Before arriving in Norway, the thing that worried me the most about my upcoming study abroad adventure was finding food. It's easy enough being vegan when you have a well-stocked kitchen and a grocery store with labels in your native language, but in a foreign country with strange ingredients, very few kitchen utensils, and a tight budget, I thought I might be facing four and a half months of baked potatoes. I had heard that food was expensive. I had heard that fresh fruits and vegetables would be scarce. That I had better be prepared to be flexible in my veganism because all Norwegians eat is meat and cheese and fish. Panicked, I stuffed my suitcase with dried beans, spices, and texturized vegetable protein (TVP) in preparation of my semester-long vacation from good vegan food. However, on my first trip to the grocery store in Bø, as I nervously scanned the shelves looking for anything familiar, I saw something that put my nerves at ease instantly:
Soy milk. Somehow, in the small town of Bø, Norway, the local grocery store stocks soy milk. And while this first good omen was more than welcome, it definitely wasn't the last. In fact, I am happy to report that fresh fruit is not only readily available, but it is as cheap as it comes. The blueberry scone recipe I'm about to share not only involves fresh fruit - it involves FREE fresh fruit because - that's right - it's wild blueberry season in Norway. Score one for the vegans!
So, instead of the plain baked potatoes I was fearing (although don't get me wrong - I've been eating a lot of potatoes), what I actually got were tiny, overly sweet, fall-off-the-bush ripe blueberries. The scenery wasn't too shabby either, if I do say so myself.
Normally, given the choice between savory and sweet, I'd choose savory every time. Baking's not really my style. However, in this instance, with some fresh berries and the comforting knowledge of the soy milk sitting in my fridge, what I was really craving was a warm, homey, crumbly blueberry muffin, and when you're an international student without a muffin tin and you want to make muffins, you make scones instead. And I have to say, it was totally worth it.
The scones, which are modified from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance (one of the three cookbooks I managed to cram into my suitcase, and one that has always served me well) were also warm and crumbly, and had just the right slightly browned exterior and soft, cake-y inside. I'm not ashamed to say that the four of us who went blueberry picking each had two scones, and then split another one. They were that good.
Not to mention that I had two more for breakfast the next morning, and they tasted so much like the mixed berry scones that my mom gets from Great Harvest sometimes. It was a nice little reminder of home, while simultaneously being a great way to connect with the Norwegian landscape and the food it has to offer.
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| Our blueberry bounty |
Blueberry Scones
3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soy milk (plus extra if needed)*
2 teaspoons white vinegar
a LOT of blueberries! (at least 1 cup - 2 was great!)
*I'm sure you could use another non-dairy milk for this recipe, or even just plan milk if you're a non-vegan, and water might work in a pinch)
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (Yes! I'm in Europe!!) - about 400°F.
2. The rest is super simple: Mix all the ingredients except the blueberries in a medium-sized bowl and then...fold in the blueberries! The mixture was slightly clumpy and hard to stir, so I added a little extra soy milk (less than 1/4 cup), but you may not need it.
3. Scoop up a small handful of batter, form a loose ball, and then put it on a greased baking apparatus of some sort, flattening the top a little to make more of a scone-appropriate shape. I would probably recommend a cookie sheet for this, but alas, that is another thing the student's budget doesn't cover, so I used my all-purpose baking dish.
4. Bake for fifteen minutes or until slightly crispy on top and bottom, and enjoy!
