Rosemary & Caramelized Onion Scones

Great as a quick breakfast or snack on the go, eat either plain or enjoy warmed with vegan butter!

Simple ingredients and straight forward to make, these savory scones will bring the cafe flavors to your home.

I gained inspiration from biscuit doughs for this buttery scone. I wanted to create this recipe because I always look at the beautiful savory scones in coffee shop displays with envy whenever I want a breakfast to take on the go. I wanted to create a recipe to satisfy this craving but I have not actually tasted a scone since I was in high school and I cannot remember the consistency of the scone dough. Making a buttery dough seemed like the natural solution to this mysterious recipe. I have now been informed that scones are often dense and dry, and I am even more thankful I went with this biscuit-scone hybrid route.

~ Taylor

I kept joking with Taylor because as you read, she has not had a scone since we were teenagers. When I was in home economics in high school I fell in love with baking, specifically baking berry scones. However, what I did not realize at the time was that scones are incredibly dry and bland. So, I’m sorry to Taylor whose most frequent experiences with scones were the ones I made, which were akin to chewing on chalk.

The first time Taylor made these Rosemary and Caramelized Onion Scones, I was expecting to bite into a scone like the ones I used to force on my family as a teenager. So, when I first tasted the buttery, flavorful scone I was blown away by how delicious and addicting they were.

These make for the perfect breakfast, snack, or side for a meal. The past few weeks while Taylor and I have been testing the recipe, we have brought it to so many potluck meals with our family. Each day they are almost all eaten and as soon I get home, I devour the remaining ones.

~ Tessa

The Process:

The first step in making the scones is preparing the caramelized onions. I try to do this ahead of time so that I am not rushing their cooling process.

I often will prepare the onions the night before making the scones. I try to find a time when I am already cooking in the kitchen, like when I am making dinner the night before, so that caramelizing the onions does not take too much additional time out of my day.

I peel the onions, cut them in half, and slice them. Once the onions are sliced, I heat the vegan butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and is hot, I add the onions to the pan and top them with a sprinkle of salt. The salt helps the onions dehydrate and will go on to enhance their sweet flavor! I saute the onions until they are soft and translucent and then lower the heat so that they can caramelize. I stir them occasionally until they have shrunk in size and have reached a caramel brown color, at which point, I transfer the onions to a container, and allow them to cool in the fridge.

Once the caramelized onions have cooled, I adjust an oven rack to be set at the top of my oven, I heat the oven to 350°F, and prepare one extra large baking sheet with parchment paper (alternatively you can use two smaller baking sheets but note that if the sheets bake on different racks in the oven, you may want to flip their positions within the last five minutes of their baking so that the scones are consistent in their browning).

I begin my scone dough by combining the vegan milk and the vinegar, stirring to allow the milk to curdle.

The vinegar activates the baking soda as well as lends the dough an added savory depth.

In a separate medium bowl, I add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, and rosemary. After whisking these dry ingredients together, I add the vegan butter. I use a cold butter that I add by breaking it into chunks.

Using a cold butter produces a flaky, buttery dough. The cold butter will melt as the scones bake, giving layers and flakes to each bite.

Continuing with my dough, after adding the chunks of cold butter, I use a pastry blender and blend in the butter to produce a crumbly, parmesan cheese like consistency. If you do not own a pastry blender, you can use your fingers by pressing the butter into the flour mixture and rubbing it between your fingers to blend. I recommend using a pastry blender over your fingers since we are aiming to keep the butter as cold as possible in this process and the heat of your hands will melt the butter slightly. Additionally, I find that using a pastry blender is quicker than using your hands.

Once the butter is thoroughly blended with the flour mixture, I add the caramelized onions to the mixture and combine them thoroughly. I use a fork to stir the caramelized onions in as they often stick together and the fork helps break these clumps up. Then, I slowly add the sour milk (milk and vinegar mixture) to the mixture, while continuing to stir with the fork. The mixture will form a rough, sticky dough, at which point I turn this dough over to a floured surface and begin to knead.

Once the dough is a bit smoother, I split it in two, knead each mound for a little longer, and then pat them into large discs. If the dough does not form a smooth disc, knead it a couple times more for it to come together.

I cut each disc into six pieces like I would cut a pizza. Since there are long pieces of onion within the dough, I tuck the onion back into the scone before placing the scones onto the prepared baking sheet. I bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes, looking for a golden brown color on their bottoms. Once they are finished baking, I allow them to cool on a cooling rack immediately.

Great as a quick breakfast or snack on the go, eat either plain or enjoy warmed with vegan butter!

~Taylor

---

Rosemary & Caramelized Onion Scones

Vegan

---

Yield: 12 scones

Prep time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Bake time: 20-22 minutes

Author: Kitchen Potatoes

---

Ingredients

Caramelized Onions

· 2 tbsp vegan butter

· 3 large white onions, sliced

· ½ tsp salt

Dough

· 3 cups all-purpose flour + ¼ cup extra to flour surface

· 1 tbsp baking powder

· ½ tsp baking soda

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 tbsp sugar

· 1 tbsp dried rosemary

· ⅔ cup unsweetened vegan milk (I use plain, unsweetened soy milk)

· ⅓ cup vinegar

· ½ cup cold vegan butter

---

Method

1. To prepare the caramelized onions, heat vegan butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and salt, while stirring frequently for approximately 5 to 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Reduce heat to low and stir onions occasionally until onions have achieved a caramel color. This will take approximately 45 minutes. Once caramelized, move onions to a dish and cool onions in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes.*

2. Adjust oven rack to the upper area of your oven. Preheat oven to 350°F and line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

3. Combine vegan milk and vinegar in a measuring cup, stir to curdle milk, creating sour milk.

4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and rosemary in a large bowl.

5. Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, blend butter into flour mixture to achieve a fine, crumbly mixture. Add cooled caramelized onions to mixture, stir to combine.

6. While stirring with a fork, slowly add the sour milk (the vegan milk and vinegar mixture) to form a rough dough.

7. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead dough for 3 minutes. Split dough into 2 and knead each mound for another 30 seconds.

8. Pat each mound into discs approximately 1 inch in thickness. With a knife, divide each disk into six triangles and place scones onto prepared baking sheet.

9. Bake for approximately 20 to 22 minutes or until scones have browned on the bottom. Transfer scones immediately onto cooling rack.

---

Notes:

*alternatively, you can saute the onions the day before and refrigerate them over night.

---