Gluten Free Maple-Walnut Scone and Christmas Quiche

Good morning friends!! It's Christmas!!

As a part of my Christmas gift to the fam, I made some scones and quiche... gluten-free, of course! Gotta give dad's tummy a break every once in a while. Once again, I've never made a gluten free scone or quiche crust, but they turned out pretty good!!

Scone Ingredients

2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup unsalted cold butter
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cold egg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 an apple, chopped (I used Gala)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Scone-Makings

Set the oven to 350.

Combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon).

Add the pieces of butter to the dry ingredients, cutting them in until all is well combined. Place this bowl in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, combine about a tablespoon of butter with your walnuts and small chopped up pieces of apple.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, and egg. Take the dry ingredients out of the freezer, and gradually add the wet ingredients in, stirring continually until your dough is smooth. Throw in the walnut-apple mix, and continue to mix... at this point, I just used my hands.

Dump the dough onto a parchment-covered baking sheet, and break up the dough into your scone shapes. Most people make them into triangles, bu I chose hearts. To each his own!

Bake for about 50 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Meanwhile,  make the maple glaze for the scones by whisking together the vanilla, confectioners sugar, and maple syrup. Once the scones have cooled a bit, you can drizzle this glaze on top.

And then you can eat them! Yum!




Quiche Ingredients

for the crust
1 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 stick cold butter
1 Tb. white sugar
ice cold water
2 Tb. cold milk

for the filling 
7 eggs
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
3/4 cups feta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
a bunch of fresh spinach
half yellow onion, chopped
handful of sliced mushrooms
bacon!

Quiche-Making

You know the drill for the crust... combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter using a whisk or food processor, until you get lots of little pea-sized balls. Then slowly add in your cold milk and then your icy-cold water, just a bit at a time, until your dough smooths out. Spray your pie pan, and then squish out your pie crust to fit. Or you could actually roll it out and put it in the pan nicely. I'm just not that fancy. I set the oven at about 350 and baked the crust for about 7 minutes, and took it out to cool in the fridge.

Now set the oven at 375.

Fry up the bacon in butter. Set it aside.

Saute the onions, mushrooms, and then the spinach in lots of butter.

Whisk up the eggs and milk. Add in salt and pepper and a few sprigs of chopped, fresh basil. Add in the cheeses.

Drop the veggies and bacon into the bottom of the pie crust. Then, pour the egg and cheese mixture overtop.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden.

Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven.

Merry Christmas... and may you all have very happy bellies full of yummy foods :)

Gingerbread Biscotti

Ohhh, who doesn't love a good ol' dipping cookie for that festive cocoa or coffee? Me me! That's what biscotti's are for. I've never made them before, but these turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or sorghum
3 eggs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 heaping cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
9-10 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, melted

Create 

Whisk or blend the butter and brown sugar until they are properly creamed together.

Beat in the molasses/sorghum, then the eggs (one at a time!).

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones, and then fold in the ginger and pecans.

Divide the dough in half and place them on parchment paper covered baking sheet. Place that in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Set the oven at 350!

Then, take out the sheet, and form the dough into log-ish (3 x 10) shapes. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Take it out of the oven, and cut the logs up into biscotti-shaped slices. Place the slices on one side at a time, into the oven for about 5-7 minutes each side. This will crisp them up. Take them out and let them cool.

Melt that chocolate in the microwave, and dip the cooled biscotti in it! Let them dry in the open air for about an hour, and then you can store them away for the family or give them away as delicious gifts for the neighbors.

Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Cranberry Brown Sugar Bread

I still don't feel confident in my bread-making skills whatsoever, but I'm going to continue trying until I get it right. I found this delightful recipe from pinterest (where else?!), and thought I'd give it a go! The loaves came out a bit flat, but delicious nonetheless. The bread-making process itself is so joyful!


What you need:
2 pkg yeast
2 tsp sea salt
½ cup warm water (110-120 degrees)
4 cups lukewarm water
6 tbl brown sugar (divided)
6-8 cups whole wheat flour (divided)
½ cup dried cranberries

Make & Create:

 In a large bowl, place the yeast, salt, and warm water-- blend together and let sit for 5-7 minutes.

Add in lukewarm water and 2 Tb of brown sugar.

Then add about 5-6 cups of your flour, pouring and stirring in one cup at a time, until the dough becomes like a gooey-lava texture.

Cover with a cloth for about 2-3 hours, allowing it to rise.

Next, throw the dough out onto a floured surface. Work the extra flour into the dough and knead well. (It gets a bit messy...)

Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces.
Flatten out the dough-balls, sprinkle brown sugar and cranberries evenly overtop, then fold in the sides of the dough and pinch the end-seams. Make a few slits in the tops of the dough.

Transfer them to your parchment-papered baking sheet, place aluminum foil over top, and allow them to sit for about 30 minutes before transferring them into the oven.

They'll remain in the oven for about 50 minutes. Take the foil off of the top for the last 10 minutes so that they can brown up a bit.

Enjoy!

Candy Cane Dark Chocolate Cake

The Christmas season is better with chocolate and peppermint, just ask any coffeeshop, with their sweetly conjured up seasonal specialties. It's also better with cake. We had a little dinner party the other night, so I set out to make a little something that everyone, including my gluten-intolerant father, could enjoy! This is one of the first times that I have successfully  actually created my own recipe of a baked good. Usually I start from a recipe and maybe add my own spices or special touches, but this time I just looked at about four different recipes, and then created my own. So fun!! And it actually tasted amazing! I feel like a proud parent.


Ingredients:
for the cake
1 3/4 c. Gluten-Free Baking Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 c. Melted Butter, cooled
1/2 c. White Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 c. Milk (1% and up)
1/2 c. Melted Dark Chocolate
York Peppermint Patties

for the glaze
1 c. Confectioners Sugar
1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
3 Tb Milk
Candy Canes, smashed into bits

The Process:

Set the oven to pre-heat at 350.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk to the butter-sugar bowl. After all is mixed thoroughly, gradually add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the melted chocolate. Chop up about 5-6 York into small pieces, and fold those into the batter as well.

Oil or butter-up your baking dish-- I used a bundt cake mold, because it's more festive and seems to bake more evenly, but do as you please! Place in the oven for about 55 minutes or so.

While that's baking, mix up your Peppermint Glaze. Combine the pepermint extract and milk, then slowly sift in the confectioners sugar, stirring vigorously, so as to avoid any clumps in the creamy glaze.

After your cake has been removed for the oven and had time to cool a bit, take it out of its mold, and drizzle the peppermint glaze overtop. Delicately and boldly throw lots of candy cane pieces into the glaze. Voila!

Enjoy!!

Cranberry Spice Cake

What I'm craving more than Christmas foods is Christmas spirit. Where's the Christmas spirit?! Since moving down to Louisville, I'm suddenly much more aware of how unnaturally warm it is outside for this season. It ain't right to be 60 degrees outside on December 5th! So it doesn't feel like Christmastime. Thankfully, we have successfully put up all of our pretty Christmas decorations in our house, and I have to remind myself to play Christmas tunes when I so badly want to play Bon Iver for these dreary warmish, cloudy, rainy days. So, I'm taking it upon myself to do some sort of Christmas-y task every day. Yesterday, I made homemade ornaments to hang from twine off of our chandelier. This morning, I'm making a cranberry spice cake, which I will pair with delicious hot cocoa when it's time to eat up. 

 serves 6-8
 
For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple cider (or applesauce)

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt


Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of 8 1/2-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use vegetable oil spread with paper towel). Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with spray too. Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until minced but not puréed; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to blend. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low to blend between additions. Mix in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and mixing on low to blend. Fold in chopped cranberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, about 50-60 minutes. We recommend checking the cake after 45 minutes since ovens vary. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make the lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spread glaze over warm cake, drip down sides. Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.

(FYI: I didn't take this picture... the cake I made was gone before I took snap a photo of it!)

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!
 

Mini Pumpkin Spice Donuts

In honor of my very last day of massage therapy class, I made a nice fall treat for the class to enjoy. Also, it was ridiculously warm outside today (eighty degrees!), which I actually really didn't like because it's October 24th, and I should be snuggling up in the brisk air with a warm sweater and a mug of chai tea in hand. I should not be sitting outside in a t-shirt and jean shorts getting burnt on my pale face and sweating as I write in my journal. It ain't right. So, making a fall-ish treat, such as these delightful little donuts, helped me to pretend like it really is still fall, despite the crazy weather. I still made myself some Twinnings tea and enjoyed the pumpkin morsels as they ought to be enjoyed.

Anyways, here's the recipe :)

Ingredients

raw! (before they become unhealthy)

For Donuts:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup melted shortening (natural!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk

For Coating:
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (more if you're a cinnamon lover)

who doesn't love butter?

Create
1) Preheat oven to 350, coat mini-muffin pans with butter (or a true donut pan)
2) Combine flour, salt, spices, baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
3) Mix oil, brown sugar, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, and milk until just combined. Then, add in the dry ingredients. Don't over-mix :)
4) Pour into the pan, and bake for about 13 minutes. If you're using a donut pan, it may only take about 9 minutes. Be attentive!

5) After taking out your donuts and allowing them to cool slightly, melt the butter, and mix up your cinnamon-sugar. While donuts are still a bit warm, dip them in the butter and coat them with cinnasugar. Set them out and watch them disappear as they are quickly gobbled up by anyone in their path.

enjoy!

Almond Cakelettes with Figgy Filling

So, it's been a while. The main reason I haven't recorded my creations is because I've been enjoying summer and traveling too much to create creative foods.

Anyways, it's officially autumn and I really love autumn. So here's a baked good to start off my new season!

 I really love figs. I think that they are the most beautiful colors. To me, they taste exactly as they look. Sweet, soft, honey-like. 

Ingredients (for Almond Cakelette)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups  sugar
• 2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup warm milk
• Handful of almonds  

Combine

1) Preheat oven to 325. Line 24 cupcake molds with paper liners.
2) In a large bowl, cream together butter and shortening. Add in eggs, 1 at a time, until mixed completely. Add sugar, mixing on a low speed.
3) Whilst alternating with warm milk, add in the dry ingredients, one at a time.... Pastry flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sliced almonds.
4) Fill the liners about 2/3 full with cake batter. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Let them cool :)

Ingredients (for the Figgy Filling)

• 5-10 ripened black figs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Dashes of cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg... whatever you want. 

 Combine

1) Basically, just blend it all together! 
2) Cut out a small circle in the middle of the cakelette, fill the middle with some figgy filling, and place the center-top back on. If this is too confusing, click here for a better description.

Because I was too lazy to make a frosting, I just swirled some more of the figgy filling on top of the cakelettes and added a few sliced almonds atop.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did :)

Crunchy Buckwheat Granola

Ohh who doesn't love a good granola? Every morning I have plain, natural yogurt with heaps of blueberries and a few large spoonfuls of this granola, alongside my small cuppa coffee and a glass of fresh grapefruit juice. What a way to start the day :)

Just in case you would like to join me in my breakfast ritual, here is the following recipe!

Fixins:
2 c. raw rolled oats
1 c. buckwheat groats
handful of the following:
-sliced almonds, crushed raw hazelnuts, raw sunflower seeds

1/4 c. coconut oil (or canola, if you please)
1/4 c. local maple syrup (or honey, or mixed!)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

coconut shavings
dried cranberries & blueberries (or whatever else you like)

Combine:
Mix all of the ingredients (except the coconut shavings and dried fruits) into a large metal bowl that is oven-safe. Mix well! Place it in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour, sporadically checking in on it and mixing it together. Once the granola looks to be a nice goldeny-brown, take it out and add the coconut and dried fruits, allowing the granola to cool a bit, whilst mixing it still.

It should get a bit clumpy... that's good!

Refrain from transferring the yummy granola into a container until it is fully cooled... otherwise you've got a soggy mess.

Simple and delicious... enjoy!!

Peach Mixed-Berry Skillet Pie

My dad loves pie. And tomorrow is Father's Day! So I went down to the Farmer's Market to see what kind of pie I would make... and there were PEACHES everyyywhere! And wild raspberries! This is great. Except for the part when, while I was in line for coffee, I dropped my bag of peaches on the cement. It wasn't until the morning of the pie-creating that I realized the damage. So I didn't have as many peaches as I thought. That's okay. A part of me just really loves how every time (seriously, nearly every time) that I bake, something goes a little wrong. Or hugely wrong. But it always causes me to get super creative with what I'm making, and totally deviate from whatever recipe I'm following. And then I get to make up my own recipe! Yipee! So I found more berries and added those. Great. So to add to the morning of surprises... as I made my pie crust, with very cold butter, cream, and water as usual, I noticed something was wrong. My house is very warm because we don't want to turn on the a/c yet (savin moneyyy!), but here is one consequence: my butter kept melting! Nothing was staying cold enough, and my pie crust basically turned to goo. Okayy. Also, I couldn't find my pie pan. Alrighty then. So I found my skillet, through the ball of goo into it, and kneaded it down and around until it covered the cast-iron. Poured in the peachy-berry mix, and tried to pull the edges of the "crust" over the filling. Improvise for topping: crumble. With pecans because dad loves nuts. Protein! And there ya have it. The wonders of baking with myself. Surprises everywhere.

pre-heat oven at 425

Whole Wheat Crust
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tb. sugar
2/3 cup cold unsalted European-style butter, cut into small cubes
1 Tb. cold cream
~3 Tb. cold water

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and butter into a food processor by pulsing. Don't over-mix! You should see your ingredients becoming crumbly little balls, and at that point stop pulsing. Add the cream, pulse some more, then add a little bit of water at a time, making sure to keep that crumbly-ball consistency. The colder your ingredients, the better the crust turns out. Unless you're like me and you royally screw everything up in the kitchen all the time. Take out the mixture and flatten it out with a rolling pin before lying it gently into your pie pan or skillet.


Pie Filling
~3 lb. fresh peaches
1 pint of fresh raspberries
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 Tb. cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. orange marmalade
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Mix all together in a big ol' bowl... don't worry if it seems too liquidy. Pour the contents into the pie crust, but try and hold back the excess liquid, so your pie isn't soggy. 

Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 Tb. butter, small cubes
1 Tb. brown sugar
any leftover liquid from the filling
dashes of cinnamon and ground ginger, to taste

With your fingers, mash all of that together until it's all in crumbly chunks. Sprinkle liberally on top of the pie filling.

Finishing Touches

With a part egg-white, part water mixture, paint the pie crust that is showing, and then cover with dashes of raw sugar. Put your pie in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes, then lower it to 350  for about an hour... but keep a close eye on it because every oven is different!
 

enjoy!!

Banana-Cranberry MiniScones with Orange Glaze

Now I've got to be honest here... I didn't actually intend to make scones. I intended to make cookies. But in doing so, I accidentally started making scones. By that, I mean that my cookies were too fluffy and too dry, but were the perfect consistency of scone (at least to my liking). So since I actually thought them to be superb, I thought I'd share the recipe with you. Oh, and since they were originally cookies, mine had chocolate chips in them, but I would have left them out had I known I was making scones. Just saying.

(makes about 45 mini scones.... the shape of um, cookies)
Fixins
3 bananas

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons orange juice
zest of half a lemon
dried cranberries
sliced almonds

For the Glaze
1/4 c. fresh-squeezed OJ
2 c. powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Put It All Togetha

Well, see, I was pinched for time, so I threw it all together at once (starting with dry, then adding each wet part, stirring as I went. And that seemed to work pretty good. Add the cranberries and almonds last, according to how much you like those things, or add whatever else sounds swell to you. Set the oven at 350, and bake for about 7-10 minutes, keeping a close eye, taking them out when they look like they're barely golden. Definitely take them out if they're black on the bottom.

While the scones are cooling, combine the OJ, powdered sugar (add slowly), and butter in a saucepan over the stove, stirring until the mixture gets thick and smooth. Take that away from the stove and allow it to cool.

Poor over top the top of the scones, then sprinkle some raw sugar upon them. Wait for the glaze to dry then eat up!

enjoy!

Mixed Berry Squares

It's getting warmer outside, which makes me always crave fruit and non-heavy foods. So in honor of this impending warmth, I decided to find a recipe using fresh berries and a light cake... and voila! Here tis! It was devoured before I even tried a bit, which I'd say is a pretty good sign.

I didn't take this photo, but this is what they should look like :)

Gather:

6 ounces blackberries or blueberries or both

6 ounces raspberries

1 cup sliced almonds

4 large eggs

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup almond flour/meal

1/4 cup oat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few squeezes of lemon

a dash of coconut extract

Make:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk the baking powder and flours together and keep aside.

gettin good...

In a  mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a hand or stand mixer.  Now, add one egg at a time to the batter and beat till fluffy. Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the batter and continue beating till mixed. Similarly, incorporate the rest of the flour into the batter. Add the extracts and lemon.

Pour the cake batter into the baking pan, Randomly spread the berries out onto the surface of the batter keeping the open-end of the berries (raspberries) downward. Sprinkle the almonds on top of the entire cake, sprinkle some raw sugar atop of it all (optional), and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or till knife comes out clean from the center of the cake when poked. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before you cut.

And this was all that was left :)

enjoy!

Chickpea Tomato and Spinach Curry

Fresh and healthy and filling and easy and gosh dang delicious :)

Ingredients:

• 1 onion , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , chopped
• 3cm/1¼ in piece ginger , grated
• 6 ripe tomatoes
• ½ tbsp oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric 
• 1 tsp curry powder
• pinch chilli flakes 
• 1 tsp yeast extract (I used Vegemite)
• 4 tbsp red lentils
• 6 tbsp coconut cream
• 1 head of broccoli , broken into small florets
• 400g can chickpeas , drained
• 100g bag baby spinach leaves
• 1 lemon , halved
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds mixed with 1 tbsp chopped cashews 

Easy Fixin:

1. Put the onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes in a food processor or blender and whizz to a purée.
2. Heat oil in a large pan. Add the spices, fry for a few secs and add purée and yeast extract. Bubble together for 2 mins, then add lentils and coconut cream. Cook until lentils are tender, then add the broccoli and cook for 4 mins. Stir in chickpeas and spinach, squeeze over lemon and swirl through sesame and cashew mixture. Serve with brown rice, or quinoa if you're like me.. 

 enjoy!

Swamp Bars

This is classic. Ya just can't go wrong with oats and chocolate...

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour*

3 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

2 teaspoons vanilla

Mixey-Mix

Preheat oven to 350˚

Set aside 2 tablespoons of butter. In a large bowl beat remaining butter until fluffy. Add brown sugar and baking soda, beat until combined. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in flour and rolled oats, dough will be stiff.

For the filling, in a medium saucepan combine the reserved 2 tablespoons butter, chocolate, and condensed milk. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat, add vanilla and chopped nuts.

Press 2/3 of the rolled oats mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1 inch baking pan.** Spread chocolate filling over the oat mixture. Dot the remaining rolled oats mixture on top.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned (the chocolate filling will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Minty Chocolate Tarte

In honor of our dear friend, Ginger's, upcoming wedding, there was a classy bachelorette party to be had at our lovely house. And since Ginger has a true love for mint-chocolate delicacies, I fancied up a tarte for her. I like spelling "tarte" with an e at the end because it makes it seem that much more delicious. This is a very easy recipe, with a real yummy and adorable finish.

for the buttermilk tart crust:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/3 cup buttermilk

-Preheat oven to 350º F.
-In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar. Drop butter pieces into bowl. -Using your fingers, fork, or pastry cutter, work butter into flour mixture until it resembles corn meal with some pea size pieces of butter in it.
-Pour buttermilk over mixture and stir until it comes together. If too try, add 1 tablespoon of water. -Turn mixture onto well floured surface and kneed once or twice.
-Place dough in pan, and using knuckles and fingers, push up sides and bottom of pan. You want it to be pretty thin since it does rise in the oven.
-Bake for 12-15 minutes.
  
for the filling:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
5-6 sprigs fresh mint (about 20 leaves)
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
confectioners sugar for decoration

-Place the finely chopped chocolate in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the cream and mint over medium heat until the cream starts to boil for 1 minute.
-Strain the cream through a fine mesh strainer into the chocolate to remove the mint. Let sit for one minute, then add butter. Gently stir the cream and chocolate until combined.
-Pour the filling into prepared tart shell. Chill at least an hour.

When ready, garnish with confectioners sugar!

enjoy!!