Raspberry Scones

Unlike many of the scone recipes on my blog and elsewhere, this is actually a fairly healthy scone. And still a tasty one. It's not nearly as sweet as some scones, which makes it the perfect accompaniment to a mug of tea (which is compleley necessary when your littlest one is up for a 2 a.m. feeding and then up again from before 4 until 4:30ish and your other little one is up for good at 5 a.m.). Enough rambling.

These are a worth repeating. And the recipe from A Farm Girl's Dabbles was forgiving enough to handle me not properly following the mixing instructions despite knowing better. (See above lack of sleep.) Here's my slight variation on the original recipe.

Raspberry Scones

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, salt and sugar.

With a rigid pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles a coarse meal with larger pea size pieces. Add raspberries, and fold gently to coat. Make a well in the center, and then add buttermilk and egg. Stir just until combined, taking care to not over mix. The dough will be very soft.

Put a bit of flour in a bowl, and coat your hands. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, right in the bowl, coating your hands with additional flour as needed. The dough will be very loose. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop scones to prepared pan, dividing into 8 equal portions. It works best to slightly compress the dough into the scoop using the side of the bowl, so the dough is compact.

Sprinkle the tops of the scones with vanilla sugar. Bake until scones are golden brown, about 13 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Makes 8 scones.

5-Seed Applesauce Bread

This recipe from Bake at 350 caught my eye because we have a plethora of applesauce, and it's a relatively healthy quick bread recipe. The juxtaposition of seeds with sweet applesauce creates an interesting texture and flavor.

Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list. It's an easy recipe to pull together.

I pre-sliced the bread and flash froze the loaves, so we just grab a slice or two when we need it for a lunch or snack.

5-Seed Applesauce Bread
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 Tbsp. flax seeds
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/3 cup pecans, roughly chopped
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
1 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Grease two 8" loaf pans, and set aside. Roughly chop the sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds. (You can also use a coffee grinder to pulse the flax to crack the seeds.)  Place in a large bowl.

Add the chopped pecans, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir together, and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the oil and applesauce together until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, whisking each well.  Whisk in the honey and vanilla.  Finally, whisk in the buttermilk.

Stir the dry mixture into the wet, stirring just until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.  Divide evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Makes 2 loaves.

Strawberry Vinaigrette

I found this recipe on Canning Granny and was intrigued. So, I waited until strawberries went on sale to try this. The end result is a sweet vinaigrette with a beautiful color. This is something I'd definitely make again but would probably cut down the sugar by half or so. With all the vinegar, it should still be shelf stable (but no guarantees from me on that).

Strawberry Vinaigrette

5 quarts (25 cups) fresh whole strawberries, washed and stemmed

2 cups distilled white vinegar

2 cups white wine vinegar

Sugar (see recipe for details)

Slice strawberries, and place them in a bowl with the vinegar. Let them sit at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, for about 24 hours.

Prepare your jars, lids and rings to sterilize them.

Strain the strawberry vinegar through a fine wire strainer. Let it drip, but it's also fine to push the berries to force out the liquid. You may end up with a few small particles, which is perfectly fine. Discard leftover strawberry pulp.

Place the strawberry vinegar in a saucepan, and add an equal amount of sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat, and ladle the hot vinaigrette into half-pint jars, leaving half-inch headspace. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Makes approximately 8 half-pint jars of vinaigrette.

Baked Peach Oatmeal

I've seen quite a few recipes for baked oatmeal. Since I had a few peaches/nectarines about to spoil, it was perfect timing when I came across this version from Two Peas & Their Pod.

Now I'm thinking I should revisit some of those other baked oatmeals I've seen. This is an easy, delicious and healthy breakfast. After mixing it together, my hands smelled wonderful. I wish my hands always smelled like that. And this recipe is forgiving if you want to make substitutions.

Baked Peach Oatmeal
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups almond milk
1 large egg
3 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 cups chopped peaches and/or nectarines

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 x 8 square baking dish, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the almond milk, egg, coconut oil, vanilla and almond extract.

Arrange the chopped peaches on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Pour the oat mixture evenly over the peaches. Pour the almond milk mixture over the oats. Gently shake the baking dish to make sure the milk covers the oats evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes, until the top is golden and oatmeal is set. Let cool for 5 minutes, and serve warm. Leftovers can be easily reheated in the microwave. Makes 6 servings.

Homemade Fruit Bars

We have quite the jam collection from all my canning projects. So, I was intrigued when I saw a recipe that uses jam on Two Peas & Their Pod. I make homemade granola bars for my husband's lunch (and my constant snacking while home juggling two under two), and I thought these bars would be a nice change of pace.

These will now join the granola bar rotation since they were a hit. The end result with my modifications was a slightly crunchy and tasty bar that's a bit healthier than the original recipe. (I have no issue with copious amounts of butter in my dessert recipes but couldn't stomach 12 Tbsp. in a recipe that was supposedly healthy.)

Homemade Fruit Bars

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cold, salted butter, chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
3 Tbsp. cold water
1 cup fruit preserves or jam

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and salt. Pulse for 30 seconds.

Add the butter and cold water, and pulse until the dough holds together when pressed.

Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. Divide the dough mixture in half, and press half into the prepared baking dish, using the back of a spatula to press down evenly.

Spread the preserves evenly on top of the dough. Sprinkle the remaining dough evenly on top of the preserves, and gently press down using the back of a spatula.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool, and cut into 16 bars. These bars keep at room temperature for 3 days or at least a week in the refrigerator. Makes 16 bars.