Showing posts with label oats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oats. Show all posts
I keep seeing Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies all over InstaGram. They look fabulous and one day I am going to try them.
The recipe is on a blog called A Bountiful Kitchen, which is owned by Si Foster. Si and her husband are doing Missions in Spain at the moment for our church. (Just like my husband and I did a few years ago, except we didn't get to go to Spain.)
Interestingly enough Si's son in law did his Mission here in the UK several years back. He was one of my favourite Missionaries, Elder Eliason.
I know I say that about them all! You know how much we love feeding them.
Cody and his wife Brook were here in Chester last summer for a couple of days with their son George. What a cutie pie George is.
Brook is the owner of the very popular blog, Female Foodie. I think eating and cooking good food runs in the family!
So anyways, I kept seeing these Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies all over IG, all attributed to Si's page. I took a gander and thought hmm . . . dare I?
And then I spied her Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and that did it. Resistance was futile. I am a connoisseur of Oatmeal Cookies.
I adore Oatmeal Cookies. Besides they didn't take as much flour as the Chocolate Chip ones. The Levain Baker is a NYC Bakery that is well known for its cookies.
People line up around the block for one of their cookies. And save it to say, they are EXPENSIVE!
I have never had one, but now I feel like I have coz these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies of Si's are AMAZING!
And a whole lot cheaper. Mine were not as tall as Si's. They did flatten out a bit, but boy oh boy, are they yummy!
Each cookie weight a whopping 6 ounces (175g). That's pretty close to half a pound!
If you want to learn more about these cookies and get the North American measurements, you will have to check out Si's page.
I wouldn't want to step on any toes. She also has a lot of hints and tips for making them the best cookies ever, so do check them out.
I am only posting my British measurement adaptation here, which I am thinking is a.o.k.
These cookies are as huge as a baby's head. Seriously. The recipe only makes 9 big beautiful, delicious cookies.
Mine didn't end up as tall as hers did. I'm not sure why. (Check hers out.) But they are incredibly tasty!
Crisp on the outsides . . . chock full of oats . . . chewy almost brownie-like in the middles . . .
I send some to my next door neighbor. She is always getting us bread and milk. She can't do enough for us and she won't take anything in return, but I have found that she doesn't mind me baking things for her and her son, so . . . yeh, I sent half over to them.
She died and went to heaven. Seriously. If you are looking for a wicked indulgence, this is the one you want to try. Especially if you love Oatmeal Cookies!
Levain Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Yield: makes 9 HUGE cookies
A recipe from Bountiful Kitchen. These cookies are enormous and incredibly moreish. I am only putting the British Conversions here, you will need to visit A Bountiful Kitchen to get the North American equivalents in measurements.
Ingredients:
- 240g unsalted butter, cut into bits (1 cup)
- 250g soft light brown sugar (1 1/4 cup)
- 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 2 large free range eggs
- 385g of plain flour (2 3/4 cup)
- 40g cornflour (1/4 cup) (also known as cornstarch)
- 115g old fashioned oats (1 1/2 cups)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 265g raisins (1 3/4 cups)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line several baking trays with baking paper.
- Cream the butter and both sugars on low with an electric whisk until very well blended. No butter bits should be visible. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk together the flour, cornflour, soda, oats, salt and cinnamon. Add to the creamed mixture and mix on low until the flour disappears. Mix in the raisins.
- Using a pair of kitchen scales measure out amounts of 170g and drop onto the prepared baking sheets leaving plenty of space in between. I did five on one baking sheet and four on the other. Try not to compact the dough, it should be high and quite rough looking.
- Bake for 6 to 7 minutes until the cookie is barely set and yet golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and leave on the baking sheets for an hour to set up. Store in an airtight container
Another thing I liked about these is that they don't use any vanilla. I am low on Vanilla and am not sure when I can get more, so I am rationing it! Anyways, you need to bake these cookies if only once in your lifetime. (Be warned however, when you taste one, you will want them more than once!) Sorry about that!
In my previous marriage, we used to spend a lot of time on Prince Edward Island in the summer. Although I was born on the Island, it was only an accident of birth, because that was where my father was posted with the Canadian Airforce at the time. My ex-husband's family, however, had a long history there, going back to some of the first Scottish settlers on the Island, back in the days when the Island was nothing but trees and native North Americans. The Ramsays ended up on the Island when their ship, The Annabella, was ship-wrecked in Malpeque Bay. The Annabella had been heading for the Virginia Colonies when a storm blew it off course and the rest is history. It is said that the survivors would have starved or frozen to death that first winter, were it not for the Natives who so generously helped them out.
My late father in law came from a very large farming family, consisting mainly of girls. I think there were only two or three sons. He was the baby of the family. Most of his sisters, with the exception of one, had moved down to the Boston, New England area before and after WW2. The same thing happened in my own family. There was a lot of prosperity in America as compared to the Maritimes, which was than and still is a somewhat economically depressed area.
The old gals (as we called the sisters) used to come up to their cottage on the Malpeque Bay every summer, where they would spend a couple of months taking in the sea air and re-connecting with their roots. The air rang with the sound of hearty card games and raucous laughter. I think the game was 45's but I can't say for sure, because I have never been a great card player. I'm too slow.
I loved to watch however, and many an afternoon was spent watching the cards being dealt and listening to all the war stories and family tales. The Sister that had stayed back on the Island used to do all the cooking. She would bake these Bannocks frequently. Her name was Rita. She was like a little bird. I loved her to pieces. She was a really kind and caring woman.
Ever the foodie, I would watch her making these. All of the ingredients used to get measured right out onto the counter-top, her quick hands deftly managing them into a dough that was then cut and baked into these beautiful light and oaty bannocks.
I can still remember the first time I saw her making them, I thought it was cheese she was mixing in, but it was cold butter which she had grated. I tend to cut the butter into bits and rub it in with my fingertips. Both ways work well.
Don't be tempted to use old fashioned oats in these, unless you blitz them in a food processor for a few seconds to break them down. This is one time you want to be using the quick oats. Old fashioned oats are too coarse.
Aunt Rita cut hers into squares, whereas I cut them into rectangles. Not a scrap of the dough is wasted. With a light touch, and no re-working of scraps you are rewarded with a dozen light as air golden brown slightly nubbly/nutty textured scones. Because that is really all a Bannock is . . . a Scottish Scone. But shhh . . . don't tell anyone I said that. I wouldn't want to start a War over it or anything.
What a wonderful time those years were, spending those summer afternoons out on the bay. The air was cool,because we were right on the water. The children and I used to walk up and down the sand and grasses, picking wild rhubarb that I would then make into pies and jam. Good times!
I don't know how the rhubarb ended up growing there but it worked kind of the same as wild strawberries do . . . it was thinner, smaller, and filled with a lot more flavour than the regular stuff.
In any case, I hope you will bake these lovely Bannocks, and when you do, please raise a nice hot cuppa to Aunt Rita and the old gals . . . and hot summer afternoons spent playing cards and picking wild rhubarb on sands of Malpeque Bay . . .
*Malpeque Oat Bannocks*
Makes 12
60g cold butter (1/4 cup), cut into bits
180ml whole milk (3/4 cup)
I am really enjoying my overnight oats! I loved the peanut butter and banana ones and the other day I tried Raspberry Bakewell Oats, with some of the berries from our garden! Delicious!
We have an elderly friend that I like to bake things for from time to time. We usually go to visit her a couple of times a week and I usually bring her something I have baked on one of those occasions. I get to enjoy the pleasure of baking something and she gets to enjoy the pleasure of eating what I have baked. As a diabetic I am not really supposed to be eating a lot of baked goods, so it works really well for me as I love to bake. Its a win/win situation really!
I am late coming to the overnight oats party. I discovered the delights of them just the other day and I am in love! This recipe is a riff on one I found on Crunchy Creamy Sweet. I made it exactly as described the first night and I have been playing with it ever since.
I confess we are breakfast oat lovers in this house. They are the perfect way to begin any day . . . wholesome . . . toothsome . . . delicious, and hearty! And oats are good for the heart! (and soul I might add!)
I had to cook a meal earlier this week to take to a member who has not been well. I baked a casserole and made a salad, and then I decided to bake some cookies for the children in the family. I love to bake, but more often than not I can't eat what I bake, so it's nice to be able to bake something which is going to be going to kiddies I know will be able to appreciate it.
When I was a child I was not overly fond of oatmeal . . . not for breakfast or any other time . . . unless it was baked into cookies . . . then I could be gently persuaded to eat it. I wasn't eating cooked oatmeal for love nor money. It was just not my cup of tea . . . at all!
Clearly my mother was not all that persuasive or inventive . . . I dare say if a bowl of these lovely baked oats had been put down in front of me . . . I'd have gobbled it up . . . no problem! Sorry mom!
I wanted to bake some cookies to take to church for the young Missionaries this week. I thought they might really enjoy a change from the usual chocolate chip ones and so I baked htem some Caramel Apple Oaties. These are like all that is good about autumn stogged into a delicious cookie!
I really do love my granola. It is my breakfast food of choice on weekdays. I love to chow down on a nice bowl of it with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top . . . some days I add a drizzle of honey on top. It gets my day off to a really good start!
I think you would pretty much have to live under a rock to not know what Biscoff, or Lotus cookies are. They are those gorgeous little caramel flavoured biscuits that they hand out in coffee shops and that get handed out on Delta Airlines etc. I just adore them. I just love Nutella and Peanut butter . . . so when I found that they make a Lotus (Biscoff) Spread I was thrilled and of course I had to buy some. Oh boy that is some good. I could eat it with a spoon. All caramel rich and gooey . . . lovely on crackers or plain biscuit/cookies. Or sandwiched between two . . . just sayin!
I found this recipe the other day for a Courgette loaf which sounded really delicious and quite healthy as well. There is only 1/4 cup of butter in the whole loaf, which isn't bad.
It uses applesauce to make up for some of the fat. That can't be bad, plus the addition makes for a nice moist loaf. Too often when you remove the fat from something you end up with something that is either too sweet, or had a wierd texture . . . this isn't the case here.
This loaf is moist, delicious, not too sweet and stogged full of things which are good for you, like old fashioned oats, toasted walnuts . . . grated courgettes . . .
It makes a really large loaf which doesn't rise really high. I was a bit worried when I got it into the pan as it almost filled it up all the way, but it was ok. There was no overflow onto the oven floor. Whew!!
We quite liked this. I always love to have butter on my quick breads, and the fact that there was very little fat in the actual loaf took away some of the guilt I usually feel in doing that! Adapted from Best Loved Reader Recipes, a BHG special interest publication.
*Courgette and Oat Bread*
Makes 1 large loaf
Makes 1 large loaf
This
makes a really large loaf that is low in fat and full of things that
are good for you like oats, nuts, raisins and courgettes!
290g of caster sugar (1 1/2 cup)
Spoon into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely. Wrap tightly and store overnight before cutting. Store in an airtight container.
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