Sweet Oat Biscuit with Berries

It's raining in my neck of the woods Still, the calendar says May and something in me screams for summer berries.

My small strawberry patch is looking brown and leggy from winter rot. However, my freezer is brimming with big red berries. Therefore, when my kiddos complain, "I'm hungry" right after dinner, just before bed, and immediately after I've cleaned up for dinner and plopped down on the couch for the evening (so frustrating), "quick and easy" are the magic words that keep me from loosing my cool.

In less than 15 minutes, I can whip up and serve these modified baking powder biscuits with simple-sugar-free-strawberry sauce. A dessert that offers more nutrition than many dinners. Hello Simple! Hello Summer!



Sweet Oat Biscuit with Berries

Nutritious dessert that can pass as breakfast or afternoon tea treat.

Ingredients

Biscuit

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (the pastry version of whole wheat flour is ground finer than your typical whole wheat flour allowing it's gluten to develop more fully and fluff up rather than bake into a stiff hockey puck)

1/2 cup oat bran

1 tbsp baking powder

1/3 cup canola or grape seed oil

1/2 cup almond milk - you can sub soy milk or water

1/4 cup apple juice

2 tbsp honey - plus more for brushing the tops of baked biscuits

1/4 tsp kosher salt

Strawberry Sauce

2 cups frozen strawberries

1/4 cup apple juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Combine frozen strawberries and 1/4 cup apple juice in small sauce pan over medium high heat and cover while strawberries melt and juice comes up to a simmer.

3. While you wait for berries to become saucy, combine flour, oat flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir together.

4. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture. Add oil, milk, apple juice, and honey to the dry mixture and mix. Once combined, knead about 10 times through right in the bowl till the dough sticks together and becomes somewhat elastic.

5. Pick a juice glass with a mouth about 3 inch wide. Grab a hunk of dough, form into a ball and flatten in your hands til about 1 inch thick. Press the mouth of the glass into the dough to make a uniform disc and place on baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. You should get about 10 to 12 biscuits.

6. Bake for 10 minutes or just until biscuits become golden. Remove from oven and drizzle with honey.

7. Meanwhile, the berries should have come up to a good simmer and the liquid reduced down a bit. Add vanilla and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Let cool slightly, then spoon over biscuits. Soooooo good!