Good morning, sunshine. Let me start by being honest: my morning has not looked like the above set of pictures. Well, it has a little bit. The sky looks more-or-less like that, and I do... own tea-towels? but they're maybe not that clean. And I haven't eaten a scone for breakfast, but I did have a big mix of chopped fresh strawberries and semi-frozen banana in pb&j sauce, served in an oversized teacup as big as my head. It was awesome. I feel like I'm doing pretty well. The thing is, I've been shooting film for the last few days - which is all well and good, and makes me frolic around in glee and sing joyful songs as I frisbee my lens caps around and so on, except for when it comes to actually paying for film development - but puts me behind the times a little, as I wait to get my pictures back. Yet... I still want to talk to you. What's a girl to do?

...Apparently, write rambly, nonsensical paragraphs like the above. You know that as soon as I sneak the word 'frolic' into a sentence, it's all downhill from there.

So anyway, I thought: tea and scones. Join me? I made these a few weeks ago, based on the sour lemon scone recipe from the 'Baked' cookbook that has been calling my name for the past year or so, combined with the yoghurt aspect of this fabulous recipe from my HLS days so that I could make it vegan - oh, and lifting the method from here; let no one say I haven't done my homework on the scone front. You should know that British scones don't traditionally use eggs anyway - I think American scones are more crumbly; perhaps British scones are more like American 'biscuits'? And British biscuits are American cookies. Are we really going to have this discussion? I haven't even started talking about muffins yet. All you need to know is, I like to eat them all.

The other good news is, these all totally pass for breakfast (okay, maybe not cookies) (although, maybe?) (I ate chocolate cake this morning before I did anything else). Breakfast is something I've been relatively indifferent to over the past few years, but I'm all over it recently: I think it's a combination of my newfound love for peanut flour with my newfound love for frozen bananas. And the fact that breakfast is the one meal of the day where you can have something sweet and it's totally legit. 

So: what did you eat for breakfast? Are you a sweet or savoury person? And... would you like a scone?

Sour Lemon Scones with Black Cherry Jam

makes 6-8 scones

280g (2 c.) plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder          
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/4 tsp flaky salt
1/4 tsp ginger
zest of two lemons
50g (1/4c.) sugar           

60g (1/2 stick) vegan margarine

120ml (1/2 c.) soya yoghurt 

60 ml (1/4c.) soya milk + juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Whisk the first six ingredients to combine, and add to butter, rubbing together with your fingers to make a reasonably fine crumbed mixture, lifting to aerate as you go. Stir in the sugar.

2. Combine the yoghurt & half the soya milk + lemon juice together. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the yoghurt mix, gently working in with a round-bladed knife until it forms a soft dough. Work in any loose dry bits with the withheld soya milk. DON'T overwork.

3. Lift the ball of soft dough out of the bowl and put it on to a very lightly floured surface. Knead the mixture just 3-4 times to get rid of the cracks.

2. On a floured surface, use your hands to shape the dough into a disc, around 1-1/2 inches in height. Do not overwork! Cut into six or eight wedges by pushing down firmly and quickly with a sharp knife - don't twist it. Place the wedges on a lined baking sheet and brush with remaining soya milk, & sprinkle with raw sugar.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes at 220C until risen and golden (I cut into six wedges and they needed 17 mins), which is NOT what it says in Baked but I'm British, so I have ultimate authority. Cool on a wire rack, uncovered if you prefer crisp tops, or covered loosely with a cloth for soft ones.