Bare Bones Scones!

The independent natural health food store I work for has a fully functioning vegetarian kitchen upstairs and every morning they bring down two fresh batches of vegan, spelt muffins in various incredible varieties. I typically cannot save myself the $1.19 plus tax, minus discount, no matter how big a breakfast I've already eaten. They are easily my biggest temptation of the day (unless a Mumford & Sons music video comes on TV, right Angela?) and boast mouth-watering combinations like apple, ginger, sunflower seed; carob and walnut; lemon-blueberry and the famous Amy-Joy (actually known as the Almond Joy). The point of this little introduction is that the kitchen staff's creativity inspired me to find a bare bones breakfast recipe that I could customize to my liking once in a while at home. I came up with scones.

Bare bones scones are so easy to make: easier than muffins, and they take only a short time to bake. They can be flavoured any which way and I haven't found a bad one yet. Here's how to make them:

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix together dry ingredients: 3 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt.
At this point you can add any solid additions like dried fruit, nuts, chocolate or carob chips, etc.
Mix together wet ingredients: 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup honey, 3/4 cup any juice, milk or liquid.
At this point you can add any mushy additions like fresh fruit or fruit purees, peanut butter, citrus zests.
Whisk the contents of the two bowls together until combined, form into scones, and bake on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes or until golden.

For example, I love using orange juice as the liquid, then adding orange zest and dried cranberries. Chocolate chips as an addition, and using milk as the liquid is really good. I've even made these using shredded zucchini and white cheddar cheese. And don't worry about the flour - if wheat isn't your thing they work great with spelt or a gluten-free mix. Go crazy!