Baked Granola

If you love the crunch, texture and flavour of granola, you'll love this delicious treat!

Baked Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup oat-bran flakes

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1 cup shredded coconut

1/3 cup sesame seeds (I buy roasted sesame seeds)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 chopped walnuts

1/3 cup coconut oil (slightly melted)

1/3 - 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I'm somewhere in between) lol

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp maple extract

few drops of almond extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl combine oats through to walnuts. Mix well. In another bowl stir tigether coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, maple extract, almond extract. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix well. Spread mixture onto a large baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes. Halfway through baking (at 25 minutes) remove baking sheet from oven carefully mix up the granola. Put baking sheet back in oven and bake 25 minutes more. Granola will be nicely browned. Let cool for 20-30 minutes and add cra/raisins. Store in glass container or airtight container.

~Loved ones gather in the kitchen

Date and Prune Squares

One of my favorite treats is date squares! Rich and creamy pureed dates and prunes, trapped between two layers of buttery oatmeal crust. Delicious, gooey and oh so comforting!

If you are not a fan of prunes then don't add them and use only dates! Easy peasy right!

Without further ado here are some pictures and the recipe! Enjoy!

Filling:

2 cups of dried pitted dates (chop them up with kitchen scissors)

1 cup pitted prunes

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup water

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsps brandy or liquor of your choice ( today I used Grand Marnier) or you can flavor the filling with 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Base and Topping:

1/2 cup of butter (salted or unsalted) (room temperature but no super soft)

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (I like the large oats) (not quick cooking oats)

To make the filling, in a saucepan add the dates, prunes, sugar, water, lemon juice and liquor. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring often until thick consistency. About 1/2 hour. Although I let this sit on the stove and simmer on very low for about an hour. Let cool.

For the base and topping cream the butter, then add the brown sugar and white sugar. Beat well.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and oats and stir well. Stir flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mixture will be crumbly. Pat two thirds of the flour mixture into the bottom of 8 or 9 inch square baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Spread the date/prune mixture on top. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top.

Bake in a preheated oven 350 degrees. for 30 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. The squares are gooey, so I cut them into squares and then cover with plastic wrap and put the pan into the fridge (see last photo) And then when I want one... or two... maybe three... I eat them directly cool from the fridge.

They freeze wonderfully so you don't have to eat them all at once! lol

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

A moist carrot cake filled with crushed pineapple, chopped walnuts, sweetened cococut and topped with an easy cream cheese frosting. This particular recipe was passed on to me from my husbands side of the family. Many years ago we were at a family gathering and I thought it was such an amazing carrot cake. I am so happy that this recipe was given to me. Perfect for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Carrot Cake lovers!

Ingredients:
3 eggs beaten
1 3/4 cups sugar (I like to divide this with white and brown sugar)
1 cup cooking oil (canola or light Olive)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
2 cups medium sweetened coconut
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 – 19 ounce can crushed pineapple – undrained
1 cup chopped nuts (I use walnuts or pecans)


Beat eggs well, add sugar and mix, add oil and beat a little more.  In a bowl, mix the flour,cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and soda together. (If you don't have vanilla sugar then add a tsp of vanillla extract to the egg mixture)  Add flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Then add coconut and grated carrots, pineapple, and nuts. Mix well. Spoon into 9”x 13” or 2 – 8”x 8” pans. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F. Check for doneness at 50 mins.

If you are removing the cake for decorating, line the pan with wax paper, (bottom and 2 sides) so it is above the sides – just so it doesn’t crack in the removal.

CREAM CHEESE ICING
To make your icing:
1/3 cup butter
8 ounces (250g) (Philadelphia) Cream Cheese (plain)
2 cups icing sugar (or more till it holds reasonably firm points)
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together with electric beaters the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the icing sugar. Slather frosting on top of cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Let me know if you try this recipe and how it turned out!

xo

Welcome

Welcome to my corner of the World Wide Web! I have another blog here but haven't been active on it in a very long time. I'm not sure why.... hmmm... I probably could give you a super long reason why, but I won't. Short version.... I created this blog years ago and wanted all my posts under one unbrella so to speak. So here we are! LOL! I thought I would add a few recent pictures of our beautiful lake, me and hubby on BC day, a new coffee mug (btw, I love coffee) and wine & watermelon.

We have had hot summer days since June but this week it has been hazy due to the local fires and yesterday we had a crazy rain storm! My husband thinks summertime is over but I disagree. I have a feeling the warm weather will return and will take us right through to September. A part of me is so excited for September! That means sweater weather is around the corner, apple picking and apple pie! I love the aroma of coffee, vanilla and cinnamon! Yipee!! Maybe I do want summertime to be over..... NOT!! Okay, so there we go, my first blogpost on 'Under the Shuswap (shoe-swap) Sun!