Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 01/24/2021 - Last updated on 11/27/2023
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These Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones are delicious flaky British scones made egg-free and dairy-free for a comforting vegan breakfast.
Bonus, you can make these vegan scones with coconut oil or vegan butter!
What Are Vegan Scones?
It’s super easy to make vegan scones, but you must use the right ingredients and measure them precisely.
The most common mistake I see in vegan baking is people swapping flours, and it never comes out great.
So, follow the recipe and don’t be tempted to swap all-purpose flour with almond flour, coconut flour, or even gluten-free flour.
All these options wouldn’t work, and you will end up with a very disappointing scone.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones
These plant-based scones are the easiest breakfast bread to make at home.
Ingredients
All you need to make these are a few wholesome pantry ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – I like to use unbleached wheat flour or spelt flour. Both work really well.
- Cornstarch – you can replace this ingredient with the same amount of tapioca flour or arrowroot flour. This helps the flour hold together as this is an egg-free scone recipe.
- Non-dairy milk – I like to use almond milk, coconut milk, or soy milk. The difference is barely noticeable at the end. Soy milk tends to make fluffier and moister scones, while almond milk makes drier scones. Also, coconut milk is very flavorsome, so if you don’t really like coconut flavor in your baked goods, I won’t recommend that option.
- Cold vegan butter – you must use cubes of cold vegan butter straight out of the fridge. Don’t use melted butter, or the scones will be very dense.
- Baking powder
- Dark chocolate chips – I am using dairy-free chocolate chips to make these vegan chocolate chip scones. Check the ingredient list of your chips for no milk or butter to make sure they are vegan-friendly.
- Salt
- Coconut sugar or any sugar you have at home.
- Vanilla extract
Making Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones
First, sift the flour and cornstarch into a large bowl. This prevents lumps into your scones.
Stir in the remaining dry ingredients: coconut sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Then, add the cold pieces of vegan butter, and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to rub the vegan butter into the flour to form pea-sized crumbles of flour.
Finally, drizzle vanilla and soy milk and bring the ingredients together to form a dough.
Stir in the chocolate chips at the end and shape a dough ball.
Chilling The Dough
Now, place the dough into the fridge and chill for 15 minutes.
If the dough is very sticky, sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough.
Pressing Into A Disc
Remove the dough from the fridge and place it onto a floured piece of baking paper. Press the dough into an 8-inch disc.
Cut 8 wedges using a knife. Slide the piece of parchment paper onto a baking tray.
Finally, spread the wedges on the tray to prevent them from touching each other, or they wouldn’t bake evenly on the sides.
Brushing With Non-Dairy Milk
Brush the top of the scones with almond milk or soy milk.
This adds a little moisture onto the scones and prevents them from getting too dry. It also increases the fluffy, buttery texture.
Baking
Bake your scones in the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Note that baking time varies depending on your oven type and altitude.
You know they are ready when the top is golden brown and set. Don’t overbake scones, or they get very dry and hard.
This is a great recipe for breakfast on the side of a vegan smoothie or cup of tea or coffee. You can also serve scones as an afternoon tea or snack for kids.
Storing Vegan Scones
These vegan scones store very well at room temperature in an airtight container.
You can keep them fresh for 3 days at room temperature or 1 week if stored in the fridge.
These vegan scones can also be frozen in a sealed, airtight container. Thaw your scones at room temperature the day before serving.
Serving Vegan Scones
These vegan scones can be served plain, like breakfast bread, or cut in half and topped with some of the spreads below for:
- Vegan butter
- Vegan whipped cream – whipped coconut cream on top of scones is delicious.
- Jam
- Peanut butter or almond butter
- Fruits – banana slices, strawberries, any fruits add a delicious, fresh and juicy texture to these scones.
Making Other Vegan Scone Flavors
You can swap the chocolate chips for the same amount of:
- Berries – blueberries and a touch of lemon zest or orange zest and raspberries are delicious combinations of flavors.
- Dried fruits – like sultanas, cranberries, and finely chopped apricots.
- Nuts – chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Make Vegan Scones With Coconut Oil?
Yes, vegan butter or coconut oil works. But watch out: they don’t provide the same results, and there are a few tricks to make the recipe work well with coconut oil.
Texture
- Coconut oil makes scones dense and crispy. The dough is more elastic to work with, and it won’t raise as much.
- Vegan butter makes scones fluffier and buttery, like classic British scones.
How to use coconut oil?
- Solid coconut oil – You must use solid coconut oil for the best results, not melted! Usually, coconut oil is solid at room temperature, except if your pantry is above 74°F (23°C). If so, the coconut oil melts, and all you have to do to get it back to its solid state is to pop the container in the fridge. First, measure the amount of coconut oil required by the recipe. Next, pop in the fridge to get solid coconut oil – it doesn’t have to be cold or too hard, just solid and soft.
- Lukewarm milk – don’t add cold milk into the batter if you are using coconut oil! Coconut oil firms up in contact with cold milk and the batter would harden like a rock.
Can I Use Gluten-Free Flour?
No, these scones wouldn’t raise at all using all-purpose gluten-free flour.
You cannot use the following flours either in this recipe: almond flour, coconut flour, or oat flour.
You must use spelt flour or all-purpose wheat flour for the best results.
More Vegan Breakfast Recipes
If you love these scones, you may also like my vegan blueberry scones recipe or the vegan baking recipes below:
Have you made this vegan chocolate chip scones recipe yet? Share a review or comment below. I love to hear back from you,
Your friend, Carine
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Vegan Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour - not gluten free flour
- 1 tablespoon Corn Starch
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ cup Coconut Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 8 tablespoons Cold Vegan Butter (Unsalted) - or solid coconut oil – see note
- ½ cup Soy Milk - at room temperature, not cold
- 1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Dark Chocolate Chips
To brush on top
- 2 tablespoons Soy Milk
Optional
- 2 tablespoons Orange Zest
Instructions
- Sift the flour and cornstarch in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk in cornstarch, salt, coconut sugar, and baking powder.
- Add in the solid coconut oil* and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to rub the coconut oil (or cold butter) into the flour mixture until it forms pea-sized crumbles.
- Drizzle the soy milk and vanilla extract over the flour mixture and then mix in with a spoon until a rough dough forms.
- Add vegan chocolate chips and orange zest, if you want to. Gently knead the dough to incorporate.
- The dough will be sticky. If it's too sticky, add a little more flour on top. If it seems too dry, add 1-2 more tablespoons of soy milk.
- Form a dough ball and chill for 15 minutes.
- Remove dough from the fridge and place it onto a large floured piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and press into an 8-inch disc, and with a sharp knife, divide into 8 wedges.
- Slide the piece of parchment paper with the disc of scones on a plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- After refrigerating, separate each scone and place them 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush the top of the scones with 1-2 tablespoons of soy milk.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and the edges are dry and hard.
- Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to the cooling rack.
- Store the scones at room temperature for 2 days, wrapped in a towel or a sealed box.
- Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze in a sealed box. Thaw at room temperature the day before.
Just made these and substituted grapefruit for the orange so yummy, i also made grapefruit curd to add after. I am not a very good baker and these were so easy. My vegan daughter who is a professional baker loved them.
I made these scones tonight, but for the flour I actually used half gluten-free flour and half bread flour because those were the only two flours I had on hand. It might sound like a weird combo, but the texture was divine! The inside was fluffy; not too dry and not too dense. Overall incredible flavor and mouth feel. This will be my go-to recipe for scones! I’m going to use this recipe to make savory scones with rosemary next
Delicious and they came out perfectly, thank you! I love that they aren’t too sweet either.
Hello, can you use a neutral vegetable oil instead of vegan butter? Thanks!
I didn’t try this option I am not sure oil will work, or try solid coconut oil
First time scone maker! Really easy recipe with great results! Will definitely make again!
I love this recipe so much! I share it with everyone I know. If you don’t like the taste of coconut oil, I highly recommend using 4 tbsp of hard coconut oil and 4 of vegan butter.