As of today the British Strawberry is officially stepping back into the limelight and shall be touring the country until the end of July. Let’s just hope the clouds stay high as apparently that is a sign for good weather to come. Strawberries love the sunshine, it will make them grow in bright and deep red colours with a delicious sweetness and distinct flavour only British strawberries in season can deliver.
Forget about all those other ones that travel to us from far countries throughout the year to land on the supermarket shelves, only to blind us with their looks but definitely will let us down by their lack of flavour. Here it is also important to know that these very fragile and perishable fruit lose their nutritional value quite dramatically after just two days, so you can imagine what is left after their long journey across the globe.
If you need to have strawberries outside the season, please go for the frozen variety, they are very likely to have been picked at their peak and probably have more nutritional value as well as a better flavour and are perfect for desserts or smoothies. Please read the label to see where they come from, you don’t want to get a cheep import from China. You can also freeze your freshly purchased or picked treasures yourself , best to be done towards the end of this season, so you don’t end up having to buy a bigger freezer.
Strawberries are a pretty special kind of berry, they are packed with phytonutrients, they are an excellent source of vitamin C , a good source of fibre and give us a wide variety of minerals – so here you have one antioxidant wonder, perfect to prepare us and our skin for the hot months to come. Strawberries are a super afternoon snack just by themselves or I like to have a few pieces of extra dark chocolate with them- so good !
Now, what better than to start the season than with scones, cashew vanilla cream and strawberry chia jam?. Chia seeds are perfect for making fresh fruit jam, their gelatine effect saves you a huge amount of sugar and cooking time. The only downfall is that this jam won’t keep as long as your traditional one, but it’s so delicious that there is no need to worry about that really.
Here are some chia jam serving ideas : you can have the jam with your breakfast cereal, on pancakes, in yogurt or even on top of a nice piece of cheddar cheese. In fact you will probably find yourself making some more quite soon after the first batch.
As for the cream I thought a vanilla nut cream would add some more goodness, as an alternative plain organic Greek yogurt with added vanilla and maple syrup works a treat too. Finally choosing a buckwheat and oat flour combination keeps the scones gluten free and wholesome. Enjoy!!
Buckwheat scones with cashew vanilla cream & strawberry chia jam
Buckwheat scones– makes 12
100g of buckwheat flour
75g of oat flour ( simply grind oats in an electric coffee grinder)
50g of ground almonds
1 tsp of baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp maple syrup or 2 tbsp barley syrup
40g of coconut oil
130-150ml organic rice, almond or cashew milk
1 egg beaten for brushing
Strawberry chia jam
400g of fresh British strawberries
2-3 tbsp of maple syrup-
2-3 tbsp of chia seeds
small bunch of mint leaves ( optional)
Cashew vanilla cream
200g cashew nuts ( also works with peeled almonds)
1/2 vanilla pod
2-4 tbsp of rice or cashew milk
Alternative to cashew vanilla cream:
200g of organic plain Greek yogurt
1/2 vanilla pod (content only)
1 tbsp of maple syrup
Method:
For the strawberry jam, simply wash the strawberries and cut off the little green caps, then place them in a food processor together with the maple syrup and the chia seeds. Now blend until you get a lovely jam like texture, check for sweetness and add some more maple syrup if needed. If you want to add the mint, then add it into the blending process, it really gives the jam a lovely and special flavour. Now fill the jam into small jars, close the lid tightly and leave to set in the fridge. 30 minimum, but best for a few hours or over night.
The cashew cream is really simply done, just place the cashew nuts and vanilla pod in a food strong food processor and blend until smooth, I like to add some nut milk to make the cream that little bit creamier. The blending process will take some time, so please be patient, the cream will get there. Unfortunately the cream can only be made in a food processor or some juicers have a nut butter setting, which would work perfectly well too. Also fill the cream into a jar with a lid and refrigerate, it will keep for up to 3-4 days.
If you do not have cashew nuts handy or no food processor then you can use plain organic Greek yogurt. Just add vanilla ( cut pod lengthwise and scrape out the black paste which will give the yogurt the lovely dark vanilla dots) and a dash of maple syrup, mix well and leave to have the vanilla flavour set in for a 30-60 minutes, better even over night . the slight sourness of the yogurt works very well with the strawberry jam.
The scones are also super easy and quickly done, you don’t even need a mixer. First mix the maple syrup with the milk and set aside. Next, sift the flours, salt and the baking powder into a bowl and add the coconut oil and rub quickly into the flour, creating a fine breadcrumb like consistency.
Now start adding a little milk and work it into the flour mix, keep adding a little at a time working into a smooth dough. Buckwheat flour is a very dense flour so you don’t want to over kneed the dough otherwise the scones turn out quite heavy. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and leave the dough to rest for 10-15 minutes. If you like scones with raisins you would need to add them to the dry mix first and then add the milk. Whilst the dough is having a rest, you can prepare a baking tray, lining it with baking paper.
Once the dough is rested, pre-heat the oven at at 220C; role out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it is approximately 2cm thick. Now cut the dough with a pastry cutter and lay out on the prepared baking tray. Finally beat the egg and brush the scones to give the a lovely shiny glaze and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Leave to cool down a little before serving them still warm with the cream and jam. I love an Earl Grey with my scones, such a good combo.
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