Gingerbread Oaty Bake

 What a great little recipe I found on Pinterest-  Gingerbread Baked Oatmeal With Walnut Streusel

You can find the original here.

In a bowl or jug add:

1 medium very ripe banana- mashed

2 1/2 cups of rolled oats

OR as I did:

1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup ground almonds & 1/2 cup of coconut either fine or thread

2 cups of milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 dsp molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large dsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Mix all together.

Sit for half an hour.

Add 1/2 tsp baking powder, stir & pour in to a slice tin lined with baking paper.

Topping mix together:

1/2 cup of walnut pieces

1/2 cup of chopped prunes (optional)

1/4- 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup coconut

1 tbsp of flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil

Mix together the sprinkle over the top of the oat mixture & press down lightly.

Bake for around 40 minutes in a moderate oven.

Catherine

Banana Peanut Butter Oaty Biscuits

 These biscuits are crazy weird but they work.

Better still they are delicious.

Ingredients:

1 very ripe large banana

1 rounded cupful of rolled oats

3 rounded tbsps of peanut butter

1 rounded tbsp of chia seeds

1 dsp honey & 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup of good chocolate chips

Optional extra addition- 1/3 cup of finely ground acorn flour or hemp hearts, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds or whatever you like. 

Smoosh all the ingredients together in a bowl and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

Scoop out large tablespoonsful of the mix, shape then & flatten on to baking paper on a baking tray

Cook for 20 minutes at 160 degrees.

That's it!

Ah, now the acorn part. It just so happens that it's the time when you might come across acorns through June. The best ones to use are from evergreen oaks. Either the Holly Oak or Quercus Ilex. 

All you need to do then is to bake the acorns in a moderate oven for 15- 20 minutes and while they are still warm give them a soft tap with a little hammer, remove the shells and then grind them in a spice grinder. Give them a sieve to remove any larger bits that haven't ground finely enough.

They taste like toffee caramel- delicious!

So they are a great addition to these particular biscuits. 

You can read more about using evergreen oak acorns here.

Catherine

Feijoa Oatmeal Cake

 When we lived in Taranaki some 35 or so years ago I often made this delicious cake.

Back then there was no internet so we just thought of it as "our" cake that we'd shared amongst friends, but as I look up oatmeal cake now I realise that it's a tried & true old fashioned fave from way back further.

Our recipe has been stored in a handwritten cookbook all these years & I have just made it again for Rob's birthday. I don't think I'd change anything.

I have always preferred baking that was more "wholesome food" than a sweet treat, so in making a comparison with online recipes I had already halved the sugar content & it is more than sweet enough.

To make use of the feijoas of the season & to add interest & moistness to the cake I began adding the fruit to the mix. I'm sure apple would be good too.

Nice & simple:

In to a large bowl add:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup of soft brown sugar

1 cup of boiling water

1/2 cup or around 100 grams butter

 a pinch of salt, 1 tsp vanilla essence

Stir together & leave to do it's thing for 20 minutes or so

Add 2 eggs- mix

1 cup of flour & 1 rounded tsp baking powder

1 cup dried fruit & 1 cup chopped feijoas

Mix & pour in to a lined or greased cake tin.

Mine was around about a 20 cm tin

Bake in a moderate oven for 50 minutes to an hour.

Do the old skewer test to make sure it's cooked in the middle.

While the cake is cooling make the topping. Such a tasty treat that makes all the difference to this cake.

Put 100 grams butter, 2 tbsps cream & 1/2 cup brown sugar in to a pot & cook stirring until it is golden & caramelized.

Add 1 1/2 cups of coconut. Fine coconut is good or a mix of fine & shredded. 

Stir & allow to cool. While it is still workable spread over the cake.

Some passionfruit pulp is a nice tangy edition to the topping if you have it.

Summary ingredients for the cake:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup of soft brown sugar

1 cup of boiling water

1/2 cup or around 100 grams butter

Pinch of salt, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger

2 eggs

1 cup of flour & 1 rounded tsp baking powder

1 cup dried fruit

1 cup chopped feijoas or apple

Topping: 

100 grams butter

1/2 cup soft brown sugar

2 tbsps cream

1 1/2 cups coconut

Catherine X

Apple, Raisin and Oatmeal Biscuits

 I don't bake a lot of biscuits but these apple, raisin and oatmeal biscuits are great.

See alternative recipe below made with sweet persimmon.

The recipe makes loads of good sized biscuits. They keep surprisingly well considering they have apple in them, they are really satisfying and best of all they are perfect for picnics.

In a large bowl mix

3 cups of rolled oats & 1 cup of flour- I prefer white or wholemeal spelt flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 

1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

In another bowl cream 170 grams of butter (cut up & soften) with 3/4 cup brown sugar or jaggery.

Add an egg, a tsp of vanilla extract and 1/3 of a cup of milk.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together along with a large grated apple and 1 1/2 cups of raisins or sultanas. 

Bake in a preheated oven at around 160 degrees C on baking paper for 15- 20 minutes until golden.

I used generous tablespoonfuls of mixture. They don't spread particularly so you can bake them quite close together.

Cool on a wire rack.

June 2024 and we are still loving these biscuits. Right now we're in the middle of persimmon season. To be honest, I prefer sweet persimmons just as they are but lots of people have been telling me about using them in other ways so, when we decided to head off for an adventure on Monday- King's birthday, I decided to have a go with persimmon not just apple & they are fabulous biscuits indeed.

I made a variation of the above

In to one bowl put:

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 cup of organic flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups raisins (or cranberries, apricots etc

1 tsp each cinnamon & ground ginger

1 tbsp chia seeds (add some sunflower seeds if you like too)

2 grated persimmons

calendula flowers- three or four flowers just the petals

In another bowl add:

170 gms butter- soften

3/4 cup brown sugar cream together

Add 1 egg 

1 dsp vanilla essence

Add the above dry stuff in to the bowl plus 1/3 cup milk 

Mix altogether.

Spoon out large spoonfuls of mixture- shape & flatten a bit.

Bake for 20 minutes at 160 degrees just the same.

Katie X

Pineapple Chia Bircher Museli

This recipe for breakfast Bircher Museli over at Petite Kitchen caught my eye recently, so I made some last night and this morning  it was delicious!

I quite often buy a gold pineapple & slow bake the pieces in the oven when I'm cooking other things.

I saved a cup full of pineapple chunks to make this muesli.

 1 cup of fresh pineapple blended with 1/2 yogurt, milk kefir or coconut milk

I like to use a stick blender- so easy.

Stir in a cupful of rolled oats,

2 tbsp chia seeds- either colour

1 tbsp of honey

1 tsp vanilla essence- homemade is good.

A pinch of salt

I also added a handful of chopped dried apricots 

& a diced navel orange.

And...one more thing- 1/2 cup of fresh, shredded coconut that I get at our local Asian grocery- it's in the freezer.

I'm sure there are loads of other variations to try.

Stir well & pop in the fridge overnight.

Cover the bowl with beeswrap.

I like to fill pretty jars with museli & desserts- easy to store.

We served our Bircher Museli with fresh passionfruit & red clover petals.

Cut up the rest of the pineapple & spread it over a roasting dish.
Slow bake at around 120-130 degrees C for half an hour or so, then give the pineapple a stir & drizzle with a little honey & a sprinkle of cinnamon. Bake another half an hour until the flavours have concentrated & the fruit is just starting to turn golden & caramelise.
These keep for ages in the fridge.

The final thing I do with my pineapple is to cut up the core & any hard pieces & place them in to a large Agee jar-
Add a a large tbsp of honey
And half a lemon cut in to piece.
Fill the jar with boiling water- pouring it over the back of a spoon as you go so as not to crack the jar.
Put the lid on & stand for 24-48 hours.
Strain & pour in to 2 small Grolsch bottles, or other good flip top bottles.
Flip down & stand for another 48 hours at which point you will now have a delicious, naturally fermented effervescent drink. If it's not quite fizzy enough just close up the bottle again & leave for another day or so.
This is the basic idea here- although I know longer use the skins unless I know that the pineapple is organic- not overly like in New Zealand.

Katie