Blueberry Playdate Scones

This morning I dropped H off at the Y for 'Little Campers' and then Charlie and I started on our way back home when I saw what looked like an opossum crouching right near a curb, with it's little tail curled beside it. But it had it's mouth open as if it were licking water from the side of the road. And it wasn't moving. Perfectly still. With it's eyes closed. It looked a little mangy and was so still that I thought it had just died where it was sitting. I stopped in the middle of the road...it's Walla Walla, it's all good, and whipped out my iPhone to take a picture. Of course, the camera feature wasn't working, darn!

Was I going to take a picture because I'm a totally morbid weirdo? Not entirely, I wanted to show J, because it was the oddest thing I've seen in awhile. Wait, aren't they nocturnal? Why was it sitting there in the middle of the morning? Just as I was about to drive away it gave it's head a little shake and it kind of startled me. Curiouser and curiouser. I know, you think I've entered the early stages of dimentia for writing a post about dying animals with a photo of delicious scones. I know it's gross, but bizarre little things like that happen all the time and we forget about them if they're not documented. Almost dead opossum is definitely one to save for posterity. Right? Hm. Wrong? Okay, continue on.

Morning death watch over, I got to the end of the block and saw my friend walking with her kids. I told her about Operation: Dying Opposum, and she said she saw him in the middle of the road yesterday and he was moving slowly and looked 'squishy'. Ew. But on the bright side, since she was just a few blocks from her new house, she invited me over to see it. Tour commenced, opposum put out of my mind, and I realized I was supposed to be using this valuable hour to mop my floors and bake something for snack before hosting a playdate at 9:30. Yikes!

We got home and I started clearing the debris from the previous day from our counters. Discarded envelopes, yesterday's paper and all the other recyclables were swept to the new, glorious, stacking bins in the garage. A quick sweep of the floors, dishwasher loaded and counter wiped off and it was already 9am. Crap! Hmm...what do I have that's quick and yummy?  I couldn't remember how many kids were planning to be there, muffins would take too long, quick bread--not so quick. Then I remembered; Blueberry Yogurt Scones. Low-fat, low-sugar, delicious. This is a recipe my sister passed along from her days at Humble Bagel in Eugene, OR and I've made them about a million times. Most of all, they're fast and wicked easy. I grabbed the ingredients (all of which most people will have at any given moment in their house), pre-heated the oven to 350, pulled down two bowls and a wooden spoon and got down to business.

It's meant to make 8-16 scones, because you separate the dough on a floured surface into 2 or four mounds and then cut each mound into quarters. Instead I separated them into four mounds and patted them into rectangles and used a pizza cutter to make one length-wise cut and three width-wise cuts in each to make scones about the size of the commercially marketed 'two-bite' variety. The perfect size for kids and it also makes over two dozen, so there's enough for everyone.

Laid out on parchment covered cookie sheets (bakeware can be returned to its proper place after discarding the paper so you have very little clean-up), I brushed on a quick egg-wash and then sprinkled each with a little organic turbinado sugar for some bling. Since they were so small, I cut the baking time down to just 15 minutes and they were perfect. And, once everyone arrived, gone. From start to finish, it was less than 30 minutes. I baked each tray separately, or it would have been even less time.

Next time you find yourself facing the tick, tick, tick of the clock, (yes, I just finished Season 5 of Dexter...sorry, if you haven't watched, that reference means nothing) pull out this recipe and you'll have fresh scones in no time. You could substitute any berry for the blueberries, or a little orange zest and dried cranberries. But without further ado:

Low-Fat Blueberry Yogurt Scones

based on the recipe from Humble Bagel

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt (I used coarse kosher)

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3T sugar

2/3 c. oil

1 egg white

1 c. yogurt (I used non-fat plain greek)

1 t. vanilla (if you use plain yogurt, omit if you use vanilla, or just don't want to use it :))

3/4 c. blueberries (or other fresh berries, but blueberries are so good!)

1 egg white

Organic Turbinado sugar

Sift dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and then add to dry ingredients, without over-mixing. Fold in the blueberries carefully so you don't crush them. Dough will be sticky. Turn out onto floured surface and pat into four rectangles, cutting each rectangle into 8 scones. Place on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheets and brush with the egg white. Sprinkle the tops with a pinch of turbinado sugar and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden on the underside and just turning golden on the top. These are best when eaten immediately; they're so good, this won't be an issue anyhow!