Rosemary & Chocolate Scones

Scones, little dry blobs of gluten - wait hold up!!! These will smash your perceptions of scones, if that description is similar to the one you hold to these grandma-esque numbers. These are far from dry, but rather flavourful and absolutely heavenly. The combo works wonders with a little bit of vegan butter and a cup of tea, so I suggest you make these pronto for anyone in your life that has ever made YOU a scone and see what they think. Because I think they're definetely in with a 99.99% shot at impressing.

They're stupidly easy and rather divine. Feel free to swap out the flour for GF plain flour or a mixture of buckwheat, brown rice etc.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary (about 1-2 sprigs worth)
• 60g dark vegan chocolate chopped (or use choc-chips)
• 1/2 cup plant mylk (I used soy), plus more to use as a wash for these bad boys
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or refined coconut oil, or any light flavoured oil)
• 1 heaped tbsp nut butter (I used an almond blend)
• splash of vanilla essense/extract/paste etc.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients, pushing out any lumps of flour/almond meal with the bottom of a measurng cup if need be. Whisk to combine.
3. In another bowl (or small dish) combine the remaining ingredients, whisking until smooth.
4. Add the wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined. It should form a dough of sorts. Add more flour if your mixture is too sticky. Line a baking tray in preparation, and while you've got the baking paper out, take two extra sheets. Plonk the dough in between them (sprinkling with a little more flour if need be) and roll the mixture to be just below an inch thickness/2.5cm-ish. Using a scone cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out circles and place on the prepared baking tray. Re-roll and re-cut, until all the dough is used. The scones will rise a little, but you can cook them snug up against each other or apart, either will work.
5. Brush the tops with more plant mylk before baking in the pre-heated oven for approx. 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and when the tops are only ever so slightly golden they will be ready. Best enjoyed fresh out of the oven or within a day or so of baking with a little vegan butter. Deeelish!