Zucchini Oatmeal Quick Bread

This is a very quick and easy bread to make. It can be toasted or not, and eaten with butter or cheese. The texture and density is that of a bread....it's not a cake!

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil (1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup oil may be used)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup  brown sugar, unpacked

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1½ cups coarsely shredded zucchini (do not drain liquid). Add to this the juice of one lime.

3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

Line bottom of standard loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour sides

Whisk flour, oats, salt, spices, baking soda, cranberries, baking powder, in another large bowl just to combine. Whisk eggs, oil, granulated sugar, maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Add the shredded zucchini and lime juice to the egg mixture. Stir to combine. Add that to the flour and mix, using a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pans (it will be thick and dense)

Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let bread cool in pans 15 minutes; turn out bread onto rack and let cool completely. Slice evenly to give 12 slices.

Apple Oatmeal Spice Breakfast Cake

This is a very filling breakfast square, packed with oats, and done in the style of an apple upside down cake. So, it has a "gooey" topping. One square is usually enough for breakfast but it's hard to keep it at just one! 

 

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon molasses

1 cup butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

½ cup oat bran

1/3 cup unsalted, raw pumpkin seeds

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup flax meal

½ cup Greek Style yogurt

2/3 cup half and half

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons Arrowroot Flour

1 cup fresh or frozen Blueberries

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges

1.      In a bowl, mix together the oats, pumpkin seeds, oat bran, flax meal, spices, flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the blueberries to the flour mixture so that they are coated with the flour. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.

2.      In a large saucepan, melt together the butter (save 1 tablespoon to put with apples at the bottom of the baking dish), half and half, molasses, vanilla, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and maple syrup. Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 5 minutes until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool.

3.      Grease a 8 inch by 8 inch baking dish with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper. Arrange the wedges of apples at the bottom and add the 1 tablespoon of butter that has been cut into small pieces. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of brown sugar over the apples and butter.

4.      Whisk eggs, and yogurt, mixing well.

5.      Add the cooled butter mixture to the egg and yogurt mixture, whisk and add the lemon juice. Then add the dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon.  

6.      Bake in a 350° oven for about 1 hour until top is golden brown and a tester inserted comes out clean. The finished product should be firm to touch. Cut into 16 squares when cool.

Hardtack Oatcakes

These crisp and crunchy cookies are a combination of Nova Scotia Oatcakes, Hardtack Biscuits and Anzac Cookies. They are double baked like Biscotti to dry them out and make they crisp and crunchy. They will keep for some time stored in an airtight container but can also be wrapped and frozen. The recipe yields about 12, 2 1/2" diameter cookies. They are great with morning coffee.
Options: Use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup Durum Atta Flour for a pronounced "snap" or crispiness. Replace 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup puffed millet cereal for more "crunch". They are great if you use 2 to make a "sandwich" with crunchy peanut butter between the two!

2 cups Old Fashioned or thick cut oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

¼ cup Crisco (or other vegetable-based shortening like coconut oil)

¼ cup butter

1 tablespoon Arrowroot flour or cornstarch

½ cup dark brown sugar

1-2 tablespoons 100% Maple Syrup

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup boiling water

Directions

1.       Mix the flour, Arrowroot flour or cornstarch, sugar, salt, butter and Crisco in a large bowl. Rub the fats into the dry ingredients (like when you are making a pie crust) until the consistency is like that of coarse breadcrumbs. Add the oats to the mixture and combine.

2.       Add the baking soda to the boiling water then mix in with the dry ingredients. Add the maple syrup at this point and mix all together to form a “dough” (it may need a tablespoon or so more water to bring the dough together).

3.       Make 12 small balls of the dough, rolling between your palms to bring the mixture together. Put all in plate and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.(I roll the dough into a small log then cut it into 12 pieces to get the ball portions)

4.       Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside

5.       Remove the balls of dough from the refrigerator and flatten between palms to make “patties” that are about ¼ inch thick. Use fingers to make a nice circular shape.

6.       Place patties on the parchment paper and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

7.       Lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and place cookies back in for about 45 minutes. This drying out process is what makes the cookies crisp and extends the shelf life.  

8.       Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.