New Year! New Treat! (Happy Early Spring!)

It's been far too long since I've posted something new. As a matter of happy coincidence, I found myself baking last night. Zips had had a nibble of some delicious orange cranberry mini tea scones from Trader Joe's over the weekend. Wanting to have some tea and scones with our new evening ritual of watching Downton Abbey, we found ourselves without any kind of sweet treat. We combed the grocery store's bakery section for something tea/muffin/scone-oriented. Resolving to find something to cook at home, Zips came up with an excellent vegan cranberry orange scone recipe for which we already had everything we needed! (When I make these again-- and I will-- I'm going to add a tsp. of vanilla and some sliced almonds!)

Vegan Cranberry Orange Scones are freaking delicious!

Preheat oven to 425.

2 c. flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. dried cranberries

(2/3 c. chopped walnuts-- we left these out. As I said, I'd add maybe 1/2 c. sliced almonds instead.)

Mix these together and set aside.

1/2 c. veg./canola oil

1/2 c. maple syrup

2/3 c. orange juice

zest from 2 oranges

(I'd add 1/2 to 1 tsp. of vanilla extract here too)

Mix wet ingredients together. Then combine wet into dry ingredients until a thick dough forms. You can spoon these by large tablespoons onto a cookie sheet, or pat into a rough rectangle and cut into wedges (yields about a dozen). Bake for 12-13 minutes until lightly brown.

We drizzled a glaze over the top that was made of powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. It really made these zingy!

Because these are vegan, I'm sure they're far better for us than the Trader Joe's (whose ingredients include both butter as well as buttermilk). And ours are freaking delicious! They're crumbly and chewy instead of hard and hollow (as some scones can be). And although we omitted the walnuts, I think because of the whole wheat flour they also have a nice vaguely nutty flavor. We're already going to need another batch. We're only up to episode 5 of the first season and we only have 6 scones left.