Davey Scones’ Locker!
I lied in my last post when I said I’d been away at college the past few months. Actually, I’ve been traipsing the Coral Sea on a bedraggled schooner with several diverse characters including Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson, Michael Crichton’s Lazue (hawk-eyed female, raised as a man), and the obligatory Jack Sparrow. Our mission? Capture all shark-finning boats, train the fishermen onboard to be marine biologists, perform emergency surgery on the sharks, and of course, take all the fishermen’s treasure for ourselves.
We managed to overtake one ship just as its captain was about to slice off the dorsal fin of a reef shark. Madame Ching the pirate queen shocked him with a spontaneous performance of “Call Me Maybe,” which made him drop the thrashing fish to the deck.
Noticing the peculiar shape of the shark’s stomach, I came over and performed CPR until he coughed up none other than Auntie Teach’s Recipe Book. Allegedly handwritten by the aunt of Edward Teach (Blackbeard) in the Golden Age, this pudgy, homespun volume of recipes to fuel illegal activity on the high seas has been sought after for centuries by foodies and historians alike!
I decided to sell it to a museum as an act of charity that also made me a lot of money. But before doing that, on our last day on the pirate ship, I flipped to a random shark-bile-soaked page and made the recipe lovingly scrawled (and personalized with drips of rum) for “Anti-Scurvy Scones.”
When traveling at sea for weeks, particularly before refrigerators were invented, getting fresh fruits and vegetables was a serious problem. Sailors used to drink lime juice to avoid nasty diseases resulting from a lack of certain vitamins.
Auntie Teach’s recipe includes flavorful limeade, as well as coconut flakes that could have been harvested from local islands, dried cranberries that would have been brought onboard to replace fresh fruit, and white chocolate chips to sweeten the deal. She packs even more nutrient-rich fruit into these breakfast delights with the surprise inner filling: passionately tart red raspberry compote made from frozen raspberries. As our formerly shark-finning friends loved smoothies, they had a freezer full of the berries for me to mush to pulp.
Over a breakfast of hot scones oozing gooey raspberry filling, we discussed the state of sharks in today’s changing world, as well as practical matters such as the leeches in Jack’s boots and how terrible the internet service was in the middle of the ocean.
By the time we got back to the states to drop me off at college, everyone was begging me for this recipe. I promised to publish it on my blog. And a pirate always keeps her word, especially if she doesn’t want to be troubled with revenge while trying to finish school. So here it is.
Click here for the full recipe: “Pirate” Scones (Key Lime Coconut Surprise)
Like reading about swashbuckling environmental pirates as much as you like healthy treats? Check out my free ebook People with Fishtails on Smashwords and Amazon, and my active author blog, aseaworthyfrigate.wordpress.com for more.
Image credits in order of appearance (excluding scone pictures which were taken and edited by me using iphoto and Ribbit):
“Nordsee”. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nordsee.jpg#/media/File:Nordsee.jpg
“Wreck of the Dart (Sketched on the Morning after the Storm of the 25th Octr 1842) at Madeira” by Emily Geneviève Smith – National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wreck_of_the_Dart_(Sketched_on_the_Morning_after_the_Storm_of_the_25th_Octr_1842)_at_Madeira.jpg#/media/File:Wreck_of_the_Dart_(Sketched_on_the_Morning_after_the_Storm_of_the_25th_Octr_1842)_at_Madeira.jpg
Soft Apricot Cranberry Oatmeal Scones
Passover has been over for almost a week now, and that means we need to re-stock our kitchen with staples such as bread, pretzels, and of course some tasty leavened pastries! Personally, I wasn’t bothered so much by the different dietary guidelines during this Passover. I found it gave me a chance to explore different types of food, such as plantains and stuffed peppers, as well as getting to do a lot of baking and cooking since my family couldn’t just be lazy and buy take-out meals like we normally do during the rest of the year! That said, certain members of the family (a.k.a. the guys) were really tortured during those eight days with no hamburgers, Subway sandwiches, pizza, bagels, etc. As soon as Passover ended they splurged on a whole bunch of gluten-loaded, leavened fast food. Meanwhile, I began brainstorming for how I’d fill our pantry with all the healthy baked goods we’d been missing out on.
One of the first things I bought after Passover was a big container of oats. I was thinking of making a batch of granola, my mom’s favorite, but the scone envy overtook me somehow and I decided it would be scones. Make that healthy, vegan-friendly, lower-fat, whole grain oatmeal scones, packed with fresh and dried fruit and sweetened with Truvia baking blend and organic maple syrup. I improvised a maple glaze that I thought would add a nice touch. However, it is really subtle. When my mom tried a scone, she asked me, “what’s this wet stuff on top?” So I guess the glaze isn’t really crucial, and the scones will taste good, if a slight bit less maple-y, without it. (Cutting the glaze would also make them even lower in fat, sugar, and calories.)
In my opinion, the best thing about these scones is their texture. They are splendidly soft, yet firm and dense, with a buttery flavor from the Earth Balance, but aren’t too rich to enjoy. There’s just the right proportion of oats to add a special something without taking over. Chunky apricot, chewy dried cranberries, and crunchy pistachios add flavor and contribute to the interesting texture.
I hope you enjoy this easy recipe! Perfect for an informal breakfast or anytime snack.
Soft Apricot Cranberry Oatmeal Scones
makes about 12 medium-sized scones
Ingredients:
scone dough
- 1- 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup oats (I used quick-cooking)
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- generous dash of cinnamon
- pinch or two of nutmeg
- 2 tbs Truvia baking blend
- 2 tbs Earth Balance Original or Whipped Buttery Spread (just use whatever you have on hand)
- 1/4 cup organic 100% pure light amber maple syrup
- 2/3 cup plain almond milk (I used Almond Breeze brand)
- 2 small apricots
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tbs whole shelled pistachios
for wash
- 1 tbs plain almond milk
optional maple glaze
- 2 tbs Earth Balance Original or Whipped Buttery Spread
- 1-1/2 tbs organic 100% pure light amber maple syrup
- 1-1/2 tbs Truvia baking blend
- small dash cinnamon
Directions:
For scones: Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and apply cooking spray generously.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and Truvia baking blend. Mix.
Cut in the 2 tbs Earth Balance in small pieces. Add 1/4 cup maple syrup and 2/3 cup almond milk. Mix well. Mixture will be sticky and thick.
Chop apricots into small chunks and discard stones. Pour chunks into scone dough mixture. Add dried cranberries and pistachios. Stir gently just until ingredients are evenly combined.
Drop handfuls of batter onto prepared cookie sheet, at least an inch or two apart from one another. Make them as big or as small, as wide or as tall, as suits your fancy. You can make a lot of little scones, or a few big scones – I made 15 medium-sized ones.
Bake scones at 425 Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes or until they are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
For glaze: In a small bowl, combine 2 tbs Earth Balance, 1-1/2 tbs maple syrup, 1-1/2 tbs Truvia baking blend, and a small dash of cinnamon. Use a spoon to gently mix until ingredients are well blended. Spoon glaze evenly over scones once they have cooled for at least 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy scones warm!
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Mini Mint Chocolate Cheer Scones
A Last Minute Holiday Recipe: Mini Mint Chocolate Cheer Scones
I call these scones “Mint Chocolate Cheer” because I made them during the winter holiday season, and they brought cheer to all who tasted them! With their colorful candies and adorable miniature size, they’d make a picturesque addition to a festive holiday table.
My inspiration for these scones occurred at dinnertime yesterday evening. We’d gone to Whole Foods market, where I chose some salad to take home. My mom, having recently eaten lunch, treated herself to a huge scone from the pastry section. So we sat across the kitchen table from one another, me nibbling my bed of greens while my mom feasted on this gorgeous pastry adorned with swirls of seductive chocolate. Something had to be done about this injustice! Health nuts are allowed to eat scones too…aren’t they?
My mom raved about the perfect taste and texture of the store-bought scone. It was like a dense muffin, she told me, crisp on the outside but soft and dense on the inside. “I’m afraid the only way to get that perfect texture is with a lot of butter,” she said with resignation. But I wasn’t about to be discouraged from my new lofty aspiration: to create some amazing scones of my own, bursting with chocolate, boasting the best texture of all the scones in the land, to grace my plate with the object of my envy. Oh, and completely free of butter.
With dinner concluded and my resolution set in stone, I turned to the oven to carry out my dream. As I made these scones with peanut butter and Earth Balance to replace the butter, whole wheat flour replacing half the all purpose stuff, and a light milk wash to substitute the traditional egg wash, I began to worry that my scones would fall flat. I’ve produced plenty of failed scones in my time, and sometimes wondered if it’s even possible to make healthy ones. When these babies went in the oven, my heart was filled with butterflies. Either I’d create something great, or I’d be scraping my charred dreams off the cookie sheet for the rest of the evening in sconeless solitude.
With the squeal of the oven timer, the results were in. And I’m pleased to report that they fell under the former category: the golden brown beauties tasted as lovely as the colorful candies I’d mixed into the dough. To top it all off oven-toasted coconut flakes graced each triangular triumph with some extra flair. Oh, and the texture was just right: a crisp, golden exterior gave way to a dense, soft and satisfying interior. And since they’re healthy mini scones, all health nuts are free to bask in the glory of these perfectly delicious cuties.
Click here for the full recipe!
Carrot Cake Scones
I had the idea this week to make some scones that were inspired by the flavors of carrot cake. Carrot cake is something infamous for being “fattening” and high-calorie, but it has the potential to be very good for you if you think about it. First of all, it obviously contains carrots, which are high in vitamin A. Second of all, it can be paired with a cream cheese frosting for calcium and protein. (No, I did not use a cream cheese frosting for these scones, however disappointing that may be. It might be an interesting thing to try, though.) And a final reason why carrot cake has potential to be extremely good for you: Look at all the super-nutritious mix-ins that go with it! It’s common for people to add carrots and walnuts, both of which have healthy fiber. Pineapple and coconut, also popular additions to carrot cake, have fiber and vitamins as well. So why is carrot cake usually so bad for you? Probably because of all the oils and butter used in most recipes.
These scones are extremely low in fat, with only two tablespoons of butter. They also contain whole wheat flour, and I mixed in some pineapple and coconut since those are popular carrot cake mix-ins. Nuts and raisins might be interesting to try instead. I whipped up the dough, threw the scones in the oven, drizzled with sweet vanilla glaze, and done! I had some incredibly healthy, incredibly delicious scones reminiscent of carrot cake, but miles away from any worries of all the fat and calories.
When my mom first tried one of these scones, she wasn’t too impressed. Then she thought about it for a minute as I sat eating my own scone, and tasted a scone again. She said they weren’t so bad after all, and as time passed began praising my scones and saying they were actually great, recommending them to my dad! I guess the carrot flavor took her by surprise. They just needed to grow on her. Me, when I first took a bite of this scone I instantly knew it was what I had been hoping for. Just the right amount of sweetness, a soft main body, and crispy shredded carrots. Not to mention of course the addictive coconut and juicy pineapple… need I say more?
For the recipe for “carrot cake” scones, click here.
This recipe was based on “Blueberry Lemon Scones” by Dannivee.
Fresh-baked scones straight out of the oven taste the best… mmmm…
The Evil Machine and Pumpkin Praline Chocolate Chip Scones
I really haven’t made as many “holiday” foods as I’d hoped this year. I feel like everyone in the world has been blogging about what they’ve made for the holidays. I don’t celebrate Christmas, so I didn’t have as much reason to make fruitcake or whatnot, but I could have made jelly donuts for Hannukah (however many millennium ago that was.) Oh well. Next year.
I did really want to have at least something to blog about before Christmas was over, however, so I set my heart on making some pumpkin scones. (I know, I know, pumpkin is for Thanksgiving, but it can also apply to Christmas, can’t it? Especially since everyone in my family likes pumpkin.)
We happened to be walking to the drugstore today to look for hand moisturizing lotion. I searched the whole store for the stuff and couldn’t find my favorite type. I did see a package of pecan pralines, which I imagined would go great in the scones I was planning to make, so I decided to buy that and some cereal. That may just have been the worst decision I’ve made in my life.
The drugstore I went to is all fancy-shmancy and has special machines that scan your items and take your money instead of a cashier. They probably got a lot of complaints from customers about the speed of their cashiers, so they decided to just make the customers scan their own items so they couldn’t say the cashier took too long. Clever idea… except the contraptions don’t work.
The thing told me to insert my cash into its slot, so I put in a twenty-dollar-bill for my $2.99 purchase, expecting it to give me change. First, a penny was regurgitated from the change slot. A few moments later, the machine grudgingly coughed up two measly $1 bills. I waited patiently, but the machine was stubborn. It wanted to hold onto my extra $15, acting like Ebenezer Scrooge if he were asked to give some penniless children money on Christmas Eve or something. In short, that stupid machine was a cheater. (Or just really bad at math. Or broken.)
I got an employee to help me, and she had me go through the whole process again of pushing buttons on the machine, telling it what language I spoke, what my phone number was, how many bags I was using, scanning my items… then she needed to go get another employee to open the machine’s cash store and get me my $15. By the time we finally got out of there, I was determined never to shop at that store again. That crafty machine will remember me, try to cheat me again, or worse, eliminate me altogether out of bitterness that I violated its personal temple of money to get my $15. We’re at the fiscal cliff, and it’s every man, woman and machine for himself. That machine is not going to give up dough without a fight.
On the upside, I did finally get my pecan pralines! It was definitely worth the hardships I suffered to obtain them, because they tasted delicious with the chocolate and pumpkin flavors in these scones. The scones have a chewy outside and a soft, buttery inside. They are also healthy because of vitamin A from the pumpkin, and protein and fiber from the pecans.
For the recipe for the scones, click here.
Happy holidays to all! (Except you, you wicked machine.)
True Healthy Me 
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