Mother’s Day Dairy-Free Banana Bread

Nothing says thanks for ensuring that I didn’t turn out a pregnant teen or Republican like a made-with-love loaf of bread. (It also says, “I’m poor,” but the belly-warming slices spread with (vegan) butter should sufficiently distract from that whole issue.)

This is my take on a classic banana bread—one of the early baking projects I made as a child with my mom, standing on a stool to reach the kitchen counter. This week I’m experimenting with oat flour, recommended constantly in one of my favorite healthy-eating books SkinnyGirl Dish. I want to like oat flour, since it doesn’t seem to require all the extras that other gluten free ones do, but I recently tried making a batch of cookies with it, and they turned out very dry. So, for this loaf, I used over half oat flour and the rest traditional white flour—and it turned out just as moist as it’s supposed to be. I’d like to tinker my way out of all of the processed white flour, and will try to do this with my two recipes this next week.

What else, what else? As always, substitutions are at the bottom of the recipe. If you’re like me, and, well, hurting a bit in your financial sector, this is an economical and thoughtful gift to make for this Sunday.

Berry Breakfast Scone Cookies

Scones have been one those gorgeous breakfast pastries that that I’ve had to learn to live without since becoming lactose intolerant. Well, now I can have my digestive health and my scones, too. Inspired by a raspberry scone recipe in the bible of all vegan and gluten-free cookbooks, Babycakes, I decided to whip up a version of the classic pastry sans cream and butter. Since it’s not quite summer, and I didn’t have any fresh berries on hand, I used some organic frozen blueberries and raspberries. Any mixture of fresh or frozen berries would work.

Also, these aren’t technically scones—I decided not to bother with the whole cutting and shaping process. These no-regrets, dairy-free scones look more like cookies, but they have the light and fulfilling texture and fresh flavor of a satisfying morning pastry.

The one rule that you absolutely must, must, MUST stick by: Do not overmix!

Blueberry Streusel-Topped Squares

Baking these fruity bars got me excited the way baking is supposed to—a few relatively easy steps left me with a fresh-tasting, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that looks gorgeous on the plate (though you may not be able to tell this from my sorry photography skills). And that vegan butter I was talking about last week? I’m officially a huge fan. I used it in these cookies and they came out rich and, well—for lack of a better word—buttery, like shortbread is supposed to taste. All it takes is whipping up a single type of dough for the top and bottom layers and cooking up a fruit filling while the crust cooks. Easy as pie. I mean, uh, cookie bars.