Saturday 20 August 2016

Vegan Pesto and Poppyseed Scones

Scones are such great comfort food.  They are so quick to make that they are instant gratification.  I love trying new flavours.  This week I made a batch of silverbeet, basil and pistachio pesto.  It seemed just right to use the pesto to give a batch of scones some colour and flavour. 

I had basil but not a lot.  The pistachios had been sitting my cupboard for a while and the young silverbeet (also known as chard) was given to me by my mum from her garden.  The silverbeet gave the pesto a smooth texture while the basil gave it that wonderful aroma.  I didn't have any parmesan so I decided to make a vegan pesto.

A vegan pesto deserved to be in a vegan scone.  Searching online, however, one would think that pesto scones could not be made without cheese.  With a bit of help from a Tesco recipe and my Kale scone recipe, I worked out a recipe.

The best scones seem to have quite a soft dough so I erred on the sticky side.  With a bit of flour it was fine and produced light and fluffy scones.  However this should be notes if using other pestos which can be of a thinner texture than mine.

I am particularly fond of soup and scones for dinner.  And the last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy so we didn't eat as well as usual.  I needed a decent dinner on Friday and rustled up a quick vegie and lentil soup (a bit like this soup) to eat with the scones.  It was most delicious. 

These scones are not just for meal times.  They make a nice savoury snack.  I really like them with vegemite, E thinks they would be nice with hummus and of course you can add cheese to them.

As an aside, I have finally bought a new camera.  It is still in the box but I have a new macro lens that will fit my old DSLR and my new camera.  I used the new lens in these photos.  It seems to work fine.  When I get a bit more time I will test drive my new camera and write a bit more about it.

I had meant to send these scones to Tandy at Lavender and Lime who is hosting International Scone Week but I have just seen that I missed the deadline, but do check out the scones on her sidebar. Meanwhile I am sending these to Kimmy and Mary-Ellen for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

More savoury scone recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Beetroot, apple and walnut scones (v)
Cheeseymite scones
Kale scones (v)
Leek, walnut and blue cheese scones  
Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones (v)
Sweet potato and cheeze scones (v)
Walnut, brie and apple scones

Pesto and poppy seed scones
An original recipe by Green Gourmet Giraffe
Makes about 20 small scones

1 cup milk (I used soy)
1/2 cup pesto*
1 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups plain wholemeal flour
1 cup self raising white flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppyseeds
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
50g butter or margarine
extra milk to glaze scones
extra poppy seeds to sprinkle

Preheat oven to 220 and grease a baking tray.

Mix soy milk and pesto in a large jug or small bowl.  Stir in lemon juice and set aside.

Mix flours, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a medium large mixing bowl.  Rub butter into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Pour the pesto mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a knife (this is to make sure the mixture is handled as little as possible.  Knead briefly on a well floured board until you have a smooth dough.

Pat out dough to about 1.5-2cm thick on a floured board using floured hands.  Use a scone cutter to cut out scones and place on prepared tray. 

Brush scones with milk and sprinkle with poppyseeds.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Wrap scones in a tea towel and eat warm or on day of baking.

*NOTES: I used the below pesto but any pesto would work.  However the texture of the pesto would affect the texture and need for seasoning in the scones, so adjust accordingly.  The pesto below is vegan and if you also use vegan milk and  vegan margarine in the scones, they will be vegan.  When cooking scones, I like to put mine close to each other which helps them rise but they can also be spaced out.

Vegan Silverbeet, Basil and Pistachio Pesto
Adapted from Food 52 and The Vegan and The Chef
Makes about 1 cup

1 packed cup of silverbeet (swiss chard) leaves
1/2 packed cup of basil (1 bunch)
1/2 cup pistachios
6 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 medium garlic clove
good pinch salt and shake of ground pepper

Blend until smooth.

On the Stereo:
British pub songs (The London Inn): various artists

26 comments:

  1. These scones look amazing - both the colour and because they are so high!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I like to bake my scones close together which helps give them height as they can only grown up not outwards

      Delete
  2. beautiful colour and the flavours sound lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Faye - I wish I had taken a photo of the amazing colour inside the baked scones but was just too rushed to think of it!

      Delete
  3. I can't wait to try these. You may recall how much I love scones. The pesto is a unique addition here and I can see they rose to perfection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa - I am sure you would love these scones!

      Delete
  4. They look awesome Johanna, fabulous green colour.I like the rise on them too. Wish mine grew as tall!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Shaheen - I think placing them quite close together helps them rise as they can't spread outwards easily so can only go up

      Delete
    2. Ah I have finally made these adapted with wild wild garlic, but sadly they are not as fantastically green as yours. Rgardless tasted fabulous. Hope you approve
      https://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/2019/04/vegan-wild-garlic-scones.html

      Delete
    3. Hi Shaheen - your version looks great and makes me a little jealous you have wild garlic because I admire them but can't try them!

      Delete
  5. Oh Johanna, these look fantastic. I must try to remember them for St Patrick's day next year - they'd be perfect. Although I'd probably be tempted to un-vegan them with lashings of butter. :-o

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amanda - they would be perfect for St Patricks Day and if you want lashings of butter, go for it!

      Delete
  6. thanks so much for the share and these lovely looking scones! Will link you up shortly :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tandy - glad to be part of International Scone Week

      Delete
  7. Yum! I love the idea of soup and scones for dinner. And how exciting about your new camera!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lorraine - it is exciting to have a new camera but still getting my head around it

      Delete
  8. Your pictures look great with your new lens!

    I've never made scones before but I'm going to have to try them, especially when the weather here starts getting a little cooler. These would be perfect with so many different soups!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mary Ellen - I find scones easy but then again I grew up making scones and love them. Hope you have some fun with scones as the weather cools

      Delete
  9. You had me at pesto scones. I'm pinning this for later! And I don't know why I've never thought to serve my soup with scones. What a fabulous concept. Thank you for all the ideas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa - scones and soup is one of my great comfort meals especially when I want just an easy piece of baking

      Delete
  10. Ooooh very creative pesto recipe. And these sounds so incredibly lovely!! I can imagine myself sipping tea and enjoying them in your company =) These would make a most excellent supper with soup.
    Thank you so much for sharing at Healthy Vegan Fridays! I'm featuring these this coming week. I appreciate all of your support and sharing with HVF, Johanna.
    I'm pinning & sharing!
    I hope you are having a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kimmy - would love to share a cuppa and scones with you and thanks for featuring the scones

      Delete
  11. I adore savoury scones and I love what you have done here. I have never used pesto in a scone, but I imagine it tastes amazing. And such a great colour crumb too! Delicious xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kate - I love savoury scones too - there are not enough of them outside my house but thank goodness I can make them easily at home

      Delete
  12. Yum. These look so pretty and sound delish.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Brilliant! Another one to tuck away for when we light Brunhilda (our big 4 oven wood stove) again in the not too distant future. Cheers for sharing vegan recipes. You have a really good take on them :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)