Dairy Free Baking: Scones & Brownies

My last post about High Tea and The Royal Wedding, inspired Gina and I to want to have High Tea at our family gathering this past weekend.
There are a couple of family members who do better without dairy, eggs are OK, just not the moo juice. As you may know I am always up for a challenge. It's not High Tea without scones, so I decided to use my favorite scone recipe  with Earth Balance and coconut creamer in place of the butter and cream. I had thought of trying shortbread without butter but that seemed sacrilege, instead my simple brownie recipe came to mind.

I am happy to say that both attempts were very successful. I did neglect to take pretty photos of each item during the process and even afterward, sorry. You can look at both original recipes for more photos.
Here is the lovely table spread from our High Tea. You can see the brownies in the foreground on a platter with my chai shortbread, the scones were heating up in the oven.

Dairy Free Cranberry Coconut Scones



Ingredients

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup dried cranberries
zest of one orange
1/2 cup coconut creamer
1 egg



1) Preheat oven to 400, line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat or nothing.

2) Sift together in a large bowl: 2 cups flour, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 3 Tbsp. sugar and 3 Tbsp. shredded coconut.




3) Cut in with a pastry cutter or two knives until fine:  1/2 cup of Earth Balance.

4)  Add the cranberries and orange zest.


5)  In a separate small bowl beat the egg and coconut creamer together.


6) Mix carefully with a wooden spoon, then knead the dough a little until it sticks together, try not to over mix.

7) Form the dough into a flat disk about one half inch thick on waxed paper. Sprinkle the top with sugar or shredded coconut.

8) Cut into 8-12 triangles and place on the baking sheet.

9) Bake for 12 minutes until lightly golden brown. Serve warm with jam !

Dairy Free Brownies   

Ingredients
    •     ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    •    1/2 cup Earth Balance
    •    2 eggs
    •    1 cup sugar
    •    ¼ cup flour
    •    1 cup broken-up walnuts or pecans
    •    1 teaspoon vanilla
    •    pinch of salt

1.    Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch pan.

 

2.    Melt Earth Balance carefully in saucepan with cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minute.

3) Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

4) In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nuts, and salt.

5) Add to the cocoa-Earth Balance mixture. Stir until just combined.

6) Pour into a greased 8x8 square pan. 

 

7) Bake 35-40 minutes. Do not overbake; they should be gooey. 

8) Here comes the hard part...let cool, and cut into bars. In fact I have found they are easier to cut once they have been refrigerated.