Granola (coconut, pecan, pumpkin seed, banana)

I'd never even considered making granola before, because I prefer muesli and it's so much quicker to make. But S has been buying granola quite regularly of late, and he likes it, so I wanted to try making it for him...

There are lots of granola recipes out there. It seems to be one of those things where you can just chuck a bunch of stuff together and it will work out. I looked at a lot of recipes: here, here, here, here... And then got a little overwhelmed, decided all I needed was some oats and seeds, a little fat, stickiness and sweetness, and some time in the oven, and made something up from there.

3 cups oats (old-fashioned)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1/8 cup unsweetened dried coconut
1/3 cup pecan pieces
good pinch (1/4 tsp) desert (or sea) salt
1-2 tsp mahlab
1-2 tbsp ground linseed
1 1/4 large, ripe bananas
3 tbsp coconut oil (liquid state)
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp carob molasses
1 tbsp date molasses

Heat the oven to 350F. Mix the oats, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, coconut, pecans, salt, mahlab and ground linseed in a medium bowl. Put the bananas, coconut oil, maple syrup, carob molasses and date molasses in a blender and blend until smooth. Add this liquidy mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with your hands until well combined. Spread onto two baking sheets (with edges) and put in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, taking out every 10 minutes or so to move the granola around with a wooden spoon and check it is not burning. When it is well browned it is done. Take it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container to store.


Notes:
This makes a delicious, toasty granola. But I always love the big, stuck-together lumps in granola the best. So ever since first making this I have been trying to figure out how to make a lumpier version - I tried dehydrating, which kind-of worked. My latest experiment involved chucking in a bit of psyllium seed husk and using a lower temperature (300F), which maybe helped a little bit but not that much.
This recipe allows for endless variations. I made a pumpkin granola by subbing pumpkin puree for the banana and using pumpkin spice, which came out delicious. Pretty much everything can be varied. But I do love this combination - toasted pecans, pumpkin seeds, coconut, sesame, banana and maple make a wonderful granola. I cannot express how much I love oats.

Pumpkin chocolate cake-cookies

I've been getting through about three squashes a week recently, pumpkin/squash are great stuff. I'd rarely baked with pumpkin before I moved here, but I am fully converted now.

These are partly for the harvest festival we are having at the garden today, and partly for our friend G, whose birthday is on Thursday and we spent the day with yesterday, and who fortuitously loves pumpkin anything (and also dislikes chocolate, I remembered too late - but it was OK, turns out he likes chocolate chips).

I wanted to make pumpkin cookies, and considered a bunch of recipes before settling on this one. I think my original vision was something a bit more cookie-ish - these are quite cake-y - but they taste great so it's OK.

(makes about two dozen large cookies)

2 cups plain flour
1 1/3 cups oats
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 2/3 cups sugar (mixture of brown sugar and granulated)
2/3 cup veg oil
2 tbsp carob molasses
1 cup cooked pureed pumpkin (about 1 smallish acorn squash)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp ground linseed
1/2 cup plain chocolate chunks

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.

Mix together flour, oats, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugars, oil, molasses, pumpkin, vanilla and linseed. Add dry ingredients to wet in 3 batches, folding to combine. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased baking sheets. They don’t spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers. Bake for 16 minutes at 350F.

Remove from oven and move to a wire rack to cool. These taste best when they’ve had some time to cool and set. They taste even better the next day.


Definitely a hit with everyone who ate them, although I think the GF ones I made at the same time went down better!

Bran muffins

(makes 12, very generously filled in my muffin tin - I can only just fit it all in)

3 cups bran
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup raisins or dates

Oven 350F.  Mix in bowl the bran, flour, soda, baking powder,.  Add sugar, molasses, oil, water, vinegar, raisins.  Mix.  Put in muffin tins and bake 35-45 min.


Made with a mixture of fine wheatmeal I thought was coarser and more like bulghur (from the Russian shop - label was in Russian, in my defence) and blended-up oats.  Was good - I quite enjoyed the texture from the meal, and they seemed really quite light, in a way - the least heavy vegan baking I've done so far.  I used a mixture of raisins and cranberries and it was good.

This recipe came from somewhere on the internet.  I think it may have originated from the How it all Vegan! cookbook, which is totally on my want list.


Edit 2012/08/27: I made these again recently.  This time I used carob molasses instead of regular blackstrap, and added some cinnamon and sesame seeds.  Still used a mixture of ground-up oats and the ground-up fine bulghur, and used raisins.  They come out very robust but I quite like it.  They aren't very sweet - I might add a little more sugar another time (I served them with strawberry jam on the side).  Would also consider using brown sugar, and/or increasing the molasses a little: I liked the carob molasses but could have used more for a stronger taste.  Also considered using mulberry molasses instead.  Could have added more sesame seeds (prob used ~1tsp - they were a little lost) / sprinkled some on top.