Raspberry Oat Scones

Vegan Raspberry Oat Scones

Summer is almost here, and raspberries are a true sign that summer is really arrived. Right now we’re basking in (slightly) warmer weather and using the oven to heat the house in the still chilly early mornings and evenings. These raspberry oatmeal scones are my current favourite bake.

I don’t remember my mom ever making scones, and I’m not sure if we had them before I started baking. They’re a British favourite, with the biscuit equivalent in North America, although scones tend to include more fat. In this case, much of the fat is added through full-fat coconut milk, and coconut oil instead of butter.

You won’t see the same outrageous rise here as you might with an all-butter, white flour scone – especially because oats are added and add weight. They will rise nicely, though, and the end result is both light and full of texture. I love them for breakfast with a little coconut yogurt on the side and don’t feel bloated or tired after having one or two.

Why rolled oats?

Rolled oats are, I think, the easiest type of oats to bake with. They hold onto their texture more than quick cook or instant, and steel-cut oats are infrequently used for baking as they tend to be too hard. Rolled oats are great for a morning porridge, but also the best choice for these scones, in granola, crisps, and cookies. They’re always my top choice for baking – either to use as is for some texture and added nutrition, or to blend up into oat flour for GF baking.

• Oats are naturally gluten free, and this recipe is lower in gluten thanks to the oats and spelt flour rather than all-purpose.
• We all know oats are healthy – whole grain rolled oats are high in dietary fibre, protein, and iron.
• These Bob’s Red Mill old fashioned rolled oats are organically grown.
• The majority of the world’s oats are grown in the EU, Russia, and Canada, and are a mainstay in many Northern European diets – think Scotland or Sweden, where many people still eat porridge daily.

Frozen raspberries vs fresh

There are a couple reasons I choose frozen over fresh for this recipe. One, scones will achieve greater heights when cold ingredients are used, and frozen berries help with that. Two, fresh raspberries tend to get squished and you end up with pink mottled scones – if that’s your thing, then certainly use fresh.

I also don’t have excellent access to fresh raspberries yet because they’re not quite in season, and using frozen means these raspberry oat scones can be made all year round. Fresh raspberries will work nicely if you have them, however, but you’ll just get a slightly pink scone with the more delicate fruit.

Plant based scone and biscuit tips

There are a couple of tips and tricks that will help you get the best possible vegan scones without butter or dairy cream. These are particularly useful if you’re making a healthy scone recipe like this one, instead of with margarine and white flour, but will help with any type of scone or biscuit.

• This is for any short recipe: use cold ingredients. Here, I don’t bother with extra steps like freezing the coconut oil because it doesn’t make enough of a difference. But certainly don’t add warm milk or melted oil, you’ll get puddles.
• Don’t over mix. If you mix too long, you’ll have a tough scone. That’s the case for any quick bread but especially so when you use low gluten flours like spelt.
• Add the milk in parts. I’ve outlined this in the recipe, but too much milk is a bad thing here – you want the unbaked dough to be very slightly crumbly rather than too wet.
• Cut with the sharpest knife you have. You can see in the pictures above that I had a little crumbling, and it’s because I used a dull knife. If you use fresh raspberries, this isn’t as much of a concern, but still a good idea in any case.

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