4th of July Breakfast Shortcake

by Rebecca Jun 29th, 2011 // Breakfast, Holiday, Veggie Friendly

4th of July Breakfast Shortcake

When I was a kid the 4th of July felt like the longest day of the year. I’d wake up super early, too excited about the fireworks to sleep, counting the hours until dusk when we’d all pile into the car and drive over to the local fireworks extravaganza. Sure, there were BBQs to attend to in the afternoon, but the morning dragged on while I watched the minutes tick by on the clock.

This morning I got to thinking… wouldn’t it be nice to have a 4th of July MORNING breakfast tradition? Start off the day with a red, white and blue treat – maybe even have a 4th of July brunch?

With the help of my kid and one very important saber tooth cat (NOT TIGER) we whipped up a batch of shortcake-like muffins while the red and blue berries were macerating.

After the muffins had cooled, we pulled the Greek yogurt out of the fridge, split the muffin in half and placed a nice dollop on top of each muffin.

We topped it off with the syrupy berries and another dollop of yogurt and dug right in. What’s your 4th of July plan?

Breakfast Shortcake Recipe

Prep Time: 20 mins Cooking Time: 8 to 10 mins

Muffin Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (standard whole wheat flour will work too)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain non fat or lowfat yogurt
2 cups fresh berries (sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Topping Ingredients:
1 pint blueberries
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups lowfat or non-fat Greek yogurt

1. Macerate the fruit by combining berries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir gently then cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (You can also do this overnight.)
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Combine yogurt, oil and eggs in a measuring cup and beat together with a fork. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
3. Grease a muffin tin and fill each cup and bake 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and then use a butter knife to loosen and lift out muffins. Let cool completely.
4. Split cool muffins in half and place a dollop of yogurt atop each muffin.
5. Top yogurt with berries being sure to drizzle liquid over the yogurt so it becomes sweet from the juice.
6. Top the berries with a small amount of yogurt and gently place the other half of the muffin on top. Eat immediately.

Makes: 8 servings