100% Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Pure Vanilla Glaze | Strawberry Shortcake Day

I made these long ago when the strawberry season was at its peak but never got around to posting it. 🙂 Recently I was cleaning up my data & then realized that I totally forgot to blog about them. 🙂

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Then I thought why not schedule for the Strawberry Shortcake Day on 14th June!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Since January this year, I’ve been making recipes with smaller & simpler helping which are sweet & fattening but moderately so. I am not making them TOO healthy, sugar-free, etc but I’m trying to cut the portion size so that we indulge. But, only a little!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

So I chose to make shortcake with a twist. I made some strawberry scones as they are similar to a shortcake base!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I made a tried & tasted recipe from Smitten Kitchen with some few changes of my own. I added basil leaves. Did I tell you they are my new-found love.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I halved the recipe, substituted flour with whole wheat flour & used vanilla glaze for the extra zing and to mimic a shortcake whipped cream. 🙂

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

For sometime, I’ve been meaning to start using The Vanilla Bean. Finally I took the plunge here. I had no idea what the glaze with real vanilla seeds should look like and I am not sure if the seeds should be so clearly visible in a glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

But what I do know is that we loved it! The taste was real real Vanilla & just perfect to go with the scones.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Overall I think this was a perfect sweet-after-dinner nights. Just pop one or two with some fresh strawberries, topped with glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I would surely like to try these with some more fresh berries of season – may be mulberries, raspberries, blueberries! So many options, so many possibilities!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients –

• 1 Cup – Wheat Flour
• ½ Tbsp – Baking Powder
• 1 ½ Tbsp – Granulated Sugar
• ¼ tsp – Salt
• 3 Tbsps (42.5gms) – Unsalted Butter, chilled & grated using a box grater
• ½ Cup – Ripe strawberries, quartered/ halved
• 1 Tbsp – Basil Leaves, chopped
• ½ Cup – Heavy Cream

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.
3. Add butter using a pastry blender, I used my potato masher, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about.
4. Gently stir in strawberries & basil leaves to coat them with dry ingredients.
5. Add in the cream. You can use a rubber spatula to gently lift & turn ingredients over each other. When you have mixed it as best you can with a spatula, knead the dough once or twice only to get one mass. Do not worry about even mixing, it is important not to over-work the batter.
6. Generously flour the counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to the counter. Generously flour the top of the dough. Now using your hands or a rolling-pin, gently press or roll the dough out to a ¾” thickness.
7. Using a floured cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, pressing straight down. Do not twist as you cut. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches space between each. You can re-roll the scraps of the dough. The dough may feel slightly dry but it will bake wonderfully once the strawberries release their juices.
8. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges & the strawberry juices are trickling out of the scones in places. Cool in the pan for a minute, and then transfer to a cooling rack.
9. When they reach at room temp, pour vanilla glaze. Before pouring, place a rimmed sheet to catch any dripping glaze. Serve fresh with cut strawberries.

Vanilla Glaze

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Sweetapolita

Ingredients –

• 1-2 Tbsps – Whole Milk
• ½ Cup – Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1 – Vanilla Bean, split & scraped

Method –

1. Split the bean & scrape seeds into the milk. Let it sit in a spouted container such as a pyrex cup for about an hour.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar gradually whisking, until you get desired consistency.
3. Ensure it is not too runny or it won’t dry white on cake and will run off too quickly.
4. Once the scones have cooled, pour over the scones.

Sending this to –

1. Black & White Wednesday # 88 hosted by Sreevalli. BWW is an event started by Susan, now managed by Cinzia.
2. Bake Fest # 20 hosted by My Home Mantra, event strated by Vardhini
3. Sending this to Color Me White photography series by Priya.
4. What’s with my Cuppa 2 by Nupur

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

Strawberries are here! yeyeye! There was a time (read: before marriage) when I hated strawberries, well I still do in any form other than fresh. You got confused, I know! I can’t stand strawberry ice-cream, strawberry jam, etc etc, to me they all taste very sweet, very artificial & always leave a very weird, sort of bitter taste in my mouth. But V loves them, so he introduced me to the fresh fruit, I was quite skeptical, ready to hate them. BUT I liked them. Can’t say I love them but ya now I like & enjoy them in the season.

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

Here in Maharashtra, strawberry plantation is a big industry for both local & export market. Strawberries are available by truck load everywhere, you just cant deny buying yourself a box. 🙂 In Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani, it is a common sight for commoners & tourists to indulge in strawberry picking during the harvest season. I’ve tried doing that too once, but that time season was almost over & we didn’t get the best ones to pick. 😦

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

I decided to put these strawberries to a new use (at least for us) – yes a CAKE! Thankfully for our growing waistline, I baked this for a dear friend & not for us. When I came across this recipe & read the reviews, I just knew I had to bake this one. I replaced blueberries with strawberries, silken tofu with equal amount of home-made ricotta cheese & cake flour with APF & cornstarch. I reduced the quantity by half & baked it in a loaf pan.

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

To give a twist I roasted strawberries in honey, olive oil, salt & balsamic vinegar (again home made). It is very frustrating to google recipes and realize that you can’t make most due to lack of ‘fancy’ ingredients. I slowly have started overcoming this by making them (corn syrup, mascarpone, etc) at home as much as possible. This time I conquered Balsamic Vinegar in the best option (cheap & readily available). I increased the quantity of fresh strawberries as they will reduce on roasting. So I took 2 Cups fresh strawberries which gave me about 1 Cup roasted strawberries.

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

The ricotta cheese was different than our usual paneer, I believe due to the addition of cream – it was creamy in texture & taste. It sure is a perfect substitution for silken tofu.

The roasted strawberry was an out of this world experience. I am going to make them quite often & going to use varied fruits. The color, the smell, the taste was just awesome.

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

The cake rose well & my kitchen filled with wonderful smell of roasted strawberries & baking. Though upon removing from the cake, it did sink little in the center, I’m not sure why. The cake smelled heavenly & delicious. The crumbs tasted absolutely wonderful. I strongly recommend serving the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. V sulked for not being able to gorge on either the roasted strawberries or the cake. 🙂

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

I would have loved to use some port here to roast strawberries, but my friend is a complete teetotaler & saatvic to the core. 🙂 She is an Ayurvedic Doctor, practicing with an Ayurvedic Retreat near Pune. She became my role model for practicing Yoga during both my pregnancies. She stood by me in my times of need, she became a friend to me in this still ‘alien’ city and have even fought on my behalf with others. Lately we had a small misunderstanding and I’m glad we overcame our egos and made up. I would hate to loose a special friend like her. Thank you for being my friend, Dr. Roli. This cake is for you. Guys I did not send or dedicate this virtually, I personally delivered it to her on the D-day!

Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

Eggless Roasted Strawberry & Chocolate Bread –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Eggless Cooking

Ingredients –

• 1/4 Cup – Butter, softened
• 3/4 Cup – Sugar
• 1/4 Cup – Ricotta Cheese, pureed
• 1/4 Cup – Curd
• 1/8 Cup – Milk
• 2 tsps – Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/4 Cups – Cake Flour (see my notes)
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp – Baking Soda
• a pinch – Salt
• 1 Cup – Roasted Strawberries (2 Cups fresh Strawberries would give you 1 Cup)

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Grease & line a 8 X 6 X 2 loaf pan.
2. In a small bowl, blend cheese & yogurt well. Add milk & vanilla, mix well.
3. Sift together, flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat sugar & butter till light & fluffy, this will take about 5 minutes. To this add liquid ingredients in 3 batches, beat well after each addition.
5. Now add dry ingredients and blend well.
6. Add in the roasted strawberries. You can lightly dust them in flour to avoid sinking to the bottom of the pan. Fold them very gently into the batter to avoid further breakdown.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 – 50 mins or till toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire rack for 10 mins, then de-mold on a wire rack and cool completely before serving.

Roasted Strawberries –

Recipe Source – adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients –

• 2 Cups – Fresh Strawberries
• 2 Tbsps – Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp – Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsps – Honey
• a pinch – Salt

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Grease & line a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Hull & slice the strawberries into half or quarter depending on size.
3. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, salt & honey together.
4. Place strawberries in a large bowl. Pour the above mixture on it. Toss gently till all the berries are covered.
5. Spread coated berries in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. Keep checking the berries in between as each may vary. It helps to slightly move around the berries a bit for even roasting. Remove from oven before the juices start burning.
7. Remove the berries & juices from the sheet while still warm and place them in a bowl. Add balsamic vinegar & toss. Set aside and allow it to cool.

Balsamic Vinegar –

Recipe Source – adapted from About.com

Ingredients –

• 2 Tbsps – Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp – Sugar

Method –

1. Mix vinegar & sugar to combine.
2. Use in place of 2 Tbsps of Balsamic Vinegar.

Cake Flour – Place 2 Tbsps of corn flour in a cup, fill the remaining cup with APF – yields 1 cup Cake flour

Ricotta Cheese – I quartered the recipe as I didn’t want to end up with so much ricotta cheese on hand since I regularly make paneer. Makes 1 Cup of Cheese.

Recipe Source – adapted from Chef in You

Ingredients –

• 500 ml – Whole Milk
• 1/4 Cup – Heavy Cream, I used Amul
• 2 tsp – White Vinegar
• a pinch – Salt

Method –

1. In a heavy saucepan, combine milk & cream.
2. Warm on moderately high heat, till the mixture starts to foam & bubbly. Do not allow to boil.
3. Remove the pan from heat. Add vinegar & stir gently for 30 secs.
4. The mixture will curdle almost immediately.
5. Add salt & stir for another 30 secs.
6. Cover the pan with wet towel. Allow to stand at room temp for 2 hours.
7. Line a large colander with several layers of cheesecloth or muslin, allowing several inches of overhang.
8. Place the colander on a large bowl. Pour the curdled mixture over the colander.
9. Let the water drain. After few minutes, gather the corners of the cheesecloth & tie it with a rubber-band. Allow to stand in colander for another 30 minutes. Gently squeeze the cheesecloth to drain the whey.
10. Open the cheesecloth – use ricotta cheese. I use whey as stock for my soups or gravy.

Linking this to –

1. Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
2. Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes
3. Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction
4. Lets Cook Edible Gifts for Christmas by Simply Food
5. Bake Fest #14 by Cooks Joy
6. CookEatDelicious : Desserts – Cake hosted this month by Spicy Food
7. Celebrate Series – Christmas – hosted by Divya for Dec
8. 60 Days to Christmas – co-hosted by Priya & Divya Pramil
9. Christmas Cook-off Contest by Kavi

Eggless Strawberry Crush Cake with Black Currant Jam – Chocolate Rasoi – Part 6 (The Finale of Series)

All good things come to an end. How true! After writing about Chocolate Rasoi for last 3 months, it is now time to bid adieu to Eggless Baking Series from Chocolate Rasoi. We have covered Eggless Fresh Fruit Cake, Eggless Choco-chip & Oats Cookies, Eggless Brownie, Eggless Tutti Fruit Cake, Eggless Kaju Maawa Cake earlier. Last but not the least is Eggless Orange Cupcakes with Blueberry Jam.

Strawberry Crush Cake with Black Currant Jam

I made this at my mother’s place & she didn’t have cupcake moulds, so I baked it into a cake by just increasing the timing. Also, my nephew and sister weren’t very keen on orange flavor, so I replaced it with Strawberry Crush & reduced the quantity. I’m posting the recipe with my changes in bracket.

Eggless Strawberry Crush Cake with Jam Filling –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Chocolate Rasoi Workshop

Ingredients –

• 175 g – All Purpose Flour (I used 100 g)
• 1-1/2 tsp – Baking Powder (I used 1 tsp)
• 3/4 tsp – Baking Soda (I used 1/2 tsp)
• 60 g – Salted Butter (I used 45g Amul)
• 100 g – Powdered Sugar (I used 65 g)
• 1/2 cup – Milk (I used 75 ml)
• 1/2 tsp – Orange Essence (I used 1/4 tsp Vanilla)
• 3-4 drops – Orange Color (I skipped this)
• 1/2 Cup – Orange Squash or (I skipped this)
• 1/3 Cup – Orange Crush (I used 40 ml Strawberry Crush)
• 1/2 Cup – Blueberry Jam (I used 1/4 Cup Black Currant Jam)

Method –

Strawberry Crush Cake with Black Currant Jam

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 C. Line muffin pan or a desired pan if you are making cake.
2. Sieve together flour, baking powder & baking soda.
3. Beat sugar & butter well for 3-4 mins, add color & essence, if using. Beat again for a minute.
4. Add dry mixture & milk alternatively, starting & ending with flour. Mix till uniform mixture.
5. Now add crush or squash.
6. Pour the batter in prepared muffin pan uptil 2/3rd level or cake pan.
7. Bake for 15 mins for cupcakes & 35 mins for cake.
8. Remove from pan & quickly insert jam in cupcakes using spoon. Bake again for 5 mins. I did the same step for cake. If you do not want to use jam then omit this step & bake directly for 20 mins for cupcakes & 40 mins for cake.

1. 

   Eggless Strawberry Crush Cake with Black Currant Jam

Serve warm or cold as desired. We had it with a dollop of ice-cream. If you are sinning then don’t shy sin full! That’s my motto 😀 This recipe can be twisted & turned around to create many flavour cupcakes. I’m going to post some in near future

Strawberry Crush Cake with Black Currant Jam

Notes:

• You can use 1/2 tsp orange compound in place of color & essence in original recipe.
• To convert into any flavor cupcake using a crush, just omit color & replace essence with vanilla. Then go ahead use any crush.

Sending this to Berries-Strawberry-Desserts by Anu of Anu’s Healthy Kitchen.

I have started to love this fruit only after marriage as V loves it in all forms & tastes. My elder sis also does but these things you adapt only after marriage. 😉 I stay in a state known for it’s strawberry production and have enjoyed it over last few years. Since this is not a season of fresh strawberries, I’m using strawberry crush which has crushed strawberry in it.

Strawberry Scones – My First Ever

On Sunday I had V’s friends coming over for breakfast after their respective yoga class and I was wracking my brains to figure out what to serve. 1 hour of Yoga leaves one quite hungry. I wanted to prepare something filling and yet at the same time not the usual poha, idli stuff, then I remembered an eggless treacle scone recipe by Sarah of Baking and Life which I had shortlisted just last week.

Scone is a small English quick bread of Scottish origin served with tea. Since I have not been able to buy my loaf tin yet, I jumped at the option of baking anything other than a cake. 🙂 I made many changes in the original recipe to suit my needs & ingredients. The result was quite good & different. I would love to try them again with some more variation.

Strawberry Scones – Ready to eat

Strawberry Scones –

Recipe Source – Loosely adapted from Sarah of Baking and Life

Ingredients –

• 2 cups – Self Raising Flour*
• 1/2 tsp – Baking Powder
• 55 g – Softened Butter
• 30 g – Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 tsp – Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp – Strawberry Crush
• 100 ml – Milk to make a dough

Method –

Strawberry Scones – Dough

1. Sift the flour & baking powder together 2-3 times in a bowl.
2. Rub in the butter.
3. Mix in sugar & cinnamon powder.
4. Add the strawberry syrup & milk to knead the dough.
5. Roll onto a floured surface and knead gently. Dough should be quite moist. (Add milk as per requirement)
6. Roll the dough about 2.5 inch thick & using a pastry cutter, cut into small rounds.
7. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush with a little milk. Bake at 220 C for
8. 10-15 minutes until golden, then cool on a wire rack. Serve split in half and buttered.

Strawberry Scones – Straight out of Oven

The scones were really good and something new for all of us. I loved making it as much as they loved eating it. 🙂

I have never tasted treacle syrup, so do not know how sweet it is, we all like our sugar on the lighter side & felt it to be perfect. So if you are one of those with real sweet tooth & do not have access to treacle syrup then you surely would need to increase the sugar to atleast 50 g.

* Self Raising Flour – Since it is an ingredient not commonly available in India, I googled a substitute for it and came up with option of making it myself on Chef in You. DK has given an exhaustive list with proportions for 1 cup flour, since I was using 2 cups I happily doubled it. Even when I was doing it, I felt there is something wrong here, I cant double salt in this. But I guess being a fool I am, I happily went ahead and doubled it, which made the scones slightly more on the salty side. Next time I would surely not double the salt blindly.