This is Canada’s favourite dessert in scone form: Nanaimo Scones! Chocolate scones speckled with roasted almonds and coconut, topped with a vanilla cream and more chocolate.
Oh Canada! What a wonderful place to call home. As adventurer seekers with the travel bug, we often get asked if we ever consider moving our home base. Chew and I may have different answers, but in short my answer is no. The longer answer would be yes but no.
Yes, I have pondered about where I would live if I were to move away for an extended or undetermined period of time. Oahu? LA? I’m not exactly a city gal, but like a small-town-near-a-city-but-with-ample-greenery-nearby kinda gal. I like convenience and options, but also value tranquility and access to nature. So Vancouver (and its suburbs) fits the bill perfectly. I can drive west to a bustling food scene, or north to the mountains and glacial lakes. There are more hiking trails than I can complete. We are bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side, and the Rocky Mountains on the other. In the winter, our mountains are snowy enough for winter sports and in the summer, our lakes are warm enough for water sports. Perhaps not all paradises involve swaying coconut trees and white sand beaches. The air is crisp here (with the exception of extreme wild fire season) and my family and friends all reside here. Of course I’ll make new connections wherever I go, but I cannot fathom living without my tribe of girls. Two weeks apart and we already feel like it’s been decades.
So no, I don’t have plans of moving out of Vancouver. This quote by Josh Gates sums up my thoughts eloquently:
Travel does not exist without home. If we never return to the place we started, we would just be wandering, lost. Home is a reflecting surface, a place to measure our growth and enrich us after being infused with the outside world.
Chew and I have gone on a lot of adventures these past few weeks, about one per week (we will be sharing about them soon in blog posts and on our Instagram!). These outdoor adventures excite and invigorate my soul but the feeling of coming home, taking a thorough shower, and crawling into a dry warm familiar bed are also incredibly satisfying. We become immune to living comfortably that it takes a night or two of experiencing the power of nature to re-cultivate our appreciation for home. Home is Canada, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Besides maple syrup and poutine, Nanaimo bars are also quintessentially Canadian. I can’t take full credit for this Nanaimo scones idea as I saw it on this Vancouver Island bakery’s Instagram. My dad has been requesting scones for his snacks week after week so I’ve gotten the hang of making tall flaky scones. The techniques of folding the dough and making sure the cut edges stay open make the biggest difference. I used to put an egg into this scone recipe but have since discovered that a few extra tablespoons of non-dairy milk does the trick. Three cheers for successful vegan-ization of recipes!
What makes these Nanaimo scones over-the-top delicious is the thick layer of vanilla cream. My dad calls my vegan Nanaimo bars “million dollar bars” because the macadamia nut cream is just so heavenly. That same cream is what tops these thicccc, pardon my French (I stopped taking French after grade 8), AF scones. Yup these scones are hefty!
Whether you’re throwing a Canada Day barbecue (we hope grilled pizza and miso eggplant are on the menu), having a picnic while waiting for fireworks, or hosting a red-and-white brunch, these vegan Nanaimo scones will surely add a festive flair to your celebrations. Canadian flag toothpicks are highly recommended 😉
- SCONES
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar*
- ½ cup cold coconut oil
- 2 tbsp shredded coconut
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped roasted almonds
- ⅓ cup plain non-dairy yogurt
- ⅔ cup + 3 tbsp unsweetened non-dairy milk
- TOPPING
- ¾ cup raw macadamia nuts, soaked in water overnight or quick-soaked, then drained**
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- A pinch of sea salt
- ¾ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tbsp water, as needed
- 2 tbsp chocolate chips, melted
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.
- Using a pastry cutter or a large fork, cut in the cold coconut oil until it is the size of small peas and the mixture looks like wet sand.
- Add the coconut and almonds and roughly mix in.
- Whisk the yogurt and milk together before adding it to the dry mixture. Use a spatula to mix the wet into the dry until a rough dough is formed.
- Turn the dough onto the parchment-lined sheet and use your hands to fold it over itself a few times and bring it together. Pat into a 1" thick circle and then cut into 8 triangular pieces using a sharp knife. Cut using a rocking motion instead of a gliding motion, which would seal the edges shut and prevent the scone from rising to its full potential.
- Space out the cut scones on the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.
- While scones are baking, make the topping. In a blender or a small food processor, blend the soaked and drained macadamia nuts, maple syrup, coconut oil, salt, vanilla, and 1 tbsp water together until smooth. You may need a little bit more water to help it blend. Store the topping in the refrigerator while the scones cool.
- Once scones are cool, spread 1 heaping tablespoon of topping on each scone and drizzle with melted chocolate.
**Quick-soak: Soak in boiling water for 30 to 60 minutes. Raw cashews can also be used in place of macadamia nuts.
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