Category: Breakfast

Original recipe by Joanne Chang, adapted by Dorie Greenspan for the NYT, and now me for debslunch

Scone ingredients

1 2/3 whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cold, cut small bits
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup buttermilk or soured milk (see below; do this first**)
1 large egg yolk
1 heaping cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
approximately 2 teaspoons maple syrup

Combine the flours,  baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or your fingers. You can also do this part in a mixer or food processor, but it’s easy to do by hand.

Mix the sour cream, buttermilk, and egg yolk in a spouted measuring cup.

**If you don’t have any buttermilk, to make soured milk, measure 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar into a spouted measuring cup, and add the milk of your choice – whole milk or oat milk work best. Let stand for 10-15 minutes to sour.

Add the liquids to the dry and mix briefly then add the blueberries while you can still see a small amount of un-mixed-in flour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment. Use an approximately 1/2 cup scoop to form the scones. The original recipe says 8; I got 13. Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze for at least 25 minutes and up to overnight. Cover the scones for the overnight freeze, the shorter freeze doesn’t need it.

When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375°. Put the scones in and immediately turn the heat down to 350°. Bake the scones for 30-40 minutes until firm and browned.

Make the glaze while the scones are baking. Combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add the maple syrup, and mix until you have a thick but spreadable glaze. When the scones are baked, remove them from the oven and brush the glaze over with a pastry brush while they are still hot.

Cool about 30 minutes to set the glaze, and eat.

These pancakes are triple oat because they have oat milk, oat meal – homemade oat flour; rolled oats coarsely ground in a food processor, and rolled oats. They’re a companion to Grancakes. Equally healthy and hearty but they do contain dairy and eggs.

Makes 9-12 large pancakes.

1 ½ cups oat milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup oat meal – make the oat meal by grinding the rolled oats in a food processor
½ cup rolled oats
2 large eggs
¼ cup yogurt, your choice of flavor but plain or vanilla recommended
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
a good pinch of kosher salt
butter for frying and serving
maple syrup and fried apples or apple sauce for serving

The night before you want to eat the pancakes, combine the oat milk, apple cider vinegar, oat meal, and rolled oats in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning add the eggs, yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well. Then add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix again. Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes.

Heat a 9 or 10 inch non-stick and butter lightly. I recommend cooking the pancakes one at a time. When the pan is hot ladle in about 1/4 cup of the batter right in the center and cook until there are a lot of bubbles and the edges look set before flipping. Keep the pancakes warm in a low oven until you have enough for all your guests.

This one is taking a lot of tries to get right! I began by trying this Food52 recipe, Naughty Rhubarb Scones. Lots of butter and cream, and they tasted good, but a little too flat.

Next I tried reducing the butter, adding an egg, and using buttermilk instead of heavy cream. That resulted in rhubarb muffin tops, OK but a bit bland.

Next, I tried even less butter, not tossing the rhubarb with sugar before adding it to the scones – on the theory that drew out too much moisture from the rhubarb – and using an egg, plain whole milk yogurt, and a little bit of milk for the liquid. Best of the three, but could maybe still have a little more butter. Or whatever it takes to get a slightly better texture. Maybe more butter and no egg.

So, we’re going with take 3; take 4 updates added. They’re still a bit too cake-y, but taste pretty good! Pic of take 4 below.

1 3/4 cups rhubarb, rinsed, trimmed and cut into 1-inch slices, about 3 stalks
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
5 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 good pinches kosher salt
4 6 tablespoons butter
1 large egg 2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons plain whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons whole milk
1 additional tablespoon of sugar for sprinkling, or use coarse sugar

First prep the rhubarb, and set aside.

Combine the flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Slice in the butter and pulse to combine. Add the rhubarb and pulse 9 times. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. If you don’t have a food processor, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then either cut in or grate the butter. Give the rhubarb and extra chop to get the pieces slightly smaller, then proceed as below.

Place the egg yolks in a spouted measuring cup and add the yogurt and vanilla. Add 3 tablespoons of the milk to get the liquid up to 2/3 1/2 cup. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid. Mix with a fork until the dough starts to come together, then use your hands to combine into a dough, adding the additional tablespoon of milk if there continues to be lots of dry flour around the edges. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until fairly smooth. Divide the dough in half, and cut each half into 6 wedges. Arrange the wedges on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes while you heat the oven to 425°. You can also cover the pan and refrigerate the scones overnight.

Sprinkle the chilled scones with sugar and place in the oven. Reduce the heat to 400° and bake for 18-20 minutes until firm and golden brown.

I had some whey from making ricotta, and made these muffins trying to use it up. The muffins can also be made with buttermilk or sour milk. This recipe is based on King Arthur Baking 100% Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins. I used less sugar and an egg, and part unbleached white flour. See also my streusel-topped blueberry muffins for another variation.

3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whey or buttermilk or sour milk*
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla Extract
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (feel free to adjust the flour proportion to your liking!)
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
cinnamon sugar or coarse sugar (note that the coarse sugar usually melts after a couple of days!), for topping, optional

Heat the oven to 400°. Line a 12-well muffin pan with paper liners, or grease the wells.

Measure the sugar into a large mixing bowl, and add the whey or buttermilk, and egg. Mix with a whisk, and then pour in the oil in a steady stream, whisking until smooth and emulsified. Switch to a spatula and add the vanilla, making sure it’s evenly distributed. Measure in the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix with the spatula until there’s almost no dry flour left, then fold in the blueberries.

Scoop the batter into the muffin pan, and sprinkle with your desired topping – or not.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the tops are cracked and the muffins are firm.

*to make sour milk, pour a tablespoon plus a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice into the bottom of a spouted 2-cup measure. Pour in the milk of your choice – this does work with non-dairy milks, especially oat. Let stand for about 5 minutes to sour, then proceed with your recipe.

These are Grandma Linda, Emma’s mom’s, whole grain pancakes. They’re from a newsletter/website/cookbook called Forks Over Knives. This is sort of it. I also put the photos of the original recipe that Linda sent me at the bottom of this post.

I made them a little less healthy than the original. I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour, so I used 1 cup of unbleached and 1/2 cup regular whole wheat. I used homemade applesauce that was lightly sweetened and I fry them in butter. Just a little.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I left this out and put in more cinnamon)
1 3/4 cups unsweetened plant-based milk (I used oat milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup berries for serving – optional
apple butter for serving – optional
more maple syrup for serving – not optional

1. 1. Combine the dry ingredients, the first seven, in a large bowl.
   2. Pour the milk into a spouted 2-cup measuring pitcher, and add the vanilla and maple syrup. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Add the applesauce and mix well. A few lumps is OK.
   3. I think it works best if you let the batter sit for about 30 minutes before cooking to let the grains soak up the liquid. You can also refrigerate the batter overnight, or for a few days.
   4. Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Optionally, melt a small pat of butter in the skillet. Ladle 1/4-1/3 cup dollops of batter and let cook until bubbling and the edges looks dry, before flipping to cook the other side.

Original recipe (PDF)

This is based on a BBC Good Food recipe – I trust the Brits to know what to do with rhubarb.

Muffins:

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cups buttermilk or sour milk*
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon fine salt

Crumble:

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons of cold butter, salted or un-
pinch of salt if you use un-salted butter

1. Heat oven to 375° and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin papers.
2. Stir the sugar and rhubarb together in a bowl, and set aside while you make the crumble topping.
3. For crumble, mix the brown sugar with the flour, oats, and cinnamon, then slice the butter into small pieces on top, and mix with your fingers or a fork until clumpy.
4. Stir the oil, egg, vanilla, and buttermilk into the sugary rhubarb.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in another large bowl, add the rhubarb mixture, and fold together until there are no visible dry bits of flour.
6. Spoon or scoop into the muffin pan, and top each with a thick layer of the crumble mixture.
7. Bake for 18-20 mins. until golden and firm.

*If you don’t have buttermilk, to make enough sour milk for this recipe, put 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice in the bottom of a spouted measuring cup. Pour in milk up to the 2/3 cup mark, and let stand about 10 minutes. Proceed with the recipe.