Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Biscuits

I made a massive booboo last week.Was supposed to go to Bangkok with a girlfriend for her hen weekend but a day before the trip I realised that my passport had expired. Completely idiotic, classic Nabs. So I found myself with a free weekend instead of hitting the spas and cheap shopping centres in Bangkok. It was the first weekend I've had to myself in a very long time, and I chose to spend most of it wining and dining with good friends then took Sunday to try one of the recipes I've put on my "to bake" list.

That list is fast growing, by the way, as I find time has become a scarce resource in the past few months. After ramen, churros, sangria, milky coffees, and lord only knows what else I put in my body on Friday and Saturday, I decided to try one of the healthier options on the list. The organic, high fibre, gluten free Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Biscuits.

They turned out delicious, but not as crunchy as I had hoped. I might need to keep them in the oven for an extra 5 minutes to truly get it crispy and golden.

Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Biscuits

Recipe from kumquatblog.com 

• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tbsp golden flax seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line a shallow muffin pan with butter, preheat the oven to 180C 
2. In a large mixing bowl mix the oats, coconut flakes, flaxmeal, salt, pecans, and blueberries. Stir in the bananas, coconut oil, agave nectar, and vanilla until combined
3. Divide the mixture into the muffin pan (around 1-2 tbsp each) and bake for 25 minutes or until golden, cool in the pan

Brown Butter Blueberry muffins

Brown butter,

brown butter,
love of my life,
only wish I could
write a better ode. 

The traffic was sooooo horrendous coming home from work last night, even though I had stayed an extra half hour in the hopes that traffic would ease up by then. But nooooooo, resistance is futile. You will get chlamydia and die stuck in traffic, and want to remove your brain from your ear with the windshield wiper.

So about halfway home, with my petrol running dangerously close to the red zone, I took a last minute detour to the mall. I just needed to stretch my legs, and breathe, and basically get my retail therapy done cos I was going a little insane. I bought a new work dress, lots of breakfast stuff (bran, cereal, coffee, instant oats, marmite, etc) and fresh produce. One of which were blueberries!

When I finally did make it home, at 9.30 pm, I wasted no time getting the ingredients ready. And for a little added dose of happiness, I went with brown butter. It felt like just the thing to get the job done.

 

So here we have a batch of happy-making Brown Butter Blueberry muffins!

• 1/3 cup of brown butter
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup fresh/frozen (thawed) blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare your muffin pans
2. To brown butter, place the required amount in a saucepan and melt down, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn. When the butter aroma begins to rise, and you see little brown specks appear in the melted down butter, remove from heat and set aside for use
3. In a large bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla
4. Fold in the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
5. Stir in the cooled brown butter
6. Finally stir in the blueberries
7. Fill your muffin liners 3/4 of the way up, and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before nomming

Indecisive Muffins

With five productive hours left to my Sunday evening (productive hours meaning those before I have to get ready for bed and work...) I decided to whip up a batch of blueberry muffins for breakfast, and also to bring a few with me to the office for my workmates. However, my mum was craving banana bread too... and so I thought I would just make a carrot banana bread first, then blueberry muffins later.

Though having spent the majority of my weekend in the kitchen, I kind of wanted an extra hour to watch some telly before sleep... so halfway through making the banana bread batter, I decided to add in blueberries, bit more flour, and just make a hybrid of the two wishes. I don't entirely know what I was thinking when I added some of the stuff, but none of the ingredients seemed that bad as standalone ingredients so they couldn't be too bad put together, right?

Absolutely.

So this Monday morning, I popped one of the cooled muffins back in the oven for about 5 minutes while I blow-dried my hair and had myself a nice warm muffin on the way to work. Yummy!

Banana-Blueberry-Carrot Muffins (That's 3 of your 5-a-day!) 
Yield: 12 medium sized muffins

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup soft packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup buttermilk 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup ripe mashed bananas 
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line the muffin pan
2. Beat the vegetable oil and sugar in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk
3. Add the bananas and beat until incorporated
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon then gradually add into the wet mixture
5. Stir in the carrots and blueberries
6. Pour the batter into the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way up, then sprinkle with the topping and bake for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack

Topping

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix with your fingertips until they resemble course crumbs. Or use a food processor if you have one to minimize the mess and time taken

Pancakes!

I was surfing the interwebz last weekend and found this incredible picture of a recipe by Aleta. It may have been approaching midnight, but as soon as I saw it I wanted breakfast, and I wanted it then!

So it's damn good luck on my part that I have a 16-year-old brother and cousin in the house, cos they're always up for food no matter how odd the craving or combination. Thanks Mark and Isaac, love you smelly boys!

With a quick mental check of my pantry, I was assured that I had all the ingredients on hand. Yes, even blueberries (albeit from a tin, as opposed to Aleta's suggested frozen berries), which proves my point on grocery shopping: buy things you may not even know you need because they will come in handy sooner or later.

In this case, it was later rather than sooner. Considering I've had tin sitting in my pantry for a few months now!

I love how they turned out! I have absolutely NOOOO issue with having ultra blue pancakes. They're CRAZY awesome to look at while I ate them. My brother found them a bit shocking, though, and he gently nudged them away with his fork as he dug into the conservatively coloured pancakes. Coward.

The recipe is incredibly easy, and you should be able to whip it up in less than 10 minutes. Now, the hard part is flipping the pancakes... and watching them disappear out the corner of your eyes as the aforementioned 16-year-olds vanish them from the plate with surprising speed. Damn their metabolism!

Ze Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 3/4 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (as always, triple this amount for extra nomness)
• Extra ingredients: 3/4 cup blueberries (pressed, with juice), 1 cup shredded cheddar, 3/4 sliced smashed bananas, etc

1. Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a bowl
2. Whisk the milk, butter, eggs and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the dry mix
3. Combine ingredients until integrated, then stir in your extra ingredients
4. Let the mix sit for 10-15 minutes or so while you heat your pan
5. Once the pan is hot (go on medium heat, please! Don't burn these beauties), drop 1/4 cup of batter for each cake. Flip when the bubbles stop and it's toasty on the bottom. Then take them off when they're equally toasty on the other side.

Aleta's tip is to use a "smidge" of shortening instead of butter to produce a slightly crispy pancake and she's right!

xx Nabs