Spelt: The Staff of Life

It's a snowy Sunday here in NJ, and what better way to spend the day than baking? I've decided to use up the wheat flour, soy milk and nuts by baking cookies to give as Christmas presents. I made chocolate chip, almond and tahini coconut walnut cookies. (All of the recipes are from Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik.)

It would just be cruel and unusual punishment to do all of this baking without making a sweet treat for myself so I decided to make chocolate chip spelt scones. The recipe is from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Bruch. The book does contain spelt scone recipes, but this wasn't one of them, so I substituted the wheat flour for spelt flour and the almond milk for hemp milk.

According to the package of Arrowhead Mills Organic Spelt flour, spelt is "the Staff of Life". The package also says that spelt is "an ancient cousin to the modern wheat, delicious and nutritious. Spelt was one of the first grains to be grown by early farmers as long ago as 5,000 BC". Spelt is high in protein, manganese, magnesium, copper, niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. Although spelt is in the wheat family, people with intolerances to wheat can usually tolerate it, so I decided to give it a try.

This was my first attempt ever at making scones, and I have to say that they came out pretty well. They weren't very "sconey", but instead seem more like giant healthy chocolate chip cookies, which still taste good. Since I have to stay away from regular tea, I made myself a cup of red rooibos. It was the perfect snowy Sunday treat!