Wednesday October 27, 2010

Recipes

Long delay, but here they are finally.

The granola recipe is one I fell in love with in Belize. I remember sitting beside my friend, Faith, in Miss Nancy’s kitchen as both of us scarfed down granola before it was time to meet the bus. When Miss Nancy made it, she walked down to the market, bought a fresh coconut and grated it. Oh yum. What I would not give to wake up in Miss Nancy’s basement to the sound of tropical birds and knowing that there are baskets full of fresh pineapple, oranges, and bananas upstairs. Have you ever eaten a tree-ripened banana?

Granola:
6 c. oatmeal
½ c. margarine, melted (I always use real butter)
3 c. coconut, grated
1 ½ c. brown sugar
1 ½ t salt (I omitted this purposely last time and couldn’t tell the difference)
½ c pancake syrup
2 T. cinnamon

nuts and maple flavor optional (I usually add chopped pecans, but I’m out of them so I added slivered almonds. And I never ever have added the maple flavor thank you very much.)

Melt butter. Add maple flavor if you have to. Mix dry ingredients. Pour butter and pancake syrup in and work mixture until evenly moist. Spread in 2 9×13 pans (or a cookie sheet). Bake at 175 until lightly toasted.

I cheat and do mine around 225. It takes almost six hours to do it so slowly. Just make sure you turn the mixture with a spatula more frequently so it toasts evenly. I often add craisens to ours, but I learned not to do it until after it’s baked and cooled because they get too chewy.

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High Fiber Bars
I have no idea why I picked up this recipe because at the time I hated peanut butter. Probably because I was taken up with the idea of eating more healthily and this recipe has no white sugar in it unless you count whatever they put in the peanut butter. But now I love peanut butter and I love these bars. They are a lot like a granola bar and pack a punch of protein and calories in a small bite. Best of all, they don’t have to bake so they’re a great recipe for teaching kids how to cook. Unless your kids have peanut allergies like Liam does.

3 c. oatmeal
½ c. bran
1 c. coconut
¾ c. nuts, chopped
¾ c. raisins
¼ t. salt
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. honey
¾ c. chocolate chips

Mix first six ingredients. Combine peanut butter and honey in saucepan and melt over low heat. Mix well with dry ingredients and stir in chocolate chips. Press into buttered 7×11 pan. Cool and cut into squares.

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And of course I saved the best til last. Christy gave me this recipe when I called her for a cranberry muffin recipe last Christmas. Oh, my word. They are out of this world yummy. The recipe says to make them in a 9×9 pan. This year I did that and had trouble with them being very thick and not getting done in the middle. I remember them being thin and perfect and very Starbuckish last Christmas so I think I must have done them in a 9×13. But I can’t prove that until I make them again, which I really don’t have a problem doing at all. Just be forewarned that the pan size may not be correct.

White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies
½ c. butter, softened
½ c sugar
½ c. brown sugar
¾ t. baking powder
¼ t. soda
½ c. coarsely chopped white chocolate
1 c. fresh cranberries
¼ t. salt
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/2c. dried cranberries

Beat butter. Add sugars, eggs, vanilla. Add flour, salt, soda, baking powder, Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread in 9×9 (?) pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries. Press lightly. Bake at 350 25-30 min

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You’re welcome

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