Farmersgirl Kitchen

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Hugh's Honey and Peanut Butter Flapjacks

There was nothing in the biscuit tin. There was nothing in the cake tin. I wanted something sweet now what did I have in the cupboard that would make a quick and easy sweet treat? I always have oats, dried fruits and a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds that we use in our bread, so I went looking for a FLAPJACK recipe and found this one by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in River Cottage Every Day:

Honey and Peanut Butter Booster Bars

Makes 16

125g unsalted butter
150g soft brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
125g no-sugar-added crunchy peanut butter
75g honey, plus a little more to finish
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
200g porridge oats (not jumbo)
150g dried fruit, such as raisins, sultanas and chopped apricots, prunes or dates, either singly or in combination
150g mixed seeds, such as pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, linseed and sesame

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Grease and line a baking tin, about 20cm square.

Put the butter, sugar, peanut butter, honey and grated citrus zests in a deep saucepan over a very low heat. Leave until melted, stirring from time to time.

Stir the oats, dried fruit and three-quarters of the seeds into the melted butter mixture until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture out evenly in the baking tin, smoothing the top as you go.

Scatter the remaining seeds over the surface and trickle with a little more honey. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden in the centre and golden-brown at the edges.

Leave to cool completely in the tin (be patient – it cuts much better when cold), then turn out and cut into squares with a sharp knife. These bars will keep for 5-7 days in an airtight tin.

These bars are really very moreish and you only need a small piece to fill you up. The fruit I used was mainly raisins with some dried cranberries and dried apricots. I used a mixture of smooth, crunchy and three nut peanut butter, because that's what I had in the house. The peanut butter doesn't dominate the taste of the bars and they are the soft and fudgy type of flapjack rather than the crisp, crunchy type.

I'm entering the flapjacks for Tea Time Treats, the monthly blog challenge run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Janie at The Hedgecombers. July's Tea Time Treats is being hosted at The Hedgecombers.

Labels: apricots, cranberries, dried fruit, flapjacks, honey, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, oats, peanut butter, raisins, Tea Time Treats

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Peanut Butter, Oat and Choc Chip Cookies

The Fourth of July is a big celebration for all my US friends, sometimes they don't quite get why we don't celebrate it in the UK...er...well...we lost! I don't hold that against them though, in fact let's face it, most of us are simply looking for an excuse to celebrate anything!

So here is my celebration recipe of Peanut Butter, Oat and Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Duerr's Peanut Butter, it's super smooth and made with American peanuts, it blended perfectly in the cookies and would also be delicious in that all American favourite the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

I can't claim this recipe as my own, it's a fabulous one from Sally's Baking Addiction, definitely a site to visit if you love Peanut Butter. Sally has created these gluten free cookies which are really easy to make and create a soft and delicious cookie. I only deviated from the recipe slightly, by using chopped chocolate chunks rather than bought choc chips, mmmm bigger pieces of chocolate.

I thought you might be interested to know that I bought the fabric in the cookie photograph, in California in 2007 and the US Flag picks I bought on my very first trip to the States in 1980!

I'm adding this cookie recipe to Jacqueline, Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa, Lisa's Kitchen monthly challenge: Bookmarked Recipes, it's a while since I posted for this challenge so good to get back in the game.

Thanks to Duerrs for the Peanut Butter, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: 4th July, Bookmarked Recipes, chocolate, chocolate chip, cookies, Duerrs, oats, peanut butter, Sally's Baking Addiction, USA

Thursday, 12 September 2013

Chocolate Chunk Melting Moments

Melting Moments are a classic biscuit/cookie that are really simple to make and you generally find that you have everything you need to make them. They are supposed to be topped with a piece of cherry like the ones in the Tea Time Treats badge below, however I didn't have any glace cherries in my baking supplies, at first I thought I'd leave them plain, then decided that everything is better with a little chocolate added so added a chocolate chunk to each biscuit. If I'd thought about it before I might even have replace some of the flour with cocoa powder, next time!

The theme for this month's Tea Time Treats is Flapjacks, Oats and Traybakes
Tea Time Treats is a monthly blog event run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked
Melting Moments (makes 18-20)
75g (3oz) soft margarine
75g (3oz) caster sugar
half a beaten egg
a few drops vanilla extract
25g (1oz) rolled oats
100g (4oz) self-raising flour
a handful of rolled oats to coat
50g (2oz) dark chocolate, cut into chunks
1. Heat the oven to 160C, 325F, Gas 3.
2. Grease to baking sheets or cut baking parchment to fit
3. Beat together the margarine and sugar until creamy, then work in the egg and vanilla extract.
4. Add the oats and flour and work until you have a soft dough.
5. Divide the mixture into about 20 pieces and roll into balls, you might find this easier if you slightly wet your hands.
6. Roll the cookie dough balls in rolled oats and place 5 cm (2in) apart on the baking sheets. Flatten each piece of dough and place a chunk of dark chocolate in the centre of each.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the biscuits are pale golden brown.
8. Cool on a wire rack

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: biscuits, chocolate, cookies, Melting Moments, oats, Tea Time Treats

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Who says Vanilla isn't sexy? Pure Vanilla - A review

Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever with photographs by Leigh Beisch

It says something that a whole book can be devoted to one flavouring ingredient . Vanilla is the world’s most universally loved flavour and for good reason. No flavour is more widely recognised, used and enjoyed across the globe.

This book aims to show the versatility of vanilla and tell the story of vanilla from its start as a green pod nestled inside a tropical flower to its transformation into the fragrant beans we all recognise and love.

The comprehensive Introduction starts with a brief history of vanilla tracing the history of vanilla from 1519 up to the present day. The history is told in a very accessible way in short ‘bites’ of readable story.

In From Orchid to Extract, Shauna explains how Vanilla is produced and why it is so expensive.

There is also information about vanilla in all its forms. An exploration of the different forms of vanilla you can use in your cooking and baking.

I had no idea there were different varieties of vanilla with different subtle tastes, but all is explained in the section: Vanilla origins, Varieties and Tasting notes . The introduction concludes with ‘Vanilla FAQs’ to answer any remaining questions.

Salted Vanilla Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies (I reduced the ingredients by a 1/3 to make 1 dozen)

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/14 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

8oz white chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp Vanilla Fleur de Sel (make it like vanilla sugar, but with flaky sea salt) for sprinkling

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a large bowl, whisk oats, flour, baking soda, and slat to blend well.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and vanilla extract on medium high speed until blended and creamy. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. I don't have a stand mixer so used an electric hand mixer.

Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add oat mixture, then white chocolate.

Scoop batter, 2 tbsp at a time, onto prepared baking sheets, about 8 cookies to a sheet, Sprinkle a bit of vanilla fleur de sel onto each cookie.

Bake until cookies are golden around the edges but still a bit soft in a centres, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating sheets from front to back and top to bottom half way through baking. Do not over bake. Let cookies cool on sheets for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I'm not a huge fan of salted with sweet, so didn't bother with the Vanilla Fleur de Sel, the cookies went down well with my visitors and were the first to be chosen. They have a nice texture, slightly soft and chewy. I realise I have chosen two recipes with oats in as well as vanilla, not deliberate just what appealed to me! There are lots more recipes with different ingredients, I've given you a taster of some of the titles below.

The Recipes

There are 80 recipes in the book divided into the following chapters:

Breakfasts including Vanilla Brown Sugar and Black Pepper Bacon, Slow Cooked Vanilla Spice Oatmeal* and Buttery Baked Vanilla Bean French Toast.

Cakes and Pies Including Vanilla Cloud Cake, Twinkie Bundt Cake and Vanilla Cream Pie

Cookies and Bars including Vanilla Latte Cookies, Mini Vanilla Eclairs and Salted Vanilla Chip Oatmeal Cookies*

Candies and Confections including Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, Golden Pear-Vanilla Jam and Vanilla Lollipops

Custards and Creams including Warm Vanilla-Rum Rice Pudding, Australian Vanilla Slice and Favourite Vanilla Ice Cream

Drinks including Vanilla Mojito, Fruity Vanilla Iced Tea and Melted White Hot Chocolate

Resources

Unfortunately, as this is an American book, the speciality stores are all in the US.

Conversion Chart

I was pleased to see there was a conversion chart in the back of the book and I used it to reduce the ingredients for the Vanilla Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Who is it for?

This book is for anyone who loves vanilla. The recipes are all cakes and desserts, but the two that I tried were not over-sweet, with much of the sweetness coming from the vanilla itself. There are a number of interesting and different recipes, the drinks chapter was a bit of a revelation and there are lots of interesting new ideas to try in the Candies and Confections chapter.

Pros and Cons

If you read all the information in the introduction you will be much better informed about vanilla and how to use it to full advantage. The quantities for some of the recipes are huge, I don't usually make 3 dozen cookies at a time.

Ease of use

The recipes are varied, some very simple and others more challenging. The recipes are well laid out and I found them easy to follow.

Slow Cooked Vanilla Spice Oatmeal

Serves 4

1 cup steel-cut oats

1/2 vanilla bean , split length ways

2 tablespoons light brown sugar (optional) plus more for serving

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cardamom

single or double cream for serving

Coat the sleeve of a 5 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place sleeve in slow cooker and combine all ingredients in it; add 3 1/2 cups water and stir to blend. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours. Remove vanilla bean and scrape any remaining caviar into oatmeal. Stir well and serve with brown sugar to taste and a drizzle of cream.

I don't have a slow cooker, but wanted to try this, so this is what I did:

I only used half the quantity and cooked the oatmeal with the water in the microwave for 1 minute until hot, add the other ingredients,except the cream, and pour into a wide mouthed vacuum flask Leave overnight and serve with Greek yogurt or creme fraiche.

It worked brilliantly, the oatmeal could have been a little warmer but had absorbed all the vanilla and spice flavours and had a lovely texture. I would definitely make this again.

Worth buying?

It’s a surprising book, with so many different ways to use vanilla. However, I am not sure that I would buy a book that focused on one flavour, but if you really love vanilla then I’m sure you would have a lot of fun making these recipes.

Published by Quirk Books

Available at On line bookshop from £10.71

I received a copy of Pure Vanilla to review, I was not paid to review this book and all opinions are my own.

Labels: book review, chocolate, cookies, oatmeal, oats, Porridge, Pure Vanilla, review, Vanilla, white chocolate

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Ration Book Cooking - Thursday 8th November

Porridge!

You may have noticed that I've been eating porridge for breakfast on most days of my Ration Book Cooking challenge. This would be a real challenge for me if it wasn't that I'd been sent some Flahavan's Irish Course Cut Oatmeal. It is probably closer to the porridge that was eaten during the war, the kind that had to be soaked overnight and then cooked for some time to soften it. That isn't the case with this as the Irish Coarse Cut Oatmeal is made by kilning and steam cooking the oats and cutting them into smaller pieces, resulting in a textured porridge, that can be cooked in 3 minutes in the microwave or a little longer in a pan on the hob.

I am really not a huge fan of porridge made with rolled oats, it is too slimy for my taste, but porridge made with this coarse (steel) cut oatmeal, has real texture and a good taste as well as being good for you. My father always had his porridge made with salt and this oatmeal is great served this way, a great savoury breakfast. It also works well with sweet flavours, but you'll have to wait till after the Ration week to find out about that!

Ministry of Food Leaflet No. 22 is all about Oats and Barley and features, not only porridge, but also a 'Swiss Breakfast Dish' which appears to be a version of Bircher Muesli.

Porridge - Recipe 1

NB - If thick porridge is preferred use the larger amounts of oatmeal, rolled oats or barley kernels. 4-6oz oatmeal

2 pints water

2 tsp salt

Soak the oatmeal in water overnight. Next morning add salt, bring to the boil and boil for 15-20minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Recipe 2

6-8oz rolled oats or barley kernels

2 pints cold water

2 tsp salt

Mix the rolled oats or barley kernels with a little of the cold water. Boil the rest and pour on to the oats stirring well. Add the salt and boil the porridge for 5-10 minutes stirring at intervals

Swiss Breakfast Dish

4oz rolled oats or barley flakes or kernels

4 tbsp milk

1/2 - 3/4lb grated raw apple

1-2 tbsp sugar

Soak the rolled oats or barley flakes or kernels overnight in barely enough water to cover. In the morning beat up well with the other ingredients. This is a delicious alternative to porridge on summer mornings.

Wartime Kitchen Menu for Thursday 8th November

Breakfast

Porridge made with Flahavan's Irish Coarse Cut Oatmeal

Lunch

Sandwich made two slices of Wartime Loaf and 75g cheese and a tsp of homemade chutney

Dinner

Parsnips with Cheese (from Vegetables for Victory) as I haven't made this yet, you will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it turns out.

WW2 Rations 1940 for three people

Butter ~~150g (6oz)~~ 75g Butter

Bacon or ham: ~~300g (12oz)~~ bacon in the Haricot Bean dish

Margarine: 300g (12oz)

Cooking fat/lard: ~~300g (12oz) 200g lard~~ 190g lard (tsp of veg oil)

Sugar: ~~675g (1lb 10oz)~~ 650g (25g black treacle used)

Meat: 1350g (3lb)

Milk: ~~9 pints occasionally dropping to 8 pints~~ 8 3/4 pints

Cheese: ~~150g (6oz) rising to 675g (1lb 10oz)?~~ 75g cheese

Eggs: ~~3 fresh eggs per week~~ 0 fresh eggs

Tea: 150g ~~(6oz) 130g 110g~~ 70g

Jam: ~~150g (6oz) per week~~ 125g

Dried Eggs 3 packets (36 eggs every four weeks) 9 eggs for one week

Sweets: 262g (3oz) per week.

Labels: Barley, Flahavan's Irish coarse cut oatmeal, oats, Porridge, Ration Book Cooking, Wartime Kitchen

Friday, 15 June 2012

Iced Cranachan for Best of British

Best of British - The Scottish Challenge!

When you think about Scottish cooking what comes to mind? Haggis? Salmon? Oatcakes? Cullen Skink? There are plenty of modern and traditional recipes to choose from in the Scottish Kitchen so why don't you rise to the challenge and cook or bake something Scottish, put it on your blog and you could be in with a chance to win.

We are lucky that New World Appliances as proud BRITISH manufacturers of kitchen appliances are sponsoring this event for the first six months. Each month, one entrant will be picked AT RANDOM to receive a £50 Amazon voucher. And, at the end of the six month period we will have a regional showdown, with a judge to pick the best entry (we are still working on who that will be and should be able to announce it shortly). New World Appliances have kindly offered £300 of Amazon vouchers for the overall winner, so if you enter every month you have 6 chances to win the grand prize!
We’ll be showcasing the entries both on the Face of New World blog and on host blogs and promoting the recipes through Facebook and Twitter, with all your entries fully credited back to your blogs.
So, why not show what you think is the Best of British and join our challenge.
Rules:
The full rules are posted on The Face of New World Appliances. However, here is a summary of what you have to do to enter:

Post your recipe on your blog with a link back to The Face of New World Appliances AND to this post.
Add the Best of British badge to your post.
Add "Best of British" to your post or as a tag.
E-mail bestofbritishchallenge@gmail.com with your recipe title, a link to your post and a photograph by Midnight of 15th July.
If you post on Twitter, you can use #BestofBritish and if you mention @fionamaclean or @serialcrafter or @newworldapps, we will try and retweet.
The round-up of entries will be posted on or before the 20th July on The Face of New World Appliances and here on my blog too.

The Best of British Challenge has been organised by Karen Burns Booth of Lavender and Lovage and Fiona McLean of London Unattached. Many thanks to them both for all their hard work and to Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog for hosting the first month featuring recipes from Cornwall. Remember to check the round up on the 20th June.

Scotland's Food

There are so many fantastic food producers in Scotland. We have high quality beef and lamb and game, incredible seafood and delicious dairy produce. The varied landscape of Scotland has the right conditions to for all of these products and, despite some of the 'deep fried Mars Bar' anti-food propaganda, Scotland has an excellent reputation for good food.

I thought long and hard about what I should showcase for Best of British and toyed with a smoked venison salad or maybe some traditional baking. In the end I decided to put a bit of a twist on a dish that is full of Scottish products and is popular in restaurants and at home for entertaining: Cranachan.

I'm not sure what that bottle says about us, there doesn't seem to be much Auchentoshan malt whisky left! In my defence, we have had that bottle for quite a while... oh yes and some lovely Scottish Heather Honey, thick and fragrant.

It's also the start of the Scottish soft fruit season. I visited a fruit farm in Fife last weekend, no raspberries there, but plenty of strawberries. These raspberries come from Perthshire, the cooler summers in Scotland are ideal for raspberry growing.

Iced Cranachan with Raspberries (serves 4)

For the ice-cream
300ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1 tbsp Scottish Heather Honey
1tbsp Scottish Malt Whisky
300ml 1/2 Fat Creme Fraiche

For the Oat Crumble
100g Scottish medium oatmeal (I used Hamlyns Oatmeal suitable for baking)
30g Scottish butter
50g demerara sugar

200g Scottish Raspberries

To make the ice cream
1. Pour milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the honey and heat until almost boiling.
2. Take off the heat and let it cool slightly.
3. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then strain back into the pan.
4. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Do not allow to boil!
6. Pour into a chilled bowl and leave to cool in the fridge
7. Whisk the Creme Fraiche into the cold custard until evenly blended.
8. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until frozen, alternatively freeze in a shallow container, whisking 2 or 3 times during freezing to break down the ice crystals and ensure an even-textured ice-cream.
9. When the ice-cream is still soft, add half the oat crumble and mix well.

To make the oat crumble
1. Rub together the medium oatmeal and the butter until combined and resembling rough breadcrumbs.
2. Add the demerara sugar and stir through.
3. Heat the oven to 180C and spread the mixture on a baking tray.
4. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
5. Let the crumble cool.

For the Raspberry Coulis
100g Scottish Raspberries
25g icing sugar, sieved
1. Push 100g of raspberries through a sieve, collecting the juice in a bowl.
2. Stir in the icing sugar until dissolved.
3. Chill until ready to use.

I used some old fashioned Tala Castle Cake tins, lined with clingfilm, to make my little ices, but you could use a small glass or just add a scoop of ice cream to your plate. You need to take the ice-cream out of the freezer about half an hour before eating. Place the ice cream on the plate, using a dessert spoon add a pool of raspberry coulis on one side and place three raspberries in the coulis. Add a little 'stream' of oat crumble on the opposite side of the plate.

This is not an over sweet dessert, there is only a very subtle taste of whisky, but you could leave it out if you don't have it or don't like it. They honey taste is to the fore and the different textures of the crunchy oat crumble and smooth raspberry coulis are delicious with the ice-cream.

I hope you will join us in the Best of British Challenge and make something from Scotland, it can be a traditional Scottish dish or a dish using Scottish produce. I look forward to seeing what you make and good luck with the prize draw.

Scottish Cooking
Scottish Recipes
STV Scotland Food and Drink
Scottish Recipes Food and Culture

Labels: Best of British, Cranachan, Heather Honey, honey, ice cream, oat crumble, oats, raspberries, Scotland, Scottish, whisky

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