Snickerdoodle Granola

 I could have sworn I posted a granola recipe before, but I can't find it, of course. I had a craving for snickerdoodles and baked apples the other night, but being that DH and I are trying to get back on track with healthier habits (cold weather+ a lot of food holidays+ constant trade off of illness = lazy couple) that wasn't such a great idea. Instead I tossed a chopped apple in the skillet I used to make this with a little bit more cinnamon and made this recipe. A much better decision.

Like my oatmeal, this is a good basic granola. Add some cocoa powder for Mexican hot chocolate oatmeal, add more dried fruit for a trail mix granola, candied  ginger and dried carrot and pineapple for a carrot cake granola (I do have a thing for a good carrot cake.)

You Need:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 T coconut oil
1 T honey or agave
4 T brown sugar
1 flax egg (or hen's egg)
2 C rolled oats
1/2 C pecans, chopped
1 t salt
1.5 T cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300 F and line a baking sheet with foil
2. Heat together the vanilla, oil, and sweeteners until the oil is melted and a syrup forms
3. While that is melting, thoroughly mix together the dry ingrediants.
4. Toss all ingrediants, minus the egg together until thoroughly coated
5. Mix in remaining egg and spread mixture on baking sheet
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the oats are crisp and toasted
7. Let cool for at least 10 minutes to allow some clumps to form. Toss in 1/2 C dried cranberries, if desired
8. Store in an airtight container, it will keep for at least two weeks.

Breakfast Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Yogurt Icing

I have a soft spot for carrot cake. Growing up I worked at my lesson barn and on Saturdays we would have a pot luck and the barn owner would make her carrot cake. At the time I didn't like pineapple or raisins but like many other things, my preferences changed (up until a year ago I hated pineapple, so another vote for taste buds changing as we age.)

I wanted a smaller snack so made this thin cake. For a more substantial cake, just double the cake ingredients and add five minutes to the bake time. We made this for church along with Oh She Glows' Banana Oat Cake and both were very well received. We simply cut each in half to make two layers each. and served them on one cake carrier.

Breakfast Cake:
1 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t all spice
1/4 salt
2 T water
2 T oil
2 T yogurt, unflavored, unsweetened
1/4 C brown sugar, or equivalent
1.5 T ground flax in 4 T lukewarm water
1 heaping C carrots, shredded (we used 2 carrots)
1/4 C walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/4 C golden raisin
1/4 C pineapple, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour a round cake pan, preferably one with a removable bottom. Serving it as a pie would work as well
2. Beat together the yogurt, oil, water, and sugar until smooth
3. Add in the spices, powder, salt, flax egg, and flour and beat until smooth
4. Fold in the remaining ingredients and pour into the prepared pan
5. Bake for 30 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out in.
6. Cool in the pan until the pan is warm but not hot to the touch and carefully remove the cake. Serve hot or cold, but definitely top with the icing

For the Icing:
1 C yogurt
1.5 T maple syrup
1 T cinnamon
pinch ginger

Beat together until smooth, adjust to taste. I wanted it mildly sweet but you might want it sweeter.

To store: Cover tightly with cling wrap. It can sit in the fridge up to two days but it's best fresh. 

Overnight Oatmeal Pancakes (with a dark chocolate orange variation)

My aunt and uncle gave DH and I a new griddle for Christmas, for which I am very appreciative. Our old was a wedding gift for DH's parents... 30 years ago. It smelled, the coating was coming off, it took up valuable real estate in our kitchen, it just needed to go. My aunt got us a stove-top version that takes up just one burner, the right size for two people.

To break it in, I wanted oatmeal pancakes. But not just any oatmeal pancakes, I had a craving for one of the chocolate oranges but with less of a calorie load and more orange. DH wasn't sure of the orange with the syrup, I would try honey if you're the kind who think that orange and maple don't go together.

It's a Start Oatmeal

This a good basic oatmeal recipe, you can add fruit in the baking or when you reheat it, you can add nuts, yogurt, what have you. Really it is all about ratios. I make some variation every week but alter the volume depending on if DH is eating as well, if we're going out of town, etc. Everything after the flax is just to make a flavored base, I add allspice, clove, etc if I want more of a pie oatmeal, scale back the ginger for DH, stir in a heaping spoonful of nut butter or apple butter, add fruit puree (even sweet potato)...

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal

I have a special place for quick breads like banana bread. Rarely has a recipe let me know and they're always well received by others. This combines my usual breakfast with one of my favorite quick breads.

I lightly topped each square with peanut butter

I wanted to switch up our routine and make baked oatmeal instead of my usual big pot of oats. I had made a batch of sweet potato pecan baked oatmeal but it turned out a little too savory for what I wanted. DH voted on this variation next. I won't be making this on a regular basis (there's something comforting about only really needing oats and liquid, although I add chia, cinnamon, and ginger.) This is a middle ground between healthy and dessert.

Fruity Oaty Bars (Almond Butter and Jelly Bars)

DH insists on calling these Fruity Oaty Bars after the commercial in Serenity. I introduced them at church as simply Almond Butter and Jelly Bars. I don't think we have many Browncoats in our class...

 

Based off of Oh She Glows's Raspberry Chia Seed Jam Oat Crumble Squares

This was a slightly panicked creation when a Honey Nut Apple Cake was a spectacular fail. Lesson learned, only make one fundamental change in a recipe at a time, not 5. I made a couple changes here but they were much smaller (premade jam, added a dash of honey, used almond butter and vegan butter instead of brown rice syrup and coconut oil, a few measurements were slightly changed.) I needed something to go right that day - my Bears lost, recipe failed, didn't make either of the Howl-o-ween events we planned on going to, my sinuses starting draining the middle of my run making it impossible to breathe, and my previous go-to trouser pattern has completely the wrong curve for my now-much-fitter body. These bars made the day much better.

Super Rich Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is another not-quite-healthy quick breads. The texture is akin to a very soft cake really. I made this for church the same week I made the Stained Glass Cake-Bread. No one thought it had zucchini bread, in fact one person who said she hated zucchini bread said she loved it, even after hearing there was zucchini in it! (might have something to do with all of the chocolate- just a thought) It's a really simple bread to throw together. If it were a bit more substantial I would suggest it as a bake sale item, I think with almond meal instead of flour it could go gluten free, and it's already vegan (if you use a vegan brown sugar.) I wonder how it would go in a muffin pan instead...

Stained Glass Cake-Bread

I don't think it's a surprise that the Library is one the
most popular place on campus for weddings, when it's full of
windows like these

I call it the Stained Glass Cake-Bread for two reasons:

1. I agree with Big Bear's Wife that it does look a bit like stained glass and I think of three places with stained glass- the chapel where DH and I had our ceremony, our current church, and the Armstrong-Browning Library at Baylor. I was going to call this the Armstrong-Browning Cake-Bread but somehow that seemed like more of a mouthful.
2. The batter isn't quite a straight quick bread. It reminds me a lot of a shortcake. But I baked in a loaf pan and it was originally labeled bread, so I'll call it a Cake-Bread.

Pecan Pie Muffins and Apple Pie Bars

These will probably some of the last normal recipes I'll be posting/reviewing for the next few months. I have to go essentially vegan until at least mid-February for my cholesterol (yes, at 23, I won the genetic lottery) so that means a lot creative food planning.

Anyway, these two recipes are not so healthy, but they are delicious. We brought snacks in for church and I wanted two different types of treats (plus fruit). They even got rave reviews from the self-proclaimed foodie in the class.

This is what was left after class.

Banana Bread and Cookie Snakes

We had to bring snacks in for church this week and I was feeling particularly lazy (I had to make cookie snakes for a term project, presentation, I'll talk about that later) so we picked up a coffee cake and I made a loaf of banana bread. The banana bread is pretty straight forward, the cookies are less so.

Banana Bread

There are a couple of variations that I included in the recipe but not in the this loaf (the as-is loaf was a hit with my church so I'm not sure the additions are needed)


3-4 RIPE Bananas, mashed (this means going brown, not this side of green)
1/2 C Butter, unsalted, melted
1 C sugar, granulated (though brown would probably do well, too)
1 t Vanilla (or a combination of Vanilla, Rum extract, etc. This loaf has a 2:1 ratio of Vanilla to Rum)
1 Egg, beaten (in a separate bowl/mug)
1 Pinch Salt (regular iodized,  not Kosher/Sea/Flaked/Himalayan)
1 t Baking Soda
1.5 C Flour, All purpose
1/2 C Chocolate Chips, semi sweet (optional)
1/4 C Pecans, Chopped. (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a ~4"x8"' loaf pan (I use the wrapper of the butter since you don't need a lot of butter to grease)

With a wooden spoon, mix the mashed bananas with the butter in a medium to large bowl. Add the Egg, Sugar, and Extracts. Stir. Add Salt and Baking Soda. Stir. Add Chips and/or nuts. Stir. Add Flour. Stir.

Bake for ~45-60 mn (usually closer to 45). Loaf is done when golden on top and a skewer/knife inserted and pulled out comes out without goop and a few crumbs (clean means it's over cooked).

Let cool in the pan, uncovered. Can be kept for several days, covered, in the fridge. I would recommend pre-cutting/removing from the pan before serving since it can be rather soft.

Cookie Snake
Adapted from Peppermint Plum's Sugar Cookie

We were presenting on a museum that had an exhibit called "Why did it have to be snakes" (or something like that, it wasn't important to the project) and instead of a more complicated (to carry) treat, we decided to do cookie snakes. Here's how I did my batch:

1 C Butter, unsalted
2 C Sugar
2 Eggs
3 t Vanilla
1 C Sour Cream
1 t Salt
2 t Baking Soda
5.5 C Flour, All purpose
0.5 tube green gel food coloring
3 drops each, red and blue food coloring

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.
Cream Butter and Sugar. Mix in Eggs and Vanilla. Mix in Sour Cream. Incrementally mix in the dry ingredients (use 1/2 C increments or else your kitchen will turn white). Add the food coloring (or omit if you want regular sugar cookies). Mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for >30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Pull cookie sheets, line with greased parchment paper or silpats.

On a clean surface, powder lightly with powdered sugar. Pull a baseball sized lump of dough from the fridge. Roll into 1/3" wide lengths. slice them ~6-7" long and on the tray, create your snake. Good rule of thumb we found is: 2 Squiggles is a worm, 3-4 is a snake, even squiggles are intestines. Taper one end into a point and create a lumpy "head" at the other end.

 

This batch was more than 6-7", they expand too much for what I wanted

 Bake for around 5 minutes, though they may take longer. Watch for the top texture to change but pull before the edges brown. A little tan is okay.

See? Expand too much.

Let the cookie cool for 1-2mn on the tray then pull silpat to cool more. Then transfer to paper plates or whatever to cool completely. At this point your can freeze or ice the cookies. To freeze, place in a tupperware type container and put parchment or waxed paper between layers.

Icing
Barely Adapted from Alton Brown's Royal Icing

One of my teammates just picked off the icing and ate that so I guess this wouldn't be in line with the royal icing I grew up using for gingerbread houses

Yellow Gel Coloring
3 Egg Whites (if you can find pasteurized egg whites, use that- roughly 6 T, I think)
~4 C Powdered Sugar
1 t Vanilla/Almond Extract (whatever flavor you feel like really)

If you are using unpasturized egg whites then I've been told you just need to heat them in a saucepan until warm (careful not too cook though) or you can risk salmonella, whichever. Moving on.

In an electric mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla on medium speed until frothy. Add the powdered sugar in small ammounts until all combined. Mix on medium-high until stiff peaks form (8 minutes or so). Immediately transfer to sealable containers until ready to use. Make sure to have cookies are room temp before icing.

If you are adding coloring (I use 3/4 tube of yellow) add that into the frosting and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a piping tube. I may recommend 1-1 1/2T of liquid to thin it all out since it was a little too firm for my liking.

These were the rejects because of the wonky stripes/eyes but you get the idea.

I used one of those writing gel tubes for the eyes, they got everywhere, oh well, the "directors" thought they were adorable. 

Crème Brûlée French Toast

Smitten Kitchen (Again)

Basically, it's a rich version of French Toast. If you soak it as long as she says, the center is nice and custard-y. Good with strawberries and whipped cream (minimal amount of sugar, you don't need it with this one). If you can get the brulee part right, it looks fancy (if you don't burn the sugar...)

First time I made it I used pretty exactly her recipe and have barely tweaked it since (not that we have french toast that often, Saturday is a rare sleep-in day so it's closer to lunch than breakfast when we wake up for the last time and neither feel like doing more dishes).

 Old plates and mismatched silverware, has to be at least two years old. 

Probably should replace this at some point....

Things I changed:

-          We usually omit any orange flavoring (does add something but not totally necessary)

-          We always omit alcohol (see my comments on RoastChicken)

-          We use whatever bread looks good at the store, even the weird thin-sliced sourdough that DH likes

-          The sugar topping is good but a bit fiddly and when you are as accident prone as I am, not worth it for the injuries ensued

-          I rarely soak them more than 30 minutes. I love the custard center (I had a great version at the U.S. Grant Hotel on our honeymoon that was very similar using squares of brioche) but DH hates them

Cinnamon Rolls

 Pioneer Woman’s much celebrated recipe

There’s not much to say about this one. Everyone who has had one loves them. Pioneer Woman gives awesome directions. Yeast isn’t that scary. The recipe makes close to 8-9 tin pans worth. That's about it.