Don’t forget your shovel.

Over on FB, my dear long time virtual friend Life & Times has written several times about something called “Baked Oatmeal” I was immediately intrigued. How does one bake it? And why? Isn’t it good enough to make it in a pot or a microwave? Well, the answer, my friends, is that baking it makes it portable, among other things. Or as Life & Times said, “Sorta like a spongey oatmeal muffin”. So after she posted a second time — this time with photo of it sitting in her oven, I decided I had to try it myself. So I googled and then Life & Times linked me to her favourite recipe although gave me a number of tips and substitutes etc. … and, well, you know me I don’t like much fat or sugar, so I had to modify a lot from the original. But as Life & Times correctly said, you can put anything in it. I am even thinking one could do a savoury version. Here is what I came up with:

Clevergirl’s First Try at Baked Oatmeal:

Ingredients

1/4 cup real maple syrup
2 T brown sugar + extra to sprinkle on top.
2 eggs
1 cup skim or 1% milk + c. 1/4 to 1/2 cup more to add moisture as necessary
1 medium or 2 small really ripe bananas mashed.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4-1/2 cup walnut pieces
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg (c. 1/8 teaspoon)
wee sprinkle of ground cloves

Directions

Beat together eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup, milk, salt, baking powder, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves). Add the mashed bananas and the oatmeal and stir well. Add a bit more milk if too dry. stir in cranberries and walnut pieces. Pour into a lightly greased** pan (I used a pyrex). Sprinkle with extra brown sugar to taste.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)until firm, about 35 minutes. Serve hot or cold… (I have cooled mine down, cut it into big wedges and am taking it to work to eat for breakfast this week).

** You can grease your pan with a little butter or marg … or even use a low-fat cooking spray if you like that kind of thing.

For further variations: Google “Baked Oatmeal Recipes”.

P.S. I think it would make a good “dessert” item for a brunch or breakfast with friends. Served with Swedish Vanilla Sauce. mmmm…

I needed a few presents for Easter, so I made these muffins to take to people as gifts. The recipe comes from my usual muffin book, but I have to confess that I find it confusing that they should be called “muffins” because they have icing on them which in my book makes them cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the Muffin:
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 tablespoons low-fat lemon flavoured yoghurt
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg, slightly beaten

For the Lime Syrup:
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
2 heaping tablespoons of superfine sugar

For the icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Yellow and green food colouring
30 mini sugar-coated chocolate Easter eggs

1) Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line 10 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cups.

2) For the muffins: mix the flour, baking soda and sugar in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, yoghurt, lemon zest, lemon juice and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix briefly until just combined.

3) Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing evenly. Fill any remaining/empty muffin cups with hot water. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until risen and golden.

4) While the muffins are baking, make the lime syrup. Put all ingredients in a small saucepan and gently heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 5 min., then pour the syrup through a find strainer into a bowl. Drizzle a little of the warm syrup over the hot baked muffins. Leave to cool completely in the pan.

5) For the icing: sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Gently heat the butter and lemon juice in a small saucepan until melted Pour the melted mixture over the powdered sugar and stir until smooth and glossy.

6) Spoon half of the icing ingot a separate bowl. Add two drops of yellow colouring to one icing and a drop of green colouring to the other. Stir until blended, then use the icings to decorate five of the cold muffins pale yellow and five pale green. Decorate each muffin with a cluster of three mini Easter eggs. Leave to set before serving.

From: Atkinson C. (2006, 2008) Muffins Galore London: Octopus Publishing Ltd. pp 104.

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Clevergirl’s Notes:

1) If you don’t have low-fat lemon flavoured yoghurt, or simply don’t want to use it because it has gelatin or whatever… use plain yoghurt instead and then use the zest of a whole lemon.

2) If you can’t find a lime, like I couldn’t as they are out of season, then use a small orange and use approx 1-2 T of orange juice. And if you are lazy like me, don’t bother with the straining.

3) re: the mini eggs. The recipe doesn’t say this, but we all know that the main such ones available on the market are by Cadbury’s. If you can’t find Cadbury’s mini eggs where you live, like I couldn’t, you might be able to find slightly larger candy-coated chocolate eggs… or perhaps just use chocolate eggs without the candy coating.

(aka Corn and Cranberry Cookies) My cookbook gave this recipe that rather inglorious name in the brackets, but I’ve sexed it up a bit with the whole “Cranberry-Orange Log” title. The name is not only more accurate, it sounds yummier. I’m making these for Christmas this year, but they would really be good any time!

Corn and Cranberry Cookies:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup fine cornmeal, plus extra for dusting.
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 egg
Zest of one orange
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375ºF

2) Put the butter, cornmeal and flour in a bowl and blend. Stir in the Sugar.

3) Add the egg, orange zest and cranberries and mix well with your hands until it just comes together.

4) shape into small sticks and roll in the extra cornmeal. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until just starting to brown.

From: Bellafonte, J. (2008) Cookies Galore; London: MQ Publications; p. 116.

Notes: I did not have a really fine cornmeal, so I used polenta & it worked just fine. I used my hands for the whole process, actually. At the first stage, I rubbed the butter into the flour and cornmeal.