Vegan Drop Scones

With Shrove Tuesday nearly upon us again, here’s a foolproof recipe for light, fluffy vegan drop scones. If you’ve been brought up making pancakes the traditional way with an egg, it’s easy to overlook the fact that they’re just as good and just as simple to make the vegan way.

Drop scones are a smaller, fluffier teatime pancake, also referred to as Scotch pancakes. In this recipe, I’ve used a mixture of barista-style oat milk and home-made cashew milk enriched with a little oil, and vanilla for flavour. If you’re short of time (or cashews) you can always just use oat milk.

I’ve also suggested frying the drop scones in a small amount of vegan margarine because it adds a slightly salty taste and a warmer colour. An important tip is to drop the batter into the pan and leave it without spreading it around – this will ensure you have thick, fluffy pancakes.

Drop scones are lovely with jam or fruit or maple syrup, but are also perfectly good on their own or with vegan butter. The quantities here will make 10-12. They’re best eaten at once or at least on the day they’re made.

Vegan drop scones…

Ingredients

• 50 g cashew nuts
• 1 tsp light olive oil (or any mild flavoured oil)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 30 g caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 80 ml barista-style oat milk
• a little vegan margarine for frying

Method

1. Prepare the cashew milk in advance. Cover the cashews with boiling water and wait until the water has cooled before draining. Then blend the cashews with 110 ml of fresh water. (If you soak the cashews overnight they will be even softer, but this method is good enough.) Once you have a smooth cashew milk, add the oil and vanilla and blitz in the blender for a few more seconds.
2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk to distribute all the dry ingredients evenly.
3. Pour in the cashew milk and mix until well combined, then add the oat milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. (It does not have to be perfectly smooth but avoid leaving any noticeable lumps of flour.)
4. Heat a wide based frying pan, or crepe pan, and drop in a small amount of margarine (a half teaspoon should be sufficient). Spread this around, then use a large table spoon to drop a spoonful of the mixture into the pan. Don’t be tempted to spread the mixture, let it settle. The mixture should spread on its own to a diameter of around 8cm. If it’s too thick, stir a little more oat milk into the remaining mixture.
5. Add two or three more spoonfuls, depending on how wide your pan is.
6. Turn the drop scones when they are well risen and you can clearly see bubbles forming under the surface/starting to pop. The edges will have begun to have a less shiny, cooked appearance.
7. Give them a minute or two on the other side before transferring to a plate. Repeat this process until the mixture is used up, adding a very small amount of margarine each time.
8. Ideally, serve the drop scones while still warm.

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