(Dairy-Free) Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

I stole these babies off of the lovable, popular food blog, Skinnytaste.  I was attracted to them because they use almond milk, agave nectar, blueberries, and oatmeal- four things I eat for breakfast nearly every morning. Yum. 

These muffins, might I warn you, DO in fact, taste "healthy"-- not always the rule, but generally speaking, most healthy muffins (those lacking in oil or butter for their moisture) sometimes turn out a bit more on the "rubbery" side. These are surprisingly NOT rubbery, but do have a texture that is a bit indicative of healthfulness, which, I very much like, which, some people, perhaps the more masculine population, would prefer not. 

Either way, whoever your eating audience may be, give them a whirl. Someone will love them. And that someone might just be you.

Ta TA. 

{Dairy-Free} Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 cups Quaker quick oatmeal

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or skim milk)

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp agave

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 egg whites

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

Baking spray

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a muffin tin with liners and lightly spray with oil.

Place oats in a food processor or chopper and pulse a few times. Soak oats in milk for about 30 minutes.  In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, agave, apple sauce, vanilla, egg whites, oil and mix well.

In a third bowl combine whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and whisk to combine.

Combine oats and milk with sugar, applesauce mixture and mix well. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into the muffin tin and bake for 22-24 minutes. 

Grapefruit Honey Yogurt Scones

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the giveaway! I have to admit it was probably far more fun for me than for you, but thank you for humoring me and for the support! It is really a very worthwhile read for any woman in any stage of life. Perhaps this will spur the desire to do future giveaways!

Well well, back to food. Even though these succulent little scones were made weeks ago, I can't resist posting and documenting them.

How do you fancy scones? They are extremely British, of Scottish origin actually (thank you wiki!).. and are typically eaten with a buffet of butter, jams, jellies, or cream. And oddly enough, I've never eaten them in this setting- they end up being some component of our dinner or lunch. But grapefruit honey yogurt scones--- hmmm-- I may just need to host a brunch sometime soon for an excuse to serve these. They would make quite an addition!

The major highlight of these babies for me was creating that indispensable grapefruit sugar (made by rubbing grapefruit zest into granulated sugar) and then with as little mercy as possible, slathering the dough all over with this fragrant sweetener (please see recipe instructions on how to). Oh, it it is awesome. Ruby red grapefruits are beautiful. Pink. Sweet. Juicy. And taste deliciously pleasant and light in a batch of scone dough.

(TIP: don't shun from the stickiness of the scone dough once everything has been combined- it's supposed to be like that- but with a little flour on your counter top and dusted onto your hands, you will be able to shape them properly- just don't fuss with the dough too much before baking).

Grapefruit Honey Yogurt Scones

{Recipe found on www.joythebaker.com}

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

1 Ruby Red grapefruit, zested and segmented (although if you have 2 grapefruits you can zest, I would double this!)

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Zest the grapefruit (again, if you have two grapefruits, I would zest both and then double the sugar- this will make the scones more sweetJ) and combined zest and granulated sugar on a clean cutting board. Rub together the zest and sugar with the back of a spoon or a plastic bench knife. The sugar will be tinted a pale orange color and smell of grapefruit. Measure 2 tablespoons of the grapefruit sugar and whisk into the dry ingredients. Save the remaining grapefruit sugar for topping the scones just before baking.

Segment the grapefruit next. Slice off the bottom and top of the grapefruit, exposing the wheel of grapefruit flesh inside. Use a sharp knife to cut away the peel and pith of the grapefruit, exposing the pink grapefruit flesh. Slice in between the white skin segments to the center of the fruit, at a slight angel, circling the grapefruit. Little grapefruit segments should fall from the fruit as you slice. Set segments aside.

Dice cold butter into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, and working quickly, break the butter down into the flour mixture until butter chunks are the size of oat flakes or small peas. The butter and flour combined will resemble coarse meal. Add the honey, plain yogurt and grapefruit segments. Toss together with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the yogurt and honey.

Turn the scone dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Form into an 8 inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Use a knife or a bench scraper to cut the dough into six scone triangles. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly brush the tops of the scones with milk or buttermilk, and sprinkle generously with grapefruit sugar.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden brown on top and firm but soft in the center. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with butter and jam. These scones are best served the day they're made. Makes 6.

Fresh Cranberry and Citrus Scones

High on my list of kitchen priorities this month has been to use up some leftover cranberries from Turkey day. Whatever strange reason it may be, once Christmas is talked about in the past tense, even if it's only early January, cranberry sauce becomes void and something I cannot make or eat again until the following holiday season. I know! Bizarre. My husband and I have frequently pondered and explored what my case is for only eating certain foods at specific times in the year. Yes, even though I have begun seeing stone fruit like peaches and what have you available in grocery stores this very month, do not count on me being a purchaser! I don't eat tomatoes or peaches in the winter and I do eat a lot of pears or grapefruit in the summer. Seasonal eating may just be an odd fixation, but it's also economical as well!

Very unfortunately, I don't have many other fresh cranberry recipes up my sleeve. It is unfortunate- isn't the cranberry a beautiful fruit? Whenever I open a package and see them fly everywhere on my counter top, they have me stunned. It's just too bad they are more sour and tart than my tongue can endure for simple eating.

Off I went searching through cyberspace and found this recipe at a favorite stop of mine. You may use lemons or oranges for the citrus zest and I would even admonish you to add more zest than what the recipe calls for. Other than that, these were a SMASH amongst the four of us. And, as usual, with most scones, they are BEST WHEN EATEN within the first 12 hours. Of course you may have them around for a day or two but rubbery texture comes to mind, so why not polish them off while they're super fresh?

Spiced-warm milk, whipped cream, or creme fraiche are my favorite scone-accompaniments.

Ta ta!

Fresh Cranberry-Lemon/Orange Scones

{Smitten Kitchen}

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (meyer lemons preferable: I used orange zest instead because I had a million oranges that needed immediate usage!)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse ( I am sorry, but no dried cranberries here please)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons or oranges, and chop fine, reserving the remaining fruit for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Serve scones warm with creme fraiche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.