 Mom's apple tree produced mountains of apples this year, so the ones that have not yet found themselves tucked into pie, have become a myriad of other delectables. These bars are a riff on our classic fruit bar, and play up all those things we love about apple pie. We have quite a few recipes here that showcase the versatility of our recipe, the Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bar, Rhubarb and Mulberry Crumb Bar, Cranberry Orange, mixed fruit, Apricot, you get the idea. We love this recipe as it feels like dessert, but also feels like a decent snack for the kids. Win win!
Apple Pie Crumb Bar 1 9x13 pan, about 16 bars 1-cup brown sugar 3 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon, divided ½ tsp. salt 1-cup cold butter cut in cubes Zest of 1 lemon 2 eggs 3 cups diced, peeled apples ½ cup sugar 2 tsp. tapioca flour Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease a 9 x 13” inch Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ½ tsp. cinnamon, salt, and lemon zest. Then, add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, ½ tsp. cinnamon, tapioca powder and Vanilla extract and mix. Carefully stir in apples. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.
2 Comments
 It has been quite an adventure moving to Idaho. Moving out of Los Angeles was bittersweet, we miss our friends and family, but we have fallen even more in love with this special place we call home now. Surrounded by blue skies, mountains, and nature has filled each of us with a bit more zen, and we are exploring new places every day. On Facebook, we found a lovely lady who was selling fruit from her garden, so we drove over and picked up a few pounds of the most glorious little apricots. Her garden was overflowing with bounty, we have our eye on her last cutting of rhubarb in a few weeks and the plums were just starting to come in. Some of the apricots got tucked into a pie, some into a galette, and then these we paired with some blueberries for a bar to die for. We are huge apricot fans, apricot jam is literally our jam, and we love a good crumb bar. These came out just sweet enough from the blueberries, and tart from those tasty apricots. If you can't find any apricots as the season here is almost over, sub in plums, or nectarines! Apricot Blueberry Crumb Bars Makes one 9” x 13” Pyrex 1-cup brown sugar 3 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 1-cup cold butter, cut into pieces Zest of a lemon 2 eggs 1-cup blueberries 3-4 cups sliced apricots 1-cup sugar 4 tsp. cornstarch or tapioca flour Juice of 1 lemon 1 ½ tsp. almond extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease a 9 x 13” Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Then, add in the cold butter and eggs, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any larger pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan, making sure you have an even base. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in fruit. Let the fruit sit for a few minutes. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.  Rhubarb is one of those things that can be a little confusing. Technically, it is a vegetable but "legally considered" a fruit...Now what the heck does that mean? To us, it sort of is like a tomato, which is technically a fruit but eaten as a vegetable. Either way, rhubarb is something special, and if you have never tried it, these bars are an easy way to indoctrinate you into its sweet, tart unique flavor. Raw, it is stringy and super sour, but coupled with some sugar and acid, and baked, the layers of flavor unfold. The mulberry is a perfect counterpoint as these berries are super sweet when ripe, but lack that acidic kick that let's say a blackberry has. So, together you have sweet and tart, and with the oats in the crumble, you have created this delicious dessert that can be breakfast, snacks or topped with ice cream to end a meal. Try it soon, before both are out of season!
Rhubarb and Mulberry Oat Bars makes 1 8inch square baking dish ½ cup brown sugar 1-cup flour ½ cup rolled oats ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup butter cut into small pieces 1 egg beaten Zest of 1 lemon 1 cup diced rhubarb about 8 stalks 1-cup mulberries ½ cup sugar ½ cup brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 tsp. tapioca powder or cornstarch Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. cinnamon Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, oats, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch or tapioca powder and Vanilla extract and mix. Carefully stir in fruit. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.  The kids are obsessed with snickerdoodles, so to keep things interesting for us, we had to play around with the flavors. While we are solidly on team chocolate chip, the addition of the chai influenced spices took this cinnamon sugar cookie to new heights. By adding the ginger, cardamom, cloves and allspice, the cookie went from a childhood favorite to something a little more grown-up. We will make this version any time. Salted Butter Chai Spiced Snickerdoodles Makes about 12-15 cookies ½ cup room temperature salted butter ¾ cup sugar 1 egg 1 1/3 cup flour ½ tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cream of tartar ½ tsp. salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. ginger ¼ tsp. cloves ¼ tsp. allspice ¼ tsp. cardamom Preheat oven to 350 Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. While the butter and sugar beat, in a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add egg to sugar and butter and mix well, then add the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Mix rest of sugar and spices in a bowl. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into about 1 inch balls. Roll until covered in cinnamon sugar and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Cookies will spread. Bake for about 9-11 minutes and cool on tray.  We are so excited to participate again in #margaritaweek organized by Kate Ramos of @holajalapeno. Last year, we did a strawberry margarita cookie which proved to be a delicious surprise, so we thought, hey, let's try to bake something else! While we do love a great margarita, they aren't in heavy rotation here as Mom is a vodka lady and I truly am a beer girl at heart. But, we both love a good cookie. This is a riff on the classic gluten-free coconut macaroon. We've added lime and tequila so you can imagine you are drinking your favorite Mexican cocktail while you scarf down a few cookies. They are not the prettiest cookie on the block, but they are chewy, sweet and have just a hint of citrus tang. Try them and dream of your next beach vacation! Be sure to check out the hashtag and Kate's website, for over a hundred recipes all through the week! Check them out here!
Put the Lime in the Coconut Margarita Macaroons Makes about 18-20 cookies 14 oz. sweetened shredded coconut (one package) 14 oz. condensed milk (one can) 1-tablespoon tequila 2 egg whites ¼ tsp. salt 2 tsp. lime juice Zest of 1 lime Preheat oven to 325 Stir together the coconut, condensed milk, lime zest, lime juice, and tequila until incorporated. In a mixer, beat the egg whites and the salt until you have stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. (If you loosen the mixture with a little egg white first, then add the rest you maintain more loft.) On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop 1 tablespoon of mixture, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely on tray.  We normally are not snickerdoodle fans, our love falls somewhere in the dark chocolate peanut butter cookie zone. But, the kids, and some of the big kids, meaning the adults in the family certainly are. The littlest requested this cookie after many batches of Alison Roman's Instragram famous Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbreads found their way into the cookie jar. To be fair and kind, we said yes and got making the snicks as we like to call them. However, we needed a little twist on this cookie to satisfy our more salty palate, as a snick can veer to the sweet side. So, thinking about one of the reasons why we loved her cookie so much, we experimented with using salted butter and boom! Heaven! The cookie gets just a little salty bite mixed in with all that cinnamon sugar goodness. These are easy to make and the kids loved rolling them in the sugar, so get baking!! Salted Butter Snickerdoodles Makes about 15 cookies ½ cup room temperature salted butter ¾ cup sugar 1 egg 1 1/3 cup flour ½ tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cream of tartar ½ tsp. salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon Preheat oven to 350 Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. While the butter and sugar beat, in a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add egg to sugar and butter and mix well, then add the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Mix rest of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into about 1 inch balls. Roll until covered in cinnamon sugar and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Cookies will spread. Bake for about 9-11 minutes and cool on tray.  We have been adding cranberries to many a thing this past month, pies, applesauce, you name it, as we love the tart, acidic punch they give. So, when we found a bag of fresh cranberries tucked in the back of the refrigerator, (probably from Thanksgiving) we experimented with our trusty crumb bar recipe. Playing off the classic combination of cranberries and orange and knowing that the cranberries would need a bit more sugar then lets say a mixed berry crumb bar, we tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with this delicious cookie/bar. Its sweet, tart, and sort of feels like breakfast without the carb load of a big cran-orange muffin, not that we have anything against a good cran-orange muffin:) Try these before you forget that you love cranberries, and have to wait until next Thanksgiving to enjoy them! Cranberry Orange Crumb Bars Makes 16 bars 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into cubes zest of 1 orange 1 egg 2 cups fresh cranberries 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons corn starch juice of one orange 1/2 tsp. almond extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, orange juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in cranberries. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.  We are addicted to Peanut Butter. It is one of our desert island foods, so we are constantly looking for ways to enjoy it. This grown up version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was inspired by a large batch of organic Costco concord grapes on the verge of being purged. On a whim, we cooked them down into this ridiculously good jelly, sweet, tart and bright, and then threw the jelly into these bars. Yes, it does involve an extra step, but it is well worth the effort. Next time, we are trying it with green grapes!!! Peanut Butter and Jelly Oatmeal Bars Makes 1 dozen 1-cup flour 1-cup oats 1/3-cup brown sugar 1/3-cup sugar ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. baking soda ½ cup peanut butter ½ cup butter, room temperature 1-cup fresh grape “jelly” Grape “Jelly” 3 cups grapes, any kind ¼ cup sugar 1-tablespoon cornstarch ¼ cup water plus 1 tablespoon ½ tsp. vanilla extract For the grape jelly place all the grapes, sugar. Vanilla and ¼ water into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir grapes until they start to break down and release their juices. About 5-8 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch into tablespoon of water and pour into grapes. Turn heat up slightly and let grapes bubble and thicken for about 2 minutes. Turn off and cool. Preheat oven to 350 Grease an 8x8 square baking dish and set aside Place the oats, flour, salt, baking soda, and sugars in mixer with a paddle attachment. Add peanut butter, then butter and mix until evenly combined. Take 2/3 of your crumble and press into your prepared pan. Bake for about 20 minutes until slightly brown. Spread grape jelly on top and cover with remaining crumble, letting some grape jelly poke through. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until brown and bubbling. Let cool entirely before slicing.   While we feel like we should be sick of pumpkin by now, we aren't! These bars are bananas, everything you love about pumpkin pie in a bite sized bar. The filling is luscious, creamy and full of all those holiday spices. We did a mash up of a few recipes to get here, and now we can't stop making them. Planning on trying a butternut squash version next...we shall see!! Also, if you use gluten-free graham crackers it is a great gluten-free dessert/cookie to take to any holiday party! Pumpkin Pie Bars Makes 12-16 ¼ cup brown sugar ½ cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. ground cloves ¼ tsp. ginger ¼ tsp. nutmeg ¼ tsp. salt 2 eggs 1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk 1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9 rectangles) ½ cups pecans 2 tablespoons brown sugar 5 tablespoons melted butter Preheat oven to 350 Line 9x13-baking pan with parchment, with some overhang. Set aside. In food processor pulse graham crackers, or crumbs with pecans until they are a sandy texture. Add sugar and melted butter and pulse until combined. Press firmly into pan on bottom and slightly up the sides. Bake for 9 minutes and set aside. Whisk together the sugars, spices, and salt. Whisk in eggs, pumpkin puree, and evaporated milk and mix until smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for 30-35 minutes until it no longer jiggles. Remove and cool. Place in refrigerator for at least an hour before cutting. Lift out parchment and cut into 12-16 pieces. Can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. And, last few days of the Holiday Sale! Cards are running out, only a few more sets left, so grab them while you can!   For anyone who is a lover of dark chocolate, these cookies are for you. They are intensely chocolatey without being too sweet and the ideal partner to an afternoon espresso. We have always loved a sable, the french version of a shortbread. They are a simple cookie that is delicate and crumbly with a sandy texture. You can flavor them with all sorts of things, lemon, vanilla, cheese, almond and of course, chocolate. The mix of both grated and chopped chocolate insures that the chocolate is distributed throughout the cookie. You can also have fun with the toppings, if you don't have sesame seeds, crushed nuts, flax seeds, or coconut would all be delicious. Chocolate Brown Sugar Sables makes about 16 cookies 2 oz dark chocolate, grated and chopped, finely ¾ cup flour ¼ cup cocoa powder ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon baking soda ¾ cup brown sugar plus 1 tablespoon 10 tablespoons butter, room temperature 2 egg yolks 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon water ½ teaspoon sesame seeds pinch of sea salt ½ tablespoon sugar Beat brown sugar and butter at medium high speed until light and creamy, scraping the bowl occasionally (about 4 minutes) In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Add egg yolks one at a time to the sugar and butter mixture, and beat, scraping down after each. Add vanilla and water. Reduce speed and add the flour mixture. When combined, add the chocolate and beat for 30 seconds to insure that everything is combined. Place dough on a piece of parchment and role into about a 2 inch thick log. Chill until firm, about an hour. Preheat oven to 350. With a serrated knife cut cookies into discs, about ¼ inch thick and place on parchment lined baking tray. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, remaining sugar and sea salt if you like. Bake 11-13 minutes. *You can place cookie close together on baking sheet as they will not spread.  These bars are always a hit in our house. We have done every sort of variation and these lemon blueberry ones were one of the tastiest combos. The acidity of the lemon plays nicely with the sweet berry, and the almond extract brings a nutty undertone. You can easily double this and freeze half which is what we do, and you can easily sub in any fruit. Check out our Mixed Fruit Crumb Bars for ideas! We also do a Raspberry Lime one that is worth a try! Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bars Makes one 8 inch cake pan or one 8 inch square Pyrex ½ cup brown sugar 1 ½ cups flour ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup cold butter, cut into pieces Zest of a lemon 1 egg 2 ½ cups blueberries ½ cup sugar 2 tsp. cornstarch Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. almond extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any larger pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in fruit. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.   As we have many gluten-free friends, we are always experimenting with different desserts to satisfy their sweet tooth's. Using the gluten-free flour mix from Trader Joe's we were able to easily convert regular cookie recipes into gluten-free! These are chewy, tender, and jam packed with nuts, cherries and of course chocolate! Gluten-free Chocolate Walnut Cherry Cookies Makes about 2 ½ dozen 2 ¼ cup gluten-free flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 cup of room temperature butter ¾ cup sugar ¾ cup brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 eggs room temperature 1 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels 1 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (about 3-4 oz) ½ cup chopped roasted walnuts ½ cup dried cherries In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the sugars, vanilla extract and the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Add eggs one at a time to butter sugar mixture, making sure you scrape the sides after each addition. Then add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Fold in the nuts, cherries and chocolate. Chill batter for 3 hours or overnight (if you can wait!) Preheat oven to 375. Scoop batter into about 1 inch balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving room as these cookies tend to spread. Bake for 11-13 minutes.   Collaborations with other chefs allow us to experiment and in experimentation comes some risk and some rewards. These cookies were certainly a reward! In honor of @holajalapeno and the margarita week she is inspiring, we went cookie as we hardly ever go actual margarita. (Mom is a vodka girl!) These cookies are not too sweet, tender, with a hint of lime. Dare you to eat just one! And, they are safe for the kids to eat as the alcohol burns off in the baking. Strawberry Margarita Cookies
about 1 dozen cookies 1/2 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup of sugar 1 egg 2 tsp Tequila 1 tsp lime juice 1 tsp lime zest 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups of flour 1/8 cup diced fresh strawberries (dice small and if you have a little more its ok) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Cream together the butter and the sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and lime zest. Set aside. When sugar and butter has lightened in color and become fluffy, add the egg, the lime juice and the tequila. Mix and then add the flour a little at a time until it is incorporated. Add diced strawberries and mix just until evenly placed in batter. Roll dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls in your hand and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15-16 minutes until the bottoms just begin to brown.  These cookies are nutty and chocolatey, two things that are always a win. We have been playing around with different nut butters and different flours, and this cookie is a nice addition to your arsenal as it gives you the feel of a chocolate chip cookie and is good for your gluten-free friends or family. We have a version on the site with peanut butter that does not have any type of flour whatsoever in it, but the almond flour in this cookie gives the cookie a heartier bite. Maybe we can then eat them for breakfast? Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Cookies Makes about 1 dozen cookies 2 eggs 1 cup almond butter 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup almond flour 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup dark chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, then add the rest of the ingredients. Once dough comes together, roll into about inch size balls. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on the sheet pan as cookies are crumbly when they are removed from the oven.  When the kids hear they can have cookies for breakfast, they are super psyched! And, well, these cookies pack enough punch to get them fueled up while they think they are pulling one over on us. They are sort of like the cookie version of loaded oatmeal, filled with lots of oats, dried fruit and coconut oil. You could add a tablespoon or two of almond butter or a 1/4 cup of chopped nuts to the dough if you wanted a hit of protein, but we leave them out as the kids school is nut free and these are also great as school snacks. Breakfast Cookies Makes about 1 dozen ½ cup applesauce ½ cup dried cherries or cranberries ½ cup oats ¼ cup oat flour ½ tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. nutmeg ½ tsp. vanilla extract 1 tbsp. coconut oil 1 egg ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ c mini chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 In a large mixing bowl whisk egg, oil, and applesauce. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until incorporated. Chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes Scoop dough into about 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet Bake for 14 minutes   We love chocolate and salt and together they make a tasty combination. This cookie is a full on chocolate explosion, however, with the bits of salty pretzels thrown in, it has a delicious balance. Soft and crunchy, salty and sweet. They are ridiculous right out of the oven when the chocolate is still melty and warm, but the kids like dipping cool cookies in milk. Either way its a winner! Chocolate Chocolate Pretzel cookies Makes about 2 dozen cookies 2 c flour ¼ c unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1-cup butter ½ cup sugar 1-cup light brown sugar, gently packed 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. espresso powder or finely ground espresso 2 eggs 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks or chips 1/4 c pretzels, roughly chopped, plus small whole ones for topping Preheat oven to 350 In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light al fluffy. In a large bowl whisk together the flour cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso and salt. Set aside. Add eggs one at a time to the creamed sugar, making sure you scrape the sides as you go. Add vanilla extract. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients. When everything looks combined, add your chocolate and your pretzels. Do not over mix. Scoop dough into 1 inch to 1.5-inch balls and place on cookie sheet. If topping with whole pretzels, squish one into the ball and slightly press down so the pretzel sits in the dough, not just on top. Bake for 9-11 minutes and cool. Serve with milk!  We've become a little obsessed with these fruit bars. This version we made for bookclub and the raspberry and lime combo was amazing. Sweet and tart with a little floral note from the almond extract. The graham flour was an experiment and it gave the bars a nice chew, and a slightly more dense bite which pared well with some Vanilla Ice cream. Graham Raspberry Lime Crumble Bar Makes one 8 inch round cake or square Pyrex 1 ½ cups of Graham Flour ½ cup brown sugar ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt Zest of 1 lime ½ cup butter 1 egg ½ cup sugar Juice of 1 lime 2 tsp. cornstarch ½ tsp. almond extract 2 ½ cups raspberries Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and lime zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lime juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in berries. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.   The kids were craving cookie...or maybe we were (wink) so here are some cookies with a healthyish twist. We always like adding oatmeal to any baked good as it ups the fiber and whole grains in anything (and somehow saying its an oatmeal cookie) makes it sound healthier. The mix of the two kinds of chocolates gives you some morsels that hold their shape and other chunks that melt and get gooey, just how we like it! Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies Makes about 2 dozen 1 cup of butter, room temperature ½ cup brown sugar 1 cup sugar ½ cup rolled oats 1 ¾ cup flour 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract ½ cup golden raisins 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1 cup bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate chunks, or a baking chocolate chopped up Preheat oven to 375 Line tray with parchment In a stand mixer place butter and sugars and cream together with paddle attachment until light and fluffy In a separate bowl whisk oats, flour, salt and baking soda When sugar and butter mixture is ready, add in the eggs one at a time, scraping down side after each addition. Add the Vanilla extract and then, slowly add in the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated and add the raisins then the chocolate. Do not over mix. Scoop whatever size cookies you like and bake for about 10-11 minutes until slightly brown.  Not sure about you, but we tend to overbuy at the Farmers Market this time of year, as the fruits just seem to beckon with their siren call. This means we are always looking for ways to use up fruit that is on the verge. You can make this treat with really any combo of berries and stone fruits. This bar hits all the right notes, sweet, tart, chewy with a little crunch. The addition of the almond extract instead of our go-to vanilla gave the bar a surprising undertone that was tasty. The kids had seconds! We made a second version a few days later with raspberries, strawberries and plum and used lime instead of lemon as we had no lemons. It was tangy, sweet and even better! You make the call based on the citrus you have on hand, may try orange next time! Mixed Fruit Crumb Bars Makes one 8 inch cake pan or one 8 inch square Pyrex ½ cup brown sugar 1 ½ cups flour ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup cold butter, cut into pieces Zest of half a lemon 1 egg 2 cups mixed berries and or stone fruit cut into small pieces (this had blackberries, strawberries and plums) ½ cup sugar 2 tsp. cornstarch Juice of ½ lemon 1/2 tsp. almond extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in fruit. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.   We experimented with all sorts of butters and sugars in making this cookie and this was the most successful. The tahini version was a little too strong, and the nutella version made a wonderful brownie brittle type thing but also dripped everywhere and killed the oven. These did work well with almond butter, and almond extract but in our family it's all about the peanut butter! Also, for some reason, we always think these are healthier to eat as they have no flour....ummm....yeah right! Gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup smooth Peanut Butter 3/4 cup coconut sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1 egg 1 tsp Vanilla Extract Preheat oven to 350 Mix all ingredients together, adding the chips last. Scoop into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet with about an inch between cookies. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. |
A square meal is satisfying, nourishing, complete.
A round table includes all. Categories
All
|
RSS Feed