Greatest Granola with the lot

As the long cold winter finally seems to be leaving us, so does the desire for warm, gooey porridge. In the past, I tried supposedly 'healthy' processed cereals and granolas, but I found that they were either way too sweet or pretty much like eating cardboard. So I decided I would try making it myself.

I found a recipe that sounded quite good, but have since modified and added to it substantially to the point where I think I can call this my own. It is fairly simple, and you can exchange many of the ingredients as you please. It is a very forgiving recipe - you can adjust most things (especially the dry ingredients) to your liking. Lately I have found some' "unstabilised" rolled oats that seem to make it lighter again. Served with plain greek yogurt and maybe a little fresh fruit, even hubby is getting into it.

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
100g (or more) of nuts - I have been using a mixture of almonds and walnuts lately (I really like either slivered or sliced, but any will do. They are easier to eat if broken up a bit)
50g sunflower seeds
50g pepitas
2 tblsp sesame seeds
2 tblsp linseeds
1tblsp chia seeds
3tblsp coconut flakes or shredded
1/2 cup cranberries (if you can find with less sugar, that is great - I have found that Woolworths select have about 1/2 the sugar as Ocean Spray and no other sweeteners)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tblsp cold pressed coconut oil, warmed to liquid
125ml maple syrup or rice malt syrup
2 tblsp honey (optional - maybe add a little more of the other instead)
1 tsp vanilla essence or paste

Method:
Turn oven on to 150 deg C and line two baking trays with paper.

Put all the oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon and turmeric into a large bowl and mix well. Warm the coconut oil to liquid (either a quick zap in the microwave, or sit the bowl in warm water), and add syrup, honey and vanilla and mix well.

Pour liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until it is all coated.
Spread the mixture onto the trays as evenly as possible and pop it into the oven for about 15 mins. After this you can add the coconut (it tends to burn if in for longer), and remix on the tray. You can put the cranberries on at this point also, but they will go quite hard afterwards. Put the trays back in for another 12-15mins (watch it doesn't burn, particularly around the edges). Take out of the oven and place trays on racks to cool, sprinkling evenly with the cranberries. I tend to give it another move around on the tray at this point, otherwise I have found that it has very large chunks which are quite hard to break up when cool.

When it is completely cooled, break it up and put it into an airtight container. Serve with plain yogurt and/or milk, or just eat it as a snack from the container!

Cosy Food - Buckingham Biscuits

The recipe I am sharing here is one that I have never been able to find elsewhere, nor anything like it. I lost my copy a little while back, so was very relieved that my mother still had hers. It was one she used to make regularly for us when I was in my teens - great for those after school snacks as it contains the filling goodness of rolled oats and because it uses one saucepan and is really quick and easy. Successful with teens because it combines these with chocolate. 

Chocolate makes anything delicious, doesn't it?

And I have no idea why they are called Buckingham Biscuits, particularly as it is actually a slice rather than discreet biscuits. 

The original recipe is as follows:

Buckingham Biscuits:

1 ½ cups sugar (I have been using 3/4 cup of sugar quite successfully)

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

125g butter

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 cups rolled oats

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. I usually cook it a little less, as my oven runs a little hot – be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard, although you can always pop individual slices in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them up.

Leave to cool in tray, but slice into smallish fingers before it cools and goes hard. 

Try not to eat it all at once!

Now, here is my latest tweak. I have been experimenting with decreasing the amount of sugar as well as a couple of other exchanges.

I have reduced the sugar to around ¾ cup without losing the chewy toffee-ness. I have also exchanged half the butter (by volume, so ¼ cup of each) for cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil – I suspect you could do a complete exchange. Thirdly, I have experimented a little with some puffed quinoa or just straight quinoa, replacing about ½ cup of the rolled oats, which adds a little more protein and another texture (I think you could easily exchange more). You could also use cacao powder. I have also added a couple of handfuls of shredded coconut sometimes. So the final recipe looks more like this:

Buckingham Biscuits Version 2:

¾ cup sugar

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

¼ cup butter

¼ cup cold pressed coconut oil

Mix these together in a medium large saucepan over low heat, bringing to the boil. Boil for one minute. Immediately take off the heat (watch it doesn't stick on the bottom at this point).

Add

½ cup peanut butter (crunchy is best) - I like to mix this in before adding the rest

2 tsp vanilla essense

2 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup puffed quinoa

Mix well and press into a lamington tray (approx. 25x30cm) lined with baking paper and cook for around 25 mins at 180 °C. Be careful not to overcook as it will become very hard.

Leave to cool in tray, before cutting into slices. I do think this tends to be a little more crumbly than the original, which is probably due to the decreased sugar, but it still tastes great.