Cranberry Almond Coconut Granola Bars

I finally decided to go for it and make my own granola bars. Since starting school and work, I have spent four months of running between studio and workplace, and less time to eat. I think I've pretty much established that I love to eat.
these granola bars are from Baking Bites.com, which seemed like the best place to start in terms of searching for a recipe. These are also made up of things I adore like almonds, oats, coconut and dried cranberries. They require no baking because you just boil a syrup, and stir in all the "stuff" pour into a pan, pack it down, cool and cut into bars. They taste a bit like jazzed up rice krispie squares, they freeze well, and have been keeping me energized during some long school days. These granola bars also happen to be vegan, and if you swap the rice krispies for gluten free brown rice cereal they can even be made gluten free.
I stupidly made these to take to school for some friends, now I am bombarded with requests for them. What was I thinking?

Coconut, Almond Cranberry Granola Bars

Vegan

Time: 15 minutes, plus cooling time

2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries

1. Line a 9×9″ square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, lightly greased.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, rice krispies, almond meal, ground flaxseed and coconut.
3. In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup, brown sugar and vegetable oil. Bring to a boil, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and salt. Pour into oat mixture and stir until dry ingredients are evenly moistened. At this point it should look something like unbaked granola. Stir in dried cranberries.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and press down into an even layer. Let stand until cool and set.
5. Cut into 16-20 bars with a sharp knife. Individually wrap in wax paper, if desired. Store in an airtight container.

From: Bakingbites.com

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

There's a reason peanut btter and chocolate make such good partners, I don't know the mechanics of this perfect union of flavours or who discovered it , but I know not to quibble when it comes to deliciousness. Case in point, these brownies, made by dividing a brownie batter into a chocolate brownie and peanut butter blondie batter and then swirling them together to create a delicious treat with the dense fudgy texture of a brownie and the salty satisfying taste of a Reese peanut butter cup. To call these "epic" is an understatement.


I was a little overzealous in my swirling technique. Mine came out less like swirls and more like layers. Not really a problem it just meant equal parts chocolate and peanut butter in each bit, no need to debate which piece i want, i always get the best of both worlds. If only non- dessert things were this equitable. It took quite a lot longer to bake than the original recipe stated but that may have been my oven acting weird . Once baked, they have the firm texture and crackly topping that I think ought to be the marker of a perfect brownie, with a tan coloured swirl of peanut butter. Each bite is layered with the salty sweet and rich combo of peanut butter and chocolate. The addition of the peanut butter chips was an inspired decision on the recipe developers part they add textural complexity and really enhance the peanut butter flavour.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Makes: about 16 brownies, one 9 inch square

Time: about 1 hour total

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Grease 9-inch square pan. Beat sugars, butter, milk and eggs in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide batter in half (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons for each half.) Stir peanut butter and peanut butter chips into one half. Stir cocoa and chocolate chips into the remaining half.
2. Spoon the chocolate batter into the pan in 8 mounds in a checkerboard pattern. Spoon peanut butter batter between mounds of chocolate batter. Gently swirl batters with knife for a marbled design.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes (I needed about 45 minutes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

From: Betty Crocker's Cookie Book

Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

I was going through my vintage cookbooks again. I am fascinated by the strange food people ate in the 50s and 60's. Take this recipe from 1968, a pie made by mixing lime juice, marshmallows, and heavy cream into a graham crust studded with more mini marshmallows, green food colouring, optional. I would love to try this just to see how it looks! let alone to taste it.
However, while sifting through the outmoded and just plain grotesque, you will ocassionally come across a few gems, like these chocolate peppermint brownies.


A friend of mine from Lithography class mentioned her experiment of mixing hot chocolate and peppermint tea, and it gave me the inspiration for some chocolate mint brownies. I adore mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate peppermint bark, and I ate mentos by the handful as a kid but it always seemed wrong to put mint into anything that wasn't a full on candy..ie cakes and brownies. However, my mind was changed after some free samples of the chocolate peppermint brownies at Starbucks.(I love when they give me free samples....its like they are feeding me to hang around, except that I already bought my 4 dollar latte)
The point of this long digression is that a pepperminty frosting over dense fudgy brownies is an inspired match. So when I was browsing my old cookbooks and found this recipe that calls for stuff I already have in my pantry, and no marshmallows in sight, I knew it would be great.



And it is, an elegant 3 layer brownie, consisting of: a fudgy dense brownie base, a white slick of peppermint frosting and a crackly chocolate topping. These would have been great at a 1950s dinner party, let alone a dinner party today, served on pretty platters with some peppermint tea or hot chocolate. These are really tasty, the main flavour here is the chocolate, the peppermint is refreshing but subtle. These are best served cut into tiny one inch squares for a little something sweet and refreshing after a nice dinner, because they are very rich. You could tint the peppermint layer green which would be so retro, but I decided that I would be serving it to people who may be a bit squeamish about food colouring and opted for white. I brought these to school and even got requests for the recipe!




Chocolate Mint Brownies

Dairy
Time: about 1-2 hours plus chilling time
Makes 24-30 bars depending on how you cut them, these are rich so cut them small!

• 2/3 cup butter
• 3 ounces(squares) unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler; remove from heat. Add brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla; blend well. Sift dry ingredients; add ad blend into chocolate mixture, mixing well.
2. Spread evenly in greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-35 minutes, until brownies are firm to the touch and will bounce back when lightly pressed. Cool thoroughly. Chill and glaze.

Mint frosting
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup softened butter
• 2 tablespoons milk or cream
• ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

1. Beat all ingredients until smooth; if desired tint with food colouring. Spread on bars; chill

Chocolate glaze (I just used about 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted for this step)

• 2 squares semisweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Melt chocolate and butter; dribble over cooled firm frosting. Spread gently with spatula until surface is covered. Cool, cut into bars. Yield 24-30 bars depending on how small you cut them.

From:
The Beta Sigma Phi Desserts Cookbook, 1968

Marshmallows, Crushed Pineapple and Cherries, Oh My?!

On a recent trip to Ontario, My mom and I went to an antiques mall and bought a vintage cookbook. In the car on the way home, I read some of the recipes aloud for fun. I love vintage cookbooks because some of the recipes, particularly those from the 50’s are horrendous. Almost all of the recipes in this book (The Beta Sigma Phi Baking Book) used marshmallows, crushed pineapple and maraschino cherries. Imagine a concoction of melted marshmallows, crushed pineapple, and maraschino cherries folded into whipped cream…it sounds quite bizarre.
But it seems I spoke too soon, the next day I was baking and Mom, told me I had given her a craving for something with pineapple and maraschino cherries in it. We did a quick search through some of her older cookbooks and found this recipe for tropical bars---a shortbread base with a sticky topping of brown sugar, coconut, pineapple and maraschino cherries.
A quick trip to the grocery store was all we needed to get the cherries, the only ingredient not already in the pantry, and we had a really retro style bar cookie in no time.
Ok so this isn’t quite as terrifying or “out there” as the marshmallow confection I described earlier but it’s still sweet, sticky, fun and retro.
And of course my other buy from the antiques mall had to make his way into the photo!
Say hello to Monsieur Ananas! I miss Telefrancais!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBSflK1FTSY
Les ananas n’est danser pas! But these bars are very excellent and will have you longing for the days of marshmallows and maraschino cherries.

Tropical Bars

Dairy

Time: about 1 hour

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• ½ cup sifted all purpose flour
• ½ baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• ¼ cup cut up maraschino cherries
• ½ cup well-drained crushed pineapple

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch square cake pan.
2. Sift 1 cup flour and ¼ teaspoon salt into bowl. Add ¼ cup brown sugar and blend lightly. Add butter and work into dry ingredients first with a fork and then with fingers until mixture is crumbly.
3. Press firmly into into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven.
4. Beat egg thoroughly. Add 1 cup brown sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat in rum extract.
5. Sift ½ cup flour baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt into mixture and stir to blend. Stir in coconut, pineapple and cherries. Spread over hot pastry layer and return to oven. Bake about 35 minutes or until well-browned. Cool in pan and cut into bars.

From: Mennonite Relief Sale Cookbook: A Collection of Traditional and Family Favourites

Blueberry Struesel Bars with Lemon Cream

Wild blueberries are really the best part about staying in the Maritimes in August. I could do without the hurricanes and the fruit flies (who have taken up residence in my apartment) and the imminent arrival of the fall semester, but these tiny little fruits somehow make this rather depressing season seem a bit more palatable - worthwile even.

Wild blueberries are the tinier but more powerful cousins to the cultivated behemoths at the grocery stores. They are a fraction of the size and yet they taste of pure distilled blueberry goodness. It’s almost like an intensely flavoured blueberry candy but without the cloying sweetness and artificiality.

Ok, So I’ve digressed into an ode to the wild blueberry. On to the recipe!

I’ve backlogged this recipe for streusel bars ever since I picked up the June/July 2008 issue of Fine Cooking Magazine. I was enchanted by the section on blueberry themed desserts (In fact, the pictures taunt me everytime I browse this magazine. Blueberry lime pound cake I’m coming for you next!) so with my hoard of wild blueberries, I decided to make these lemony bars full of bursting blueberry goodness. And you know they’ve gotta be good If I’m resorting to alliteration!

These bars are slightly fussier than your usually oat bar, because you bake in three steps rather than two (crust and then top). With these, after baking the crust, you layer on the filling and par-bake until it is shiny before then applying the topping and baking again. Really it’s not that much extra work. These really aren’t hard to make at all.

When cooled completely the lemon cream stays quite soft . The original recipe said to bake in a foil overhang so the bars can be lifted out of the pan easily but I found that the lemon cream was so soft if I had tried to lift them, the bars would have buckled and fallen apart. Just bake, cool and cut in a greased pan, I mean you'll still have to clean the pan anyways. These were soft and creamy at room temperature, but firm up in the fridge. Once you get past the first few edge pieces they are easy and relatively neat to slice into. (I eat the rejects/ evidence of clumsy bar slicing)

These bars are incredible and I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to make them. They are very rich and creamy, with great texture from the crispy topping, firm yet yielding lemon cream and the bursting tart blueberries in the middle of it all.

Can you still believe I have at least 3 cups of these blueberries left? I bought the small container I swear! Now what shall I do with the rest?

Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon Cream

Makes about 24 bars

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats(not quick oats)
• 1-1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg separated
• 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 2-1/2 cups fresh room temperature blueberries, washed and patted dry

1. Position a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (line a 13x9 pan with foil leaving a one inch overhang and grease the foil) or grease the bottom of sides of the pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt and baking powder. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, blend the butter completely into the into the flour mixture. Transfer 2 cups of the crumb mixture to another bowl and reserve for the topping. Blend the egg white into the remaining crumbs to moisten and then press the mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a level crust. Bake the crust until it starts to form a dry top,10-12 minutes.
3. Meanwhile in a medium bowl, whisk the condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and egg yolk. Let this mixture stand for 5 minutes; it will begin to thicken.
4. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the hot crust and then drop spoonfuls of the lemon mixture over the blueberries. Spread gently with a spatula to distribute a little more evenly, but take care not to crush the blueberries; it’s fine if the lemon mixture isn’t perfectly even. Bake until the lemon mixture just begins to form a shiny skin, 7-8 minutes.
5. Sprinkle the reserved topping over the lemon-blueberry layer, pressing the streusel between your fingers into small lumps as you sprinkle. Bake until the filling is bubbling at the edges and the topping is brown, 25-30 minutes.
6. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into 24 bars when completely cool. The bars may be stored at room temperature for a few hours but otherwise should be kept in the refrigerator.

From: Fine Cooking Magazine June/July 2008