Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

This week's post is comfort food, pure and simple. I haven't anything to say other than that my thoughts are with the Mays, Jackson and Fawcett children; thank you for sharing your parents with us.


Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla till fluffy and add dry ingredients.
4. Stir in chocolate chunks and walnuts.
5. Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until light golden brown.

Monday Musing: I still haven't found what I'm looking for...

These muffins were pretty good. Considering they don't have any shortening in them, they were decently moist, however there were grumblings that they were a little dry. I attribute this to the oats and aforementioned lack of shortening. All in all I'm very happy with how they turned out.

I still haven't found a toaster oven I'm happy with, suggestions?

Maple Walnut Muffins

This week's post comes from an old friend who supplied me with the recipe. It calls for maple extract but I was not able to find that ingredient at my local Publix, so instead of using Grade A Maple syrup, I substituted Grade B, which proudly proclaims on its label that it has a bolder flavor than Grade A. It smells lovely and the toasted walnuts were delicious. Reactions tomorrow. Thank you for your patience, the past few weeks have been hectic and hopefully things are starting to get back to normal.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/3 cups maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chopped dates

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 20 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Toss the walnuts and butter together on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 to 16 minutes, stirring occasionablly, set aside. Keep oven on.
3. Beat eggs, cream, 1 cup of the maple syrup, and the maple extract together in a mixing bowl.
4. Combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Stir into the egg mixture until just combined. Stir in the dates and 1 cup of the toasted walnuts.
   
5. Fill each muffin cup three-fourths full with the batter. Sprinkle the tops with the reminaing walnuts and drizzle with the remaining syrup. Bake for 20 minutes. Poke a tooghpick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out dry, the muffins are done

Hat tip to M.F. for the recipe

No Post Tonight

I haven't had time to bake something new tonight. However, I did make mango lime cupcakes for a dinner party where I got at least two, and hopefully three promising recipes, and possibly picked up a few readers. If all goes according to plan I will bake something tomorrow night. Apologies to all.

Mango Bread

For the first time since college, I don't have a digital camera. After I got the new Sony DSLR, I gave my old cameras to my parents, thinking I'd never have a use for them again. But this week I lent my camera to a friend of mine his impending trip to Europe. So I'm faced with a quandary, either post without pictures or *ahem* borrow pictures from elsewhere on the internet. Although I am unabashed in stealing recipes because I don't feel that they fall into the category of intellectual property and should belong to everyone. I do believe that photos are very much, and should be, protected from theivery. So with that said, I have chosen to post someone else's pictures. For the record, they are much better than any pictures I could have taken (although I am working on my snapping skills) and do not belong to me in any way. They are borrowed from Shari Goodman at Whisk: A Food Blog. The bread smells amazing and I hope to post reviews tomorrow.



Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
• 2.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1.5 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c (packed) light brown sugar
• 2 c diced mango
• 3/4 c moist, plump raisins (soak 10 minutes in hot water to plump up)
• Grated zest of 1/2 lime

Directions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other. (This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from overbaking).
2. Whisk the eggs and oil together.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Rub the brown sugar between your palms into the bowl, breaking up any lumps, then stir it in. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, switch to a sturdy rubber spatula or wooden spoon and mix until blended — the batter will be very thick (really more like a dough than a batter) and not easily mixed, but persevere, it will soon come together. Stir in the mango, raisins, and zest. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
4. Bake the bread for 1.5 hours, or until it is golden brown and a thin knife inserted ino the center comes out clean. (If the bread looks as if it’s getting too brown as it bakes, cover it loosely with a foil tent). I did this at 45 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

Belated Strawberry Upside-Down Cake

I was out of town this weekend and didn't have time to bake anything. I saw huge strawberries on sale at Publix and decided to make this cake. Not much to say, it smells lovely. Probably no musing tomorrow, I'm deep in the weeds.



Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons butter (for the topping)
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup of Sliced Strawberries
• 1 1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2/3 Cup Milk
• 1/4 cup Soft Butter (for the cake)
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions

1. Pre-Heat the oven to 350.
2. In a 9in round cake dish melt the 2 table spoons of butter, mix in the brown sugar, add the strawberries, and then set it to the side.
3. In a mixer bowl stir the flour, sugar, and baking powder together. Then add the milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Then gently pour over the fruit in the cake pan. You may want to use a lager spoon. The key is for the fruit to stay on the bottom, and not to mix with the batter.
4. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Check the middle of the cake with a toothpick or knife to see if it’s done. When done remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Then flip it over on to a serving plate, and remove the pan.