healthy nuts and oats hiding inside a child's dream

When you finally realise your dream and open a deli / coffee shop / bakery what is it you are really hoping for?  Time to do lots of baking ?  Loads of manolo-clad ( or ugg-booted, as it’s winter) feet stomping, shuffling and striding over your threshhold?  Someone else to do the washing up? 

All of the above would be my answer, but the reality is that loads of feet striding over your threshold inevitably means selling out of all the artisan baked goodies you’ve slaved and laboured over for hours.  But that’s good, right?  Sigh!  I think I really understand how my mom’s bakers felt for all those years when 15 waiters had already sold all the scones and cheesecake that they kept churning out all day, even before they were out of the oven.  Some times you just want to be able to bask in your domestic goddessness for awhile.  Some days, like today, in between giving thanks for the steady stream of oohing and aahing custom, you barely have time to curse the person who bought the last 10 chocolate brownies. 

I mean, I know they’re good.  I baked them.  But who can eat 10 chocolate brownies?  And more to the point, how do I stop to bake another double batch in between orders of espresso hot chocolates, free range beef burgers with all the trimmings, avocado, rocket and sundried tomato bruschetta and French toast with Parma ham and verjuice syrup?  Ever the dreamer, even I have to admit that I can’t.  Once they’re gone, that’s it.  No more until tomorrow.

  But every good baker has a secret weapon or 6 tucked inside their floury apron pocket.  These giant cookies are one of ours.  They take literally minutes to throw together, less than ten in the oven, and the smell sells them before people have even seen them.  The most difficult thing will be convincing your guests to wait until they’ve cooled before they eat them.  And kids of all ages can’t resist them.  Even the most hardened chocaholic can be persuaded to ignore the empty chocolate brownie plate when gently tempted with a giant peanut, oat and smartie cookie that takes up both hands.  Try them and you’ll see what I mean.

For the recipe, click here, (as usual I’ve posted it straight to the sidebar for easy access), and please excuse me, I’m off to bake a quadruple batch of chocolate brownies for tomorrow’s ugg-booted, baked goods addicts!  Bless them one and all…

peanuts, oats and chocolate candy…

Preheat your oven to 180*C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Cream:

• 225g granulated sugar
• 175g brown sugar
• 225g butter

Add:

• 2 eggs, lighlty beaten
• 1Tablespoon vanilla extract

and beat until light and fluffy.

Sift:

• 300g plain (cake) flour
• 5 ml bicarbonate of soda

Add to egg mix together with

• 125g rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of peanuts

Spoon 1/4 cup of mix onto your baking sheet at a time.  I usually get four cookies to one large sheet.  Make sure you leave plenty of space for them to spread out.

Poke your smarties (or chocolate m&m’s ) into the top of the cookie, and bake for 8-10 minutes (or until lightly browned).

The cookies will still be soft and you need to let them harden for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.  Try and wait until they are cooled completely to enjoy them at their best.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can customize it and use your own flavours. I like to use all organic ingredients, a sweet local honey and some sour cherries to stop it from being too cloying. If you like you can up the sugar and lessen the honey as conversely, the sugar will make it taste less sweet. You could also use substitutes like agave syrup or jaggery, bearing in mind these tastes will come through too, so substitute some and not all of the honey or sugar if you are not too sure how it will turn out.

• Mix 350g of organic oats (I have used jumbo oats here but porridge oats will give you a more refined bar if that is to your taste. These ones are quite rustic.) together with
• 250g combined weight of chopped dried smyrna figs, dried sour cherries and dried mixed grapes.
• Add 50g of dessicated coconut (or ground almonds)
• And 230g combined weight of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and flaked almonds (or other nuts such as pecans, walnuts or pistachios).
• You can vary your flavour combos, such as coconut with dried pineapple and mango, and add 1-2 teaspoons of spices to your taste such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
• Melt 200g of organic runny honey with
  
• 175g of organic unsalted butter and then stir in
  
• 150g of demerara sugar, stirring and heating gently until it dissolves.
• Bring the mix to the boil and let bubble for a few minutes until you have a nice thick caramel sauce.
• Add the dry mix to the caramel and stir until the mix is completely integrated.
• If you like you can add a small handful of organic white and dark choc chips, stirring in at the last minute.
  
• Press into a square pan (about 25cm) lined with baking parchment and bake until just browning around the edges (about 15 minutes in a 190*C oven).
• Leave until completely cool and then slice with a sharp knife.
• Enjoy
  

This week was my daughter’s first ever school camp. She, despite her excitement overdrive was extremely organised about the whole thing. Sunday morning dawned bright and indecently early as it always does in summer. But in direct opposition to the enthusiastic dawn chorus I was determined to have a lazy Sunday morning sleep-in. Kody had other ideas.

Woken by her happy singing and Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat blasting out of her speakers, I stumbled out of bed to see how late I’d managed to sleep, and what she was up to. There she was, merrily arranging requisite camp items into neat piles on her bed, then ticking them off against her kit list before packing them into her bag. I checked her clock. It was early and I still hadn’t had coffee so you can forgive me for disbelieving my eyes. Was this really my daughter? And was this really her bedroom? I blinked once or twice to clear my vision, and realised with a touch of relief that it was only the top of the bed that was tidy, whilst the rest of her room remained reassuringly cyclonic.

She seemed inordinately keen to be leaving home for 3 days and I could detect no twinge of separation anxiety or any indication that she might be a bit reluctant to leave the safety of the nest. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it that, so I shuffled off to the kitchen for my caffiene fix and to think about it.

I was just waiting to see whether I might actually squeeze out a forlorn little tear when the quartermaster general herself marched in. ‘Did you remember my lunchbox mom? And don’t forget I need £5 pocket money!’ Hmmph! I had a load of delicious things to pack for her first day’s lunch, but how was I supposed to provide for the next two days? How was she going to cope with days full of archery, kayaking, canoeing, raft-building, abseiling etc. with only 3 meals a day and access to a (no-doubt junk filled) tuck shop. My child needs food. Real, unrefined, slow release energy food. at least 5 or six times a day.

Well, I haven’t been a mother for 11 years without learning a trick or two, and so the challenge was on. The challenge to get as many healthy superfoods into a snack bar as I could, without letting on how healthy it actually was.

I started with organic oats and honey for the base, and slow release energy. Then out came every tin and packet of nuts, seeds and dried fruit I had in my store cupboard. I added sundried grapes, figs and sour cherries for vitamins and natural sugar. Nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for protein. And a few organic choc chips as a red herring.

Mission accomplished. I knew this even before they were baked as she kept pinching bits out of the mixing bowl to nibble on. Once baked and cooled I sliced them up and, on impulse, packed a second tupperware full to stash in her kit bag. You always need extra for friends. Right, that was her sorted, but how was I going to cope for 3 days without her?

The house was eerily quiet and empty and I seemed to spend far too much time moping around and talking to Dakota’s cat, drinking coffee and eating granola bars. Luckily I’d made a double batch.

Kody , on the other hand was far too busy having fun to remember I’d even packed them for her and on Thursday morning, out came a nearly full box along with all her dirty laundry and muddy river shoes. Unpacking with 11 year old economy and only a 10th of the attention to detail that had gone into the packing process 3 days earlier, she happily dug into the granola bars, scattering oaty crumbs all over her bed.

‘It’s good to be home mom.’ she smiled through a mouthful of oats, ‘These are delicious. Why didn’t you tell me you’d packed them?’ The urge to give her (and her pile of unpacking) ‘The Look’ was strong. But I can’t actually do the raise one eyebrow thing, that’s Rory’s trick, and I was still haunted by the echoes of a child free house.

‘It’s good to have you home, babe!’ And it was, muddy laundry and all!

Please check vckb in the side bar for the recipe for these delicious power packed granola bars, I will be posting it shortly.