Scones- my daily breakfast

Most vegan cookbooks I have are from the US. Although I have some Australia ones, I can count them all on one hand- and they are less than 5. It is always interesting to see the differences in US and Australian cooking- different names for ingredients, utensils, even baked goods.

Once such example is cookies- we don't have cookies over here - we have biscuits (although the word is getting more usage). And what are called biscuits in the US are called scones over here (and in the UK/NZ).

I have been missing scones for the past few weeks, dreaming of the flaky buttery morsels drenched in raspberry jam and topped with a cloud of cream.

After a few attempts, I have mostly perfected my own vegan scone and cream recipe. Although the cream is not an exact representation of the dairy version, when placed atop a jam-covered scone it has the same "mouthfeel,"making it difficult to assume that the scone could be any different.

You will need wait to prepare the cream at least 4 hours before making the scones. Resist the urge to use the cream early- tofu's strength comes from its ability to absorb other flavours while receding its own 'beany' flavour, to the point where you would never guess that the food had tofu in it.

Vegan Cream:

- 300g silken firm tofu
- 1/4 c vegan margarine (I use Nuttelex)
- 1/4 c icing sugar (make sure it is pure sugar and free of cornstarch)
- 1 t pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 c water
- 2 t agar powder

First blanch your tofu. The instructions here are very good - bring a pot of water to boil, remove from heat and add the roughly chopped tofu. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Set aside to drain well in a strainer for at least 30 minutes.

Place the tofu, margarine, vanilla and icing sugar in a blender. Set aside.

Place the water and agar powder into a small saucepan. Heat the saucepan over medium heat and stir until the mixture thickens. Quickly remove from heat and place the mixture into the blender.

Blend all ingredients together, scraping down the sides occasionally.

Pour the cream into a bowl and refrigerate for a few hours. This will allow the cream to solidify and the creamy vanilla flavour to develop.


Now for the scones- make sure your oven is hot and at the correct temperature- use an oven thermometer!

Scones - makes approximately 8 scones:

- 1 1/2 c plain flour
- 2 t baking powder
- 1 T sugar
- 1/3 c vegan margarine, chilled + cut
- 1/3 c soy milk

Preheat oven 220 C (430 F). This may take a while, so start preheating at least 15 minutes before making the scones.

Lay a piece of baking paper over a baking tray.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Add the margarine into the flour mix. Using a knife, start cutting the butter into the flour. When they resemble small lumps, rub the butter and flour together between your fingers. Use rapid motions and continue until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs.


Add the soy milk and stir the dough together with a knife. It may look like it won't come together, but it will. Once this happens, bring the dough together with your hands and lightly knead it for two turns- this should only take less than 30 seconds.

Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand, until it is roughly 1.5-2 cm in height. Grease the inside and outside rim of a glass drinking cup- this will be your scone cutter. Use the glass to cut circular scone shapes out of the dough.

Place scones onto the baking tray, put in the oven and bake for 15 - 25 min or until the scone tops are lightly golden.

Mohnstrudel - showcasing the humble poppyseed

There are many ingredients in the baking world that seem to not be popular enough to be used to their full flavour potential. Peanut butter, chocolate and cinnamon to me have been oversaturated in sweets.

What of other tantalising delights, such as kiwifruit, pistachios, and poppy seeds?

Poppy seeds especially have been misunderstood in their potential, being shoved into the nearest citrus flavoured cake or sprinkled on top of bread. Their potential shines when finely ground with a spice/coffee grinder and boiled with sugar and milk to produce a sweet, tasty and dare I say- addictive filling.

My favourite variation of using poppy seeds is the mohnstrudel.


Mohnstrudel comprises of two components: the sweet yeast dough that will be used as the 'pastry' and the tasty poppy seed filling (mohn is translated as poppy seed). Some people may find this strudel unusual, being used to the flaky pastry layers of strudel dough used in the popular apfelstrudel. This dough is also used to make a strudel variation using walnuts and is used in many sweet dumpling recipes.

One of the best recipes online for mohnstrudel is found at Bernhard's Austrian Cooking. I modified the recipe ingredients slightly for vegans below, but I do recommend to go over to his website and follow the excellent instructions to make tasty mohnstrudels of your own.

Instructions and filling recipe for mohnstrudel by Bernhard's.

Vegan recipe for sweet yeast dough:

- 3 c flour
- 1 1/4 t dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4c + 2 T vegan milk (add more milk a tablespoon at a time if dough is too dry)

Bernhard mixes all the ingredients together, however I gently heat the vegan milk and sugar together first, until the sugar is mostly dissolved and the milk is lukewarm- not burning hot (or you will kill the yeast!).

I add this liquid mixture to the yeast to activate it and watch for it to start foaming. Then I stir in the yeast/milk/sugar mix with the flour.

Strudel filing:

Follow ingredients for filling, but replace honey with:
- 2 T rice syrup

Of course, the best bit is always eating the filling!

Welcome, here is your fresh hot cup of coffee~

Baking, decorating and confectionery making has aways been my passion. One early memory of my ignited passion was of an alternative retelling of Cinderella, where she marries a baker - and as a seven year old I thought, "that would be great, but I'd rather be the one doing all the pastry chef stuff!" But the earliest is when my mum made my 3rd birthday cake- a very well-done and realistic representation of Oscar the Grouch (my all time favourite Sesame Street character. I don't get the Elmo craze). A beautiful artistic cake that also tasted good - amazing! Throughout the years, helping my mum bake, decorate and make delicious sweet food. This drove a small spark within.

But you have to grow up some time. Right?

High school, university and other related baggage that comes with it halted my artistic spark and desire to the point where I kept telling myself that 'I was not good enough' and indeed that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. But then I started seeing everyone else's creations. I thought, 'I would love do do that', 'I could do that' and when I started thinking 'I could do better than that!!!,' the passion for sweets making came back.

But that happened after I became vegan. The removal of animal products such as eggs and cream and finding suitable replacements is a challenging process. But this is what has fueled me even more:

For my goal is to make delicious, scrumptious, attractive sweet foods which are animal cruelty free. I hope you enjoy this blog and learning with me, for I feel that knowledge such as this deserves to be freely shared.

As for the name, it is what I imagine a classy coffeehouse in the 1920's to be named. The spelling of kaffeehause is also a nod to my Austrian heritage and all the delicious sweet goods that come from Austria and the surrounding countries.