Fall Fruit Crumble with Feijoas and Almonds

This was originally supposed to be a pear and feijoa almond crumble, but I decided to do it with a mix of apples and pears and up the feijoa content. I also reduced the almonds slightly and added in some rolled oats to give it more of the classic crumble texture.

Fall Fruit Crumble

Adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture

• 2 pears, peeled and chopped
• 3 apples, peeled and chopped
• 6 feijoas, scooped and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 6 Tbsp. water, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Topping

• 1/2 c. ground almonds
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 80g butter
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/4 sliced (flaked) almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine pears, apples, feijoas, sugar, and 1/4 c. of the water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until fruit is tender.
4. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of water to make a slurry.
5. Stir the slurry into the fruit mixture and cook until glossy and slightly thickened (1-2 minutes).
6. Dump the fruit mixture into a 23cm (9") square baking dish.
7. Combine the ground almonds, flour, sugars, and butter and thoroughly combine.
8. Mix in the oats and almonds.
9. Crumble the topping over the fruit.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
11. Serve with cream or ice cream.

This is the last granola recipe from the Breakfast Bible that I hadn't made yet. I made it this one according to the recipe. And it's good. But I found the proportion of walnuts way too low. I think I'd double them next time. I'd also like to try it with maple syrup instead of honey as the sweetener. I think that would go really well with the walnuts. And I'd try reducing the sugar next time. Because I found this version very sweet.

Dark Chocolate-Cherry Granola

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine oates, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a small pot, combine the sugar, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla and heat until oil is melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
4. Pour the syrup mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.
5. Spread the oat mixture out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
7. Allow to cool, then break into small chunks.
8. Add the cherries and chocolate and toss to combine.
9. Stire in an airtight container.

I keep meaning to make another strata for breakfast but being too tired to put it together the night before and sleeping in too late to put it together the morning of. So, instead of strata, we had pancakes this morning. These are nice apple-pecan pancakes with a bit of oatmeal and cinnamon. (The original recipe called for walnuts, but the pecans were on top and I like them better anyway, so I just used them.)

I used a mix of white and whole wheat flour for my pancakes today. But I think I'd be quite happy to make them with 100% whole wheat flour next time. Or, if you adjusted the proportions a bit, you could easily do them up as sourdough pancakes instead.

We had some leftover chocolate from an earlier dessert, so I re-melted it by sitting the dish it was in inside the bowl of hot oatmeal and served it as a topping for these nutty, fruity pancakes. The Kidlet had hers with melted chocolate and maple syrup. And I opted for sliced bananas and a small drizzle of melted chocolate on mine. They were delicious!

Autumn Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 180g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the oats and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add the butter and set aside.
3. Sift the baking powder into the flour.
4. Add the cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
5. Beat the egg with the milk.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients along with the oat mixture. Stir to combine.
7. Stir in the apples and nuts.
8. Preheat a tawa or skillet over medium heat.
9. Grease as needed.
10. Working with ~1/4 c. of batter at a time, pour it onto the hot tawa.
11. Cook until bubbles form in the surface and edges begin to look slightly dry.
12. Flip and cook until both sides are golden brown and pancake is cooked through. Transfer to plate.
13. Repeat cooking process with remaining batter.
14. Serve with fruit, syrup, melted chocolate, and/or whippped cream.

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Variations

Sourdough Autumn Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 c. boiling water
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 60g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 c. milk
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration
• 1 large egg
• 1-2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

It's been a tough couple of days. I woke up late this morning and was craving comfort food for breakfast. And, while I may not be able to solve anything else right now, I could at least solve that. So I made these very basic oatmeal-buttermilk waffles.

The book called for topping them with a fresh blueberry sauce, but I didn't have any blueberries. What I did have though, was serviceberries! And they were a lovely treat here.

The waffles came out very light and crisp and were great with the serviceberry sauce (which comes together in ~5 minutes). The Kidlet had hers with a dollop of whipped cream, just to make it extra special. I had mine with just the sauce and didn't feel that I was missing out.

I think the only change that I'd make next time is to add just a touch of vanilla to the waffle batter. I nearly did so this time. I thought it seemed like it would be a nice addition. But, in the end, I decided to stick to strictly what was in the recipe. And, to be fair, the waffles did come out very well. I just think a hint of vanilla would've made them even better! And, if you're making the sauce to go with them (which calls for lemon juice, you can always zest the lemon first and toss a bit of the peel into your batter as well. Don't overdo it, of course, but I think that a 1/4-1/2 tsp. would go quite nicely.

Oatmeal-Buttermilk Waffles with Serviceberry Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

Waffles

• 140g whole wheat flour
• 100g quick oats
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

Sauce

• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 c. fresh or frozen serviceberries (or blueberries)

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, oats, and sugar.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda.
4. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter.
5. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest, if using.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just mixed.
7. Scoop a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
8. Meanwhile, combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, water, and berries over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
9. Cook, stirring often, until liquid portion of sauce is smooth and glossy and thickens slightly (2-3 minutes).
10. Serve waffles topped with sauce (and any other toppings you'd like).

I'm still working my way through all of the feijoa recipes (in an attempt to work through all of the fejoas). Today's recipe was pancakes with a feijoa-based sauce.

Both the pancakes and the sauce were very quick and easy to put together and they made for a nice breakfast. I ended up using old-fashioned rolled oats ("whole grain oats") for my pancakes even though the recipe called for "rolled oats", which I think is the equivalent of what we would call "quick oats" in North America. This worked fine, but I think the quick oats probably would've been better. I debated using instant oats (aka "creamy oats" to you antipodean folks), but the package of "whole grain oats" was already opened and the "creamy oats" were still sealed, so I figured I'd just see how it came out with the more toothsome old-fashioned oats for now.

I cut the sugar in the sauce back to only a 1/4 c., but you may find you need more or less depending on the sweetness of your fruit (and your tooth). The original recipe called for 1/2 c. modulo fruit sweetness.

Photo goes here.

Oat Pancakes with Feijoa-Apple Sauce

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

Pancakes

• 150g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sauce

• 1 large apple, peeled and chopped
• 300g feijoa pulp
• 1/4 c. sugar (or to taste)
• 1/4 c. water

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Mix in the brown sugar.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and the vanilla.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.
5. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.
6. Combine apple, feijoa, sugar, and water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
7. Cook until fruit is very tender and easily mashed with a fork (10-15 minutes).
8. While the sauce is cooking, make the pancakes.
9. Heat a pan, tawa, or griddle over medium heat and grease as necessary.
10. Use ~1/4 c. of batter for each pancake and cook until underside is nicely browned and sides are starting to look dry, adjusting heat as necessary during cooking.
11. Flip pancakes and cook until other side is browned and pancakes are cooked through.
12. Repeat process with remaining batter.
13. Serve pancakes topped with the feijoa-apple sauce and plain Greek yogurt.

It's feijoa season!

I'd never even heard of feijoas before coming to New Zealand. But they're apparently a big thing here. They're originally from South America and the fruit are quite prolific. Unfortunately, they don't keep or ship very well at all, but the trees grow quite well here. So, once the season rolls around, you start seeing them everywhere!

I tried a few fresh and they were quite good. But we've now got a glut of fruit. More than I'll be able to eat before they go off. So Reiver suggested an apple-feijoa crumble as a way to use up some of the excess fruit on hand. Especially since we also had some apples that needed to be used up as well.

He couldn't find his usual crumble recipe, so I just used the one from the Countdown website. I scaled back the sugar somewhat and slightly increased the proportion of apples. I think I ended up doing 1 1/2 c. of feijoa pulp and 4 small apples with 3 Tbsp. of sugar in the filling and 2/3 c. in the topping. And, while I'm happy with the results, I think that even more fruit and less sugar would have been better. The write-up below reflects this.

Photo goes here.

Apple-Feijoa Crumble

Adapted from Woolworths/Countdown

Ingredients

Topping

• 1 c. rolled (old-fashioned/whole grain) oats
• 1 c. plain or all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 120g salted butter, melted

Filling

• 2 c. feijoa pulp
• 5-6 apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine oats, flour, coconut (if using), cinnamon, and ginger and mix well.
3. Add brown sugar and stir to combine.
4. Pour in butter and mix well. Set aside.
5. Combine the feijoas, apples, sugar, and lemon juice and mix well.
6. Dump the fruit mixture into a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish and spread into an even layer.
7. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit to cover the entire surface.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~25 minutes.
9. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving.
10. Serve with cream, whipped cream, or ice cream.

Skirlie is a simple dish of suet-fried onions and oats. It's somewhat similar to white pudding (without the casing), but has proportionally more oats and less suet. I'm also used to white/mealie pudding being quite heavily spiced. And, while skirlie can be spiced, it isn't necessarily prepared that way. For this version, I kept it very simple and only added salt and pepper.

Skirlie

Slightly adapted from Scottish Scran

Ingredients

• 120g suet, grated/shredded or 60g suet + 60g butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 340g steel-cut (pinhead) oats
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat the suet (or suet and butter) over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until onions are soft and beginning to brown (~10 minutes).
3. Add the oats, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently until oats have darkened and softened slightly (~20 minutes).
4. Serve with whiskey sauce and/or mashed potatoes.

I'm taking a te reo Maaori course! It's awesome. I mean, I am hopelessly out of my depth, but I'm also learning a lot about Maaori culture and worldview, which is very exciting!

Anyway, the instructor suggested that folks might want to bring some biscuits or something to have during the break (since it's a 3-hour evening class). Since I had the oven on for polenta anyway, I decided to whip up a quick batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies to take and share with the class.

I used a slightly modified version of the recipe from Dessert of the Day for these. The only real change I made was to reduce the sugar. One-and-a-half cups sounded like way too much to me! In the end, I decided to put in the full cup of brown sugar, but omit the half cup of granulated sugar that the recipe called for. And, honestly, I probably could've cut the brown sugar back slightly as well. I mean, they were prefectly tasty this way, but I definitely wouldn't've wanted them any sweeter and I think they still would've been just fine with a little less sugar. So, follow your heart on this one. I'd say anything in the 3/4 c. to 1 c. range is probably good.

I also omitted the salt since I was using salted butter rather than the unsalted that the recipe called for. Obviously that's something that you can adjust as you see fit depending on your personal preference and the ingredients you have to hand. It's not super critical either way.

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 180g flour
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground (optional)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 1/2 c. raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. Beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in the vanilla.
5. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, salt (if using), and baking powder and stir to combine.
6. Mix in the oats, followed by the raisins.
7. Spoon onto the prepared baking sheet. (Should make ~2 dozen cookies.)
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until set, but still soft (12-15 minutes).
9. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

I've been continuing to try out sourdough recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. This one is full of inclusions and spices. And, between the starter and the oatmeal, doesn't actually contain all that much fresh flour. Which made it a bit difficult to work with initially. The dough seemed very loose and wet and had very little gluten development. I actually ended up adding ~50g of extra flour, just to try to adjust the consistency to something slightly more workable. After it had sat overnight in the cold room though, it had tightened up quite a bit and I found myself wishing that I hadn't added the extra flour after all. So, I guess next time I'll trust the recipe and go with the original amounts.

Walnut and Raisin Oatmeal Sourdough

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 120g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 250g cooked steel-cut oats¹, cooled
• 30g honey
• 30g water
• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. orange zest
• 220g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour²
• 1/8 tsp. instant yeast (optional)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 65g walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 90g raisins

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is well-fed and active.
2. Combine starter, oatmeal, honey, water, butter, allspice, nutmeg, and orange zest and mix well. (Make sure the oatmeal isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast/starter.)
3. Add the flour and yeast and mix very well.
4. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
5. Work in the salt and let stand for another hour or two.
6. Do a bowl fold and then let rest for another hour or so. Repeat until dough feels light and well-risen.
7. Work in the walnuts and raisins.
8. At this point, dough can be covered and stored in the fridge overnight or allowed to rest for one more hour before shaping.
9. Shape into a loaf and place in a banneton or prepared loaf pan. (If desired, dust the banneton/pan with some finely chopped steel-cut oats first to give the loaf a nice coating.)
10. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
11. If desired, loaf may be proofed in the fridge overnight.
12. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) and boil some water.
13. Bake bread at 230°C (450°F) over a pan of boiling water for 15 minutes.
14. Remove water pan and reduce heat to 190°C (375°F) and bake for another 20 minutes or so.
15. Turn off oven and let loaf stand in hot oven for 10 minutes.
16. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ Oats should be cooked with a ratio of 1:4.1 oats to water by mass. I started with 100g of oats and 410g of water and cooked until the oats were somewhat tender with a decent tooth/chew to them and the oatmeal was reasonably thick. I then weighed out 250g of the cooked oatmeal and reserved the rest for another use. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 220g of all-purpose flour. I ended up using 120g of whole wheat flour and 160g of all-purpose flour. I think next time I'd try using entirely whole wheat flour, but sticking to the originally recommended quantity. ^Back

The Kidlet and I made this cake to take to Thanksgiving. It is a very rich, dense cake full of oatmeal and chocolate. And the peanut butter icing adds even more decadence.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 225g dark chocolate chips (or coarsely chopped dark chocolate)
• 1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. sugar¹
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 200g icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar²
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream, whipped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") cake tin/baking dish.
2. Place the stick of butter with the oats, pour over the boiling water, and let stand for 1 minute.
3. Stir the oat mixture to thoroughly combine and let stand until cooled.
4. Meanwhile, toss the chocolate with 2 Tbsp. of the flour and set aside.
5. Beat the eggs with the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla.
6. Add the oat mixture once cooled and stir to combine.
7. Mix in the remaining 1 1/2 c. of flour.
8. Stir in the flour-coated chocolate chips.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
10. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes.
11. Allow to cool completely before icing.
12. Beat the peanut butter with the butter until light and fluffy.
13. Mix in the vanilla and salt.
14. Gradually sift in the icing sugar while continuing to beat vigorously.
15. Fold in the whipped cream.
16. Spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake.

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. sugar and 1 1/4 c. brown sugar. I used the full amount of granulated sugar, but only 1 c. of brown sugar this time around. The cake came out great, but I'd be tempted to try it with slightly less sugar next time. Maybe just 1/2 of granualted and 1 c. of brown. And, if that works well, I'd be tempted to omit the granulated sugar altogether on future attempts and just roll with 1 1/4 c. of brown sugar. That said, I didn't want to adjust things too much too fast. Hence the incremental approach. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 2 c. of icing sugar. I weighed my sugar and found it came in at ~125g/cup. So I used ~250g of icing sugar for my frosting. That said, I found it a little sweeter and stiffer than I'd ideally like, so I think I'd aim for closer to 200g of sugar next time. ^Back

I don't tend to make cookies very often. Even if I enjoy the results, I just don't enjoy the process. I find it tedious. But I've been eyeing this recipe for months. And I was craving a dessert last night. And I even still felt like I had a bit of energy left after dinner. So I figured, why not?

Unfortunately, I think there must be a typo in the original recipe. Because when prepared as written, the cookies spread like crazy and utterly lack any sort of structural integrity. TF commented that the last time she had cookies fail like that, it was because she'd accidentally put in twice as much butter as the recipe called for.

I definitely put in the specified amount of all the ingredients. But I now suspect that there was an error in the recipe and it was actually meant to call for 1/2 c. of butter, rather than the 1 c. actually listed.

If making these again, I'd definitely halve the butter. I might also try omitting the granualted sugar and just make it with brown sugar. Obviously this would make the cookies significantly less sweet, but I think they'd still be sweet enough. (And I'd feel a little less guilty eating them.)

I'm also debating whether it might be nice to swap out half of the chocolate for some sort of dried fruit. I know raisins are traditional for oatmeal cookies. But with the chocolate and almonds, I'm wondering if either cranberries or cherries would be a good choice.

I've given some options and suggestions below. (As well as adjusting the butter and sugar quantities.) All of these changes are, as yet, untested, so use at your own peril. That said, I can definitively confirm that the recipe as originally written does not work very well. So hopefully these changes will offer at least some improvement.

Chocolate Chip-Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. rolled oats
• 190-380g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 c. slivered almonds
• 1 c. dried cranberries or cherries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. Cream together the butter and the sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
4. Sift in the flour and baking soda, add the salt, and mix well.
5. Stir in the rolled oats.
6. Add the chocolate, almonds, and dried fruit (if using) and stir to combine.
7. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-12 minutes.
9. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to plate or rack to finish cooling.
10. Repeat baking process with remaining dough.

I decided to make parfaits for breakfast this morning and figured it'd be nice to make my own granola for them. I was initially thinking of doing a chocolate-cherry granola, but I wasn't sure that would complement the nectarine parfait I had in mind as well. So, in the end, I opted for this peanut-y granola instead.

Blueberry-Peanut Butter Granola

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 c. slivered almonds
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 c. coconut oil¹
• 1/4 c. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. dried blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine oats, almonds, and salt in a bowl and mix well.
3. In a small pot, combine the oil, peanut butter, and maple syrup and gently warm over low heat until oil is melted and ingredients mix easily.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir to combine.
5. Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out into an even layer.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and mix in dried blueberries.

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¹ I was running a bit low on coconut oil, so I actually ended up using only 2 Tbsp. of oil + an extra Tbsp. of peanut butter, which actually seemed to work out fine. ^Back

You can never go wrong with a good apple crisp! This one has walnuts mixed into the buttery oat topping to give it some extra depth. It is excellent served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Apple Crisp with Walnut Topping

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

Topping

• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Apples

• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 6 large tart apples (Granny Smith are ideal)

Directions

1. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
2. Cut in butter until crumbly and stir in the walnuts.
3. Cover and chill untril ready to use.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and lightly grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
5. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well.
6. Peel¹, core, slice, and halve the apples.
7. Toss the apples with the sugar mixture to coat.
8. Dump the apples into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
9. Top with the oat mixture.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 45-50 minutes.
11. Serve with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream.

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¹ We tried making this with unpeeled apples. While the results tasted lovely, it was a bit difficult to serve and the peels didn't break down during baking. I would recommend peeling in future. ^Back

I wanted to make some smoothie bowls for breakfast, but the recipe called for granola. I considered buying some ready-made granola, but home-made granola is always so tasty and it's not that hard to make, so I opted to go that route instead. There were even a bunch of granola recipes in the same book as I was using for the smoothie bowl recipe. Convenient!

Since the smoothie bowls called for both (chia) granola and toasted almonds, I opted to make this almond granola and just use a bit more of it rather than preparing toasted almonds separately. The recipe also calls for flax seeds (which is what I used this time around), but those could easily be swapped out for chia seeds if you wanted "chia granola" as the smoothie bowl recipe calls for. That said, I think I'd be inclinde to swap out the flax for sesame seeds next time. Sesame and apricots make a great combo!

Almond Granola with Apricots

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 c. slivered almonds
• 2 Tbsp. flax or sesame seeds
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. dried apricots, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and very lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine the oats, almonds, flax/sesame seeds, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
3. In a small pot, warm the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla and heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth (3-4 minutes).
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the oats and stir to combine.
5. Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
8. Break granola into small pieces and mix in apricots.

These squares didn't quite turn out. They were still quite tasty, but they were too crumbly to cut into squares. I think I probably should have used quick oats rather than old-fashioned rolled oats. I also missed the line in the ingredients that specified the almonds were to be chopped, rather than left whole. Whoops! I think with the finer oats and chopped nuts, the bars might have been a little more cohesive. Possibly something to try for next time.

Maple-Almond Squares

From Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 2 c. quick oats
• 1 c. whole almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter and mix in the brown sugar and maple syrup.
3. Stir in the oats and chopped almonds and mix well.
4. Dump the mixture into the prepared pan and pat it into an even layer.
5. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~30 minutes.
6. Let cool in pan on wire rack, then lift the bars out using the parchment paper.
7. Cut into squares and serve.

I've been continuing to work my way through various pumpkin recipes while they're in season here. So far I've made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, a pumpkin-apple brown betty (which I haven't had a chance to do a write-up for yet), and two different kinds of pumpkin bread. I've also got a beef and pumpkin stew queued up. But for today, I decided to give this pumpkin granola recipe a try.

Now, first thing's first: I like this granola a lot. Especially the walnuts; they go very well with the spices and toast up really nicely as the granola cooks and come out with a beautiful warm, deep flavour. And, while the nut/seed butter in the wet ingredient mixture isn't front-and-centre in this recipe, it adds a lovely richness to the whole thing. So yes, I really enjoyed this granola.

That said... I probably would try changing a few things next time.

I only had peanut butter and tahini to choose from nut/seed butter-wise, so I went with tahini for this iteration. And it was great! But I'd love to try tripling down on the pumpkin next time and try using pumpkin seed butter instead.

And, while I'm at it, I'd also be inlined to up the pumpkin purée slightly. It was fine as is, but it seemed like it would probably take extra pumpkin well too. And, while the final granola was very tasty, it did not actually taste very pumpkin-y too me, so I'd like to try cramming even more pumpkin into it next time if possible.

Pumpkin Granola

Slightly adapted from Jessica in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp. mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 c. pumpkin seed butter (or tahini or almond butter)
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine the oats, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and spice blend and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the seed (or nut) butter, maple syrup, pumpkin, and sea salt and mix well.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix very thoroughly.
5. Spread the granola out on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through.
6. Mix in the dried cranberries (if using).

These pancakes are very easy to make and relatively healthy. And tasty! Top with generous amounts of fruit.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1 C cottage cheese
• 1 C quick oats
• 1 banana
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend on low until smooth.
2. Cook using normal pancake procedures, ¼ C at a time, on a lightly buttered tawa.

I'm still experimenting with various "healthy" and low-calorie recipes. I was still hungry after dinner tonight and wanted a treat, but I didn't quite have enough Points left for a slice of apple-cinnamon bread. (And I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied with half a slice.) So I went in search of ideas for something tasty I could make for not too many Points.

I'd seen a few variants of chickpea cookie dough kicking around the Internet, so I figured I'd give one of those a go. The recipe author claimed that the dough tasted "INCREDIBLE" and that you couldn't taste the beans at all. She said that she used to bring chickpea-based cookies and treats into work all the time and no one could ever guess what her "secret ingredient" was.¹

I made this according to the recipe. It was... not good. It was not sweet. It was not peanut butter-y. And it did, in fact, taste of beans.

After adding more sweetener and more peanut butter it was passable. Still not great, but at least okay. I think with some more adjustments it might be possible to make this dough actually good, but it's definitely not there yet. Below are my, as yet untested, suggestions for what to do next time.

Chickpea Cookie Dough

Adapted from Well Plated

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. cooked chickpeas or white kidney beans
• 1 medium banana
• 6 Tbsp. maple syrup (or a "no-sugar added" pancake syrup)
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 c. peanut butter powder² (de-fatted peanut flour)
• 20-25g oat flour
• 65g dark chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Rinse chickpeas (or beans) very well and place them in a blender along with the banana, syrup, vanilla, baking powder, and cinnamon.
2. Purée until smooth.
3. Pour mixture out into a bowl and stir in peanut flour and enough oat flour the make a dough of your preferred consistency.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.

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¹ I would just like to point out, that not being able to guess the secret ingredient does not necessarily mean they were good, just that the ingredients were unexpected. ^Back
2 I may revisit using peanut butter either instead of or as well as the peanut flour, but I'm going to try it this way for now and see how it goes. I'd love to just use all peanut butter, but I don't think I'd have the Points budget for it. ^Back

I needed a way to use up a bit of leftover pumpkin purée, so I decided to give these cookies a try. They came out more cakey than chewy, so... not really my preferred cookie texture, but the flavour is good! And it used up the pumpkin and a few other things we had kicking around that needed to be used up, so I'd say it was successful overall. Maybe next time I can find a good chewy pumpkin cookie recipe. (I'm thinking like a molasses cookie but with pumpkin added maybe.)

NB: If these cookies will be eaten by someone with celiac or a gluten allergy, make sure that your oats are gluten-free. (Oats themselves don't contain gluten, but commercially produced oats often have gluten added during processing.

Pumpkin Cookies

Slightly adapted from The Nutrition Junky

Ingredients

• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. coconut oil, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. almond flour
• 3 c. oat flour
• 8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Combine pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, oat flour, pie spices, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine.
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet. Add a little more oat flour if the dough is too wet.
5. Spoon dollops of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15 minutes.
7. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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Variations

Glazed Version

The original recipe included this cinnamon glaze, but the unglazed cookies are quite sweet on their own so I didn't make it. I think I'd reduce the sugar in the cookies if I was planning on making the glaze so that they wouldn't become cloying once iced.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. coconut oil, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. almond flour
• 3 c. oat flour
• 8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Glaze

• 1 1/4 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Make cookies as directed above.
2. Combine all glaze ingredients and mix well.
3. Once cookies are completely cool, drizzle or dip the cookies in the glaze.

Vegan version

Be sure to check that your sugars are vegan; not all brands are.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 2 flax eggs
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. coconut oil, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. almond flour
• 3 c. oat flour
• 8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Glaze

• 1 1/4 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. oat milk

I've done enough bread write-ups at this point that I'm not going to worry about being super detailed here. These recipes are mostly here for me -- I'm not really writing for an audience -- and I already know how to make bread.

Honey-Oat Flax Sourdough

From Sourdough Companion

Ingredients

• 394g all-purpose flour¹
• 58g quick oats
• 22g ground flax seed
• 7g coarse sea salt
• 263mL water
• 88g (100% hydration) ripe/active sourdough starter
• 20g honey

Directions

1. Combine flour, oats, flax, and salt and mix well.
2. Make a well in the centre and pour in the water, starter, and honey.
3. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet, working from the centre outward.
4. Cover and ferment at room temperature for 4-8 hours, stretching every hour or two.
5. Shape into a loaf and place in a floured banneton.
6. Proof in fridge for ~12 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 250°C (475°F).
8. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.
9. Turn loaf out onto prepared baking sheet, wet top crust, and slash the top as desired.
10. Place a pan of boiling water on bottom rack of oven.
11. Bake bread at 250°C (475°F) on middle rack for 15 minutes.
12. Reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
13. When bread sounds done, turn off oven and leave bread inside for 10 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ Normally I would've used hard whole wheat flour here, but I was a) running low on flour and b) running low on time. If using whole wheat flour, I would've wanted to have mixed the flour and water the night before and then added the starter and other ingredients the next morning. Seeing as I didn't have time for that and I was a little low on whole wheat flour anyway, I opted to use white flour for this bread. ^Back