How to make easy vegan cheese scones. I love scones. The buttery, flaky, melt-in-the-mouth texture is so utterly irresistible. I love sweet scones, filled with sultanas, with a sugary crusty top, and then filled with coconut whipped cream and some delicious strawberry jam. The epitome of a summer's day, a cream tea, so elegant and quintessentially English.
And then of course, there's other scones. Plain scones, ready for whatever you want to throw at them, be it jam, or cream or just dipped daintily in tea, or even filled with cream cheese maybe. But then we have the cheese scone. Here's how to Make Easy Vegan Cheese Scones
I honestly thought for many years that cheese scones could not be veganised, that vegan cheese was just not flavourful enough, that the shortening wouldn't work and you wouldn't pack a whole lot of flavour in them. I mean, I wanted a huge cheesy flavour in my scone!
To digress slightly, I have always wondered what the difference is between a scone, and it's American counterpart, the biscuit. If you are a Brit, you will know a cookie as a biscuit, and a biscuit as a scone. And Cookie/Biscuits are nothing at all like scones.
However, the American Biscuit is like a flakier scone, they often come cut into wedges, rather than circles, and are found with a myriad of different flavours. And so I think the main difference is simply a ratio thing: there is more fat to flour content, so you have a much flakier dough. The British Scone is sturdier, less flaky and more primed to hold copious amounts of filling. Dawn Perry wrote a very funny article on Scones vs Biscuits for Bon Appetit, you can read it here.
When I was first vegan, some 10 years ago, plant-based cheese was not as entirely successful as it is today. It didn't really melt and it could taste kind of funky. It is really amazing how much plant-based food has improved over the years, and I am so thankful for the vegan consumer market increasing and forcing this demand and quality to be constantly improved.
Today though, you can take your pick of vegan cheese, and use your favourite. There is blue cheese, spicy cheese, red cheese, greek-style cheese, you name it! I like a combination of blue and cheddar style cheeses for scones, they have the right amount of flavour and melt.
The recipe I'm using here is a version of Mary Berry's, refined by the English Kitchen and veganised by myself. I originally used an online recipe for just vegan cheese scones and it turned out horribly. I won't name the website I got the recipe from. I have an inkling that I had an ingredient issue (Flora Plant-Based Butter is not very good in baking) and an overworking issue. My mum sensed by inherent annoyance at a spoiled batch of scones (no rise, rock hard, still tasted good), and suggested "good old Mary Berry", so that's who I turned to.
My veganisations for how to make easy vegan Cheese Scones were fairly simple: the cheese and the egg, which I replaced with ¼ cup of vegan yogurt (make sure to use plain, preferably not coconut, and as thick as you can get it). I also added an additional half teaspoon of baking powder (soda), to help with the rise. The result was a delicious, flaky (but not too flaky) scone, with a deliciously savoury flavour. They lasted a couple of days in the fridge, and are also freezable! I recommend if you want to keep them in the tin for longer, they will be fine, but will start to get a little dry, so just microwave them for 10-15 seconds or so and that will refresh them.
Try my other delicious vegan baked recipes
📋 Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 1 tsp (250 g) Self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Margarine vegan, very cold
- 1¼ cups (1¼ cups) Vegan cheese grated. (I like to use a mixture of blue and cheddar-style), plus a little extra for grating on top
- ¼ cup Yogurt vegan, unsweetened
- ¼ pint Soy Milk unsweetened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220c
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, or lightly grease a non-stick sheet.
- Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- Using a gentle rubbing motion between your fingertips, rub the margarine into the flour until you have a sandy texture. Work quickly and lightly so as not to melt the margarine.
- Stir in the cheese very gently.
- In a jug, mix together the yogurt and milk.
- Pour this into your dry mixture, and using a knife, cut into the mixture until it starts to form a crumbly dough.
- If you find your dough is still very crumbly and will not come together, add a little cold water, a half teaspoon at a time.
- Once the dough starts to form, turn out onto a floured surface.
- Roll it gently into a round, about an inch deep.
- Cut out rounds using a pastry cutter or even, as my grandma used to use, a glass! You may need to push the dough together to get 6 scones out of the mixture.
- Place on your prepared baking sheet and brush with some soy milk. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes until risen and lightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and enjoy warm and spread with some vegan butter!
Nutrition
Try my fruit scones here or Floured Frame's amazing Sweet Vegan Matcha Scones here!
Deb says
Perfect recipe to keep on hand. These scones go well with so many dishes or are delicious on its own!
Jahma says
This recipe looks great! I love a savory pastry!
Jenny says
These look great! Thanks for veganising!
Nive says
I gotta try this vegan version of a biscuit ?
Lisa says
By the looks of your pictures, you’d never know the scones were vegan. They look delicious! It’s amazing that there can be so many healthy options for super yummy items like scones. Nice job!
Julie Plagens says
I would love eating these! They look pretty easy to make too. I’ll have to try them soon!
Skylair says
These sound delicious!! I've made scones one time before and the recipe was so time consuming but this recipe sound so simple! I am saving this recipe to try soon!!
Linda says
I want a scone. Right now. Those look delicious. So, I'm not vegan, but I think I could get down with these and would like to experiment with vegan cheese. Do you ever incorporate fresh herbs? What would you recommend?
Jennifer E says
Seriously, can you even go wrong when you start with Mary Berry?! I totally appreciate, that you worked on this recipe until you got it right. Thanks for putting together a recipe that all can enjoy.
Yolanda says
I think I will treat my best friend with these. She can't have gluten or dairy so will be using gluten free flour. Looks really good!
Stephanie says
Okay, this sounds absolutely amazing! I'm not vegan but that definitely doesn't mean I shouldn't try them out for myself. I'm so excited to give them a whirl sometime soon.
Nayomi says
I love the way you write. I laughed out loud at the vegan cheese that didn't melt right and tasted funky. These scones sound yummy. I love sweet scones maybe with raisins or currants paired with jam and cream.
Sarah Althouse says
I love that you used the word veganized. that's what my friend does with recipes all the time too!
Kait says
Ooh yum! I love scones so much, and I have been trying to eat more plant-based, so perfect timing. I cannot wait to try these vegan cheesy scones.
Rach says
I'm definitely more of a savory scone person and these look amazing. Cheese scones are too addictive!
Jill says
Amazing flavor and texture!
Kayla DiMaggio says
Ugh I love cheese scones and these were so delicious! Totally hit the spot!
Marinela says
These vegan scones are irresistable! Perfectly sweet!
Anaiah says
Yum! My first time making a cheese scone and it came out perfect! It's the perfect snack.
Neely Moldovan says
Oh I love scones! These sound so delish!
Bity says
I've never tried before, and really I was shocked with the result. they turned out very tasty. Thank you Freya.
Sandra says
I love scones! I will add this to my recipe box to make for the kids later. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Caroline says
I haven’t made scones ever, I might try with this easy cone recipe. They look like good.
Beth Pierce says
These delicious vegan cheese scones are so light and 'buttery' no one will believe they are vegan! Thanks for sharing this
Elizabeth O says
A cheese scone is one of my simple pleasures. I love that this is easy to make yet looks so delicious
Alita says
This would be perfect with a bowl of soup, or just a cup of tea. This is my comfort food!
Nyxie says
I love cheesy scones! We used to do them in my workplace but I was the only one buying them. Especially thing time of the year. Not sure about the vegan ones though.
Fransic verso says
These look so yummy, we tried something similar but not vegan. I will pass this to my friend as she is vegan. Thank you for sharing!
Rose Ann Sales says
That looks absolutely delicious and tasty! I would really love to try this recipe!
Thena says
Love this. I'm eating more vegan foods now so I'll check this out!
Ntensibe Edgar says
Hhhhmmmm....alright then! I look forward to replicating your recipe here. I hope it's sweeter than oats! Thanks for sharing.
Autumn Murray says
Yum to the yum! Saving this recipe to make with my daughter as it looks and sounds amazing!