During a few summers while an undergraduate in college, I worked full-time in an organic chemistry research lab on campus. Alongside the graduate students, I dressed in a long white lab coat, safety glasses, and bright purple nitrile gloves as we set up reactions to synthesize and analyze small molecules with anti-cancer potential.
Just like they did on weekdays, I arrived by 9 am and stayed through 5 pm, if not later, and I often stopped in for a few hours on Saturdays too. Most of the reactions we ran were time-sensitive and needed near constant attention (just like little kids!), but we didn’t mind the long hours in the lab too much… Especially when everyone else was there and we could socialize throughout the entire day!
Yet many afternoons towards the end of the week, we all felt a little sluggish and pretty tempted to curl up on a bench outside for a quick nap. Instead, we headed to the courtyard across the street from the Chemistry Building lined with various stands and stalls to grab snacks and caffeine.
A Starbucks sat at the far end of the food court, and many of the grad students immediately headed to the back of the line, patiently waiting their turn to order. We chatted as the queue inched forward, watching as the baristas quickly scribbled down requests in Sharpie on paper or plastic cups and deftly swiped payment cards.
By the time they reached the front of the line, a few of the grad students felt little pangs of hunger in addition to their caffeine cravings, and they sometimes walked away with small brown paper bags holding a pastry along with their big cups of coffee. Cookies, muffins, coffee cake slices… Yet scones often seemed to be the most popular choice. They were perfect for dunking in coffee!
When I recently texted back and forth with one of those lab friends for his birthday, memories of those summers floated back through my mind and left me craving coffee and pastries. But instead of stopping by my neighborhood Starbucks…
I baked a fresh batch of these Healthy Strawberry Scones at home! Although I may be slightly biased… I think they taste WAY better than any of the ones I’ve bought from Starbucks — or any other coffee shop!
They’re filled with sweet juicy berries, and they’re also supremely moist on the inside (no dry crumbly scones here!), even with no eggs, cream, refined flour or sugar. You just need one bowl to make them too. So easy! And they’re only 125 calories!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy One-Bowl Eggless Strawberry Scones
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