GourmAndrea

Granola Bars

 

 

I had a craving for homemade granola bars so I found a recipe and made some small changes to it. These are pretty good but I prefer a bit more oat to flour ratio and a bit more nuts. I will keep searching but that's the fun part right?

Granola Bars

3/4 cup old fashioned or large flake oats

1/4 cup chopped nuts (your choice)

2 tbsp pumpkin or sunflower seeds

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried fruit (your choice)

1/4 cup chocolate chips; optional

1.) Preheat your oven to 350F

2.) Line an 8 x 8" pan with aluminum foil letting it overhang and 1" on each sides spray lightly with spray.

3.) Place the oats,nuts and seeds on a baking tray bake for 6-10 min stirring halfway until lightly golden and smelling nutty; set aside to cool completely.

4.) In a small bowl whisk together flax,flour,cinnamon and salt until well mixed.

5.) In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar,oil,egg and vanilla add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in nuts/oats and dried fruit/chocolate until just combined.

6.) Put into prepared pan and moisten fingers lightly with water and spread mixture evenly in pan.

7.) Bake for 25-30 min or until set and then put pan on cooling rack until completely cooled then slice into bars or squares. I made 8 fair sized bars but you could do 16 squares.

 

Eat Alberta 2012

Eat Alberta is here again! Unfortunately I wont be able to make it this year. Ivy is only 3 1/2 months and with still nursing you get the idea. I am disapointed because I had a great time last year you can read about it here.

Here are the details and the link to buy tickets :)

On April 14, 2012, the second annual Eat Alberta conference will take place at NAIT. Through a mix of hands-on and demonstration workshops, tasting sessions, and presentations from some of the leaders of our food community – farmers, chefs and local food advocates – we hope that participants will learn how to use and source local food as well as develop nurturing and ongoing relationships with one another and with those that produce our food. Our theme for this year is: Your Real Food Survival Guide.

Visit our website to see the schedule, sessions, and presenters for this year's event. Tickets are now available here for $135 - we hope to see you on April 14!

Cheers,

Eat Alberta Organizing Committee

 

Pumpkin Seed Butter Muffins

I recently saw some pumpkin seed butter and was intrigued so I picked some up. I found it interesting but I wasn't crazy about it replacing my other nut butters on a bagel and decided to look at using it in baking.  I just went with a choc chip/peanut butter muffin recipe and they turned out quite good. They are a little more green than the pictures give off, quite fitting for this time of year. The only change I would make next time is to use a little more sugar or more likely just add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. These are quite dense muffins but they are not heavy they have a crumbly/buttery texture.

Pumpkin Seed Butter Muffins makes-12

2 1/4 cups flour (I used two cups all purpose and 1/4 cup cake and pastry)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbbp butter, melted then cooled

1/2cup pumpkin seed butter

2 eggs

1 cup milk

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1.) Preheat oven to 375F

2.) In a large bowl whisk together flour,baking powder,salt and sugar( *note if you use cinnamon add 1/2 tsp here).

3.) In a small bowl whisk together butter,eggs,milk and pumpkin seed butter.

4.) Make a well in dry ingredients then stir in wet until just combined then fold in chocolate chips.

5.) Bake for 17 to 20 min until they spring back when touched lightly in center. 

I will play around more with this in the future see how well it does in granola bars and cookies.