Vegan Walnut-Date Scones
/Summary: Having long loved the vegan scones from Whole Foods, I looked around to find an approximation (WF won't share the recipe). I found this on Eating Consciously and have adapted it slightly, most notably to include oats. You can sub pecans for the walnuts if they're more your speed. If you want to use all maple syrup or all agave, that's cool too. I like these best served at room temp. They also freeze well! Micro briefly or take out to thaw about an hour in advance. You can toast them lightly once thawed if you like.
Yield: 12 - 13 scones
Ingredients:
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup rolled oats, ground into a coarse flour (you can do this in a blender or food processor)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup Earth Balance (vegan shortening), cut into cubes
- 1 cup walnuts, coarsely coarsely chopped
- 1 cup dates, pitted and coarsely chopped (I like Medjool but use whatever type you like)
- 1 cup almond or soy milk
- zest of 2 oranges (yes, use all of this)
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- scant ¼ cup maple syrup (I like grade B)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375° Fahrenheit, and line a large baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, ground oats, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine. Add the Earth Balance and cut in with your hands, a pastry mixer or a fork until the mixture becomes uniformly grainy.
Add the walnuts and dates and stir to combine. Finally, add the milk, orange zest, agave, maple syrup and vanilla, and knead into a soft dough.
Using a large table spoon, scoop out equal sized balls, placing each on the parchment and flattening into a disk. I get a baker's dozen out of this recipe (13).
Bake 15-18 minutes until golden brown on the outside. Cool and eat!
