A Simple Date Loaf

 

This is a very simple date quick bread that is ideal to have with tea or coffee, or as breakfast with a topping of your choice. I like it with caramel baked apples. It is not very sweet. 

1/2 cup boiling water

¼ cup half and half

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

Juice of 1 lemon

1 1⁄2  cups chopped dates

1 1⁄3  cups all-purpose flour

1   teaspoon baking powder

1  teaspoon salt (if no sodium restriction)

1  large egg

1⁄4  cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I like to use coconut sugar, Jaggery or Piloncillo)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange flavoring

1⁄4  cup unsalted butter

5 whole allspice berries

5 pieces of cloves

5 green cardamom pods

 

DIRECTIONS

 

    Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a standard loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour sides.

    In a small bowl mix the dates, butter, baking soda, vanilla and orange flavoring. Bring the water, cardamom pods, cloves, allspice, and brown sugar to a boil, let the spices steep in the water for 5-10 minutes then remove them. Pour the hot water over the mixture of dates, butter etc. You will see it bubble up. Add the lemon juice and set aside to cool.

    In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

    In a different bowl, beat the egg and half and half with an electric mixer until pale in color.

    Separate the date mixture into two halves. Take half of the date mixture and blend to a paste using a blender or food processor. Mix the paste with the original half of unblended dates.

    Mix the wet and dry ingredients together, stirring until just combined.

    Pour this mixture into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for approximately 55 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

    Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan, then cool completely on a rack.

Slice into 12 pieces when cool and serve with caramel baked apple topping.

Honey Oatmeal Cake Bars

 

These are sliced cake bars that are very filling as a mid-morning or afternoon snack. It's a type of "Dump" cake where all ingredients are dumped in the mixer bowl and whisked together. The toasted Buckwheat flour gives the cake a nice, nutty background note, and takes away the more "earthy" taste of "green" Buckwheat flour. Toast it in a wok or fry pan over medium heat until the flour begins to smell aromatic and nutty. 

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup buckwheat flour, toasted (toast in a wok until it starts to smell aromatic)

1 cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon low sodium baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

Juice of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon salt (if not on sodium restricted diet)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup water

½ cup unsweetened apple juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 tablespoons oats

Blueberries for sprinkling

 

Line the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour sides, set aside. “Dump” all ingredients into a mixer bowl. Mix at low speed until just blended, then high speed for 3 minutes. Pour into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle blueberries on top along with 1-2 tablespoons oats. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan before inverting and cutting into 16 pieces!

Almost Vegan Baked Oatmeal

 

This baked oatmeal is almost vegan and more like a pudding in texture. It's very moist and rich. The combination of rolled oats and steel cut oats keep you full for a couple of hours. It goes well with fresh fruit of your choice. The coconut milk mixture produces a nice custard topping to finish it off. It's a bit time consuming to prepare but well worth the effort.

1 1/2 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats + 1 tablespoon extra for sprinkling on top

1 -2 tablespoons oat bran for sprinkling on top

½ cup steel cut oats, soaked

1 tablespoon Arrowroot flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Allspice

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt (if no sodium restriction)

2 cups unsweetened Apple Juice

1 large egg

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar for sprinkling over apple slices at bottom of dish

1/4 cup Butter + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 apple (any kind) cored, peeled, or unpeeled. Cut half in slices, finely cube the other half

 

Custard Topping

1/4 cup coconut milk

1-2 tablespoon dark brown sugar (depends how decadent you want to make it)

½ teaspoon vanilla

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and line the bottom of a 9x9-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Make sure the baking dish has a depth of about 4". Grease all sides of the dish. Place sliced apples at bottom, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine rolled oats, Arrowroot flour, baking powder, salt (if using), and spices. Set aside.

Pour Boiling water over the steel cut oats and let soak for 5-10 minutes, drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together apple juice, egg, applesauce, nut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Add oats mixture (rolled and soaked and drained steel cut) to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Fold in cubed apples.

Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish, sprinkle the top with oat bran and 1 tablespoon rolled oats, refrigerate overnight so all the liquid can be absorbed. The following morning, mix ¼ cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar and ½ teaspoon vanilla to make the sauce of the custard topping. Pour this over the top of the oats and bake until set, about 40 - 50 minutes. 

Let cool completely in the refrigerator so that all the liquid can be absorbed and the consistency is firm enough to slice and serve.