Friday, December 13, 2013

strawberries and spelt scones

 
First strawberry harvest of the season.

Strawberry seedlings were gifted to us from friends.

Even the little one is helping.

After-school pickings.

Replenishing the worm farm.

Pikelets for little fingers.

 Another after-school harvest.

Garden friends.

Mama's turn to harvest.
 
Rustic strawberry spelt scone with coconut sugar.


It has been strawberry heaven over here. Last spring my lovely friend planted some of her strawberry seedlings in our garden. Rob filled the beds with a trailer load of mushroom compost and dutifully waters our strawberries but the children and I have been enjoying the fruits of his labour. I'm unsure of the variety. Anyone recognise these blissful strawberries?

After school pick-up we arrive home and harvest strawberries together. This peaceful break centres us before the afternoon rush to bring in washing and start dinner and before the somewhat noisy bath and bed time affair. At first we pick and eat strawberries like possums but later as the crop became abundant we would fill a bowl every couple of days for some sweet baking. Max is a really good fruit picker and I already have visions of him "WWOOFing" around the world when he finishes high school.

The little one has been getting in on the action too. A few times he has shoved whole strawberries in his mouth before I can catch him. There seems to be less of a choking hazard than the store bought variety: Homegrown is so soft and sweet and dissolves blissfully in your mouth.

Strawberry recipes we've enjoyed are pikelets, a strawberry shortcake and scones. I always make english scones but I've been dying to try American scones. I've adapted closely from this recipe but replaced some refined ingredients with wholefoods. This is how I made mine.

Rustic Strawberry Spelt Scones

1 cup of strawberries cut in to small pieces
3 tbs coconut sugar
2 cups of wholemeal spelt
2 tsp of baking powder (aluminium free)
1/4 tsp salt (idodised and aluminium free)
90g butter
180ml buttermilk

Preheat oven 200ÂșC
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, add butter and combine with fingers until crumbly
  2. Pour in buttermilk and add chopped strawberries
  3. Combine ingredients gently in to a ball and place on lightly floured surface
  4. Place baking paper over lightly floured ball and roll in to a round disc about 2cm thick
  5. Cut in to wedges and transfer to cookie sheet
  6. Bake for 15 mins
These scones are not very sweet so you could definitely eat them for breakfast without feeling guilty - we did! Also extra yum with strawberry jam and butter:)


6 comments:

  1. They look delicious! We ate the first 2 strawberries off our plant tonight! I'm looking forward to many more...the taste was unbelievable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those strawberries look great, Zena. I didn't realise it was strawberry time as we don't grow them but I know I should. Maybe next year we will have some. The scones look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really should be growing raspberries as we have the perfect cold climate for them.

      Delete
  3. wholemeal spelt, it really is good stuff isn't it. All sounds good for a wonderful breakfast.

    ReplyDelete