Oats and Millet Crunchy Cookies

 

These are extra crunchy cookies made with oats and puffed millet. They go great with coffee or tea. 

• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup puffed millet
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Durum Atta flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• 2 tablespoons Golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt  (if no salt restriction)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup unsalted butter , cubed
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• ½ cup boiling water
• Thick cut oats for rolling (if desired)

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 375 F

2.     Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl

3.     Rub in butter and shortening with fingers

4.     Mix the syrup with boiling water

5.     Pour the water mixture, vanilla, and vinegar, and mix using hands until mixture just begins to hold together. Let it sit for 15 minutes so that the oats can absorb any excess liquid. You should not have to add more oats or flour to bring the dough to the correct consistency where it can be handled.

6.     Divide dough into two balls

7.     On a large surface, between two sheets of wax or parchment paper, roll dough into 10 x 12-inch rectangle ¼ inch thick

8.     If desired, generously cover the top with extra rolled oats; roll or pat them firmly into the surface of the dough

9.     Cut into 3.5-inch circles; place on parchment covered cookie sheet (I hate rolling out dough, so I take a small ball of dough and use an egg ring as the shaper, pressing the dough down to half the height of the egg ring. The egg ring automatically shapes the dough into a circle.)

10. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven. Cool for 10 minutes, turn over cookies using an egg lifter. Reduce oven to 250 degrees F and  leave cookies to dry out for another hour in oven. Turn off oven and leave cookies in oven until the oven has cooled.

11. Place on cooling rack and store in an airtight container. Makes 19-20 3.5 x 0.25-inch cookies

Apple Oatmeal Snack Cake

 

This snack cake does need some preparation, and is fairly low in sodium. Half teaspoon salt may be included if you are not on sodium restriction, but this will obviously increase the sodium level significantly. I omit it. There are a variety of nutrition calculators that can be used to calculate the nutritional composition, depending on the size of the serving. It freezes well and uses oatmeal, buckwheat flour and all purpose flour. It's a light snack cake that goes well with stewed fruit or just by itself with a beverage of your choice.

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup Buckwheat Flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon low sodium baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup shortening

½ cup 100%, unsweetened apple juice

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs

4 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 medium Granny Smith Apple, cored and cubed. The peel may be left on if desired.

Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

1.     Line the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the sides.

2.     Using a wok or fry pan, toast the buckwheat flour until it smells aromatic. Add to all purpose flour.

3.     Grind ¼ cup of the oats to a flour like consistency and add to the flour mixture, and the rest of the oats. Mix in the soda, baking powder, and spices.

4.     Rub in the shortening into the flour mixture with fingers until the consistency of bread crumbs.

5.     Core and cube the apple, mix with the lemon juice and set aside.

6.     Whisk the eggs, sour cream, vanilla, apple juice and maple syrup until pale in color.

7.     Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Gently mix in the cubed apples.

8.     Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before inverting and cutting into squares, the size of your choosing ( I use approximately 3x4 inches to get 12 squares)

Buckwheat Spice Bread

 

Buckwheat has become my latest passion since it has a number of health benefits. It's not strictly a cereal grain but is used like one. Most people are familiar with Buckwheat Pancakes, and in Russia and the Ukraine, the groats are boiled to make a cooked cereal like oats. This bread is highly spiced with tropical flavors (ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon), and goes well by itself, buttered or topped with stewed fruit. It is a very dense bread, almost like a pudding.....so, it's not a light, fluffy bread or cake! The slices remain moist for 2-3 days when stored in an airtight container. The end flavor is  one with tropical flavors in the background and the earthy taste of the buckwheat shining through! The slices may be wrapped and frozen. If you have no sodium restrictions, add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dry ingredients.

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup buckwheat flour (I grind toasted buckwheat groats in a spice mill to make the flour, but it can be bought already ground as flour)

¼ cup arrowroot flour (you could also use Tapioca or Corn Starch, but I prefer Arrowroot for the consistency it produces)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons Honey (Buckwheat if you can get it)

1 teaspoon low sodium baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger root

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (about 2 medium) finely shredded granny smith apples (or any variety you have available, Cored, and peeled, if desired. I use it unpeeled) mixed with juice and zest of 1 lemon, and the grated ginger root

2 Tablespoons thick cut, old-fashioned rolled oats

2 Tablespoons fresh or dried Blueberries

 

 

 

1.      Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a  9×5-inch loaf  with parchment paper, and grease and flour sides

2.      In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices

3.     In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, oil, honey, vanilla and add the finely shredded apples and lemon juice.

4.     Add to flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended. The batter will be very thick….it’s a bread, not a cake!

5.     Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the oats and blueberries over the top, pressing the berries and flakes lightly into the batter

6.     Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 20 minutes in pan before inverting on to a wire rack. Remove loaf and cool completely before slicing.