Sesame Toffee Crunches

These cookies are much less hard on the teeth than Biscotti. It's more the texture of a crisp rusk, and holds up well for dunking (if that's your thing). They are wonderfully, sweet, crunchy, and the toffee taste just puts it over the edge. I have no nutritional information on it (did not calculate it) but I'm sure if you can exercise restraint in eating them, it'll be fine!

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups Durum Atta flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

3/4 cup puffed millet

¾ cup Scottish oatmeal

¼ cup dry, unsweetened coconut

1 teaspoon of vinegar (any kind)

1/3 cup white sugar

¼ cup water

¼ cup brown sugar, packed (I use either coconut sugar or Colombian Panela as they both have a very pronounced toffee taste)

1/2 cup almond butter

2 large eggs

1 cup sesame seeds

¼ cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup almonds or pumpkin seeds, chopped

Vegetable oil

Directions

1.      Mix the brown sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Boil to a thin syrup stage (approximately 212 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer).  Allow to cool to room temperature. Add the teaspoon of vinegar to this.

2.      In a small bowl, whisk together flour, coarsely chopped almonds or pumpkin seeds, oatmeal, puffed millet, salt, and baking soda.

3.      Cream butter, vanilla, tahini, and white sugar together in a large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the dry ingredients all at once (if using a stand mixer with attachments, change from the paddle attachment to the dough hook). Slowly add the brown sugar syrup. The dough will be very stiff, and difficult to work with but the dough hook makes it easy

4.      Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

5.      Put about 1 cup of sesame seeds in a dinner plate. Put a little vegetable oil in a cup. This is what you’ll use to oil your hands while handling the dough to make  the batons

6.      Use your hands to roll balls of the dough into cigar or sausage shaped “batons”4”long by ½-3/4” wide (see photo). You will need to keep oiling your hands with a little vegetable oil to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. Roll the “batons” in the sesame seeds, pressing down a little so that the seeds stick to the surface of the baton (to make the seeds stick even better, lightly brush the surface of each cookie with egg white. I do that extra step when I’m not too lazy). Bake 15-20 minutes on lined baking sheet, until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Cool for 20 minutes, the cookies will harden as they cool. 

7.      Lower oven temperature to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, turn cookies over and bake for another 20 minutes. Repeat this step one more time then turn off the oven, leaving the cookies inside to continue the drying out process. Remove from oven when cool and store in an airtight container.

Date Cardamom Baked Oatmeal

I mentioned in a previous recipe for oatmeal breakfast pudding squares that using dates and cardamom could be an option for this very versatile recipe. This is how I make this version of the baked oatmeal. It is a little different to the other recipe but just as delicious, as the method extracts the sweet flavor of the dates, which is complimented by the Cardamom. 

Ingredients:

1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats, uncooked

1 cup Scottish oatmeal

1/2 cup flax meal

2 tablespoons dry, shredded coconut

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1 cup dried Medjool dates, chopped

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1 ½  teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons allspice

1 ½  teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 large eggs

1 medium Granny Smith or other slightly tart apple, peeled and coarsely shredded

2 cups milk

1 1/3 cups half and half

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

 

Directions

1.      In a large bowl, combine the oats, oatmeal, chopped nuts, flax meal, coconut, baking powder, and salt. 

2.      Mix the sugar, molasses, spices, chopped dates, and vanilla, with the milk and half and half. Slowly bring to below boiling, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm temperature.  

3.      Heavily grease a 8x8x2 inch baking tin or Pyrex dish (If I’m using Pyrex, I put about 1-2 tablespoons of butter in the dish, microwave to melt, then swirl around to coat the bottom and sides just like you would do when making a bread pudding).  

4.      Whisk the eggs, and add the lukewarm milk mixture to this.

5.      Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix well. Add in the shredded apple. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use a wooden spoon to distribute the solids evenly. Refrigerate for a few hours (6 hours at least) or overnight for the dry ingredients to absorb the wet mixture. 

6.      Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and fifteen minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until the center is set, firm to the touch, has a golden color, and a cake tester inserted comes out relatively clean (I use a food thermometer to make sure that the center temperature is 164 degrees Fahrenheit or just above). For a nice “crust”, broil for a couple of minutes, watching carefully that it does not burn). Serve warm, or let it cool before freezing. Wrap for freezing as indicated in the previous recipe, using plastic wrap and foil. To freeze, wrap each square in plastic wrap, then wrap in aluminum foil, sealing well, then put all in a plastic freezer bag. To defrost, do so by putting it in the fridge overnight, then warming up in the microwave AFTER removing the foil and plastic wrap. A square with freshly cut fruits, and a tablespoon or two of plain Greek yogurt, is a great way to start your day!.