Breakfast Blues Pt 1: Vegan Cheese Scones and Cassava Pancakes – THIS SITE HAS MOVED

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I do not know about you but my day starts around 2 pm really. I was never a morning person and sometimes it took threats to get me out of bed. These days, waking up has been easier but I never feel motivated to make my own breakfast and my laziness causes me to miss out on a decent breakfast. I decided to make a deal with myself to make some of the goodies that make you want to wake up to face the days so these are the sweet and savory carbohydrates that can be made ahead, frozen  and then heated up for people like me. Do look out for the follow up post where I would show some porridges like flax seed which we drink in the Caribbean as well.

Vegan Cheese Scones with More

Vegan Cheese Scones Copyright Taymer Mason

The first recipe I want to speak about is the cheese scone. Most people who came up in the English speaking Caribbean school system may have met the basic version of this recipe in food and nutrition or home economics. Being that most of these islands were once British colonies the scone was well known. I remember adding in some cheese to what my food and nutrition would call the basic recipe. The result was just scone with cheese but I always longed for more as a child and after going vegan I knew there was really no way to remake a cheese scone because it needed real cheese so that idea was abandoned as I wrote Caribbean Vegan I dismissed the idea of attempting a cheese scone. Fortunately I matured as a cook and realised that you should attempt any recipe as a vegan cook and whatever result the point is you tried. One could imagine how silly I felt when I made this scone and not only was it great but it was better than the basic scone recipe with some cheese inside. Other scones are sold in Barbados such as corn, raisin and chocolate chip. They are usually round with a smoother top than usual and dry in a good way.You see I built on the recipe and made it mine so without future adieu here is the Vegan Cheese Scone with More.

Vegan Cheese Scones Copyright Taymer Mason

Serves 6

Vegan Cheese Scone Broken Copyright Taymer Mason

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, optional

1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes

2 tsp chopped fresh herbs eg dill, chives or rosemary

2 tsp sugar

1 cup vegan cheese grated finely a sharp cheddar will do

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

1 heaping quarter cup of vegan butter mixed half and half with cold shortening

3/4 cup – 1 cup of cold soymilk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar, optional

1 1/2  heaping tsp of American mustard

1/4 cup soy creamer for glazing optional

Method preheat oven to 400 F

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda,salt, turmeric, cayenne, yeast flakes, chopped herbs, sugar, cheese and  onion powder together.

Using a fork blend in the butter and shortening mix until it resembles medium large crumb..do not be heavy handed work fast and if the scone mixture gets too overworked put in in the fridge for 15 mins

Add vinegar to the cold milk and mix, stir in mustard and slowly add this to the dry mixture

Using a spoon bring the mixture  together quickly. Do not knead

Place scones on a lightly floured bowl and form into a circle around 5 inches do not flatten your scone dough to this

Slice into 6 slices like you are slicing a pie

Place onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 12- 15 minutes brushing at least once during the cooking time with the soy creamer

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with vegan butter if desired.

Vegan Cassava Pancakes Buttermilk Pancakes

 

 

I picked up some cassava pancake mix and some regular cassava flours in the Barbados on my way out of the island a few weeks ago. Barbados, you are on to a great thing..please increase production to export because this product is amazing. The flour is made by the BADMC Food Promotion unit and you can buy the Pancake mix, fine cassava flour and the coarse one which I call farine. It is just over 5 usd for 16 oz. No I did not get free flour but I have been eating great pancakes these days. I used the pancake mix which is basically fine cassava flour with baking powder and baking soda and a touch of salt. They have a gluten free recipe on the back which in my opinion is not good as they use ground flax for egg but they did not activate the flax meal with any warm water for a binding…even if this is done it will make the pancake dense depending on cassava as the sole gluten free flour so it would not feel like a real pancake and it is not fair to people who have a gluten intolerance. I will make this recipe gluten free with some rice flour and will post it as soon as I get the texture as good as this one that uses spelt flour as the additional flour. I served these pancakes with some nutmeg maple syrup and a too big of a pat of vegan butter. The result is a tender pancake that  is fluffy and just one of the best pancakes I have ever eaten hands down. If you have access to fine cassava flour make this as soon as possible.

½ cup cassava flour or pancake mix

½ cup spelt flour

½ cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder (see Taymer’s Tip)

1 tablespoon vegan margarine

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 ½ cups cold soy milk

1 tablespoon vanilla essence or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoon margarine for cooking pancakes

Method

Mix cassava flour, spelt flour and all purpose flour in a medium bowl.

Add cinnamon, salt, brown sugar and baking powder.

Rub in the margarine into the flour mixture with your fingertips or a fork.

Add apple cider vinegar to soymilk and stir briefly. You should see the milk starting to curdle.

Add milk mixture and essence to the flours and mix well.

Heat margarine in a non stick frying pan and spoon approximately ¼ of the mixture in the pan for small pancakes or a shy ½ cup for larger pancakes

Cook well flipping twice, but do not press them as this would take the air out of the pancakes and make them appear dense.

Serve warm with maple syrup and sprinkle with nutmeg or orange zest.

Taymer’s Tip

I opt for aluminium free baking powder because sometimes when using over a tablespoon in the recipe you could taste the metal in the end product. There are several brands available on the markets that are aluminium free. Want to dress up this pancake? Try toasted coconut, melted chocolate or peanut butter to jazz up your pancakes.

The breakfast series will continue with some teas and some savory delights like breakfast sausages, tofu scramble that is full of flavour and other interesting additions.