians alike raving about the stuff all of the time. there are sandwich slices and the more commonly known version vegans gobble up at thanksgiving. i've tried the yves brand turkey slices before and i didn't care for them at all. they tasted like sulfites and liquid smoke and the accurate lunch meat texture was very disturbing to this vegan. i've never had tofurkey though.

i recently talked about buckling under the vegan peer pressure to try tofurkey at thanksgiving this year. while out and about running errands today i saw a pack of the tofurkey lunch meat slices and decided to give it go. it only makes sense to spend $3 to find out if i like it now instead of $10 later on a giant hunk of mock meat that will go to the squirrels on thanksgiving because i couldn't choke it down.

i just made a sandwich of whole wheat bread, vegenaise, yellow mustard, yellow tomatoes, onions and tofurkey. first i tried the tofurkey on its own. my first reaction was that it wasn't half bad. then i noticed that the texture was tough, followed by the chemically aftertaste of all of the weird stuff used to try to make wheat gluten taste like turkey. ew. when i tried it on the actual sandwich i noticed that the taste had all but disappeared behind the rest of the ingredients, but the tough texture was still very noticeable.

i ate the whole sandwich and i will finish the slices because i don't want to waste them, but i've decided that tofurkey won't be on my thanksgiving table. i will probably make some seitan cutlets instead. i know i like seitan and it's easy to make.

all of that said, i was supposed to make apple cinnamon scones and pizza dough for you today, but i had technical difficulties because a maintenance man was in my kitchen all day with the refrigerator pushed up against the opposite counter. sigh. i may not get to them before saturday, but no longer than that, i promise.

dreams of pizza dough and scones

yes, i know. i haven't posted anything since mid-october when i told veganmofo to bite me. it would seem that my my muse took a walkabout and didn't leave a forwarding address when i made that gesture...veganmofo karma? perhaps, but i don't care. i've resided in the blogosphere long enough to know that you have to go with it when such things happen because, sooner or later, some other muse wanders by and takes a liking to you. thank goodness! i mean, i haven't even cooked anything other than spaghetti for the last three weeks! i've been living on sandwiches and ramen...if you know me then you know that's completely bizarre.

anyway, i have a plan. i will see you wednesday. megan suggested that i make something with apples so i've been working on a scone recipe...because i like apples and i like scones. then i'm going to try pizza crust...because i like pizza and all of the store bought crusts seem to have dairy in them, bleh.

yikes!

if you haven't already figured it out by my absence this last week, i've opted out of veganmofo. i didn't run out of steam, i don't have a problem finding things to post, i'm not too terribly busy and i'm not lazy. i simply don't feel like i have anything to prove, nothing to defend and no one to impress or convert with my awesome veganocity. besides, i'm just not into it this year. sorry.

now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

i've been trying this new program i heard about on veggiegail's page, she's the hungry vegan. (i would so link to your page right now gail, but i'm at work and am a bit limited. anyone who wants to visit can find gail in my sidebar listed as the hungry vegan.) it's called the mcdougall program and i think the web address is http://www.drmcdougall.com/. it's a program perfect for vegans because it leaves out all animal flesh and biproducts. it's a starch based, high complex carb, low fat dietary makeover. it's relatively easy. the most difficult part is training your tastebuds to taste without any added fats or oils.

yes, i've lost weight. no, i'm not satisfied. it's not that i miss the fat, it's just that i've never eaten so much starch in my life and i'm a bit bored with it. also, my skin seems to hate it. i mean HATE it. oh, let me tell ya! i feel like i'm going through puberty again and the dry, irritated flaky and painful blotches on my face are a big indicator that this program is NOT for me in its truest sense.

i decided this weekend to start adding back some healthy oils in moderation. you know, avocados, coconut, some nuts here and there...natural oils. i'm not going to start deep frying my tofu, but i'm not going to add any oils where they're not needed. i'm already seeing an improvement in my skin after two days of adding oils back into my diet. i've started my yoga again too, so perhaps with healthy fats in light moderation and some moderate exercise i can continue to lose weight AND have healthy skin.

veganmofo day 13 ~ there are no more excuses to NOT go vegan!

below are just a few of the lovely recipes i've created, tested and posted in the recipe column on the left side bar of the page you happen to be reading. they are all vegan. they are all delicious. they are not at all difficult. they have been tasted by friends, family and co-workers and have received the stamp of approval from omnivores i have made into my taste testers and recipe testers.

beautiful, fluffy chocolate cake

fluffy and moist whole wheat pancakes

creamy macaroni and cheese with a kick

rich coconut cream pie

banana nut muffins that will give you a foodgasm...seriously

try them, you'll see how hard it's NOT to cook delicious food that is also cruelty free.

so now when you say you would go vegan, but you don't see how you could live without cheese or other yummy confections that require dairy and/or eggs to taste good. or you just don't like to settle for mediocre food. or it's too hard to give up all of that deliciousness that comes from animals. or your family would never eat anything you cooked if you didn't give them meat. or you've had vegan food before and it was terrible...so, you're telling me you've never had bad food that contained animal ingredients before? and if you did, you'd stop eating that too?

think about it...

viva la mofo!