I searched several websites, and finally chose one scone recipe that was the winning combination of easy and tasty-looking. From there I did a separate search for vegan clotted cream, and ended up with a vegan Devonshire Cream recipe (now, I'm not really hip on creams, and I couldn't tell a hawk from a handsaw if you wanted to know if clotted cream and Devonshire cream are the same thing, or two different recipes in regular terms. All I know is when I did searches for "vegan clotted cream" this is the recipe I found.)
When I got home from work I did a final clean up of my kitchen (it got a thorough cleaning on Tuesday, after the small kitchen fire I set in a tea-making mishap), and set out all the ingredients for the scone and cream recipes. I had also bought berry preserves (with Pectin, not gelatin), and fresh strawberries, half of which I macerated (cutting up the ripest berries, and tossing them in a Ziploc bag with sugar).
Alison worked on making the cream, while Lila pulled the ingredients together for the scones. Jivi read the recipes, and I put the ingredients away as they were used, scurried around to get measuring cups, preheated the oven, and did general clean-up.
I am very fortunate that Lila has experience with scone recipes in general. After half the liquid was added, she realized that the dough looked to wet for scones, and didn't add the second half. The result was a very muffin-like batter that yielded 8 fair sized drop scones (there was no way the dough would hold together for the stretching and cutting the recipe called for), instead of 20 uniform scones.
We worried for the scones as they baked, and decided, upon tasting, that they a) were very buttery b) had a bit of a tang (which Alison, Lila and Jivi all identified as the baking powder). They weren't bad, for having such a wacky recipe, and we decided that if we use this scone recipe in the future to make the following adjustments: add 1 cup of flour, use all the liquid, add 1 tbsp more vegan buttery spread, a bit more sugar, but definitely no more baking powder.
The cream was also a bit buttery, given that it was a mix of buttery spread, Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (plain - though when I bought this, I almost got the garlic and herb by mistake. Be sure to read the lid, kiddies), and confectioner's sugar. Alison added the last of my bottle of vanilla extract (about 1/4 tsp) to the mix.
We each tried a scone with and without cream and strawberries, and determined they were, despite everything, quite tasty. However, given the small yield, and the extra baker, that meant that our gaming group and various significant others were disappointed to discover there were no yummy treats for them to taste test.
It also got me thinking that it is time to start trying teas.
Of course the talk turned to what else we could do with the scone recipes, different extracts we could add (lemon if it is any sort of berry scone, almond, etc) and perhaps exploring ivory scones (which I've never had, and the idea intrigues me.)
Once again, I am amazed by my baking partners, and grateful for their knowledge and general baking sense. Hopefully next time I am in charge of the recipe I'll find one we don't have to modify on the fly to make it work.
Image of the Devonshire Cream - the small batch of scones were reduced to crumbs and smiles before I remembered to grab my camera
[Scone recipe at vegweb.com: Super Easy Scones ; Clotted Cream recipe found at Vegan Yum Yum: Lemon Maple Scones with Vegan Clotted Cream]
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