Whole Wheat Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars with Chocolate Chips
I first made these oatmeal peanut butter bars about six years ago, and they were an instant hit at home and at parties and picnics. The rich flavor belies their simplicity—an oatmeal peanut butter cookie crust with chocolate chips sprinkled on top then drizzled with peanut butter glaze—and they always garner “ohs” and “ahs” when served to peanut butter and chocolate lovers. Because I’m trying to switch over to whole grains in all our baking, I’ve swapped out the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour, but you can use unbleached all-purpose flour if you cannot find whole wheat pastry flour in your area.
The dough is pretty sticky and will even cling to silicone spatulas, so I just wet my hands and press the dough into the pan with my fingers, and it doesn’t stick to me. Read more
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
After the cookie marathon in December, I begged off from making anything sweet for a while. Like many, we just needed a sugar break and I admit I didn’t even want to make my birthday cake. I’d had my fill of sweets and didn’t miss it. Usually I’ll make one sweet dessert a week that we enjoy on the weekend, but that’s it for us, so Michael was quite surprised when he came home from work and found these on the counter. Read more
Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread, World Bread Day 2007
World Bread Day premiered in 2006 with a bang and 113 delicious entries. The event was such a success that this year the illustrious host Zorra offered bloggers another opportunity to celebrate beautiful breads and share them with everyone. I missed my chance last year as I was in the post-partum recovery and no sleep period, thus baking bread was the furthest thing from my mind, but I promised myself I would not miss it this year. But guess what? I nearly missed it! I just baked my bread this morning! In the midst of a clogged head fog and Michael being gone, I had completely forgotten until last night around 10pm. Experience has shown that I should not attempt baking projects late at night, so I waited until this morning to tackle the bread.
I’ve had Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads (1995 edition) on my shelf for about eight years now, and I’ve lost track of how many different breads we’ve tried and enjoyed from his book, but in honor of World Bread Day 2007 I felt I should choose something that I have not tried before. Truthfully I can’t believe that I’ve not made this particular bread before, especially since it has one of my little Post-It flags and it has cinnamon in it. So today I have rectified this situation by making Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread, which is actually a contribution from one of Clayton’s first readers in Austin, Texas.
The story goes that Clayton sent a loaf of his California sourdough to an editor at Simon & Schuster along with an introductory letter. The loaf sealed the deal and he got his first book. Read more
Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
We have new neighbors across the street, and the boys and I made these oatmeal raisin cookies to take to them as a welcome gift, but they almost didn’t make it due to my three-year-old snatching some bites out of them. I caught him a couple times and he just looked at me with a big smile and said the cookies were delicious. I really need to figure out a better place for the wire racks when cooling baked goods, because he can easily reach them on the island.
The recipe from America’s Test Kitchen uses a lot of old-fashioned oats and flavors the cookies with nutmeg instead of cinnamon. The nutmeg was nice, but I think I’m a died-in-the-wool fan of cinnamon oatmeal cookies. I do like how this recipe uses extra oats and cuts out some of the flour, which makes the cookies nice and chewy. Read more
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
I haven’t made a sweet bread in months, and this morning I just felt like enjoying some apple cinnamon bread for breakfast. And of course I knew that my boys would love the idea.
Apple cinnamon bread? Isn’t that a fall and winter kind of thing?
Oh no, we love the apple cinnamon combination any time of year, and this bread makes a nice breakfast and brunch item. You can make it the night before and slice it to enjoy with coffee and fruit in the morning. If you want to make it in the morning, start early because it takes about an hour to bake, although mixing takes only a few minutes. The aroma of the cinnamon is so nice and comforting, no matter what time of year it is. Read more
Maple Pecan Granola
Michael’s parents celebrated Christmas with us this year, and as usual they brought some of our favorite foods from New York, including Harrison Bakery pumpernickel bread, Polish kielbasa, and his mother’s delicious Christmas cookies. This time they also brought us a half gallon of organic maple syrup from Adirondack Maple Farms in Fonda, NY. It is absolutely yummy stuff, a nice Grade A Medium Amber, and we’ve enjoyed it on pancakes and waffles, as well as in Maple Raisin Bran Muffins and other baked goods. It adds a nice flavor to this easy and relatively light granola recipe.
Equipment
large mixing bowl Read more
