Showing posts with label cookies and bars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies and bars. Show all posts
Raw Date Bars. I have always loved Date Squares. My mom always used my Aunt Orabel's recipe which was delicious, but loaded with refined sugars and fats.
We never minded any of that. They were delicious and a rare treat.
A few years back my sister told me about these raw date bars that she was making and about how much healthier they were for you. With no refined sugar at all.
Containing only five simple ingredients, you don't even need to heat up your oven because there is absolutely NO baking involved. Plus they are loaded with the delicious factor.
No bake? Vegan? No refined sugar? Easy to make? Only 5 simple ingredients? And delicious????
Where do I sign up!!
I had always wanted to make them, but never got around to it. Finally yesterday my sister decided to make some and I photographed the whole process so that I could share it and them here with you in my English Kitchen.
It was so much fun doing this together. I wish we could do it more often!
Like I said there are only five simple ingredients needed. Medjool dates. Old fashioned oatmeal. Coconut oil. Raw almonds. Water. Simple.
Our local store recently had Medjool dates on special and as points cards holders we got them for even less. I think they were about half the regular price for a really nice big tub. We both got some.
My sister buys the huge container of coconut oil. I can't believe how much cheaper that is here than it was in the UK. Also I could only ever find small containers of coconut oil there.
Raw almonds. Not blanched. Not roasted. Skins on.
Old fashioned rolled oats. Not over processed quick oats. Large flakes.
Water. We get ours from a well. Its really good.
Unfortunately you do need a good food processor to make these. My sister has a Cuisinart one. Don't be tempted to use a cheap one. You may burn the engine out. You want a heavy duty one.
I need to get one.
You begin by putting the almonds, salt, and oats into it and pulsing it until you get a mixture that resembles dry bread crumbs.
Once you have done that you add the cut up dates. I love dates, especially Medjool dates. You will need to pit them. That is a mindless sort of a job that I don't mind doing and if a few get into my mouth in the process, so much the better.
Cut them into thirds or quarters and add them to the food processor. Pulse again, until they are all well incorporated with each other in a fine crumble. Then you need to add the melted coconut oil.
My sister drizzles this in with the motor running until she gets the right consistency. You want it to be a bit sticky so that it holds together. You can see in the last photo above what it should look like.
The filling is also made in the food processor and is a very easy make. Just pop in the remainder of the pitted dates and then add half the water. My sister uses about 30 pitted dates.
You want to pulse and blend this until you have a fairly thick paste. Only add more of the water as needed to give you the proper consistency as shown above. I guess it is about the consistency of a thick peanut butter, or Miso paste.
You will probably need to stop the processor and scrape down the sides a few times before continuing. Try not to eat too much of it as you go along. It tastes just like caramel. You have been warned!
After that it is just a simple process of layering it all in a square dish. We used an 8-inch square Pyrex dish, which we lined with some baking paper.
You will need to reserve about 3/4 of a cup of the crumbs to use as the topping. I am sorry but I don't know how many grams that is. The remainder of it gets pressed into the bottom of the lined dish and compacted really well. (the back of a metal measuring cup works really well at this!)
Once you have done that spoon on the date paste. It is best to do it in dollops over the bottom crust and then use the back of a metal spoon to smooth it over the crust in an even layer.
The remaining crumbs get spooned evenly over top. You can press then down lightly with your fingertips. You won't be able to press them down as firmly as the bottom.
Once you have done that it is only a matter of covering them and chilling them. At least for one hour, preferably longer.
We left these over night. They were perfect.
Cut them into perfect squares using a sharp knife. You don't want to be sawing these.
Just sharp up and down cuts. Not a problem when you have a nice sharp chef's knife like the one I was sent! It did a perfect job, with only a bit of crumbling.
My sister likes to put each one into a paper cupcake wrapper. She then stores them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
You can also freeze them if you wish to keep them longer, but really other than the water, there is nothing in here that will spoil.
Although, over time the nuts might go rancid. So do freeze them for long term storage. Any crumbles left on the cutting board. Well, they are the cook's treat!
Just look at how beautifully these cut into squares. Perfect I would say!
That looks so pretty sitting on my sister's pink cut glass plate. Oh I do so love pink glass, don't you?
That's one of my mom's teacups in the background. In a pretty pink rosebud pattern.
Its an Ansley Hathaway Pink Rosebud Swirl teacup and saucer. Made in England from fine bone china, this was a very popular pattern in the 1950's
Both the cup and saucer have a swirl to them and are trimmed/edged with gold, and the cup has a nice gold edged foot to it.
Beautifully scalloped and swirled, this is a part of my mother's teacup collection. I shall cherish this for as long as I live and pass it down to my daughter one day, or maybe my granddaughter. We will see what happens.
At any rate, these lush bars are totally delicious. Its nice to know you can feed that sweet tooth and do it in a healthy way, that is also incredibly tasty.
Nice and nutty with beautiful caramel undertones. I dare say these are addictive. I highly recommend! Bet you can't eat just one!
Yield: 12
Raw Date Squares
These lush no-bake squares are not only very easy to make, but vegan and incredibly healthy as well. Filled with fibre, they only use five ingredients, and are fabulously delicious!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups (255g) raw whole almonds
- 1 1/2 cups (120g) old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 12 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup (55g) coconut oil
For the filling:
- 30 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup (120ml) water (or as needed to give you the correct consistency)
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch square baking dish with some baking parchment. Set aside.
- To make the crust put the almonds and oats into your food processor along with the salt. Blitz until you have a mixture resembling coarse bread crumbs. Add the dates and blitz again until your mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs.
- Melt the coconut oil over low heat.
- With the motor running, drizzle the coconut oil into the nut/oat/date mixture until your mixture attains the correct consistency. You should be able to press it together with your fingers and have it hold its shape.
- Reserve 3/4 cup of the mixture and press the remaining mixture into the prepared baking dish, compacting it really well.
- Put the dates for the filling into your food processor. Add roughly half the water and process until the mixture becomes smooth and pasty, adding the remaining water only as needed to give you the correct consistency. It should resemble bean paste. (Miso)
- Dollop the date mixture over top of the bottom crust in the dish. Spread it out evenly using the back of a metal spoon.
- Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over top and press it down lightly.
- Cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably over night. Cut into squares to serve.
- Store in the refrigerator. These will keep quite a while, and can also be frozen in an airtight container.
Raspberry Jam Bars. These delicious oatmeal raspberry bars are something which I originally baked on the blog back in 2010, eleven years ago. I actually had not baked them since then! Hard to believe because they are incredibly delicious!
I wanted to bake my father a lush treat for Easter that I knew he would enjoy. He loves "jam" anything and there was a jar of raspberry jam in the fridge that needed using up so now was the perfect time to bake them.
Also my original photos are not very good. I didn't know a lot about food photography back then. I still don't but I wanted to redo my old photos and update the recipe a bit, so I hope you will humor me and enjoy this redo!
Don't you just love this cute Salt and Pepper Set? A bear and his honey pot!
It is a part of my sister's collection that she has for sale on Lost Lovelies Found. They are so cute. She has a wonderful eye for collectables.
The set consists of a little honey bee hive, decorated with ladybugs and this sweet little bear. He also had a ladybug on his cute little nose. They join together with magnets at the side, and are stamped Japan on the bottom.
So cute. Almost as cute as these lush bars. After baking these yesterday I couldn't understand why I had waited so long to bake them again.
With their moreish buttery oat and almond crust and topping, they are really very simple and quick to make. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool long enough so that you can cut them into squares!
They are a real favourite of my friend Monique's also. She has baked them many times since I first posted the recipe, always to accolades.
You don't have to cut them into squares of course. You can use metal cookie cutters to cut them into rounds, or diamonds or whatever shape you wish to cut the into.
This raspberry bars recipe is so easy to make and goes together in a flash. You don't need fresh berries for it, just raspberry jam.
You can have all the prep work done for them in 10 minutes. It doesn't get much easier than that. Easy peasy lemon squeezy as they say! (whoever "they" are!)
Perfect little buttery bites, filled with crunchy oats and toasted almonds, and sweet raspberry jam. A delicious two bite snack, perfection . . . in every way.
The crust/topping is simply butter beaten until light and fluffy with some soft brown sugar. Once you have that done you beat in a bit of vanilla.
Flour and soda come next. I like to sift the two together so that they are evenly mixed. There is also only a pinch of salt.
Finally you stir in a quantity of oats and flaked almonds. I use the large flake old fashioned oats for a wonderfully texture and wholesomeness.
Do NOT use instant oats. They will not give you the correct consistency and your results when baked will not be the same.
Flaked almonds are easily found in the baking section at the grocery store. I don't think any other kind of almond would work as well. I was thinking yesterday as I was making these that I am pretty sure chopped walnuts would also be very good.
Originally I made these with seedless raspberry jam. I have diverticulitis and I can't eat fruit seeds. All I had yesterday was the jam with the seeds in it.
That is what I used, which means I won't really be able to indulge in them myself, but that's okay because I really ought not to be indulging in these!
These would be really good cut into heart shapes as well and there would be less waste than using other cutters. You could top and tail them, next to each other as you cut them. Not sure I explained that correctly.
But the off cuttings are never a waste anyways, and someone always snuffles them up!
As I said before, the hardest part of these is the waiting for them to cool down long enough to cut. Hot jam isn't very pleasant either and it can really burn, so do be careful!
One bowl to mix them in. One pan to bake them in. Lined with foil, so that you can lift them out easily. And makes for a very easy clean up as well.
If you are not fond of raspberry jam, feel free to use any other kind you like. Blueberry jam would be awesome as would peach jam.
I can see these tasting exceptional as well using Strawberry jam or even rhubarb preserves. My taste buds are tingling just at the thought!
My father was in jam heaven when he had one of these after supper last night. He had one of these and a small bowl of ice cream. There was a twinkle in his eye.
He sure loves his jam, and I love him, so it was the perfect combination! Buttery, oaty-nutty, and with a nice jammy sweetness. Moreish to say the least.
Raspberry Jam Bars
Yield: 16
Prep time: 12 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 52 Min
Delicious little bite sized bars with a scrumptious buttery oaty base and topping and a sweet raspberry jam filling. Betcha can't eat just one.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) flour
- pinch salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
- 1/2 cup (50g) oats (not instant oats)
- 1/2 cup (50g ) sliced almonds
- 4 heaped dessertspoons of seedless raspberry jam
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line an 8 inch square baking tin with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir this mixture into the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats and sliced almonds.
- Reserve 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside.
- Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Dollop the raspberry jam over top and spread it out with a rubber spatula to within 1/2 inch of the sides of the pan all around.
- Crumble the reserved oat mixture evenly over top.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the dough is golden brown and the jam is lightly bubbling. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Use the foil overhang to lift the baked mixture out of the pan. Cut into 16 squares with a sharp knife.
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Easter Chocolate Krispie Cakes are the perfect treat for the Easter Holidays. Quick and easy to make and using only a few ingredients. These chocolate krispie buns/cakes are a staple at pretty much every children's party over in the UK.
Chocolate rice krispie cakes without butter, no marshmallows and no added corn syrup. These are simple to make and to decorate, not to mention chocolate crunchy delicious!
Chocolate Krispie Cakes are something I had never heard of before moving over to the UK. I first saw them in the local bake shop. They were really posh krispie cakes, well decorated with sprinkles and edible baubles etc.
So pretty and they used to do them for every holiday according to whatever season it was. At Christmas they would have Christmas edibles decorating them and at Easter it would be Easter edibles.
Cute to look at and after a bit of investigating I discovered they were also very easy to make at home. Using only three ingredients not counting the decorations you use.
I have actually shown you these before, but I thought a bit of an update was due, so here we go. Better photos than my original ones and hopefully much more enticing words.
First I wanted to talk to you about this plate I have used to serve them on. I just love these plates. They are a part of an original dinner set that my mother bought for her mother (my grandmother) after she got her first job and was working in Truro in 1952.
Mom would have been just 20 years old. My grandmother never had many nice things. I just know the love that was behind this gift. My mother wanted her mother to have something pretty and not practical. Something just for her.
I just love this beautiful pattern, although I could not really tell you what it is called. It is marked on the bottom Sovereign Potteries Earthenware, along with the stamp Minto 877-47 It has gold around the edges.
I just love the colors of the pattern on it. I love Forget Me Nots and Roses anyways, so this is really very pretty to me. Only four plates remain of the original set, and my sister is taking very good care of them.
I was a bit afraid to use the plate in case I should scratch it or something, but whew! Thankfully I didn't! I don't remember my mother ever using these the whole time I was growing up, and I cannot remember how she came to be in possession of them.
I strongly suspect that after my grandmother passed away in 1960, and my Grandfather was set to remarry, my Aunt Freda squirreled them away lest the stepmom get her hands on them. That is probably also how the other pieces were broken.
Its a miracle that these four plates remain. My Grandmother had left for me a juice set with a jug and drinking glasses in an opalescent peach coloured carnival glass, which my Aunt also took into safe-keeping for me, but they all got broken through use.
C'est la vie.
I am really enjoying re-discovering these old pieces and learning more about them. I can only be grateful that they were never given to me for safekeeping or they would have long since been lost.
With the number of times I have been made homeless and lost everything in my lifetime, they surely would have been lost also. No, I have not had the best of luck in life I guess when it comes to choosing men, but that's a whole different story.
Back to the Krispie Cakes. These are so simple to make and as I said use only a very few ingredients. Two kinds of chocolate chips and Krispie Rice Cereal. That's it!
Other than what you choose to decorate them with. You simply melt the chocolates together and stir in the rice cereal. Easy easy.
This mixture then gets spooned into paper muffin cases in a bun/muffin tin. Once you have them in your tin then you can decorate them to your hearts content.
Today I used some candy covered chocolate eggs and cupcake sprinkles I bought from Sweetapolita, a Canadian cake decorating/baking supply company. They sell all sorts of things. I saw an advert on IG I believe for them, followed it and then fell in love with their sprinkles.
I purchased a few different kinds as well as a surprise bag of who knows what. And it really was a pleasant surprise. I was thrilled with their choices!
Everything came very nicely wrapped and they even threw in a emergency tube of sprinkles as a gift.
I had to leave all of my sprinkles and baking things behind in the UK, so I am gradually building them up again.
Its fun exploring Canadian options and building things up again. Fun to me anyways, because I am a foodie through and through and I love discovering new things.
I also wanted to tell you about this sweet egg cup I have used as a part of my display as well. It is from my sister's shop Lost Lovelies Found on Instagram. This piece is a sweet mid-century ceramic egg cup made in Japan in the 1950's.
My sister has the sweetest shop where she sells vintage collectables. She has an expert eye for these things and is a really talented curator of them, not to mention caretaker.
I sure love my sister. She is such a talented woman and so humble. I don't think she realizes just how very talented she is. She is an incredible artist as well and I am not just saying that. Its true. I am always telling her she needs to start an art page.
Don't these sprinkles look just darling on these cakes? Along with the little mini eggs of course. I love the bright Easter-like colours. The yellows, greens, pinks, etc.
Easter is all about brightness and hope and the awakening earth. I think these Easter Chocolate Krispie Cakes exemplify that perfectly.
These are so easy to make, you may even want the children to help you put them together. Certainly there is nothing that would harm them here, once the chocolate and the cereal are stirred together.
They could easily help you spoon the mixture into the bun cases and then decorate them with the eggs and sprinkles afterwards.
I absolutely love these cakes. They remind me of one of my favourite chocolate bars, the Nestle's Crunch Bar.
Chocolates and crisp rice cereal. Oh my, but that is an incredibly edibly delicious combination in my modest opinion.
I bet you can't eat just one of these. Yes, seriously, they are THAT good!
Happy Easter Weekend!!!
Easter Chocolate Krispie Cakes
Yield: Makes about 15
Cook time: 15 Mininactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 15 M
These are so easy to do and look so pretty when they are finished. I had long heard of Marshmallow Crispy Squares, but never these chocolate delights! What a sheltered life I have lived! I wish I had known about these when my children were growing up. They would have loved them!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (50g) milk chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup (50g) dark milk chocolate chips
- 3 cups (80g) crisp rice cereal
- Chocolate eggs and sprinkles to decorate
Instructions
- Put a pot with some water in the bottom of it on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Break the chocolate up into bits and place it into a glass bowl, large enough to sit over the simmering water. Cook and stir until melted. Take care not to let the water boil. Once the chocolate is all melted and smooth, carefully remove it from the heat and stir in the rice cereal.
- Line a bun tin with paper liners and spoon the chocolate cereal mixture in, dividing it equally amongst each cup. Place a few easter eggs on the top of each and set them aside to cool and set up. You can put them into the fridge to do this if you are in a hurry, but it may cause your chocolate to bloom. If you are a patient sort it really doesn't take that long for them to set up out of the fridge, perhaps not much more than an hour or so.
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