Dangerously fudgy breakfast bars

Danger, Will Robinson! These are actually sort of good for you!

My friend Asteroidae and I have a weekly appointment on Thursdays, to make a batch of breakfast bars for her to have on hand in the mornings. We started this because she has the same problem I used to have – it's nigh impossible to jump start in the morning, and we've thus both been too rushed to eat a nutritious breakfast. This way, when she's running behind (and, like me, that's fairly often) she will be able to reach into the refrigerator and grab a portable handful of breakfast. Plus, she gets to learn more cooking and baking techniques. Double-plus, we have an excuse to enjoy each other's company.

And, as further benefit, her family gets to share in the tasty treasures, I get to play in the kitchen without having consequences to my girth, and…well, the list goes on.


Since this week was interrupted by Halloween, though, and Asteroidae spent the afternoon with her family, carving pumpkins and putting finishing touches on their decorations, I was left to my own devices. Sigh.

Rather than mope around, I decided I'd go ahead and work up another pile of stuff I don't need, so that when Asteroidae and her brother arrived, I'd have a few bags of tasty treats for them, anyway.

A week ago, we made a batch of hazelnut-fudge breakfast bars, using the popular spread and a recipe I found online. After I'd bragged about the treats to my friends on social networks, one of them commented that her kids couldn't have hazelnuts. Was there a variation I could find?

Unfortunately, the hazelnut spread has its own particular flavor and texture, so it's pretty difficult to replace its fudgy richness. Fortunately, I had recently discovered jars of Nutkao Gran Cremeria spread in the imported foods section of my favorite nearby Big Lots store.

If you have severe allergies, this is still not the option you need, as the label clearly indicates Nutkao manufactures its dark chocolate spread in the same facilities, with the same equipment with which hazelnuts, soy, and other nuts are processed. But if you're looking for a nice non-nut spread for this recipe or others, this Italian company has a very tasty, dangerously chocolatey option... and it makes awesome breakfast bars!

Dangerously Fudgy Breakfast Bars

Ingredients:

4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 cup butter (2 sticks) (You can substitute coconut oil, but it will change the flavor, obviously)
1 cup milk or substitute (I used plain soy)

1 jar (350 grams) Nutkao Gran Cremeria Dark Chocolate Spread,* warmed to soften
5 cups quick oats (not instant)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cups dried cherries or cranberries (optional)
2 Tablespoons powdered vanilla


Directions:

Grease and line with parchment one 8x14x2" roasting/baking pan.

In a 3 quart (or larger) saucepan or stockpot, mix sugar, cocoa, and soymilk. On medium-high heat, stir constantly until the butter is melted and the mixture comes to full, rolling boil. Allow to boil 1 minute without stirring, then remove from heat.

Stir in Nutkao Chocolate Spread until completely blended, then add the oats, pecans, cherries, and vanilla. Stir until well-mixed. Pour into baking pan, spread evenly, allow to cool in refrigerator or freezer.


*I found this imported product at a Big Lots store in my neck of the woods, but it may not be available in every region. It is much thicker and more fudgy than most chocolate toppings, but, if you wish, you may choose to substitute a popular hazelnut/chocolate spread. However, if you do, it will not be as darkly chocolatey, and its decadence may be diminished. Okay, the hazelnut (or other nut spread) recipe, since it is less darkly delicious, will probably be snitched by kids more, so if you're a dark chocolate fanatic & want to protect your shares, avoid making that change…

Not designed to be shared.

Note: under normal circumstances, one makes these treats using quick oats. I had some rolled oats on hand, but they were of the sort which take a little longer to turn to mush in the mornings. They make the bars denser, chewier, and hold a slightly nuttier flavor than the quick oats do, if you like that sort of thing. 

Klippy's Pappy Picked a Peck of Pickling Peppers: a learning process (no recipe)

Pop has a modest garden in the back yard, in which, this year, he planted about ten pepper plants, most of which turned out to be hotter varieties. And, as is often the case, he wasn't sure what to do with the bumper crop. Now, you might not think that, by the picture above, we had jalapeños, since most people think of the hot little green things, but Pop likes to wait until things are VERY ripe before he picks them, and I don't get in his way. 

When these little peppers turned red, they did the same thing sweet peppers do when they go from green to red: they sweetened up. The interesting thing, though, was that they lost precisely none of their heat. The "green-ness" of the flavor was abated, but the crisp, fresh heat was present, as ever, and the extra sugar in the fruit elevated and helped retain the heat on tongue (and cheek, and eyes, and wherever else one is affected by hot peppers).

Because they were so pretty, I couldn't see fit to dehydrating them, and since they were still sweet, my choice for the first batch of jalapeños was to amplify the sugar still more by putting them into a nice sweet pickle batch, so that people might use them on sammiches ;) or in spreads, or for just showing off how tough their tongues and intestines might be. 

And, since this was an experimental batch, I cheated a little: I used a seasoning mix, following its instructions with slight variation. I added some lime juice and cilantro – both fresh – to the peppers as I chopped them, used rice vinegar instead of either regular or cider vinegar in the brine, and maltitol for sweetening, all so I could use these for myself as well as for gifts. If you use artificial sweeteners, though, you will need to "bump up" the amount of vinegar you use, because you will have less bulk for your brine, and it will have a shorter shelf life, as non-sugar sweeteners usually are not stable and may begin to turn bitter within about 6-10 months.  

From a peck – literally – of peppers, I managed to get 6 pints and 7 half-pints of pickled peppers. 

The question Pop asked me about them was one I've heard from others, as well (actually, sort of a complaint): why is there always so much liquid at the bottom of the jar when you finish? It's not like that in the pickles you buy from the store, after all. So I looked things up, and – surprise, surprise! – the factory doesn't always pickle in the jars. The process is started in vats, and the liquid is drained as the pickles are finally put into jars. When we, at home, pickle, we need the extra brine to "top off" the contents, making sure the veggies are totally covered before we put them into the hot bath, so that every last bit of food gets the flavor of the brine, and so there is less likelihood of bacterial growth in the jar.   

One can do with a little less brine, if one is pressure canning, but this having extra liquid is still the simplest, safest pickling process. I'm sticking with it. If it's good enough for government work, it's probably not going to explode in our cupboards. And, besides, it worked last year on the pickled green beans.

In Case I Get Thirsty…(not a recipe, but a link)

For years, I'd been suffering from crippling migraines and aching joints, plus a host of other problems, and only recently we narrowed down the problem to things for which I'm not technically allergic (those I cut out years ago - grapes and their byproducts, and strawberries, and raspberries, and a handful of other things normal mortals eat daily), but still have intolerances toward. Two of the culprits are aged cheeses and…

wait for it…

wheat.

Needless to say, I am gravely disappointed, since some of my favorite foods are pasta dishes buried in parmesan, breads slathered with sharp cheese crumbles, and so on. Plus, there is the beer with which one must necessarily wash down the day.  

I'm learning the heartbreak of trying to go gluten-free. 

Being allergic to grapes for most of my adult life meant I had to be certain there was pretty much no wine in my diet, other than the cute and cloying or the extremely expensive niche wines. I didn't really miss that, though, because, in recipes, you can find reasonable substitutions, most of the time. When you can't, you just don't make Boeuf Bourguignon. It's a little bit disappointing, but that's just the way life goes. To quote some obscure musicians of my youth, "You can't always get what you want."

But if you try sometimes, you get what you need:

Gluten-free beers .  Rated for taste. And some are even good and beery. Yes, it is possible!

The gods do love us.

Make it Snappy – Ginger Snappy!

Pop expressed disappointment when he discovered that the Bat and I returned from the grocery store, yesterday, with only one small package of cookies (and cheap ones, at that!). They weren't bottom-of-the-line dollar store imitation-food cookies, though. They were from Aldi.

Nevertheless, to a cookie junkie, it's tough to see bags devoid of classic recipes.

So, in order to satisfy the growling beast within him, I set to, in the kitchen, today.

Besides, there's a chance a few people might stop by, after the parade today (our harvest-time fair is in town, and it opens with a nice, big parade, and we live within the safe parking zone).

So, to the kitchen!

This particular recipe is a combination of three different recipes, aspects of each we like, in this house, but each one was not quite what we wanted. This one seems to suit all three of us.

Indeed, Pop was so happy, he absconded with three before I could get this shot (please note the not-quite-so-tidy rows, trying to hide the evidence).

Ginger Snaps

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) salted butter (no substitution), softened at room temperature
2 Tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cups molasses
4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons hot Mexican chili powder
sugar for rolling dough in

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, fresh ginger, and sugar until light and lemon-colored. Add in egg and molasses, beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, nutmeg, ground cloves, and chili powder. Add to creamed butter, mix well.*

Scoop by teaspoon and shape into balls, roll in sugar, and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350º F for 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

Makes 90+ cookies.

*If you find the dough is too soft to work easily, place in the refrigerator for about a half hour, until it stiffens up a little. At this time, you might also want to roll portions of the dough into "sausage" rolls, about 1 1/2 inch to 2 inches in diameter, wrapped in plastic, to be put away in the freezer for later use.

Update: I've made a batch of these using gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill). There had to be a couple of adjustments, in order to keep the crispness and not lose the heat, though. Instead of using 4 cups of the gluten-free AP flour, I used 1 1/2 cups of sweet rice flour and 2 1/2 cups AP flour, plus 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. I also allowed the dough to chill overnight in the refrigerator, and then still used the 1 teaspoon cookie scoop to form the balls before rolling in sugar & baking on ungreased pans. Because of the change in flour/starch composition they didn't need to bake the full 15 minutes, but were done after only 12 minutes – plus about a minute of cooling down on the cookie sheet before removing them to the cooling rack. They're a little lighter in texture than the standard ginger snap, but they keep the flavor and the crispness a person wants in a snap cookie.

Update update: almost forgot to mention, I used some of the leftover sugar from having made candied ginger, in the bowl of sugar I rolled the GF cookie dough in, for that extra bit of zing. If you do this, you will not regret it.

These are my gluten-free version

Curd Your Enthusiasm: Citrus Meringues Filled with Citrus Curd

Since I've joined the gluten-free club recently, I've had a divvil of a time trying to find recipes for things which won't cost an arm and a leg to prepare (have you seen the price of gf all-purpose flour?), especially if I want to share with friends, and not put out what people will assume are poison because I refuse to  sample my own… well, anyway. 

I've also discovered that something I had always assumed had been on my list of severe allergens could be prepared sans the grape (I have had nasty asthma attacks from just a bite of meringue with cream of tartar in it. I usually have to take extra allergy meds before eating out, as a result).

Naturally, I was nearly ecstatic when I learned that the real reason one puts cream of tartar into a meringue is to break down the coil in the egg white protein, so that it will whip up better, and so that it will hold its whippy form once it's set to baking, and that other acids may be used in its stead. Indeed, one source recommended I might use Fruit Fresh, for its ascorbic acid and minimal flavor impact.

But I rather like a little citrus. 

Actually, I can eat lemons the way other people eat tangerines, peeled, sectioned, and then popped into my mouth like candy. But I know most people can't handle that sort of thing, so I try not to do it to them, in anything I prepare.

I try, anyway. 

I went a little agley with this particular batch… I forgot how very tart Dickinson's lime curd is, and I used in in plentiful amounts. I recommend, for others, a little greater discretion.

Meanwhile, the meringue is light, delicate, a little crispy…dangerous!

Citrus Meringues Filled with Citrus Curd

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup extra fine sugar
zest of one medium lemon or lime (about 1 teaspoon), finely grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup of your preferred lemon or lime curd*

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Set aside.

In a clean, chilled, small bowl, combine salt and egg whites. Whip until foamy, then continue to beat  on high speed, gradually adding sugar, until stiff peaks form (at least 8 minutes, often more than 10 minutes). Gently fold in vanilla and citrus zest.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon of meringue onto parchment on cookie sheet. With spoon, make a slight indentation in the dollop (or, if you wish, use a frosting bag to squeeze out a little bowl-shaped base.

Gently set about a half-teaspoonful (or less, depending upon the strength of flavor) of curd in the center. Top with enough meringue to completely cover & seal in the citrus curd, then leave a little swirl on top, if you like.

Continue to repeat this until all the meringue is used.

When you have all the cookies assembled, place in middle of that preheated oven, close oven door, and turn off the heat.

Allow to stay in oven at least two hours (overnight is just dandy. Just don't forget you have them in there, and try to bake a breakfast the next morning without having removed them, first).

Makes about 15.

*You can do a batch of pie filling, instead of curd, but if you do this, you'l want it to be slightly thicker than the one the Bat taught me for Pop's birthday pie, here. One can use a variation on it, adding extra starch to the recipe in its beginnings, until it thickens dramatically.

One down side to overstuffing these meringues is, the lime curd settles downward a little too much, causing it to occasionally compromise the integrity of the cookie in this manner–>>>

The tragedy here is, you can't very well pack these up and give them away as your best, prettiest treatsies. You'll have to eat them all on your own (the horror!). The other down side is, the filling can easily overpower the meringue's taste, so you can have a whole lot of curd flavor in a little comparatively bland pouch.  Check first to see how strongly tart your curd is, and be discreet in your usage. Unless you're like me, and you love to peel the enamel off your teeth. Then, go wild! 

Relish the Thought: Tomatillo Relish/Salsa

Its a salsa – it's a relish – it's… a relsa? Salish?

Well, whatever it is, I like noshing on it on a hot afternoon, on tortilla chips, on chicken tacos, on bratwurst, or in a salad. It's a little labor-intensive if you don't have a food processor, but it's worth the effort.

And it's a swell way to do something with the spare tomatillos you have in your garden…unless you don't have a kind and obliging gardener like my pop. Under those circumstances, you want to go buy fresh tomatillos from the store. You want to get them while they're firm – if you're unfamiliar with tomatillos, they're also referred to as "husk cherries" or "husk tomatoes".   On the vine, they look a little like a tomato wrapped in a papery leaf envelope, but they're actually closer to the gooseberry than to the tomato, and their flavor really shows it. Most tomatillos are strongly citrusy, but not overly juicy, and, when fresh, are on the crisp side.

I'm told they make awesome pickles, but I never seem to be able to make them last long enough to get to the point of pickling. I keep tossing them into my chili, or into this relish.

There are variations to be made, such as leaving the seeds & white pulpy ribs in the peppers to raise the heat, or substituting vinegar for the lime juice and raising the amount of salt, to make it a little more pickly, but, somehow, I came to really appreciate the combination of flavors as they are here.

I suppose this could be canned, as well, if I didn't keep eating it as I chop…

Anyway, as I said, it's simple enough:

Tomatillo Relish (or is it a Salsa?)

Ingredients:

8-10 medium tomatillos (about 4 cups), husks removed, washed*, and finely chopped
2 medium jalapeño peppers, white ribs & seeds removed & fruit very finely minced
1/2 medium onion (about 2/3 cups) sweet onion, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (or 3 Tablespoons high-quality dried cilantro)
juice from 1 medium lime (about 2 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, mix well. With a spoon or a small bowl, press down to lightly crush. Stir again. Store in refrigerator. Chill well before serving.

*Tomatillos have a very sticky surface beneath their papery husks. It may take several tries rinsing them, because you want all the stickiness gone.

Gluten-Free, Low-Carb Pizza Crust

I have a little trouble with some allergies and sensitivities. They're not always the usual ones people get, either (yes, I'm violently allergic to anything containing grape origins – including cream of tartar and many of those unidentified "natural sweeteners" and "natural flavors" you find in so many sweet/diet snack foods. I dare you to match that).

Nevertheless, one of the foods I've recently learned is a problem for me is wheat. I haven't been tested for celiac, or other such, because my insurance doesn't cover…well, anything, since I have none. But I have discovered that, when I skipped eating wheat for more than a few days, I failed to have my regular morning migraine the next day, my digestive problems lessened, and my breathing issues around the cats were not so severe. So, at least I can say that I've marked something in my life which I can change in order to make my life just a little less sucky. (Here is where I do a little happy dance.)

Needless to say, this has left me searching for recipes I can fix for everybody in the household, which will satisfy their old fogey taste buds without causing me undue discomfort. This is why I got excited when one of my social media connections brought to my attention a simple, no-flour pizza crust recipe.

It was touted as low-carb, as well, piling on the pepperoni and sausage, but I have a bad habit of tossing peppers, onions, olives, and the like onto my own, instead of lots of meat. Tonight, it was broccoli, olives, and onions, with grilled peppers and mushrooms added into the sauce. But, hey, it's a pizza crust, and you can top it any way you want. 

The one thing I can say about this crust is, it's a very tender thing, and will likely stick to (a) the pan, if it's not greased very well, and (b) to the spatula if it's not a good non-stick silicone one. That's because the crust is, essentially, a crustless savory cheesecake. And, in my humble opinion, it kicks hindquarters.

this is a double-recipe, cooked in a standard 13x18" jelly-roll pan

Gluten-Free, Low-Carb Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese (you can use the low-fat, but not the nonfat)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

Grease 12-inch circular pizza pan or 9x13-inch cookie sheet.

Have cream cheese brought to room temperature, either by letting stand for a half hour in advance, or by warming slightly to soften in microwave oven.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and egg until thoroughly smooth. Beat in garlic powder, parmesan, and pepper.  Use spatula to pour batter into pan. 

Bake on middle rack about 10-12 minutes, until beginning to turn golden-brown in spots (like a flour tortilla or lefse, depending upon your own cultural references). Remove from oven, allow to cool at least 12-15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, raise temperature of oven to 375º F.

Apply your favorite sauce, cheeses, and toppings, and bake again until cheese begins to bubble up and lightly brown. 

Allow to cool about 5 minutes before serving.

Also great served cold for breakfast.

Cheesy Bacon Quick Bread

This recipe is easily doubled, as long as you have a pound of bacon to toss into the mix. Fortunately, we tend to cook up lots of the stuff in advance, during the summer, so that, whenever we want, we can assemble a quick BLT using the lettuce and tomatoes from Pop's garden.

If you don't have all of that lying about, though, you can probably substitute the pre-cooked bacon bits from the store. For that, you'll need to adjust and adapt according to your own tastes. I'd estimate approximately one ounce of the pre-cooked stuff per slice in the recipe, and add about 1/8 tsp more oil to the recipe.

Also, as this is a chunky batter, I recommend leaving your whisk in its drawer, or wherever you store it. This is a job for a spoon or a heavy-duty spatula.


Cheesy Bacon Quick Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cheese, oats and bacon in a large bowl. Set aside. 

Combine the eggs, milk and oil in another bowl and add to the first mixture, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients (do not overmix. This is like a muffin or pancake batter, so you don't ant to over-activate the gluten, or it will become dense and rubbery). Spoon the batter into a greased and floured 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" x 3" loaf pan. 

Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, then remove from loaf pans. Let cool on rack for 10 minutes before slicing.

Birthday SOS! We're eating sand!

Seriously. We had a message in a bottle, and it read in large, splotchy letters, "S.O.S.*", and below, the parchment read, "*She's Older Still!"

It was the party for Asteroidea's eleventh birthday. 

For her and her brother, I've been building entertaining little cakes each year on their birthdays. If you go back through this blog, you'll find a TARDIS (with Dalek cupcakes), A sailbook with Swedish Fish-filled Jell-O seas, a marshmallow-robot-infested spaceship, a giant cheeseburger and fries, with cherry ketchup, and a circus tent filled with candies. Before I started this blog, I'd built a chocolate locomotive and coal car… and a couple more. 

I try to leave them guessing what I have planned, and then to give them something a little absurd and yet tasty. Sometimes I cheat. I use mixes and store-bought tubs of frosting when I know nobody with serious taste buds will be eating the thing (i.e, if it's for the kids' party, and I'm fixing another for the grownups of the family).

With this one, I really didn't cheat. The cake was a from-scratch banana cake, with cream cheese frosting, the "sand" was a special blend of crumbs, the shells were homemade candies, and the pebbles in the sand… okay, I cheated on those. I ordered them from Amazon. 

But I did make the punch from scratch, too. See that watermelon half? Scooped out, and all that stuff put through a blender, then mixed 2:1 with seltzer. No sugar added, and the kids gulped it down. So did most of the adults (my parents are not fans of watermelon, & I'm allergic, but everybody else had multiple cups of the stuff.)

But the cake.

The cake.

I stumbled across one of my mother's old chocolate molds, and started plotting to make seashells and a starfish cake, but somehow every way I looked at my plan, it wasn't coming together.

I had been teasing Asteroidae that planning this party was driving me bananas. Then there was this make-ahead recipe for banana cake. And then, there was this lovely post on Cake Wrecks…OY! the gears started moving.

Granted, I'm no professional. I do this stuff strictly for the romp in the kitchen, and to make a couple of kids' faces light up.  But I do try. I don't expect my cakes to look anything like the Sunday Sweets, and am happy if they look slightly better than the other things featured on Cake Wrecks' regular pages.  And eventually I accomplish what I was hoping to do.

Five little girls and one little boy consumed just about every last grain of sand. Three women and two men nibbled rocks all evening. And they all had a load of fun.

I made the candy shells and the sand well ahead. The pink sugar shells were made using the "extra strong sugar molds" recipe at the bottom of this page, but substituting strained lemon juice for the water, and, once they were hardened, they were stored in the fridge until serving. The sand, however, took finesse. I learned long ago that sand isn't really "sandy" when you look at it closely. So you can't just use plain old Nilla Wafer crumbs and think you're making realistic beach scenes. You have to add texture, color, and, mmmm flavor. So I'm including my sand recipe, below.

The structure of the cake, by the way, was built by baking two 4x9" loaves and eight cupcakes – the cupcakes being four large (Texas Muffin sized) and four small (well, standard) cups filled to just above the halfway mark, and then, after baking, stacked small upon large to form the truncated cone "towers". The loaves were sliced lengthwise and crosswise, then their corners trimmed at an angle so they could nest around the cupcake "towers". When you do your own version, you'll find this initially requires improvisation.

Once you have all the components gathered and ready to assemble, frost them, build the castle, and cover with pebbles, shells, and, finally, the sand. Lots and lots of sand.

Edible sand

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon almond bark (or, if you prefer, white chocolate)
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 or 3 dark chocolate wafer cookies (like Oreos w/o the cream filling), ground to fine crumbs (but NOT to dust)
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
3-5 Tablespoons yellow-colored decorating sugar
1-2 Tablespoon red-colored decorating sugar
1 Tablespoon green-colored decorating sugar
1 teaspoon blue-colored decorating sugar
5 Tablespoons regular granulated sugar

Directions:

In a microwave oven, melt the almond bark on a notebook-sized sheet of waxed paper or parchment. Using a butter knife or spreading spatula, spread the almond bark as thinly as possible. Put into freezer.

Combine other ingredients, either in a blender or using a medium bowl and a whisk.

Remove almond bark from freezer and, while still very cold, break or chop into fine chunks and crumbs. Mix into bowl with other ingredients. Put in storage container, seal, and refrigerate until you need to use it.

Quick Oatmeal Molasses Bread

As I played with this, I realized how much it reminds me of Mom's Anadama bread recipe, but slightly quicker and simpler, and with the addition of dried fruit such as raisins or dried cranberries, it's more like a luncheon bread than a hearty sandwich loaf. Nevertheless, it's tasty as all getout. Plus, it's less than an hour from raw ingredients to ready-to-eat. It's kind of hard to beat that!

Quick Oatmeal Molasses Bread 

Ingredients:

2 cups nonfat buttermilk
1/2 cup quick oats (not instant oatmeal)
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)*

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heavily grease and flour two standard 8x4 loaf pans

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Sift or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist; stir in raisins. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough pulls together in a shaggy mass. Let rest 2 minutes.

Butter or oil your hands well and gently knead in bowl or on lightly floured surface (dough will be so sticky you will almost mistake it for thick batter); shape dough in loaf and place in loaf pan. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

Make 3 diagonal cuts 1/4-inch deep across top of each loaf using a VERY sharp and lightly oiled knife.

Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Leaving loaves in oven, reduce temperature to 375°; bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, place on cooling rack, brush lightly with butter. Let stand at least 15 minutes before slicing.



*I made this without raisins, and on a cornmeal-coated cookie sheet instead of greased loaf pans, so I had to adjust the amount of flour to use, in order for the loaf to even remotely hold its shape. I probably could have added more, plus another 1/4 cup of oats or so, as well. Either way, the dough is still very sticky, and I will consider lining the bottoms of my loaf pans with parchment, next time I make this.