Banana Oat Cookiies

As usual, my agenda began with an ingredient that required attention: 3 small overripe bananas. So I mashed them in a bowl, added oats and off I went. These are cheating a little on my usual strategy by using some dark brown sugar, but only 2 tablespoons. We ate these for breakfast, but my husband said, "Call them cookies, they'd be good anytime!" So I did.

Banana Oat Cookies

Mix together and let sit 

3 small overripe bananas mashed, or 2 large ones

1.5-2 cups whole oats 

1/2-2/3 cup almond milk (unsweetened plain) enough to make a mush, not liquidy

1 heaping tsp chia seeds

In a larger bowl mix:

1/2 c chick pea flour

2/3 c brown rice flour

1/4 c millet flour

1Tblspn tapioca starch

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1-2 tsp cinnamon (as you like it)

2 Tblspn dark brown sugar

2 Tblspn nutritional yeast

Combine moist ingredients into dry stirring til consistent, and toss in your favorite dry fruits/nuts. I used what I had on hand which ended up being about 1/2 c mixed raisins and cranberries plus 1/2 c walnuts.

Set oven at 375F and spoon out heaping tablespoon sized blobs onto a silicone baking sheet at least an inch space between them.

Bake 25 minutes (check 'em at 20 minutes). The house will smell great when they're done!

Sour Cherry Scones

These little morsels are satisfying, just sweet enough, packed with nutrition, and easy to make if you have a good supply of this and that in the kitchen. You could replace the dried sour cherries with something else, like cut up dried apricots, or even raisins or pieces of dates. The dried sour cherries add an element of depth and character that a totally sweet thing doesn't. In fact, dried blueberries might be another good example of that sweet-tart layering in a scone. I decided to try something totally new and use coconut water (the less sweet type, about 7g sugar in 8 ounces) for liquid, since there was already some protein from the chickpea flour etc. Nice omega 3's from the chia, plenty of good stuff here, and tasty! I also used a bit of jam to finish up a jar in the fridge... and you can do that too with any flavor you have around, or just add a bit more sweetness with honey or maple syrup or some form of sugar if you use it.

Sour Cherry Scones (makes 6)
pre-heat oven to 375F

1/4 cup golden flaxmeal (or grind your own flaxseeds)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup chick pea flour (I wonder if ground quinoa would work here? maybe next time)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 TBLS chia seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon zest

1-2 TBLS jam of your choice
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut water (NOT MILK)

1-2 TBLS dried sour cherries
1/2 cup walnuts

Mix all the dry ingredients (1st 7on the list) plus the lemon zest.
Mix jam, vanilla and coconut water in a small bowl.
Add wet to dry, mixing sparingly.
Toss in the dried cherries and crunch up the walnuts into the size bits you like to find in your scones.  Mix this all together until it is consistently textured, but don't overdo it.

Plop extra large tablespoon ovals onto a non-stick silicone baking sheet, on a cookie sheet or other pan. Allow 35-40 minutes for baking but set your timer for 25 minutes and test for doneness, being ready to put them back in for up to 10 more minutes.

They will begin to brown and crisp a bit on the outer edges, but remain a little moist inside. These are scones -- not muffins -- and go well with marmalade, honey, or nut butters.

Oat Bran Muffins, with fresh & dried fruits

Our first prolonged snow flurries decorated the fallen apple leaves when I got up this morning, calling out for morning muffins. I had one ripe banana and decided to try oat bran muffins, with flecks of carrot for color, crunch of walnuts, sweetness of raisins and freshly grated apple. With a little help from maple syrup and apple jelly syrup (a failed jelly experiment that has been great for baking), these were even sweet enough for my husband to eat them without the usual dab of honey. If you use no oil, like I do, you will need silicone non-stick muffin cups. The combination of chick pea, brown rice, oat bran, flax and all makes for a nutritious vegan muffin without trading away anything at all in the way of texture or flavor or satisfaction.


OAT BRAN MUFFINS WITH FRESH & DRIED FRUITS

1/4 cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup brown rice four
1/4 cup potato starch
1/3 cup oat bran
1/2 cup sorghum flour
2 TBSP ground flax seed
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP apple jelly syrup (or use more maple syrup)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 mashed ripe banana
1 grated carrot
1 grated (peeled/seeded) apple
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 400F.  (You will turn this down after a few minutes of baking.)

Mix all the dry ingredients (first 9 on the list).
Mix all the wet ingredients (the next 6), leaving the raisins and walnuts out for now.
Stir the wet into the dry, making sure you moisten all the dry into a thick spongy texture.
Now stir in the raisins and walnuts, saving out 7-8 walnut pieces to stick one in the top of each muffin.

Using a big spoon (serving spoon or tablespoon) put large blobs of batter into each non-stick silicone muffin cup, sticking a walnut piece into the top for crisping and decoration. Place these on a baking sheet and put into oven for 5-10 minutes SET THE TIMER!!  TURN DOWN THE OVEN TO 350F and BAKE for another 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool a few minutes before popping out of the silicone cups -- cool a few more before eating. ENJOY THEM WARM. They can be quite moist inside from the banana... but ought to taste fully baked, not undercooked. That crisped walnut adds an important element!

Fresh Berry & Fruit Scones

I first made these with fresh apricots, then the blueberries started ripening, and the last version I used some plums as a backdrop to the day's pick of blueberries. Consider this a template for a scone into which you can interject fruits, nuts and various seeds/flour and levels of sweetness. If you bake them 20-25 minutes at 375F they will be lovely, and if you leave them another 5-10 minutes they will be crisp on the outsides, while still moist inside.

Berry & Fruit Scones - makes 6 good sized scones

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
2 Tbsp flax seeds, ground
1 Tbsp amaranth, ground
2 Tbsp walnuts, ground - or use 2 Tbsp Almond Meal Flour
1/2-2/3 cup walnuts - pieces
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp "Truvia" (Stevia + sugar) or use maple syrup or agave
1/2 cup original unsweetened soy or almond milk
2 apricots or 2 plums - peeled and mashed
1 cup berries, gently mashed in part, leaving some whole(I used mixed blackberries/raspberries and then straight up blueberries)

1. Heat up your oven.
2. Grind up the materials that need to be ground, and put these in a medium sized bowl. Add the rest of the dry materials - flours, starch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and "Truvia" if you are using dry sweetener, combining this until it is one flour-like substance.
3. Mix all the moist materials in another bowl - mash the apricot or plum (or banana or pear) first, add berries and gently mash, add liquid syrupy sweetener to this if you are using that, and the soy or almond milk.
4. Stir the wet together, and then add it to the dry, stirring gently but combining thoroughly. Stir in the nut pieces. This will be more like a moist dough than a batter.
5. Set out your silicone baking sheet (I put it on a cookie sheet) and with a large spoon, plop six 3"x 2.5" scones-to-be. Bake for 20-30 minutes depending upon how crisp you like the outside.

Apricot Tart

We couldn't resist the fresh apricots when they began to appear from the local orchard. Of course we ate 3 of them on the way home in the car, but then there were the rest to think about. The next morning, it was all I could think about... and I wondered how to make one of those beautiful pastries that we had encountered in Europe decades ago. Not having made them when I was using butter and eggs and sugar and wheat flour, I didn't have to undo any ideas, just come up with a way to put a dough under them and a glaze over them. Here's what I came up with.

Apricot Tart - (makes 6" x10" pastry)
oven at 350F


2 fresh ripe apricots
2 Tbsp flax seed, ground (I'm doing this all the time for the sake of Omega 3's)
2 Tbsp almond meal
1/3 c potato starch (just figuring out what this adds to texture)
3/4 c brown rice flour
2 TBSP oat bran (avoid if must be purely gluten free)
2 TBSP chick pea flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1-2 TBSP agave (how sweet do you need the pastry to be?)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c almonds (sort of slivered)

For glaze: 1-2 tsp maple syrup, 1 tsp almond milk + cinnamon

1. Peel and slice, or slice and peel apricots.
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients, and wet ingredients separately.
2. Add wet to dry and gently knead into a soft ball of dough an roughly shape this into a thick rectangle.

3. Spread out a the silicone baking sheet on a baking pan and put the dough on it, gently pressing it outward from the middle until you achieve a little bigger than 6"x10" or thereabouts. Make 2 sets of indentations up the length of the dough, approximately an apricot slice wide (see picture). Lay in the apricot slices in 3 rows. Sprinkle this with almond slivers.
4. Mix up the glaze and drizzle it all over the apricots. My husband thought it could have used more sweetness in the glaze or just more glaze... He likes things sweeter than I do, but I agreed with him that a little more would have been nice. You could use honey instead of maple syrup, or sugar, if you are a sugar-eating person.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes - check for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool just a bit before you try to handle it... then peel it off the silicone and put it on a nice plate for effect!

Sunflower Raisin Buckwheat Muffin

Emmer wheat turns out to be farro and my local food coop found a relatively local source! So I couldn't resist trying this early simple form of wheat, ground into fine flour. I am not willing to accept that I must always have the flavor of brown rice flour in everything I bake. So these are not gluten free, but they are still whole grain and no oil! I wanted something hearty, full flavored, textured and with the sweetness of raisins for my darling who loves raisins. The best ideas sometimes come at the last minute... adding the crunch and depth of sunflower seeds to the muffins just as I put them in the oven!

SUNFLOWER RAISIN BUCKWHEAT MUFFINS
2/3 cup Emmer wheat flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 oat bran
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 heaping TBLSP black currant fruit spread (or any other fruit spread you like)
1 tsp agave
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp amaranth grains
1/4 cup raisins (or fresh cherries!)

1/3 cup soy milk
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
1.25 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/3 sunflower seeds pressed into the tops of the muffins prior to baking

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the larger of two bowls. Mix all the wet stuff in the second bowl (the jam gave this a lovely color and flavor undercurrent). Save out the raisins and sunflower seeds.
2. Add raisins as you mix the wet into the dry.  Fill 6 silicone muffin cups placed on a baking sheet. Cover the tops with sunflower seeds!
3. Bake at 375F 45 minutes.

Sunflower Raisin Buckwheat Muffins makes 6

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 muffin (100g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	238	12%
Total Fat	5g	7%
Saturated Fat	1g	3%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	25mg	1%
Total Carbohydrate	44g	15%
Dietary Fiber	5g	21%
Sugars	13g	0%
Protein	8g	17%

Vitamin A	1%	•	Vitamin C	2%
Calcium	7%	•	Iron	10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Breakfast/Snack Crunch Cookie

Fresh cherries inspired this crunchy, nearly energy-bar cookie-like breakfast treat. It has puffed kamut in it, but you could use puffed rice. The oats, amaranth and pecans all give textural and flavorful variety in each bite. I can't say enough about the silicone baking surface!

BREAKFAST/SNACK CRUNCH COOKIE

2/3 cup oats
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2/3 cup kamut puffs
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBLSP amaranth
1 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
1 TBLSP maple syrup
1/4 cup almond milk
1 banana
2/3 cup fresh cherries,  pitted & halved

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in larger bowl of 2 bowls. Mash the banana with maple syrup and almond milk in the other bowl. COMBINE WET INTO DRY, then add cherries and gently mix.
2. Place on silicone baking sheet on top of a cookie sheet in large blobs 2-3" across, flattened slightly.
3. Bake longer than you think -- about 35-40 minutes -- at 350-375F. Crisp on the top! Crunchy! Good later too...

(I'm going to try these with Ranier Cherries too!)

Baked Breakfast Crunch Cookies makes 8 Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (80g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 215 11% Total Fat 6g 10% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 43mg 2% Total Carbohydrate 37g 12% Dietary Fiber 4g 17% Sugars 6g 0% Protein 5g 11% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 4% Calcium 3% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com, using my data.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake

 We ran into a special on strawberries, two quarts for $5, and with this began my thinking about how to bake something that wouldn't turn the berries inside into squish yet had that strawberry flavor. I'd been wanting something that might double as a breakfast food and a possible dessert, and then I saw the jar of amaranth on my kitchen shelf. The innovation in this came from pureeing a banana and some of the strawberries and adding this to the soy milk and maple syrup. It was like making a little cake with a fruit smoothie! It had to have enough nutrition to make a good breakfast, and enough sweetness and texture to make a nice dessert, perhaps under some coconut yogurt.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake (6 servings)

1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup oats
2 Tblsp amaranth
1 Tblsp flax seed

1 cup soy milk (unsweetened)
2 Tblsp maple syrup
1 medium banana
8 strawberries
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix all the dry ingredients.
2. Mix the soy milk and syrup, cut the banana and two or three strawberries into small bits and puree them with the soy milk.
3. Mix the wet into the dry, spread on a silicone baking sheet in about a 9" circle an inch thick.
4. Slice the remaining strawberries and cover the surface.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 375F. Cool just a little before slicing.

Amaranth adds a little crunch to the moist texture. Excellent with a dollop of any kind of yogurt as a dessert. Terrific with a dab of honey for breakfast. Nice as a mid-afternoon snack with a cup of tea too.

Strawberry Amaranth Corn Cake Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 sixth slice (127g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 231 12% Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 216mg 9% Total Carbohydrate 41g 14% Dietary Fiber 5g 19% Sugars 9g 0% Protein 7g 13% Vitamin A 2% • Vitamin C 17% Calcium 9% • Iron 12% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins

I was remembering when my oldest son was a very little guy and we met another family in the park who were eating the most delicious muffins for their playtime snack. The mother had made them, of course, but she was talking about how her skinny little roadrunner of a child wouldn't eat much. She had packed those muffins with nutrition. I asked about it and she told me that she used orange juice and zucchini and applesauce and amaranth and on and on.  This morning I decided to revisit my unsatisfactory blueberry breakfast treat project (you haven't seen that blog because I removed it as soon as I posted it!).  I used a small grated zucchini and a smashed banana, along with a little buckwheat flour and ground up whole oats. My encouragement to grind up my own oats into flour came from another recipe I had run into somewhere. These muffins remain moist because of the zucchini, banana and blueberries. Be sure to let them cool enough before removing the cups. You can let them sit  upside down for a couple minutes to release a little of the internal moisture. But it's hard to resist them when they are still just a little warm. Oh, did I say that one muffin seems to provide 11% of my daily protein?? Here's how it all shook out.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins (makes 6)

2/3 cup rolled oats - grind into flour

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

2 Tblsp flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

dash salt

1 Tblsp agave syrup

1 cup grated zucchini 

1 large smashed banana

1/3 cup oat milk

1/3 cup frozen Maine blueberries

1/4 cup walnuts pieces

1. Grind the oats, combine with flour, meal, baking powder and soda and salt. 

2. In a separate bowl, grate the zucchini, smash in the banana, add the agave, oat milk and blueberries.

3. Mix the wet into the dry, until it is one thick doughlike batter. Gently stir in the walnuts. 

4. Over fill 6 muffin cups and bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes.  You must let these cool before trying to remove them from the cups.

Banana Blueberry Oat Walnut Muffins Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 muffin (96g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 170 9% Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 194mg 8% Total Carbohydrate 27g 9% Dietary Fiber 5g 18% Sugars 6g 0% Protein 6g 11% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 9% Calcium 8% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. Courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Visit Serious Eats - Vegan Recipes

Okay, this is unusual, but this fellow, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, is an amazing cook and he has been blogging food for a long time. Lately he has started doing totally vegan for one month of the year - and has now consolidated all his recipes from last year's and this year's Vegan Month.
Serious Eats Vegan Recipes Slide Show

I just want this guy cooking for me!! But since I can't have that, I want everyone else to be able to eat these amazing dishes too.  He is much more dependable than I, testing and searching and being more expert to begin with.

So I am posting just to promote his terrific catalog of amazing Vegan Recipes from his 30 days in 2012 and 2013.

Serious Eats RECIPES - Explore and Enjoy

Golden Flaxseed Muffins

I've been reading about flaxseed and all its useful nutrition, especially for omega-3s and lignons. So this morning when I felt like baking, I thought about using the golden flaxseed meal I had brought home a week or two ago from the food co-op.  That's how it began. My husband has a cold and said that though he can't taste much, something sweet just might be nice.  Here's what happened!! This little muffin is sweet and delicious, with a nice crumb and packs a healthy dose of just what you need. And I don't know what took me so long to use these silicone baking cups - they are amazing if you are baking without oil.

Golden Flaxseed Muffins (makes 6)
preheat oven to 350F

1/4 cup golden flaxseed meal (I used Bob's Red Mill organic)
1/4 cup oat bran
2 tablespoons almond meal (also Bob's)
1 cup brown rice flour (yup, also Bob's)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
a small carrot
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup walnut halves/bits
2 Tblsp plain coconut yogurt
3/4 cup almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla)
2 Tblsp maple syrup - more if you like sweet sweet

1. Mix dry ingredients. Finely grate carrot, put in bowl with currants and walnuts.
2. In 2 cup measuring cup add 3/4 cup almond milk, coconut yogurt  and maple syrup stirring until well mixed.
3. Add wet to dry, then textured fruits/veggies to mix quickly and lightly. Plop into 6 silicone muffin cups . Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes, testing for doneness by poking the center of one with a toothpick.

If it comes out tacky/sticky bake a few more minutes. The combination of yogurt and carrot keeps the muffins moist on the inside. If you don't like this aspect of the muffin, don't use the coconut milk yogurt, just use almond milk. I put sliced strawberries on top just for fun, but the sweet-tart bites with strawberries were really specially nice.

golden flax muffins Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Muffin (102g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 226 11% Total Fat 9g 13% Saturated Fat 1g 6% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 163mg 7% Total Carbohydrate 36g 12% Dietary Fiber 5g 22% Sugars 8g 0% Protein 6g 12% Vitamin A 6% • Vitamin C 1% Calcium 12% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

VARIATION 1:  For a lower calorie version - I eliminated the  ALMOND MEAL, REDUCED the oat bran to 2 Tablespoons, and walnuts down to a few bits in the tops of each muffin, and ADDED a tsp vanilla. To keep a similar high nutritional value, I used 3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk rather than the almond milk.

Golden Flax Currant Muffins Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Muffin (100g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 207 10% Total Fat 6g 9% Saturated Fat 1g 5% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 150mg 6% Total Carbohydrate 35g 12% Dietary Fiber 5g 20% Sugars 8g 0% Protein 6g 12% Vitamin A 6% • Vitamin C 1% Calcium 9% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

VARIATION 2 will be without the coconut yogurt -- to see how it goes without the extra moisture.