Chocolate Chip Scones

Yum! I do love a good scone now and again, and today seems like a nice day for baking. And scones are so easy to make! I like mine with chocolate chips, but they're just as good plain, with berries or with nuts, so you can throw in whatever suits your fancy (or whatever you happen to have on hand).

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup shortening/crisco
1/2 cup soy milk
1.5 teaspoons egg replacer + 2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

Stir together the dry ingredients. Cut the shortening in finely, then stir in the soy milk and egg replacer. When well mixed, add in the chocolate chips and mix. Roll dough out about 1/4" thick and cut into triangle shapes. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving some room between each scone, and brush the top of each with a little soy milk, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. So delightful!

Donuts this morning!

I made delightful donuts this morning using the cruller/raised donut recipe I posted a while back, but instead of glazing them or shaking them with powdered sugar/cinnamon and sugar, I decided to be really decadent and go the frosting/sprinkles route. This was a grand choice. I can never get over how good these are! Plus I only used half of the dough for donuts and used the other half just as a sweet dough and made a loaf of bread. Two baked goods for the effort of one!

French Breakfast Puffs

Alright, so I meant to be good about posting through the holidays, but the month of December was a wash. No matter, these French Breakfast Puffs should make up for it. I wish I could have a warm plate of these every morning before leaving for work...they're a sweet way to start the day! These are even easier than a traditional recipe thanks to the Bisquick.

Ingredients:

2 cups Bisquick
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
1/2 cup soy milk
Egg replacer for 1 egg (1.5 teaspoons egg replacer + 2 tablespoons water)

1/2 cup melted margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 24 mini muffin cups. Mix the Bisquick, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons margarine, soy milk and egg replacer, and beat vigorously. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full then bake for 10 minutes. Immediately roll them in the melted margarine and then the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Serve warm for maximum delight. They're nice with a bit of vanilla Tofutti at dessert time too!

Vegan Raised Donuts and Crullers

This is a slightly different take on vegan donuts (I have a bit of a sweet tooth, eh?). This dough is raised, so these are a bit more like the crullers or glazed donuts you might get at a pastry shop nowadays.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lukewarm soy milk
1/4 cup cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 packages of yeast (plus 1/4 cup lukewarm water and 1 teaspoon sugar)
Egg replacer for 1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3 to 3.5 cups flour

Instructions:
Stir together the soy milk, sugar, and salt.

Prepare the yeast, adding the packet to lukewarm water (100 to 110 degrees F) with some sugar to get the yeast all bubbled up and excited. Once you're sure the yeast is alive and well, stir it into the above mixture until all the yeast is dissolved.

Add in the egg replacer and vegetable shortening.

Add in the flour slowly, a half cup or so at a time so your mixer doesnt kick a ton of flour up into the air and make a mess.

After the flour is all mixed in, remove the dough from your mixer and knead it. Place it into a greased bowl in a warm spot and cover with a warm, damp (clean) kitchen towel. Allow it to rise until it has doubled in size (about an hour to an hour and a half). Punch the dough down and turn completely over in the bowl. Let rise again until almost double (30 to 45 minutes this time), then remove from the bowl and roll out to about 1/3" thick.

You can now either cut the donuts with a donut cutter as in the recipe below or you can make crullers.

To make crullers, roll the dough into tubes, twist, and then shape into donut shapes. With a pair of scissors, make snips ever 1/2 inch or so to get a spiky shape going.

After you've shaped your donuts, allow them to rise on your counter or a board until theyre light and have a slight crust on the dough (about 30 minutes).

While they're rising, fill deep sauce pot with several inches of canola or other vegetable oil (enough for a doughnut to drop to the bottom then rise to the top) or get your deep fryer going. Once the oil has reached 370 to 380 degrees, drop a few donuts in at a time and fry until both sides are golden brown (you will have to flip them with a slotted spoon to get both sides). Monitor the oil temperature carefully.

Once the donuts are fried, lay them out on a paper bag to drain. You can either shake these in a bag with some granulated sugar or you can prepare and easy glaze by boiling a cup of water with a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla until somewhat thickened. Coat each donut in this glaze. Best thing ever.

Classic Vegan Doughnuts

When I was a wee one, there was a great classic diner in my town that hadn't changed even a bit since the 1940s. They made the most amazing donuts ever...warm, with cinnamon and sugar or dipped in chocolate--the sort of donuts that you just can't find anymore. This is a recipe from that era, adapted for an ethical lifestyle.

Ingredients:
Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use Ener-G egg replacer)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3/4 cup soy milk
1/2 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
3.5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
OR 2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

Beat the egg replacer, sugar, and shortening.

Combine the 1/2 tablespoon of white wine vinegar or lemon juice with the 3/4 cup soy milk to approximate sour milk and stir this into the above mixture.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon, then add this to the mixture slowly. You can use vanilla in lieu of the nutmeg and cinnamon if you prefer.

Chill the dough for two hours (its worth the wait, seriously). After two hours, begin heating a deep sauce pot filled with several inches of canola or other vegetable oil (enough for a doughnut to drop to the bottom then rise to the top) or better yet, fire up your deep fryer if you're lucky enough to have one. While the oil is heating, roll out your doughnut dough and cut with a donut cutter (if you don't have one a biscuit cutter will do...just cut the middle hole out with a knife).

Once the oil has reached 370 to 380 degrees, drop a few donuts in at a time and fry until both sides are brown (you will have to flip them with a slotted spoon to get both sides). Monitor the oil temperature carefully--if it gets too hot the donuts will burn on the outside and be uncooked on the inside. no fun.

When the donuts are a nice golden brown, remove them from the oil and place on a brown paper bag to drain off any excess oil.

Extra credit:
The coat the donuts with cinnamon and sugar, mix a generous amount of sugar with cinnamon and dump into a smallish paper bag. place a donut into the bag and shake well to cover them all over with the mixture. This can also be done with powdered sugar.

To make chocolate covered donuts, melt some vegan chocolate chips or a vegan candy bar in your microwave and dip one side of each donut in the chocolate. allow to dry.

These donuts are naturally most exciting when served warm, but theyre delightful at any time.