Feijoa Oatcake

Wow. Welcome back. This is my first blogpost in 8 months! But more importantly, how have we been in lockdown for six weeks and I have only just decided to reboot the blog? I mean, we've been baking up a storm, cookies, cakes, bread, slow cooks, stir frys, curries. Heck we even recreated the famous Big Mac one night, which by the way was SO GOOD! (Find the recipe we used here).  So why haven't I shared on here yet? Well, I'm a mum. A 3 year old, and a 21 month old. Who for the past six weeks have been stuck at home, like every other kid in the country, with no kindergarten reprieve for me. Don't get me wrong, it's been great. The two of them have begun to play together more, (and fight just as much), we've done walks, crafts, and baking. Plus we made a panic buy, (no not toilet paper) the day the impending lockdown was announced: a trampoline. A great outlet for all! 

So yeah, two little ones keep me pretty busy. Plus most of what I have been making this past 6 weeks is other peoples recipes. My creative outlet was on autopilot. But this morning, feeling slightly under the weather (thanks delicious bottle of red wine last night) I was in the mood to be a bit more experimental and it sure paid off. The smell wafting through the house when I pulled this out of the oven was incredible. We ate it warm, without cream or yogurt, but having a dollop on the side would only add to the experience. The rest eaten cold, was soft aand chewy and extremely moreish.  It will keep in an airtight container for a day or two, 3 or 4 days in the fridge, but it's pretty low in sugar and lots of moist fruit so is best eaten within the first couple of days. 

This is a twist on a traditional shortcake recipe, which I've made 'healthier' if you will. Slightly less sugar, added oats, and spice, plus a switched to wholemeal flour. 
I've used feijoa, like most people who have trees, you end up overrun and out of ideas on how to use them! Once scooped, they freeze well and can be added to muffins, crumbles or used in this delicious Oatcake. 

If you don't have feijoas, any fruit would do. Fresh or tinned peaches or plums; Berries - fresh or frozen; Stewed apple or pear. Also, any flour would work. I used wholemeal just to up the fibre content, and make me feel better about serving the kids adult sized pieces. I mean, they'd have eaten the whole tray had I let them. But plain flour would work just as well. 

As for the spices, mix and switch to suit the fruit. Feijoa and ginger work together perfectly, but I'd put cinnamon with apple. Perhaps a pinch of nutmeg and clove with the cinnamon for a plum one - mixed spice, a touch of cardamom with peach. Suit yourself.



Ingredients (9 - 12 generous servings):

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 170g butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence 
• 1/2 cup oats 
• 3/4 cup wholemeal flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger - optional
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit - as described above 

Method:

Line a 20cm square baking dish with baking powder. Preheat oven to 180*C.
Cream butter and sugar together till light in colour. Add vanilla and egg, beat well. 
Mix in oats, flour, ginger (or other spices) and baking powder, until you have a soft dough. 
Take 3/4 of the dough and press it into the lined baking dish. 
Arrange fruit over the top. 
Dollop lumps of remaining dough over the fruit. It will spread as it bakes. 
Bake for 40 mins till golden brown and the fruit is bubbling through the cracks in the top. 
Allow to cool for 15 mins before cutting and serving. 
Serve with lightly whipped cream or Greek yogurt. 
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days - if it lasts that long. 

Toasted Muesli

As the mornings get colder (and often wetter) firing up the oven and making your own muesli is the perfect way to toil away a wet weekend morning. This version is refined sugar free and is loaded with delicious clusters of crunchy oats as well as being loaded with nuts and seeds. 
Feel free to adapt it as you like. Here I've used a mixture of quick cooking oats (for the clusters) and larger wholegrain oats, but if you want a richer clusterful muesli, omit the larger oats at the end. 
Also feel free to adapt the combinations of nuts and seeds which are added. I love walnuts, so went with that this time, but cashews, macadamia, almond or pecan would also be delicious and no doubt I'll be mixing it up with my next batch. If you're a dried fruit fan, you can add that at the end once it has finished cooking. 

Ingredients (makes 10 cups of muesli; 20-30 serves):  

• 3/4 cup dried pitted dates
• 2 tsp vanilla essence 
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water extra
• 3 cups of quick cooking oats
• 1 cup coconut
• 3 cups of traditional wholegrain oats - I used Harraways 
• 1 cup nuts - walnuts, almond, cashew, macadamia, pecan or a mixture
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup chopped dried fruit of your choice - sultanas, apricot, cranberries etc (optional) 

Put dates, vanilla, cinnamon, and 3/4 cup of water into a small saucepan. Simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes stirring frequently. We want the dates to begin to dissolve in the water, and the water to reduce so the result is a date paste. 

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius, and place 3 cups of quick cook oats and coconut into a large roasting dish. 

Add 1/4 cup of oil, and another 1/4 cup of water to the date mixture. Mix well to combine, then stir through the oats. It should be a sticky mess at this stage. Excellent. 

Spread evenly across the roasting dish and break up any large clusters. 

Roast for 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. You want the oats to dry out. 

Now add the remaining wholegrain oats, nuts and seeds. Continue cooking for another 10 - 20 minutes turning once. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. If using dried fruit add it once cooled. Finally, store your muesli in an airtight container for up to a month. 

Serve with your choice of fruits, yogurt and milk.    

Sultana Oat Cookies

COOKIES! I am all about the cookies at the moment. Maybe it's part of being a new mum and the fact that I'm constantly hungry, or needing to snack on the go, either way, give, me, the, COOKIES. 
I have to admit however, this is the first batch of cookies that I have made myself since the little one arrived, partly because I thought I didn't have time, and partly because of the convenience of store bought ones! 
Anyway, I decided I should get back in the kitchen (finally) and make my own, however if you're a fan of store bought cookies then these will remind you of the Farmbake Oat and Sultana cookies - promise. 

You'll notice I love putting oats in my cookies, it adds texture and makes them somehow seem healthier, heck we may as well just eat these ones for breakfast, they're practically muesli, right?
Plus, you won't get sent home with the note from school for putting them in your little ones lunch box - well you better not! 

I like to chill the rolled balls of dough on the tray before baking. It stops them from spreading out so much and keeps them nice and plump. 
These will keep really well in an airtight container for a week, provided they don't get eaten first. 

Ingredients (makes 20-30 cookies): 

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp canola or rice bran oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2/3 c flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 c rolled oats
• 1 c dried sultanas - raisins or currants are equally as delicious
• 2/3 cup desiccated coconut 

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line two trays with baking paper.  

In a bowl whisk sugars, oil, vanilla, and egg. In another bowl combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, sultanas and coconut. 

Mix dry and wet ingredients together till well combined. 

Use wet hands to shape balls of dough, I make mine about ping pong ball size and then lightly press them with the back of a wet spoon. I popped mine into the fridge for 15 minutes at this stage, it helps to keep them rounder, rather than flatter, but you're welcome to skip this stage. 

Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden (if you've opted for larger cookies you may need to bake for an extra 5 minutes). Leave on the tray to cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. 

*Unbaked cookie dough can also be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months. Simply remove from the freezer, thaw, roll and bake when you're ready... Freezing the dough is also a good idea if you don't want to eat the whole batch of cookies at once!