Fresh Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I am on full fledged baking mode. I bought the Costco sized bag of flour, stocked up on spices and chocolate chips, and am counting down the days to when all the littles come over for the cookie decorating party. But I am also trying to pace myself because I don't need to have cookies, cake, and candies all over the house quite yet. The season is young and the time for stuffing your face with all the candies and cookies awaits. Until then, (next week sounds about right) sensible baking like bread and scones (yes, scones are sensible)

The other morning I woke up and was very determined that I must make scones. I don't really know why scones, maybe it was the news of Prince Harrys engagement  (the dream of being princess is now dead)  but it was a fierce determination..  And they had to be cranberry because well, I have a tone of cranberries in the fridge. And I know I could have made them just cranberriy, but why not add a little chocolate. Still sensible in my book.  So scones I did make. And after he shared one with Barb, the mr has been eating them for breakfast which is just another reason why they are sensible...they are breakfast food. 

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (all in the bowl). Sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, soy milk and vinegar. And of course fresh cranberries and chocolate chips.

The sugar and cinnamon go into the bowl with the rest of the dry...whisk it all together. Oh, and preheat the oven.

Mix a tablespoon of vinegar into the milk so it starts to sour.

Coconut oil gets cut in to the mixture.. You want a course crumb, kind of like pea sized chunks of oil mix around in there.

And now rough chop the cranberries which is a little difficutl because they all want to roll away, but you can do it. 

I rough chopped the chocolate chips as well because why not.

Mix the cranberries and chocolate into the mixture until evenly incorporated.

Then dump the milk in.

Gently mix until the dough just comes together. Dump our onto a well floured surface. 

Pat the dough into a circle and flatten out until it's about an inch and a half thick. Cut the circle into 8-10 equal pieces. 

Place the scones on a baking sheet and brush with a little milk. Pop them into the preheated oven 

Pop them out when they are all nice and golden brown. 

Place them on a cooling rack.

And watch them disappear or like a sensible person, eat one everyday for breakfast. 

Have a great weekend.

-C

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Fresh Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones 

makes 8-10 scones

• 2  1/4 cups flour 
• 1/3 cup  sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1  teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 hefty cup fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup plant milk plus about a tablespoon more for brushing on top
• 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside. With a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the coconut oil into the dry mixture until it becomes a course crumb. 

Rough chop the cranberries and the chocolate chips (optional on the chocolate chips) and toss both into the bowl. Give it a quick mix to coat it all then dump in the milk. Mix until the dough comes together (DON"T OVER MIX) then dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten out into a disk that is about and inch and a half thick. Cut into 8-10 equal sized wedged and place not a baking sheet. Brush the tops with a little milk and pop into the preheated oven.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are all nice and golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Then eat them .

Blackberry Pie Crumble Squares

The house next door to us is for sale and in the backyard of the house is a whole lot of blackberry bushes. The mr and I have been hopping the fence over there like ninjas and filling large bowls of berries and sneaking back home to eat our weight in those blackberries. (Ok, not entirely true. We are not good enough ninjas to jump the fence so we have been walking through the fence gate. Plus we checked with the current owner, she told us to pick all we wanted to. We are not asshole ninjas stealing fruit)

So many berries. I check every few days and they just keep on coming and I am not one to let perfectly good berries (or any food) go to waste, so I just keep picking. I froze some , ate so so many, and then I was going to make a straight up pie but decided to do pie bars instead because one, I couldn't find my pie plate (I think Shannon has it) and two, these are just a bit less formal, like pie can sometime be. Plus easier to share because they are cut into little squares and hold there shape really well. And lets be honest, I didn't want to have to roll out pie dough if I didn't have to.

Such a good way to use up and share an excess of berries. Now off you go to make some pie crumble bars while I go play with the kittens (I'll tell you all about the kittens tomorrow....)

The stuff. Flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. A little soy milk and coconut oil, a lemon, and arrowroot powder. And of course lots of blackberries.

The flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar get mixed in a big bowl then the coconut oil get mixed in into a crumble.  Now in goes the soy milk to get it all a little wet.

A little more then half the mixture gets patted down into a greases and lined pan

Berries, sugar, arrowroot powder, lemon juice and lemon zest go into a bowl. Give it a mix.

Dump and distribute all over recently patted down dough..

And crumble the rest of the crumble all over the top.

Now into the oven it go.

All cooked and cooling while you put away the clean dishes (or anything that will distract you for at least a half hour while they cool.)

And when they have cooled enough to cut, it's time for you to eat.

And yes, these are totally perfect for dessert and breakfast.

-C

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Blackberry Pie Crumble Squares

makes 16 squares

For the crust

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup coconut oil melted then cooled to soft
• 2/3 cup cane sugar
• 4 tablespoons soy milk

For the berry filling

• 3 cups fresh blackberries
• 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• zest and juice of a lemon

Preheat oven to 375

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add in coconut oil and incorporate with a fork or pastry cutter until the dough looks crumbly, add in soy milk and mix in with for again just til until incorporated. (think pie dough-like)  Don't worry if some of the dough seems dry, it's fine.

Grease and line a 9x9 pan. Dump a little more then half of the dough mixture in and pat down to cover bottom of pan. Try to make sure it's all an even thickness.

In a separate bowl, toss together the berries, sugar, arrowroot powder, lemon zest and juice of that lemon. Dump the mixture into pan and evenly distribute over dough. Take the remaining dough and crumble all over the top then just stick it into the hot oven.

Bake for about 50 minutes or until the crumble on top is a nice golden brown.

Remove and let cool completely before cutting.

Cut then eat.

Store squares in fridge, some even say they taste better cold.

Zucchini Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Zucchini time!!! I don't know about you but my stock is starting to creep up into the dozens and I think I can safely say that by this time next week I will have enough zucchini to last me until winter. But I am zucchini hoarder and you probably are not. So if you got any zuck hat needs a home, send them my way. The more zucchini the merrier.

A afternoon of work lost to the rain (again...What the Fuck!)  but I just called it an opportunity to get some paperwork done and bake. It was an unusually cool day as well so the oven on was kind of a welcomed addition. Hanging out in the kitchen with music and the oven on is a great afternoon so I took the rain with little complaint. What to bake? Well in goes like this. I ask the mr what he would like and if I say ok (just have to make sure I've got the ingredients) I get to making it but add some zucchini to it.  That goes for everything, savory or sweet. During zucchini season it's in EVERYTHING! So he wanted cookies, and zucchini cookies are what he got.

These cookies are not weird. They are nice and soft and chewy like a good oatmeal cookie should be. Zucchini adds that little something you didn't know you wanted but are glad it's there and the coconut and chocolate chips round them out. These cookies are just right, just ask the mr. I have had to hide them on him so he doesn't eat them all.

The stuff. Flour in the bowl with salt and baking soda. Rolled oats, cinnamon and shredded coconut. Brown sugar, coconut oil, shredded zucchini and chocolate chips. All the cookie stuff.

How cookies are made. Coconut oil and sugar get creamed together. The shredded zucchini is added and mixed into that. Then in goes the dry. That get all mixed together and last, but no least, add in the chocolate chips.

Cookies dough.

Scooped into balls that were given a little pat so to cook more evenly and getting ready to take the trip to the oven.

Pulled from the oven and set to cool o a rack. Look at all the pretty green speckles.

Now they are just waiting for a mouth to eat them.

What better way to spend a rainy afternoon with all the zucchini?

Happy Weekend. Stay dry.

-C

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Zucchini Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup old fashion rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cups soft (nit melted) coconut oil)
• 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350

Grab a large bowl and mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, coconut, and oats. In another large bowl, mix together the sugar and coconut oil until all the sugar and oil have combined and is nice and smooth. Add in the zucchini and mix then dump in the dry stuff. Mix until fully incorporated. Add in the chocolate chips and mix those in until ever bit of the dough has got some.

And now scoop the dough onto a baking sheet. I used a scoop so all my cookies are the same size but spoons work.  Once all the balls of dough are on the sheet, give each ball a little smoosh just so it doesn't have a high dome. Then into the oven they go. 10-13 minutes or until the sides are golden brown, Remove and let cool for a minutes on the sheet then transfer to a cooling rack. They are fragile at first but will stiffen up once they cool.

Once cooled ea what you would like and store the rest in a airtight cookie jar or freeze.

Roasted Banana Strawberry Popsicles

These popsicles are bananas!!!!! (pun intended) I forgot how much I freaking love roasted strawberries and don't even get me started on roasted bananas.  Then when they are all mash up and stuck into a popsicle mold... Just amazing. Rich, creamy and full of so much good flavor plus made with only good stuff. I mean you can't get much better. This is now my new favorite go to frozen treats.

So a little confession. I made these popsicles with the intention to give them to the littles for a special popsicle breakfast but when I took the first bite of the first popsicle I changed my mind. These popsicles where too good and I wanted then all to myself. I know that makes me sound like a ass but really, they can't miss something they didn't know they were going to get.  Don't worry,  we ended up at the store that night getting ice cream (for dessert) and a box of Captain Crunch with crunch berries for breakfast the next day instead (which they didn't even eat because the mr made them with chocolate chip pancakes instead). They were happy, I was happy. Win win.

And lesson learned, make two batches for next time so I can share. I will share next time (maybe).

The stuff. 3 ripe bananas, ripe freshly picked strawberries (they don't have to be freshly picked) cashew milk, and salt.

Chop bananas into chunks and strawberries in half ans place onto a greased baking sheet.

Pop into a hot oven to roast.

Roasted and all sorts of good (If you are prone to eating you roasted fruit before using it for popsicles, roast extra).

Scoop all the banana into a blending device (I used a hand blender so they went into a measuring cup) add in a pinch of salt ans the milk. Blend until creamy smooth.

For the strawberries just mash them up with a fork on the baking sheet.

Grab your popsicle mold and fill. Start bu scooping a bit of the banana in first, add in a little strawberry, then banana again. Keep layering until the mold is full. Then top off with a popsicle stick.

Into the freezer for the freeze.

And once frozen there are no rules. Eat a popsicle and be super happy.

Enjoy and stay all sorts of cool.

-C

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Roasted Banana Strawberry Popsicles

Makes four 3.5 oz popsicles

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1/4 cup plant milk (I used cashew, but any is good. Cow milk would work too)
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400

Grab a baking sheet and lightly grease it up. Peel bananas and cut into i inch pieces. and place on baking sheet. Remove stems from strawberries and cut in half. Stick those onto baking sheet as well then place the baking sheet into the hot oven.

Roast for about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. Place the roasted bananas into a blending device, add a pinch of salt and the milk. Blend until smooth. Take a fork and mash up the strawberries, which can be done directly on the backing sheet.

Scoop a bit of banana into each mold, then add a little mashed strawberry.. Continue layering until each mold is filled to the fill line. Add in popsicle stick then pop the filled molds into freezer,

Freeze for at least 4 hours, but 6 to 8 is safer.

Once frozen, pop from molds and eat. You can share but you don't have too.

Rhubarb Poppyseed Cake

First rhubarb of the season!!! The patch in my backyard is large and wild and I am about to be swimming in humongo pink stalks of the stuff within the week. There will be rhubarb in everything.

Last year we ended up eating so much rhubarb. I didn't really have much of a game plan for it, I just ended up sticking it in everything and for the most part, it worked out great. Cakes, pies, salads, and soups. Rhubarb can find a place in anything. But for the first rhubarb of the season, I wanted to make something that was all about the rhubarb without too many other flavors to contend with.  And I wanted to make something pretty. Rhubarb cake with poppyseeds Sweet and tangy with a little earthiness, great texture, and color. A spring celebration cake if you will and made me very happy.

The mr and my sister were very much pleased with how this cake came out. (It was gone pretty much gone the next day) A cake win for sure and a good start to rhubarb in everything season.

The stuff. Rhubarb and poppyseeds. for all the flavor. Then you need flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, oil (I used coconut but I think any oil would be fine) soy milk, vanilla and a little apple cider vinegar.

Once you get the oven going, chop 2-3 stalks of rhubarb into small pieces about 1/4 inch thick until you have 1 1/2 cups. Take another stalk and cut lengthwise into thin strips for the top of the cake.

In a small bowl mix the oil, sugar, and vanilla together. Add the vinegar to the soy milk.

Whisk together all the dry, add in the poppyseeds then mix in the chopped up rhubarb to coat each piece.

The wet mixture goes into the dry along with the soy milk. Everything mixed until just combined.

Dump the mixture into a well greased pan, level off and sprinkle the top with poppyseeds . Take the thinly sliced rhubarb you reserves and lay on top any way that looks nice to you, giving in a little press into the batter so it stays put.

Now into the hot oven it goes.

And after a time in the oven you get yourself this gem of a cake.

Cooled a bit and ready for eating. A piece or two celebrate.

Rhubarb season has begun. Start it off right with cake!

-C

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Rhubarb Poppyseed Cake

Makes a 9x9 square cake

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
•  5 tablespoons poppyseeds
• 3-4 large stalks of rhubarb (1 1/2 cups chopped and a little extra for top)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup soy milk

Preheat oven to 350

Chop rhubarb into 1/4 inch chunks until you have 1 1/2 cups. Extra stalk and slice lengthwise into 4 thin strips and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons poppyseeds. In a smaller bowl mix together the sugar, oil, and vanilla extract until completely combined.  Add vinegar to soy milk. Toss the chopped rhubarb into the dry mixture and coat the rhubarb pieces. Dump the wet mixture into the dry and add in the milk. Stir together until just combined.

Dump batter into a well greased 9x9 baking pan and level off. Sprinkle the top with remaining 2 tablespoons poppyseeds then lay the thinly cut rhubarb on top anyway you think looks good to you.

Stick the cake into the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the cake tester(or fork) stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Remove, let cool, then eat at your own pace.