"Sweet Treats"- Eggless Scones with Dark Chocolate and Nuts

"Scones" are sort of a quick bread....with crumbly texture ....can be sweet /savory....and can be made with various flavors and additions like cranberries, chocolate chips, poppy seeds ,lemon, chives, cheese, rosemary etc. They are mostly a 'breakfast food' and had with Jam, jelly, fruits etc.But.....
 I like scones with my afternoon tea!!! I think they go very well with the 'Indian style tea'.
The other day, my friend 'A', who is vegetarian asked me about baking 'eggless cakes'. Now, I usually do not bake 'Eggless'....but last week I wanted to bake... and had no eggs.So, I thought of giving eggless scones a try.I read through number of recipes and came up with this one, with all the flavors I like and ingredients I had on hand. The scones came out really well and did not feel 'eggless' or 'compromised' in any way at all.

Ingredients

2 cups All purpose flour

3/4 to 1 cup sugar (use less for less sweet scones)
½ cup Roasted Almond+ Walnut (powdered coarse)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/3cup dark chocolate chips/ chopped dark chocolate
6 tbsp Cold unsalted butter
1 and ½ cup + 2 tsp whipped topping (Cool whip frozen whipped topping) or Use whipping cream
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1tsp Vanilla extract

Method:
1) Pre heat the oven to 325F


2) Grind together roasted almonds and walnuts to make coarse powder

3) Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, powdered nuts, sliced almonds

4) Cut the cold butter into small pieces. Mix together with both hands into the flour. Rub the butter onto the flour to make ‘coarse’ mixture. Small pieces of butter will still remain.

5) Add the whipped topping (keep 2tsp aside for brushing later), vanilla, chocolate and combine everything together. Do not overmix. The mixture should still look ‘Coarse’ and hold together only when pressed between both hands.

6) Take 2 hand fulls of the mixture, press to make a flat ball (For detailed instructions-http://my-kitchens-aroma.blogspot.com/2010/01/sweet-treats-scones-with-dark-chocolate.html)

7) Roll the ball on a flat surface to about 1-2 inches thick.

8) Cut into wedges like a pizza with sharp knife and place on buttered cookie sheet

9) Brush the scones with cream/whipped topping.

10) Bake at 325F for about 20-25 mins. The bottom of the scones should turn slight golden, but the top remains cream colored.

11) Serve as breakfast, snack with tea/ coffee, jam, marmalade, fruits etc.