Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones
for a
Wimbledon Strawberries & Cream Tea
I swore to myself that I wouldn’t cash in on the “W” word on my blog, and it has been easier enough not to mention it until now…….but now, I find myself with a PERFECT Wimbledon recipe, and it’s gone STRAIGHT in to my blog post title! Strawberries and Cream, that quintessential of British tea time treats, words that conjure up pleasant days in the garden or sat at an “Olde Worlde Tea Room” with a big pot of tea, scones, cakes and of course the protagonists of the tea time-table, strawberries and cream, and preferably clotted cream too……wall to wall Willow Pattern plates, cucumber sandwiches, and of course scones, the most perfect of vehicles for transporting jam and cream past your lips! And, when the scones in question are LOWER in calories than usual, that means MORE jam and cream, in my book anyway! My Wimbledon scones, there I go again, as fast as an ace tennis player’s serve, I managed to use the “W” word again, anyway, my scones are LOWER in calories than usual, as I made then using Truvia® calorie-free sweetener. With thanks to Truvia® for sending me an assortment of their sweeteners to trial and review…….and you can read more about this natural sugar replacement product here: About Truvia® Plus, you may remember the advert from the television too…..
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones for a Wimbledon Strawberries & Cream Tea
I was rather pleased with these Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones; I served them with home-made strawberry jam, and clotted cream and strawberries of course! I made these using a small amount of Truvia® calorie-free sweetener, using the website conversion chart, but, I warn you, it’s a little bit annoying, as it’s in US cups, so I had to double convert my measurements, but luckily, the amounts seemed to work perfectly! I must also add, that there are metric measurements, but ONLY after you have selected a cup measurement…..so a little confusing! The fact that you have to use LESS of the sugar substitute than you would normally add for sugar can have an impact on cakes and bakes, but, scones are easy to make with Truvia®, as they don’t have a huge amount of sugar added to them anyway (normally), and mine were LOVELY, with a short and light texture. I would DEFINITELY use Truvia® again when making scones, and I plan to use some in some desserts next, as well as pancakes.
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones
When baking with it, there are a few tips that Truvia® provide as its properties do differ slightly from sugar. These may help if you are:
• Cooler oven: Baking with Truvia® natural sweetener often requires using lower temperature than sugar based recipes. Lower the oven temperature by about 25 to 50 degrees F and increase baking time by 5-10 minutes.
• Replacing sugar in baked goods: The most difficult recipes to replace sugar in are baked goods like cookies, cakes, muffins and brownies. Sugar contributes a lot of functionality to baked goods beyond sweetness – like structure, tenderness, spread and browning. For best results, leave about 50g of sugar in your favourite recipe and replace the remainder with appropriate amount of Truvia® natural sweetener from the conversion chart on www.truvia.com. Use brown sugar for more chewy and moist baked goods.
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones
The ONLY other key to the success of these scones, is to make sure you use HIGH QUALITY vanilla extract for that REAL vanilla bean flavour, and I used Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract, which is my favourite; this natural vanilla flavour has been extracted using a cold pressing process, using selected Madagascan vanilla pods, and the flavour in cakes and bakes is SUPERB. I also indulged in another much loved ingredient when serving these scones, Rodda’s Clotted Cream……DIVINE when dolloped on top of warm scones with strawberries and home-made strawberry jam…..and if you want an excuse to use Rodda’s clotted cream, take a look at their 101 Uses and Excuses for Using Clotted Cream……I LOVED use number 101 – eat with a spoon straight from the pot!
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones for a Wimbledon Strawberries & Cream Tea
It’s time to go now, we have been invited to a BBQ, if the rain stops that is, and I need to find my wellies! Have a GREAT Saturday and I hope that you enjoy the Wimbledon Sunday Finals too…bye for now, see you later, Karen.
PS: The scones recipe is below:
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones
Print recipe
| Serves | 12 to 14 |
| Prep time | 5 minutes |
| Cook time | 18 minutes |
| Total time | 23 minutes |
| Allergy | Egg, Milk, Wheat |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot |
| Occasion | Birthday Party, Casual Party, Easter, Formal Party, Valentines day |
| Region | British |
| By author | Karen S Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 225g self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 50g margarine (I used Stork)
- 1 large free-range egg
- 100ml skimmed milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (NOT essence)
- 20g Truvia® calorie-free sweetener spoonable
- icing sugar
- strawberry jam, strawberries and clotted cream to serve
Note
Serve these low calorie scones with strawberry jam, strawberries and clotted cream for a treat with a FEW less calories! Or, for a VERY low calorie treat, just spread with low fat spread and low sugar jam!
(Truvia® Calorie-Free Sweetener is a granular tabletop sweetener based on steviol glycosides, an extract of the stevia leaf. Truvia® sweetener is ideal for adding to your tea and coffee, as well as baking with it, as I have done here.
Directions
| Step 1 | Preheat oven to 220C/450F/Gas mark 6. Grease a baking sheet. |
| Step 2 | Sieve the flour into a large bowl, add the margarine and rub in to make breadcrumbs. Stir in the Truvia and a pinch of salt. |
| Step 3 | In a jug beat the egg and add milk to make up to 150ml and then add the vanilla extract and mix through. |
| Step 4 | Add the vanilla and egg milk mixture gradually and mix with a knife, you may not need to use it all, and I always save a little bit to glaze the top of the scones before baking. When the mixture starts to come together use your hands to form a ball, the dough should be soft but not sticky. |
| Step 5 | Turn the scone dough out onto a well floured surface and gently roll out to a depth of about 2cm. Cut rounds and place on the greased baking sheet. Glaze with remaining egg and vanilla milk mixture and bake for 15-18 mins until risen and golden in colour. |
| Step 6 | Sprinkle icing sugar over the tops of the scones just before serving, and serve with strawberry jam, strawberries and clotted cream. Or, for a VERY low calorie treat, just spread with low fat spread and low sugar jam! |
Low Calorie Vanilla Bean Scones for a Wimbledon Strawberries and Cream Tea
As scones are the MAINSTAY of all Cake and Bake Stalls, I am entering these wee scones into my Tea Time Treats event for July, the theme being: Summer Fairs & Fêtes and Cake Stall Cakes & Bakes. Here is a link to the amazing previous challenge we had for scones, where there are over FIFTY scones recipes to choose from! Scones – Sweet and Savoury Part ONE and Part TWO
As these scones were made for a Wimbledon Tea Party, I am entering them into my friend Ren’s Sporting Snacks event, as I think they are perfect for her sporting snacks challenge…..Ren is the author of the lovely Fabulicious Food Blog!
Camilla says
Technically (being a bit of a home economist) you couldn’t label these low calorie (maybe sugar free) as most of the calories are provided by the carbohydrate of the flour and the fat in the margarine. The sugar element only accounts for 14.5 calories in each scone (based on 30g white sugar) if making 8 so maybe you can see where I’m coming from. I know it is confusing with labelling today as products get away with saying low fat when they are crammed with sugar instead and therefore not low in calories. Hope you don’t mind me pointing this out as nutrition is in my bones so to speak!
Karen says
Thanks Camilla! Yes, I realise as a pedant myself, that these aren’t LOW calorie as such, but, I DID cut back on the fat content as well as the sugar free element…..and I managed to get 14 scones out of the batch I made, and so the calories per scone were lower than normal! Maybe I should have said “sugar free” or “lower calorie! – but it didn’t have the same ring as low calorie for the title! 🙂 I don’t mind you pointing this out at all….and thanks for your helpful comments! Karen
Janice says
Ha ha! Low calorie scones with high calorie fillings! The scones look good and very tasty with the lovely jam And cream.
Karen says
That’s the way I like it Janice, a low calorie scone with MORE filling! 🙂 Karen
Dominic says
I think it’s going to be a low calorie tea time treats this month as I too have just baked a cake using truvia (will post tomorrow)… I had exactly the same thoughts as you and was rather pleased with the results… scones is a great idea however so I may give these a go too… yours do look very very good! (and you can have 4 instead of 2!!) xx
Karen says
Can’t wait to see your cake, I wimped out a bit Dom, as the the sugar replacement was so low, so I made scones where the sugar is fairly low anyway! Yup! I plan to have 4 instead of 2! Karen
Lottie @ Lottiesworldofcakes says
Such lovely photos! I haven’t given Truvia a try yet, I’m tempted!
Karen says
Thanks Lottie, the Truvia substitute worked very well with these scones!
Ren Behan says
A lovely recipe, Karen! I have got some of this Truvia stuff in my cupboard, bought a little while ago, but I haven’t really gone as far as cooking/baking with it yet. I was impressed with the flavour, it doesn’t taste like artificial sweeteners do so it really is an easy swap to make! Great points about using a little bit of normal sugar. Love the ‘low-calorie scone more topping’ formula – it works for me! Thank you also for entering these into Sporting Snacks! Woo hoo, men’s final today, these will be perfect! xxx
Karen says
Thanks Ren – I am also a BIG fan of low calorie and MORE topping too….like having a diet coke with a hamburger and chips! I have to say that I was VERY impressed with Truvia, and it didn’t have an after taste either.
Lorna says
I’ve never used Truvia (I’m a bit suspicious of sugar substitutes for some strange reason) but there’s no denying that your scones look wonderful! I love the way you’ve inundated them with strawberries, and what could be better than Rodda’s clotted cream to go with them? Beautiful photos. I want to get a big pot of leaf tea and some dainty china now and pull that plate with the scone on it out of my computer screen.
Karen says
Thanks Lorna! I am also a little bit suspicious of sugar substitutes, but, maybe because this is a natural leaf sugar substitute, it was great and had no after taste. I am passing a scone over to you now……Karen
Susie @ Fold in the Flour says
Lovely scones Karen. I do think vanilla gives them a lovely, homey flavour. These would be perfect for a summer tea! 🙂
Karen says
Thanks Susie, I DO love vanilla in scones, it makes them sort of more grown up!
Mich - Piece of Cake says
Hi Karen, this is my first time joining Tea Time Treats. Thank you for hosting such a lovely blog event. Your scones look really delicious and I love your photos. It’s great that its low calorie. I am always trying to make my food a little healthier so this is really my kind of recipe.
Karen says
Hi Mich – WELCOME to Tea Time Treats and I have been to see your LOVELY looking cake, it is a perfect entry – thanks so much for joining in the fun! Karen
ashleigh says
Love cream teas!