Mini Blackberry-Oat Scones

I have been a die hard devotee of Heidi's recipe feed - 101cookbooks.com - for a long time. But like any blog-fan, I only manage to try the recipes every so often.

Today I knew I needed a scone recipe for the day care that I work as a dietary planner so, so I pulled up her Orange and Oat Scone recipe. I swapped the fruit and made them minis, and they were a huge success.

Mini Blackberry-Oat Scones

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 pint blackberries, chopped
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 15-20 times or until it looks like sandy pearls. (If you are working by hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter.) Transfer the dough to a bowl and stir in the oats and berries. Stir in the buttermilk until just moistened.

Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly, stir in more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing. After bringing the dough together, gently pat it into small rounds. Cut with an apple corer/slicer yielding 6 small triangles and 1 small-circle (baker's treat) per round. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet with some room between each scone. Sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 10 to 13 minute or until the bottoms are deeply golden.

Makes many, many mini scones.