cream – Vegans.UK

Plant milks are the non-frightening, yummy alternative to dairy milk. They’re often fortified with calcium and B12 among other things and have none of the horrid qualities of dairy, such as pus, growth hormones, antibiotics, cancer promoting animal protein and cholesterol. Also, milk from cows is supposed to feed their calves, not us. The same goes for goat’s milk, which is just as cruel an industry. The separating of mothers from their newborns just so humans can steal their sustenance is an inhumane and totally unnecessary practice. For health, the environment and of course animal welfare, it’s best to go with plant milks.

So, what kind of plant milks are there? Loads! In your local supermarket you will find a huge variety including: coconut milk (regular, low fat and chocolate flavour) almond milk (sweetened, unsweetened and vanilla flavour) hazelnut milk, oat milk (various kinds) and of course soya milk. You may even find hemp milk and rice milk in there somewhere. As you can see, the choice is extensive.

Many plant milks come fortified with vitmains & minerals

I used to drink quite a lot of milk in my pre-vegan days and, even though I’m not much of a tea or coffee drinker, I couldn’t imagine doing without cereal in the morning. I use almond milk for that these days and also for making porridge. My other half prefers coconut milk in his muesli and if you’ve got a sweet tooth, that could be the one for you. Soya milk is great for baking, and my cousin swears by oat milk as her daughter has an intolerance for both dairy and soya. My advice is to try each one that’s available to you easily till you find a taste you enjoy. Some people are really fancy and make their own milks using fantastic machines, but I’m a bit lazy for that.

Milk isn’t a tough thing to replace in your diet at all. Other products that are traditionally dairy or egg based, such as yoghurt, mayonnaise, ice cream, custard, chocolate, cream and margarine or butter have many alternatives too and they only get more numerous as time goes on. There’s even a dairy free creme fraiche!

Now I know what you’re thinking, what about cheese. Well that is a subject best covered in a whole separate post, but let’s just say for now that there are many superb cheese alternatives. One of the main reasons many people feel they can’t go fully vegan is because of cheese, so I’m glad the dairy free times are a’changing.

There's a huge variety of plant milk out there -try them all! — There’s a huge variety of plant milk out there -try them all!

The fabulous charity Viva! is a great resource and they have a whole booklet dedicated to the dairy free switch. You can download it or order a paper copy and it’s a great place to start. Giving up dairy milk is one of the best things you can do when it comes to altering your diet. If you’ve already given it up, well done! Do let me know if you spot any new vegan milk products, as I say, they’re springing up all the time!

However you pronounce them (scowns, sconns, scoons…) these little pieces of baking magic are ever popular on the afternoon tea scene. Whether you put jam on them (as I like to) or vegan cream, olive spread, or a mixture of these, there’s something comforting about tucking into a home baked scone.

These are plain, wholemeal ones, but feel free to experiment. You can use white flour, add sultanas or chopped dates to the mixture or even try some vegan cheese in there, saving a little to sprinkle on top.

This is the basic recipe and the one thing to remember is not to roll the dough too thin. I’ll admit I went a shade on the thin side for these, so was just over the bakers’ dozen, but don’t do as I do, do as I say…

Makes 12 (if you do it properly…)

Ingredients

Soy cream is easy to get in the supermarket

115g Vitalite or other vegan buttery spread

115g Caster Sugar (unrefined if you can get it)

665g Plain wholemeal flour

35g Baking powder

(120g of dried fruit, if you’re going down that route)

250ml soy cream

150ml almond or other non-dairy milk plus a wee bit extra for brushing

Try to find unrefined caster sugar if you can

Here’s how I do it:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees or Gas mark 4 (you might want it between 150 and 160 if you have a fan oven)

Cream the Vitalite and caster sugar together until they’re totally blended and have a light consistency.

Rub in the wholemeal flour and baking powder with your hands till it looks like breadcrumbs.

(If you’re adding dried fruit or whatever, do it at this stage.)

Mix the milk and cream together in a little measuring jug and pour it into the mixture a bit at a time, working it slowly into a nice, soft dough.

If the dough isn’t coming together as you’d like, just pop in some milk, a few drops at a time, to get all the crumbs to come together.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out till it’s 2cm in thickness. (Remember what I said, don’t go too thin or you’ll end up with biscuits. 2cm is about the width of two of your fingers together, although of course it depends what size your hands are…)

Cut out twelve, or at the most thirteen scones with a 6cm pastry cutter and place them carefully on a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bear in mind that they will grow slightly, so be sure to give a good centimetre or so between them.