Keepin' it Simple. Keepin' it Real
I am honored that Nancy at Real Food Allergy Free (my new guest contributor!) asked me to share my baked oatmeal recipe on her blog. It’s a vegan-ized version of the old breakfast favorite, with a twist of fresh spices and grated pear. Delicious!
You can find the recipe for Cinnamon Pear Baked Oatmeal at Real Food, Allergy Free today.
Because I can’t contain my love for pumpkin, I’m going to be enjoying it all month long. October is, after all, synonymous with pumpkins, or didn’t you know that? Well, now you know! October equals pumpkins, and pumpkins equal October. One and the same!
Join me, then, all month long, for fabulous pumpkin based recipes, including snacks, desserts, breakfasts, dinners, and well, just about everything. We’ve got the pumpkin bases covered, folks.
It is appropriate that we start out with a great breakfast recipe, although I suppose slightly less appropriate when I consider that I normally make this for “brinner”. Ah, well, can’t satisfy everyone. At any rate, we’re going to kick off with a yummy recipe that’s flexible enough to be breakfast, dinner, or a great snack.
Baked oatmeal is a very popular breakfast item these days, and you’ll find configurations thereof all around the blogosphere. The day after I made up this recipe out of my own head, I saw something very similar on at least 3 different blogs. Great minds think alike, I guess! Here’s my version.
This isn’t QUICK enough for a weekday breakfast, at least not for me, but I love to make it for an easy weeknight dinner, accompanied by some sort of protein (bacon, sausage, cottage cheese, etc.) and lots of fresh fruit.
It’s very EASY! I love that it’s easier than coffee cake or muffins - just mix and dump in the pan!
Based largely on oats, it’s also a very CHEAP breakfast option.
With low sugar, it’s very HEALTHY, too. Oats are a great whole grain with lots of soluble fiber to get you off to a great start!
Find more recipe inspiration at Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods.
This is my first time joining in the fun as part of the Secret Recipe Club, a fabulous blogging event kind of like Secret Santa, whereby each blogger is secretly assigned to blog about a recipe from another blogger, and all posts are unveiled at exactly the same time. I have no idea (yet) who is blogging about a recipe from my blog, and Dana at Food For Thought has no idea that I’ve been searching through all her recipes, trying to pick just one to try out for the grand reveal.
I was greatly intrigued by her incredible collection of internationally inspired recipes, and almost chose several of them. In the end, though, I settled on a sweet treat that presented a challenge to me: Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies. The whole idea of the cookie fascinated me, as the only ingredients are peanut butter, sugar, cinnamon and egg, topped with a Hershey’s kiss.
The challenging part came in the form of our dietary restrictions around here, due to allergies on the part of the little people. I wanted to make this cookie safe enough for both me and my son, which meant that I had to make it without:
(Side note: I don’t think Hershey knows how to make chocolate without milk… even their dark chocolate products all have milk in them! Pffbbtt! Not that it really matters because I almost never buy chocolate candy anyway, but still.)
So exactly how does one make a recipe where 3 out of the 5 ingredients must be eliminated or substituted?
Turns out it was pretty easy.
I actually made these three times, each time slightly different, and each time delicious, but the best was the first attempt, and the recipe I give you below. I substituted:
And instead of topping the cookie with the chocolate, I tucked a few chocolate chips inside it, taking them from Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies to Sunbutter Surprises.
It really is rather amazing that this conglomeration of ingredients actually forms a roll-able dough that bakes up perfectly! If you’re skeptical, try it for yourself. Then you’ll be eating cookie after cookie after cookie just to make sure they really did turn out as well as you thought after the first one. Not that I’m speaking from experience, of course. I would never eat that many cookies.
1 TBSP ground flax seed
3 TBSP hot water
1 cup sunflower seed butter
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
approx. 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Mix together the flax seed and water in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sunflower seed butter and the sugar until well blended and smooth. Beat in cinnamon and flax gel. Roll dough into small balls, then push a few chocolate chips into the dough, rolling again around the chocolate chips until they are hidden. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 10 minutes or until tops begin to crack. Cool for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
You can, of course, use peanut butter instead of the sunflower seed butter, and a real egg instead of the flax gel. If you want, you can even top with Hershey’s kisses instead of rolling chocolate chips inside.
However, I would not recommend toying with the sugar amount or attempting to use any other kind of chocolate on the inside. When I reduced the sugar even by just 1/4 cup, the consistency was too crumbly and the resulting cookie didn’t hold together quite as well. Which is a bummer, because that’s a lot of sugar, so these cookies are definitely relegated to special treat status. Also, I was out of chocolate chips the second time I wanted to try these, so I attempted to make my own… big mistake. The chocolate chips themselves were moderately successful, but they melted all over the place and seeped out of the cookie, making a big mess and a not very yummy final result.
One other thing: I had the most success with Trader Joe’s sunflower seed butter, which is unfortunate, because it has added sugar. I also tried these with the Maranatha brand, which is more natural and has no sugar, but it was for some reason too dry. I tried adding a little coconut oil to make up for that, but the consistency still didn’t come out right.
For a rolled cookie, these come together very QUICKly, aided, I am sure, by the minimal number of ingredients.
Despite the unorthodox ingredient list, these really are very EASY.
Not CHEAP by any stretch, though, considering the cost of sunflower seed butter. Regular peanut butter is a different story, as you can find it on sale with coupons for $1 or less. I suppose I could reduce the cost by making my own sunflower seed butter, but I don’t think I have a powerful enough grinder/food processor/blender.
It’s not really HEALTHY, either, because of the sugar.
Check out what the other bloggers in the Secret Recipe Club are up to:
And as Mark Twain said, “In one way or another, all men are mad.” Mad, crazy, wacky, unstable, however you want to put it, we all suffer a bit from that malady. It shows up differently in different people, but no one is free from the condition!
Therefore, since we are all Wacky People, we are all qualified to enjoy Wacky Cupcakes.
Wacky cake was invented during the world wars, when butter, eggs, milk, and sugar were rationed due to shortages. Thanks to the inventive generations preceding us, we have a reliable and easy recipe to use during times when we have:
One thing I find amazing about this recipe is its adaptability; I have used this basic framework to make spice cake or plain old vanilla cake, and even gluten-free cake. This time around, I turned it into a mocha cake with great success! It hasn’t failed on me yet. Some people say you have to mix the ingredients right in the pan, or make wells in the dry ingredients for each of the wet ingredients, but I never do those things and it always turns out.
And the above-referenced, ever-knowledgeable Cooks’ Country folks say you absolutely have to add the wet ingredients at the very last minute before baking in order for it to rise, which is why they recommend stirring it in the baking pan. That’s simply not an option, though, if you want to make cupcakes. It’s true, they may not rise as high as conventional cupcakes, but a simple remedy is to make a few less cupcakes (perhaps 9 instead of 12). I made the usual 12 cupcakes with my batch, and I was satisfied with both the height and texture of the finished cupcakes, so that call is up to you.
*Note: The sugar is reduced as much as it can be for a successful recipe.
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 TBSP coconut oil
1 TBSP white vinegar (My husband used rice vinegar in his version, and they turned out great!)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add liquid ingredients, stir just until blended, then pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with just a few crumbs. Cool to room temperature before frosting.
I frosted these cupcakes with 1 1/2 batches of a slightly healthified frosting recipe. I wanted to try making my own powdered sugar from my raw sugar, but my food processor is just not strong enough. I need a VitaMix! So I had to resort to plain old powdered sugar, because I simply cannot find any edible dairy-free frosting recipes that are also powdered-sugar free. However, I did use some coconut milk, and some palm oil shortening instead of plain old vegetable Crisco.
2 cups powdered sugar (If you have a powerful enough blender or food processor, you can make your own with 2 cups of raw sugar or sucanat, blended with 1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla, optional
1/2 cup palm oil shortening
Combine all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with the whip attachment. Whip until a creamy, spreadable consistency. Add additional powdered sugar or milk to achieve desired consistency, if necessary. Frosts 1 batch of cupcakes.
You can add 1 TBSP of cocoa to make chocolate frosting. I used 1 TBSP of Ghirardelli mocha powder (given to me by my Certain Little Someone for my birthday) to make a delicious mocha flavor (You could probably achieve something similar by using coffee instead of coconut milk, and adding the cocoa powder).
This recipe is as QUICK as any cake mix, I promise!
It is also just as EASY, if not easier.
It is most certainly CHEAPer than purchasing a mix, especially since you don’t even have to add eggs.
HEALTHY? No. Unfortunately, removing eggs and dairy also removes some nutritional value, leaving the cake even more nutritionally bankrupt than usual. Ah, well. At least my Baby Boy won’t have eczema after I eat it! That is HEALTHY for him.
Bad camera + bad photographer = terrible pictures.
*sigh*
I took 64 pictures of these stupid gingersnaps in the mid-afternoon when the lighting was perfect, and this is all I got.
*sigh*
I wish I had a better camera and some lighting equipment. But as my mother would say, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” I don’t know exactly what that means, except that we don’t always get what we wish for. Oh, and another appropriate favorite saying of hers, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” Yup, definitely applicable.
So, even if they don’t look all that great in the pics, take my word for it that these gingersnaps are just as good as any you’ll buy at the grocery store. And I should know - we love gingersnaps around here, ginger being a favorite flavor of every member of the family, so we’ve tried a few. I can highly recommend Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Snaps, which also have candied ginger in them… mmmmm! I’d have added candied ginger to these, but I don’t have any on hand. Next time!
I don’t know why, but despite our love for all things ginger, I have never once attempted to make gingersnaps until recently. I’ve made gingerbread bears for Christmas many years in a row, and I’ve even made soft ginger cookies, but never gingersnaps. I guess I figured they were easier to buy, so we only ate them on a rare occasion.
Once I tried it, though, we were hooked. I’ve made 2 batches in as many weeks, and we’ve eaten them like they’re going out of style. It might seem strange to talk about gingersnaps - a Christmas-y kind of treat - at Easter time, but perhaps you’ll change your mind when I tell you that they go oh-so-fabulously with my Coconut Lime Mousse. In fact, that is how I’m going to serve the mousse: in a teacup with a little gingersnap for decoration.
Won’t that just be so cute?!
There’s a lot to love about these little babies - their taste, the fact that they’re so easy to make, and their cute little size - but one of my favorite things is that they are naturally dairy-free and egg-free, and are easily made gluten-free. That means a delicious little snack my entire family can enjoy, which is a huge victory around here!
adapted from my vintage Fannie Farmer cookbook
1/3 cup molasses
3 TBSP palm shortening
1 cup + 2 TBSP whole wheat flour (OR 1 cup brown rice flour + 2 TBSP tapioca starch)
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
dash ground cloves
Ginger Sugar (optional):
-1/3 cup raw sugar
-1/2 tsp ginger
Bring the molasses just to the boiling point in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in the shortening until it melts. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Use a melon baller to scoop out the dough, and form it in a ball with the palms of your hands. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and ginger. If desired, roll each ball in the sugar until it is covered. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes. Immediately remove cookies from pan to cool on a wire rack.
From start to finish, the entire batch takes half an hour or less, so I’d say it’s a pretty QUICK cookie recipe.
And all in one pot: can we say EASY?!
No eggs, no dairy not only means allergy-friendly, but CHEAP! Granted, the good shortening is very expensive, but this recipe uses less than a 1/4 cup.
I love that it uses little to no sugar, which makes it a HEALTHY-er cookie option. Molasses is still a sweetener and so should still be used sparingly, but it does offer nutrients, like iron, which you cannot find in even the best kind of cane sugar. I also love that whole grains - like brown rice, and whole wheat flour - go so well in this recipe. And you can totally omit the sugar, if you prefer - I just think it looks pretty - they taste just fine without it. Mind you, it’s essential to use organic palm oil shortening - none of that yucky vegetable Crisco stuff.
