Just Baking

Last week a delightful shipment landed on my doorstep.  It contained four attractively designed packages of the latest non-dairy cheese to hit North America, Sheese.  Produced in Scotland, this stuff has been all the rage among the vegan community.  As someone who’s writing and baking revolves around all things dairy-free, I was insanely eager to trial this new cheese contender.

They offer nine different varieties of the “hard cheese” alone.  Since I can spend an hour trying to decide “chocolate or vanilla,” I thought it would be best to leave fate up to the Sheese folks.  Not to mention, I love surprises!  I opened the box to discover four different flavors, Cheddar with Chives, Strong Cheddar, Blue Style, and…Cheshire?  Okay, those of you in the UK may be intimately familiar with Cheshire, but as I sit in my desert home far from any cheese tasting rooms, all I can think of is the cat in Alice and Wonderland.  Thank goodness for the Internet!  I hopped online and whom should I discover with a Cheshire Cheese google, but the British Cheese Board.  Abundant with dairy-rich recipes, I went out on a limb and selected the Cheshire Scones to veganize.

Of course, my version contains a few alterations from the Cheese Board original, but the results were actually quite good with my afternoon tea.  Any cheese or Sheese, as the case may be, should work well in this baseline recipe.  On my next run, I will likely throw in a teaspoon or two of chives to jazz things up a bit.  I actually used hemp milk in this recipe.  But, since hemp milk is just beginning to hit stores, I noted rice or soymilk in the ingredients instead.  Any milk alternative (plain or unsweetened) should work well.

Cheshire Scones

Yield: 8 wedges or 10 round scones

Ingredients:
8 oz all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder or 1 teaspoon prepared English mustard
2 oz butter alternative (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
4 oz grated Cheshire “Sheese” (or cheese alternative of choice)
1/2 cup of rice or soymilk

Directions:
Sieve the flour, salt, baking powder, and mustard powder (if using) into a bowl. Rub in the butter alternative until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the grated cheese.  Stir in the milk alternative and prepared mustard (if using), to create a smooth dough. If the mixture won’t stay together, add a bit more milk alternative, one Tablespoon at a time, as needed. 
Knead the scone mixture lightly and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1.5 inches (4-5cm). Cut into 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) rounds.  Alternately, you may roll the dough into a circle and into wedges (as shown in the picture).  Bake at 425ºF (220ºC) for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the scones lightly brown.