Almond Scones

I always forget how much I like scones.  At the same time, they always feel like a bit of a guilty pleasure because they pretend to be a nice breakfast-y snack but are actually just as unhealthy as normal baked goods, made with lots of butter and traditionally eaten with clotted cream.  My previous attempt at a healthier scone alternative went pretty well, with the Vanilla bean scones, but I wanted to try another scone recipe to see if I could use less butter and still maintain the quintessential scone-y-ness.

My main issue with scones is that they always require a bunch of butter to be cut into flour to get the right consistency, so I can't just replace butter with some oil or applesauce or something.  I eventually decided that almond paste might be the right consistency to substitute for some butter, and started searching for a recipe.  Nothing that I found fit what I wanted, so instead I used about 4 different recipes as a jumping-off point and made up my own recipe.  I was a little worried how the scones would turn out, but I was quite pleasantly surprised- they had a lightly crunchy outside and a dense, moist inside, with a delicate almond flavor.
 These were good on their own, but like most scones, would also be wonderfully complimented by some kind of fruity jam, or nut butter, or (dare I say it?) clotted cream if you want to be all fancy.

Ingredients:

·         1 ½ cup flour

                ·         ½ cup whole wheat flour 

                ·         scant ¼ cup sugar

·         1 ¼  tsp baking powder

·         ¼ tsp baking soda

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         ½ cup almond paste

·         2 Tbs Smart Balance, or other butter substitute

·         ½ c unflavored soymilk mixed with about 1 ½ tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, but white vinegar works too)

·         1 tsp vanilla

·         ½ tsp almond extract

·         1 tbs ground flax seeds mixed with about 2 ½ tbs water

·         1/3 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips, depending on your ideal chocolate-to-scone ratio

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix the flax seeds with the water in a small bowl and set aside.  Mix the soymilk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside.
3. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
4. Crumble/ slice the almond paste and Smart Balance, and cut it into the flour mixture using 2 butter knives or a pastry cutter.  This will take a few minutes to make sure everything is thoroughly combined, and when you're done it should have an almost cornmeal-ish consistency.
5. In a separate container, mix together the soymilk mixture with the vanilla, almond, and flax mixture.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. The batter should be fairly thick and clump together.
7. Add in the chocolate chips
8. Spray a baking pan with oil.  Dump the mixture onto the pan and spread into a rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, then divide each smaller rectangle into 3 squares (or 4, or 2, depending on how big you want your scones).  Cut each square in half, diagonally, so that you have triangles.  Separate the triangles and spread them out on the pan (You don't need to leave a ton of space between them because they'll rise but they won't expand too much.  Mine were pretty cramped together and they never invaded each others personal space.  What respectful scones I made.)  Alternatively, I’m sure you could just blob it on a pan like cookies and be fine.  You could even shape your blobs like triangles and pretend you cut them. I won't tell anyone.
9. Cook at 375 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
   
   

   

   See? Crowded but not cramped.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   You should really try making these. The delicate almond flavor is quite delightful without being too overpowering to mingle well with other flavors, like jam or whatever. And as scones go, these are pretty darn healthy AND delicious. My favorite combination.  
   Side note: make these *vegan* by using Earth Balance or some other vegan butter substitute, and obviously use vegan chocolate chips.  Woo hoo!