BOB Scones--Buckwheat, Oats, and Blueberries

Recently I made a trip to Martin's Farm Market in Hagerstown, MD, which means my cabinets are now stuffed with lots of cool spices (most are less than $1!) and other fun healthy baking/cooking things like flax seeds and steel cut oats. Truth be told, I'd never actually had or used steel cut oats 'til a few days ago. However, I always hear them talked about in relation to healthy things, so I figured, why not?

BOB Scones
1/2 Cup - Steel Cut Oats
1/2 Cup - Milk
1 Teaspoon - Cinnamon
2 Cups - Buckwheat Flour
1/3 Cup - Sugar
2 Teaspoons - Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon - Salt
1/2 Cup - Butter (grated or cubed and chilled)
1 Tablespoon - Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup - Blueberries

*For Optional Topping: 1 Egg and 1/2 Cup Raw Sugar

- Preheat oven to 375°F

- Add milk to oats to soften them, stir in cinnamon, and chill while you're mixing the other ingredients.

- Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar--stir and add butter.

- If you're using a stand mixer, beat on medium with the paddle attachment 'til butter is cut into dry ingredients and about the size of small peas. Otherwise, us a pastry blender, two knives, or any other trusty method you may have for working butter into flour.

- Add the oat mixture, 2 eggs (slightly beaten), and vanilla to the flour/butter mixture, and beat 'til ingredients just come together--be sure not to overbeat!

- Fold in Blueberries

- On a floured surface form dough into a square and cut into triangles using a sharp knife

*For topping: beat one egg, brush egg over scones, sprinkle with sugar and bake as directed.

- Place triangles on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 17 minutes.

B3 Waffles: Buttermilk, Buckwheat, and Blueberries

One of the more useful things I found when cleaning out Spring Maples, was a brand new, still in the box, 1970's waffle iron. A waffle iron was never something on my kitchen wish list, but I figured since I found one, I may as well use it! After several trials and lots of errors, I finally made really good waffles without setting off smoke detectors or having a stream of batter across the kitchen floor. Before you make these waffles there are two things you MUST remember:

1. Do not overfill the waffle iron
2. Do not under any circumstance use fresh blueberries*

B³ Waffles

2 Cups - Buckwheat Flour
4 Tablespoons - Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons - Sugar
1 Teaspoon - Salt

2 Cups - Buttermilk
2 Eggs

2 Tablespoons - Melted Butter

1/2 Cup Dried Blueberries**

-Heat and grease up waffle iron as appropriate for your model

-Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl

-Whisk eggs and buttermilk in small bowl 'til frothy

-In small batches add dry ingredients to liquid mixture, and stir 'til combined.

-Stir in melted butter and blueberries, ladle batter into waffle iron and cook 'til golden brown.

*I used fresh blueberries once, and will never do it again. The blueberries adhered themselves to the waffle grid and it took me hours of scrubbing to remove them.

**You could also use a 1/2 cup of raisins, toss in a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and have cinnamon-raisin waffles.

Thanksgiving Breakfast: Pumpkin Muffins

While I'm thankful for many things this year, I'm extra thankful that I'm doing absolutely zero cooking and/or baking for this year's Thanksgiving dinner (last year I hosted over 20 crazy family members). If you're hosting today, you probably aren't up for any more baking than is absolutely necessary. However, if you're like me and have abandoned the cooking ship, these muffins are a tasty, easy treat for breafast or just a pre-dinner snack. This recipe is also excellent for using up any leftover pumpkin.

I wanted mini and regular-sized muffins so I divvied up the batter, which made 24 mini and 8 regular muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins with Chocolate Chips
1- Egg

1 - Cup Pureed Pumpkin
1/2 Cup - Milk

1/2 Cup - Canola Oil
1 Tsp - Vanilla Extract

2 Cups - Flour (I would normally use all whole wheat, but I was running low, so I used half white and half whole wheat in the pictures shown)

1/3 Cup - Sugar
1 Tablespoon - Baking Powder
1 Tsp - Salt
1 Tsp - Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp - Nutmeg

1/4 Tsp - Ginger

1 Cup - Chocolate Chips

- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Generously grease muffin tins
- Lightly beat eggs
- Add pumpkin, oil, and milk: mix 'til combined

- In separate mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and spices.

- Add dry ingredients in 3 parts to pumpkin mixture, and stir until the flour is just incorporated

- Mix in chocolate chips
- Spoon batter into tins
- Sprinkle batter with raw sugar (optional, but recommended)
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Happy Thanksgiving!