Sour Cherry Scones

These little morsels are satisfying, just sweet enough, packed with nutrition, and easy to make if you have a good supply of this and that in the kitchen. You could replace the dried sour cherries with something else, like cut up dried apricots, or even raisins or pieces of dates. The dried sour cherries add an element of depth and character that a totally sweet thing doesn't. In fact, dried blueberries might be another good example of that sweet-tart layering in a scone. I decided to try something totally new and use coconut water (the less sweet type, about 7g sugar in 8 ounces) for liquid, since there was already some protein from the chickpea flour etc. Nice omega 3's from the chia, plenty of good stuff here, and tasty! I also used a bit of jam to finish up a jar in the fridge... and you can do that too with any flavor you have around, or just add a bit more sweetness with honey or maple syrup or some form of sugar if you use it.

Sour Cherry Scones (makes 6)
pre-heat oven to 375F

1/4 cup golden flaxmeal (or grind your own flaxseeds)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup chick pea flour (I wonder if ground quinoa would work here? maybe next time)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 TBLS chia seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon zest

1-2 TBLS jam of your choice
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut water (NOT MILK)

1-2 TBLS dried sour cherries
1/2 cup walnuts

Mix all the dry ingredients (1st 7on the list) plus the lemon zest.
Mix jam, vanilla and coconut water in a small bowl.
Add wet to dry, mixing sparingly.
Toss in the dried cherries and crunch up the walnuts into the size bits you like to find in your scones.  Mix this all together until it is consistently textured, but don't overdo it.

Plop extra large tablespoon ovals onto a non-stick silicone baking sheet, on a cookie sheet or other pan. Allow 35-40 minutes for baking but set your timer for 25 minutes and test for doneness, being ready to put them back in for up to 10 more minutes.

They will begin to brown and crisp a bit on the outer edges, but remain a little moist inside. These are scones -- not muffins -- and go well with marmalade, honey, or nut butters.

Oat Bran Muffins, with fresh & dried fruits

Our first prolonged snow flurries decorated the fallen apple leaves when I got up this morning, calling out for morning muffins. I had one ripe banana and decided to try oat bran muffins, with flecks of carrot for color, crunch of walnuts, sweetness of raisins and freshly grated apple. With a little help from maple syrup and apple jelly syrup (a failed jelly experiment that has been great for baking), these were even sweet enough for my husband to eat them without the usual dab of honey. If you use no oil, like I do, you will need silicone non-stick muffin cups. The combination of chick pea, brown rice, oat bran, flax and all makes for a nutritious vegan muffin without trading away anything at all in the way of texture or flavor or satisfaction.


OAT BRAN MUFFINS WITH FRESH & DRIED FRUITS

1/4 cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup brown rice four
1/4 cup potato starch
1/3 cup oat bran
1/2 cup sorghum flour
2 TBSP ground flax seed
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP apple jelly syrup (or use more maple syrup)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 mashed ripe banana
1 grated carrot
1 grated (peeled/seeded) apple
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 400F.  (You will turn this down after a few minutes of baking.)

Mix all the dry ingredients (first 9 on the list).
Mix all the wet ingredients (the next 6), leaving the raisins and walnuts out for now.
Stir the wet into the dry, making sure you moisten all the dry into a thick spongy texture.
Now stir in the raisins and walnuts, saving out 7-8 walnut pieces to stick one in the top of each muffin.

Using a big spoon (serving spoon or tablespoon) put large blobs of batter into each non-stick silicone muffin cup, sticking a walnut piece into the top for crisping and decoration. Place these on a baking sheet and put into oven for 5-10 minutes SET THE TIMER!!  TURN DOWN THE OVEN TO 350F and BAKE for another 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool a few minutes before popping out of the silicone cups -- cool a few more before eating. ENJOY THEM WARM. They can be quite moist inside from the banana... but ought to taste fully baked, not undercooked. That crisped walnut adds an important element!

Apricot Tart

We couldn't resist the fresh apricots when they began to appear from the local orchard. Of course we ate 3 of them on the way home in the car, but then there were the rest to think about. The next morning, it was all I could think about... and I wondered how to make one of those beautiful pastries that we had encountered in Europe decades ago. Not having made them when I was using butter and eggs and sugar and wheat flour, I didn't have to undo any ideas, just come up with a way to put a dough under them and a glaze over them. Here's what I came up with.

Apricot Tart - (makes 6" x10" pastry)
oven at 350F


2 fresh ripe apricots
2 Tbsp flax seed, ground (I'm doing this all the time for the sake of Omega 3's)
2 Tbsp almond meal
1/3 c potato starch (just figuring out what this adds to texture)
3/4 c brown rice flour
2 TBSP oat bran (avoid if must be purely gluten free)
2 TBSP chick pea flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1-2 TBSP agave (how sweet do you need the pastry to be?)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c almonds (sort of slivered)

For glaze: 1-2 tsp maple syrup, 1 tsp almond milk + cinnamon

1. Peel and slice, or slice and peel apricots.
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients, and wet ingredients separately.
2. Add wet to dry and gently knead into a soft ball of dough an roughly shape this into a thick rectangle.

3. Spread out a the silicone baking sheet on a baking pan and put the dough on it, gently pressing it outward from the middle until you achieve a little bigger than 6"x10" or thereabouts. Make 2 sets of indentations up the length of the dough, approximately an apricot slice wide (see picture). Lay in the apricot slices in 3 rows. Sprinkle this with almond slivers.
4. Mix up the glaze and drizzle it all over the apricots. My husband thought it could have used more sweetness in the glaze or just more glaze... He likes things sweeter than I do, but I agreed with him that a little more would have been nice. You could use honey instead of maple syrup, or sugar, if you are a sugar-eating person.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes - check for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool just a bit before you try to handle it... then peel it off the silicone and put it on a nice plate for effect!

Knish Delish: Masa Harina Crusted Zucchini Potato "Pies"

What makes a knish so marvelous to eat? The filling can be anything as long as it is the right consistency and tastes good, and the crust is a container that adds texture and flavor without either falling apart or turning to mush. Crusts without gluten or oil seemed a decent challenge, so I put it off until the blueberries came in and solved that with a pressed biscuit style dough. Now I wanted a crust I could roll out, something I could fill with the fresh zucchini and Japanese sweet potato that I had sitting on my kitchen counter. My thoughts turned to tortillas. Of course! Masa Harina makes a great rolled surface, but could I change it in the right ways to handle baking something in it? What happened was so delicious, easy, and seems to offer great variation in terms of making savory little "pies."


CRUST:
1 cup Masa Harina
2/3 cup hot water
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4-1/2 cup sorghum flour
1.5 Tablespoons original almond milk

Mix the hot water and the salt and Masa Harina. It will be sticky. Add the baking powder, sorghum flour and almond milk and mix well. It will be spongy and light. Separate into 6 pieces (or smaller ones for many small knishes), and let rest while you get the filling ready.

THE FILLING:
2 cups grated zucchini, 1/2 a large or one whole medium size
2 cups grated Japanese (white) sweet potato (or regular potato or regular sweet potato!)
1/2-1 cup minced onion or scallions (I used 7 small scallions because they needed to be used up)
 2/3 cup chick pea flour
1/2 - 1 Tablespoon parsley (fresh, fresh dried)
1 tsp fresh cilantro
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp of Sriracha (or other hot sauce) if you like a hint of heat

TO FINISH:
a dash of Bragg Liquid Amino for each knish
a shake of sesame seaweed Gomasio on the top of each little "pie"

Mix the zucchini, potato, onion, parsley and cilantro. Mix the chick pea flour  with the salt then add  the soy milk and stir into a thick paste. Combine this paste into the vegetables, stirring well.

ASSEMBLY:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F. Using a silicone baking sheet, set three dough balls across one long side, about 2 inches in from the edge. Putting a piece of wax paper over them, roll them out with a rolling pin to be nearly tortilla sized. Plop about 1/6 (at least 1/2 cup) of the filling in the middle and then gently peel up the edges into a ruffled cup. Taking a clean piece of wax paper, set the next 3 balls out and put the used wax paper on top, rolling these out to a similar size. Peel the top paper away, and gently peel the flattened dough circles onto the other long edge of the silicone sheet. Put filling in each of these, and curl the sides up.  Top off these darling little knishes with a splash of Bragg Liquid Amino and a shake of Gomasio. Carefully pick up the long edges of the silicone sheet and place it on a large cookie sheet.

Bake for 40 minutes or until crisp and fully cooked in the middle. We loved them with mustard, with horseradish, and even with kimchee!

July 4th Blueberry Breakfast Bakes

We have a small bunch of blueberry bushes on our North facing slope, encased in a small pavilion of netting. Birds and chipmunks, even rabbits find their way in anyway, but usually by the first week of July we also get a few ripe berries. They can be tart, no doubt, but they are a thrill to pick a half pint to a pint on a daily basis. Towards the end of July, we can't keep up, and I throw them right into the freezer to pull out the taste of summer in the middle of winter. July 4th is usually a celebration that the berries are starting to come and in days before vegan, no oil eating, I used to make amazing blueberry muffins. So I don't want to give up that celebratory feeling when the berries start to ripen! It is hard to bake a muffin texture without wheat gluten or eggs, so I decided to try NEW INGREDIENTS: Xanthan gum and Potato Starch, both of which are available through Bob's Red Mill in some fairly "normal" grocery stores.
These came out nicely in scone-like shapes on a silicone baking sheet. If I had only had a few strawberries, I would have sliced them on top for a red-white-n-blue feeling.  I cannot say that these are truly gluten free -- using oats and Emmer wheat (also known as farro in its grain format), but there are those with some gluten sensitivities who do not react to farro, by any name. I haven't tried this combination with rice flour, but you could... and let me know how it goes if you do!

Fourth of July Blueberry Breakfast Bakes

1/3 cup oats
2 Tblsp flax seeds
2 Tblsp potato starch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 c Emmer Wheat Flour
2 tsp almond meal
1 Tblsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup walnuts

Blueberries - 10 smashed and nearly 1 cup more
1/8 cup or 2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

MIX the first 10 dry ingredients together in a medium large bowl.
COMBINE the moist ingredients with the berries (you can use a 2 cup measuring cup for this).

ADD the wet to the dry, mixing gently until it forms one gooey batter.

Add caption

PLOP in scone size splats on a silicone baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Cool a couple minutes so that you don't scald yourself on molten blueberries in that first bite and ruin a yummy breakfast!

Blueberry Walnut July Muffins Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (80g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 182 9% Total Fat 5g 8% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 127mg 5% Total Carbohydrate 28g 9% Dietary Fiber 4g 15% Sugars 5g 0% Protein 7g 13% Vitamin A 1% • Vitamin C 3% Calcium 11% • Iron 7% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Sunflower Raisin Buckwheat Muffin

Emmer wheat turns out to be farro and my local food coop found a relatively local source! So I couldn't resist trying this early simple form of wheat, ground into fine flour. I am not willing to accept that I must always have the flavor of brown rice flour in everything I bake. So these are not gluten free, but they are still whole grain and no oil! I wanted something hearty, full flavored, textured and with the sweetness of raisins for my darling who loves raisins. The best ideas sometimes come at the last minute... adding the crunch and depth of sunflower seeds to the muffins just as I put them in the oven!

SUNFLOWER RAISIN BUCKWHEAT MUFFINS
2/3 cup Emmer wheat flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 oat bran
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 heaping TBLSP black currant fruit spread (or any other fruit spread you like)
1 tsp agave
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp amaranth grains
1/4 cup raisins (or fresh cherries!)

1/3 cup soy milk
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
1.25 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/3 sunflower seeds pressed into the tops of the muffins prior to baking

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the larger of two bowls. Mix all the wet stuff in the second bowl (the jam gave this a lovely color and flavor undercurrent). Save out the raisins and sunflower seeds.
2. Add raisins as you mix the wet into the dry.  Fill 6 silicone muffin cups placed on a baking sheet. Cover the tops with sunflower seeds!
3. Bake at 375F 45 minutes.

Sunflower Raisin Buckwheat Muffins makes 6

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 muffin (100g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	238	12%
Total Fat	5g	7%
Saturated Fat	1g	3%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	25mg	1%
Total Carbohydrate	44g	15%
Dietary Fiber	5g	21%
Sugars	13g	0%
Protein	8g	17%

Vitamin A	1%	•	Vitamin C	2%
Calcium	7%	•	Iron	10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Breakfast/Snack Crunch Cookie

Fresh cherries inspired this crunchy, nearly energy-bar cookie-like breakfast treat. It has puffed kamut in it, but you could use puffed rice. The oats, amaranth and pecans all give textural and flavorful variety in each bite. I can't say enough about the silicone baking surface!

BREAKFAST/SNACK CRUNCH COOKIE

2/3 cup oats
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2/3 cup kamut puffs
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBLSP amaranth
1 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1 TBLSP maple syrup
1/4 cup almond milk
1 banana
2/3 cup fresh cherries,  pitted & halved

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in larger bowl of 2 bowls. Mash the banana with maple syrup and almond milk in the other bowl. COMBINE WET INTO DRY, then add cherries and gently mix.
2. Place on silicone baking sheet on top of a cookie sheet in large blobs 2-3" across, flattened slightly.
3. Bake longer than you think -- about 35-40 minutes -- at 350-375F. Crisp on the top! Crunchy! Good later too...

(I'm going to try these with Ranier Cherries too!)

Baked Breakfast Crunch Cookies makes 8 Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (80g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 215 11% Total Fat 6g 10% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 43mg 2% Total Carbohydrate 37g 12% Dietary Fiber 4g 17% Sugars 6g 0% Protein 5g 11% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 4% Calcium 3% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com, using my data.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake

 We ran into a special on strawberries, two quarts for $5, and with this began my thinking about how to bake something that wouldn't turn the berries inside into squish yet had that strawberry flavor. I'd been wanting something that might double as a breakfast food and a possible dessert, and then I saw the jar of amaranth on my kitchen shelf. The innovation in this came from pureeing a banana and some of the strawberries and adding this to the soy milk and maple syrup. It was like making a little cake with a fruit smoothie! It had to have enough nutrition to make a good breakfast, and enough sweetness and texture to make a nice dessert, perhaps under some coconut yogurt.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake (6 servings)

1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup oats
2 Tblsp amaranth
1 Tblsp flax seed

1 cup soy milk (unsweetened)
2 Tblsp maple syrup
1 medium banana
8 strawberries
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix all the dry ingredients.
2. Mix the soy milk and syrup, cut the banana and two or three strawberries into small bits and puree them with the soy milk.
3. Mix the wet into the dry, spread on a silicone baking sheet in about a 9" circle an inch thick.
4. Slice the remaining strawberries and cover the surface.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 375F. Cool just a little before slicing.

Amaranth adds a little crunch to the moist texture. Excellent with a dollop of any kind of yogurt as a dessert. Terrific with a dab of honey for breakfast. Nice as a mid-afternoon snack with a cup of tea too.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 sixth slice (127g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 231 12% Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 216mg 9% Total Carbohydrate 41g 14% Dietary Fiber 5g 19% Sugars 9g 0% Protein 7g 13% Vitamin A 2% • Vitamin C 17% Calcium 9% • Iron 12% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Pear Walnut Kamut Need-A-Sweet-Balls

So hard to go without that sweet treat. Subtracting brown sugar, butter, oils, wheat flours, even molasses, I have been hard pressed to do a dessert without resorting to soy yogurt and fruit. But what if you really want something that is not a muffin, not a yogurt, has a chew to it and that cookie-on-the-side feeling?  There was a nearly-too-ripe-to-eat Bosc pear clamoring for my attention, and this is what happened to it! It is heading down the road towards a granola bar, but if I had not used the silicone muffin cups, and had put small spoonfuls on parchment paper (bake 15 minutes), these would really be bite-sized treats. You can use apple, or probably dried apricots or any other fruit/nut combination and if you are going gluten free, you can either use gluten-free oats, or substitute a bit more almond meal and rice puffs. I cannot claim this is the be-all and end-all of Need-A-Sweet-Balls, so experiment and share your discoveries and success!

Pear Walnut Kamut Puff Need-A-Sweet-Balls (makes 6 silicone muffin cups/half full)

1/2  ripe Bosc pear, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup whole rolled oats
1/2 cup Kamut puffs (you could use rice puffs or any other "grain filler")
1 TBLSP almond meal
3 TBLSP  raisins
1 TBLSP maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
sprinkle of flax seeds (on top)

1. Peel and chop pear, putting it into a mixing bowl, with chopped walnuts and oats.
2. Add everything else except the flax seeds, spooning this not-quite-sticking-together mixture into silicone muffin cups, half full.
3. Press gently with fingers into a mounded shape, sprinkle sparingly with flax seeds, and bake 20-25 minutes at 350F. Let them cool before trying to pull off the cups.  You can DEFINITELY use a tablespoon onto parchment paper in a baking pan and make bite-sized crisp sweet snack treats!

Pear Walnut Oat Need-A-Sweet-Ball Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (44g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 139 7% Total Fat 8g 12% Saturated Fat 1g 4% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 28mg 1% Total Carbohydrate 16g 5% Dietary Fiber 3g 10% Sugars 7g 0% Protein 3g 7% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 1% Calcium 3% • Iron 5% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.