Fresh Berry & Fruit Scones

I first made these with fresh apricots, then the blueberries started ripening, and the last version I used some plums as a backdrop to the day's pick of blueberries. Consider this a template for a scone into which you can interject fruits, nuts and various seeds/flour and levels of sweetness. If you bake them 20-25 minutes at 375F they will be lovely, and if you leave them another 5-10 minutes they will be crisp on the outsides, while still moist inside.

Berry & Fruit Scones - makes 6 good sized scones

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
2 Tbsp flax seeds, ground
1 Tbsp amaranth, ground
2 Tbsp walnuts, ground - or use 2 Tbsp Almond Meal Flour
1/2-2/3 cup walnuts - pieces
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp "Truvia" (Stevia + sugar) or use maple syrup or agave
1/2 cup original unsweetened soy or almond milk
2 apricots or 2 plums - peeled and mashed
1 cup berries, gently mashed in part, leaving some whole(I used mixed blackberries/raspberries and then straight up blueberries)

1. Heat up your oven.
2. Grind up the materials that need to be ground, and put these in a medium sized bowl. Add the rest of the dry materials - flours, starch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and "Truvia" if you are using dry sweetener, combining this until it is one flour-like substance.
3. Mix all the moist materials in another bowl - mash the apricot or plum (or banana or pear) first, add berries and gently mash, add liquid syrupy sweetener to this if you are using that, and the soy or almond milk.
4. Stir the wet together, and then add it to the dry, stirring gently but combining thoroughly. Stir in the nut pieces. This will be more like a moist dough than a batter.
5. Set out your silicone baking sheet (I put it on a cookie sheet) and with a large spoon, plop six 3"x 2.5" scones-to-be. Bake for 20-30 minutes depending upon how crisp you like the outside.

Fresh Blueberry Pie, Yup No Oil, No Gluten

I've been picking blueberries from our little patch, one berry at a time for the past couple weeks. Just in the last three days the production has risen to a pint a day. This doesn't last long among our 4 tall and 2 low bushes, but it is the one moment all summer when I can even think about using berries by cupfuls. A rare occasional dinner with both our kids home prompted me to look up fresh blueberry pie ideas, the crust being the challenge. How to make a pie crust with no oil? Here's one way!

THE CRUST:

 

2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 pinches salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp "Truvia" - 9a stevia based sweetener with sugar) or other sweetener
1/4 cup +1 Tablespoon Plain Almond milk

Mix the dry ingredients well. Pour the milk into the middle and stir until it globs together, then take it in your hands and model it like playdough, until it forms a coherent ball of dough.

Put parchment paper into a 9" glass pie plate (use a nonstick if you have one, I don't). Press the dough ball into the center of the pan, working slowly pressing from the center to each edge, then pinching up the sides to form a pie plate shape. Cut off the extra floppy edges of the parchment paper, and bake at 350-375F for 20-25 minutes. The crust will be flecked and a bit crumbly but holds together fine. Let it cool, and then lifting it carefully by the parchment paper, slip it off the parchment and into a 2nd clean glass pie plate (or the same one if you can manage that).

THE FILLING:

2 pints of blueberries (or 5 cups)
2.5  Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar equivalent (I used 1/4 cup Truvia +2 Tblsps)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup water
2tsp-+ 1 tsp lemon zest OR 2 Tblsp lemon juice (depending upon how you like it)
1 tsp vanilla extract
(non-vegans can add a dab of butter)


In a medium saucepan mix dry ingredients: cornstarch, sugar, salt, cinnamon. Add the water and about 1-1.5 cups of blueberries, smashing some of the berries with a potato masher. Heat on medium high heat, stirring, until it comes to a boil. Stir constantly for about a minute until it gets very thick. It will keep changing color which is lovely to watch.

Remove from heat, add lemon juice, lemon zest (if you want) and vanilla. Let cool. You can cool it faster by setting the pot in a bowl or pan of cold water.
Once cool. Add another 1.5 cups of berries (or more) and stir them into the gloopy mix.

Spoon this gloopy filling into the baked crust. Cover the top with a layer of fresh blueberries and let this chill. Decorate this pie with anything you like -- a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar goes a long way. Serve with a dab of vanilla coconut yogurt or anything that tickles your blueberry pie fancy!

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.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins

I was remembering when my oldest son was a very little guy and we met another family in the park who were eating the most delicious muffins for their playtime snack. The mother had made them, of course, but she was talking about how her skinny little roadrunner of a child wouldn't eat much. She had packed those muffins with nutrition. I asked about it and she told me that she used orange juice and zucchini and applesauce and amaranth and on and on.  This morning I decided to revisit my unsatisfactory blueberry breakfast treat project (you haven't seen that blog because I removed it as soon as I posted it!).  I used a small grated zucchini and a smashed banana, along with a little buckwheat flour and ground up whole oats. My encouragement to grind up my own oats into flour came from another recipe I had run into somewhere. These muffins remain moist because of the zucchini, banana and blueberries. Be sure to let them cool enough before removing the cups. You can let them sit  upside down for a couple minutes to release a little of the internal moisture. But it's hard to resist them when they are still just a little warm. Oh, did I say that one muffin seems to provide 11% of my daily protein?? Here's how it all shook out.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins (makes 6)

2/3 cup rolled oats - grind into flour

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

2 Tblsp flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

dash salt

1 Tblsp agave syrup

1 cup grated zucchini 

1 large smashed banana

1/3 cup oat milk

1/3 cup frozen Maine blueberries

1/4 cup walnuts pieces

1. Grind the oats, combine with flour, meal, baking powder and soda and salt. 

2. In a separate bowl, grate the zucchini, smash in the banana, add the agave, oat milk and blueberries.

3. Mix the wet into the dry, until it is one thick doughlike batter. Gently stir in the walnuts. 

4. Over fill 6 muffin cups and bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes.  You must let these cool before trying to remove them from the cups.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 muffin (96g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 170 9% Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 194mg 8% Total Carbohydrate 27g 9% Dietary Fiber 5g 18% Sugars 6g 0% Protein 6g 11% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 9% Calcium 8% • 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.