Chewy School-friendly Muesli Bars

My beloved husband believes, not without reason, that for both health and convenience reasons we need to bake snacks for our kids to take to school for recess. I'm obviously all in favour of health and convenience but I'm not entirely convinced that the chocolate banana bread or berry muffins that are our staple are really that healthy. Both are home made and therefore avoid the perils of transfats, palm oil, and oddly numbered preserving and stabilising agents, both are cheaper than buying that kind of snack food but to me they don't really seem particularly healthy. Plenty of sugar (or 'energy' as the candy bar ads so gloriously euphemise) which actually doesn't bother me that much but not high in fibre or protein, which as Megan knows, I'm a bit obsessed about

So I've been dwelling on what I can make easily, cheaply, lasts reasonably well (muffins, being lower in fat, don't last as well). It needs to have protein, fibre and be nut-free (school policy). And, obviously it needs to be whatever my fickle children consider tasty. Muesli bars (I think our North American friends call them Granola Bars) are a lunchbox staple, and I love chewy, oaty, fruity things, so that's what I decided to try.

I looked at about a hundred recipes and they tend to be variations on a theme. I asked various friends for their recommendations What I really wanted was something that gave me a ratio of wet to dry ingredients, an idea of crunchy to smooth ratios and how much fat and sugar was going to be needed to glue it all together. Oh, and I want to make sure I didn't end up with headache-inducing, rock-like crunchiness.

Based mostly on these recipes by SmittenKitchen, BakePlaySmile nd TheHealthyChef and the stuff I had kicking around in my pantry, I have constructed my own recipe and it's exactly what I was hoping for!

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 cup regular oats
• 1 cup corn flakes (I wanted some crunchy bits and I'm not allowed to use nuts. You could use any kind of prepared cereal, puffed grains, nuts, whatever)
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I used 1 cup of diced dried apricots and 1/3 cup of diced dates)
• 1/2 cup raw sugar (I will use brown sugar for extra chewiness next time)
• 1 cup other dry ingredients. I used one third of a cup each flour, pepitas and quinoa flakes
• 2 tbsp chia seeds

Wet Ingredients

• 120g/half a cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey (roughly - I hate measuring honey!)
• 1 beaten egg 
• half a cup stewed apple/apple sauce (I make this myself - just cooking up a heap of peeled, cored tart green apples with a little bit of sugar, water, and lemon and a heap of delicious sweet mixed spices). Those who want to make a nutty version of this could use a nut butter here, maybe loosened with a bit of oil and people who are really serious about being healthy might prefer to use tahini.
• 2 tbsp golden syrup (because I was worried it wouldn't stick together enough)

Method

• preheat the oven to around 160C (fan-forced) and line a brownie tin with baking paper (spring for the fancy baking paper - it's worth it!) and give the lined pan a spray with cooking oil.
• Mix the dry ingredients in a largish bowl.
• Mix the wet ingredients in another bowl (I use a Pyrex measuring jug for this kind of thing - I melt the butter in the microwave with the honey and syrup then add the beaten egg, making sure it's not too hot because I don't want the egg to cook til it all goes in the oven).
• Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix it all up well and press it into the prepared tin, flattening it down neatly.
• Cook it for about 25-35 minutes and let it cool completely before you cut it.

Store it in an airtight container - in the humid Sydney summer I'd suggest the fridge, if it isn't going to be eaten within a day or two. Although I could probably convince myself that this is an appropriate breakfast, morning tea and lunch, so that seems unlikely at this point.

Variations I'm looking forward to trying:

Tropical: with dried coconut, dried pineapple and pawpaw with golden syrup instead of honey. Maybe even mashed banana.

Thanksgiving/Autumn: Pecans, cranberries and maple syrup. Mashed cooked pumpkin with lots of spices instead of apple.

Summer: Dates and figs, dried coconut, some orange juice or even a drop or two of orange flower water.

And

Almond and Cranberry biscuits (cookies)

This is almost my own recipe, it's adapted from a recipe for macadamia cookies from book called 500 Cookies by Philippa Vanstone. I keep meaning to try a variation with macadamia, orange and chocolate (or pecan and maple syrup!) but the almond and cranberry one is so good that there is just no motivation to try any others.I'm making these biscuits today to take to my inlaws for our Diwali celebration tomorrow. The biscuits come out chewy and nutty, not unlike some Indian sweets, so my father-in-law really appreciates them.

I do this recipe in two parts - I make the dough and roll it into biscuit sized balls first and put them in the fridge (or freezer!) and cook them later, usually when the oven is on for something else.

Ingredients

• 150g almonds (blanched, and they can be slivered or whatever, because they are going to be blitzed)
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• 100g raw sugar
• 50g brown sugar (coz I like mine chewy rather than crunchy)
• 1 egg
• 75g dried cranberries
• 150g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
• 75g granulated sugar (for rolling the biscuits in)
• 1tsp vanilla essence (I sometimes use almond instead)

Method

Blitz the nuts and milk together till they form a type of paste. You can do this with the food processor attachment of the stick blender but if I'm doing double quantities (like today) I use the food processor itself.

Add the sugar, egg and essence and beat well (I just tip these ingredients into the food processor), then I add the cranberries and give a few pulses to cut them a bit and mix them through the dough.

Sifted flour and bicarb come next. Ideally you will transfer the mixture to a bowl and gently fold the sifted ingredients in but if you are lazy or short of time you can tip them down the funnel as well, just make sure to only pulse the machine until the ingredients are combined.

Roll the mixture into balls (mine are usually about the size of a superball, slightly smaller then a walnut) and give them a little roll in the granulated sugar.

When you are ready to cook them preheat the oven to around 175C and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Apple Pie!

There's something very comfort-food about apple pie, and none more so than this one. I think it's the little bit of custard powder and cornflour in the crust which gives it that bakery texture.

Australian Woman’s Weekly Cookbook Apple Pie Recipe

PASTRY
1.5 cups plain flour
.75 cups SR flour
.33 cup cornflour
.33 cup Custard powder
1 tablespoon sugar
185g butter
1egg yolk
.33 cup water
1 egg


FILLING
7 large ‘Granny Smith’ apples (really sharp green apples)
.5 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
.5 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
I add a few cloves as well for a really exotic taste

2 tablespoons apricot jam

PASTRY: sift flour and custard powder into bowl and rub in butter and add sugar make well in centre and add egg yolk and enough water to mix to a firm dough and knead lightly cover and refrigerate for 1 hour (you can freeze it if you prefer, for pretty much as long as you need)roll out half pastry put in pie dish (28cm) and spread with apricot jam then fill with apple fillingroll out remaining pastry and brush edges with lightly beaten egg white and cover pie press edges together, trim, brush top with eggwhite and sprinkle with sugar and cut steam vents Bake in mod hot oven for 20 - 30 minutes.

FILLING filling peel quater and core apples cut up and put in a pan with water sugar cinnamon and zest cook for 5 mins or until just tender drain cool to room temp (take out the cloves and the peel before you fill the pie!).

Never Fail Chocolate Cake

Ok Keda, here it is!

I have been making this cake since I was about 6yrs old and as the name suggests, it never fails. It originally came from the 1980 St Gerards Primary school cookbook (the school next to my primary school) and was contributed by a Mrs Gwen Ilic, bless her. The page is covered in chocolate cake, which is further proof of what a favourite it is. It is incredibly easy and makes a beautifully moist rich chocolate cake without being too heavy or sickly, allowing you to go back for that second or third cupcake hehehe. The mix makes enough for two cakes to be sandwiched or a deep round or probably 18 cupcakes. Next tasting will be at the kids 3rd birthday party, unless Keda whips one up first ;) .

2 1/4 cups S.R Flour
1 tsp bi carb
2/3 cups cocoa
1 3/4 cups castor sugar
5oz butter (141g) that's how old the recipe is
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

Sift dry ingredients into mixer bowl. Add softened butter, water and vanilla. Beat on med for 3mins. Add eggs, increase speed for further 3 mins. Pour into well greased tin/s and bake in mod oven. Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies

I think this recipe came from a magazine many years ago. It was probably Cleo or Cosmopolitan something (does Cleo still exist?) but it has been my 'go to' Brownie recipe for so long I consider it mine. I will write it out here the way I do it, which I believe is superior!

When Sanj and I make this together it takes us less than 10 minutes to put together and around 20 minutes in the oven and because the ingredients are all usually kicking around our kitchen we make this recipe pretty quickly.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g good quality chocolate - this *must* be 40% cocoa or more, but I find the 80% Lindt slightly too bitter so we usually use a mix of whatever we have lying around.
• 2 large eggs
• 150g caster sugar - I either use vanilla sugar or put half a teaspoon of vanilla in
• 100g plain flour
• 125g butter
• 100g shelled walnuts - feel free to use any nuts you like here. I'm not particularly fond of walnuts, though they do make a nice grown-up flavoured brownie. I usually use hazelnuts for a kind of Nuttella richness or macadamias because the texture goes so well. The recipe doesn't specify using toasted nuts, but the flavour and texture are both superior if you do. If I have no nuts at home or there are going to be kids eating the finished product I use chunks of chocolate or even, on one memorable occasion, Smarties!

METHOD

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C
• Melt the chocolate and butter carefully in a glass or ceramic bowl in the microwave. You can of course use the traditional stovetop method if you don't have a microwave, but it isn't as easy.
• Carefully grease and flour the 25cm square tin. If I'm having the kind of day where everything is going wrong I might partially line the tin with paper so I can be a bit more confident it won't stick.
• Whisk the eggs, either by hand or preferably with an electric mixer. Add the sugar (and vanilla if you're using it) and if you are using a powerful stand mixer remember you aren't trying to make meringue.
• Stir in the flour.
• Stir in the nuts (or chocolate!)
• Pour all the mixture into your prepared tin and pop it in the oven.
• It should be done in around 20 minutes, coming away from the sides, looking cooked, not wobbling when you shake it and smelling delicious (and the skewer should come out relatively clean).
• Let it cool in the tin

Nigella Lawson's Easy Almond Cake

I'm going to cook this cake up the coast at my mums place over the Easter weekend. I decided on this cake because it's easy, I've made it before (and have marzipan in the fridge) and it's a counterpoint to Easter chocolate. It's also a cake that lasts a few days very nicely. Since my mother claims not to like sweet almond dishes, but loves friands and various other sweet things with almond in them I'm going to have to make the cake with Michael, keeping the recipe a secret til they are eating it. I'm also going to replace the vanilla essence with the zest of an orange as per Nigella's suggestion, and I might even replace the almond essence with some orange flower water, but I'll decide on the day.

INGREDIENTS
250g softened unsalted butter
250g marzipan
150g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond essence
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large eggs
150g SR flour

25cm springform tube pan or patterned ring mould, buttered and floured

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 170C
Chop the butter and marzipan and put them into the bowl of the food processor with the sugar. Nigella asks for the double bladed knife attachment to be fitted to the food processor.
Process til pretty smooth and add the essences and extracts
process again and add the eggs, one at a time, down the funnel of the processor, processing between each addition.
Add the flour and process and then scrape into the prepared tin
Bake for 50 minutes, checking after 40 - the tester doesn't need to be completely clean - and cool in the tin.

I have a sneaking suspicion we don't have a food processor up there, but I know we have and industrial sized stick blender, and with a little ingenuity I think we can make it work. I'll try to post pictures if it all works, because it could be amusing!

Blueberry Muffins

I've never been a big fan of muffins they always seem like a mouthful of air and dry soapy crumbs - but that's because they aren't home made fresh and have too much raising agent in them. I found these in Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' when I was looking for a quick treat to impress the other mothers at playgroup - something that doesn't have much sugar and that is quick and easy to make and easy for little hands to eat, but will also go down nicely with a coffee for the adults. These fit the bill perfectly because they aren't too full of sugar (there is a standard 5g teaspoon of sugar in each standard size muffin) but they still fall squarely within the realm of 'treat' for the little kids. The first time I made them I used mixed berries from some high antioxidant frozen berry mix that I found in the supermarket and I think they were better than this time, when I just used (thawed) frozen blueberries. When the berries thaw they ooze brightly coloured juice and some of that goes into the muffins (I try and keep most of it out) which makes the finished muffins kind of marbled with bright blue and purple, which I think is cool (and blue muffins will appeal pretty strongly to toddlers and little kids too). I'm going to continue to experiment with this recipe using different fuits.

Ingredients
75g unsalted butter, melted
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
75g caster sugar
pinch salt
200ml buttermilk (or 100g yoghurt and 100ml semi-skimmed milk)
1 large egg
200g blueberries

Method- Melt the butter and set it aside to cool
- Preheat to 200C
- Prepare your muffin tin with little patty cases. The recipe makes 12 normal muffins but I have been making 24 little tiny muffins (without patty cases, just with very well buttered trays) and 6 normal sized muffins. This is a pretty ideal amount for having a group of little kids and their carers around.
- Sift the flour and mix with the other dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Beat together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter
- Add the wet ingredients to dry, incorporating very gently, not worrying about lumps because you want to avoid overworking the mixture.
- Gently fold in the berries then pop them in the oven. I have been putting my large muffins on the middle shelf and the small ones on a shelf underneath and they have both been perfectly ready at the same time.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Eat and enjoy. Nigella suggest eating them hot with butter and blueberry jam but I think that negates the virtuous 'not too much sugar' feeling.

Apple and Honey Cake

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in the the SMH, but it is on a little bit of paper without a date so I can't reference it properly. I made it in two loaf tins so that Sanjay can take one to work tomorrow and I can take the other to show off to Mothers' Group. I like this cake because it uses things that I often have hanging around the house so although this is the first time I've made it I can see it becoming a staple.

Apple and Honey Cake
Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 20cm cake tin (or two loaf tins).

Ingredients
3 eggs
100g caster sugar
70g honey
80g softened unsalted butter
300g sifted self-raising flour
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
3 apples, peeled and cored and cut into 1cm pieces (I used 300g of apple, after it was all prepared, which was 3.5 very small granny smith apples)

Method
Beat together the eggs, caster sugar and honey until the mixture is pale and fluffy. a Beat in the butter (it looked fabulous until I added the butter, but seemed to flatten and reduce dramatically in volume) then stir in the sifted flour, cinnamon and apple pieces.

Spoon the mixture, and it's a bit hard to deal with, being almost all apple, into the cake tin (I think it'll look better if I sprinkle a bit of demerera sugar on the top) bake for 40-45 minutes (test til a skewer comes out clean). Cool on a cake rack.

(Posted the day after baking, after I had a chance to sample and get feedback about it - my verdict is it was a little dry and a tiny bit more honey in the mix or some cream to serve it with might be nice)

Hot Cross Buns

This is recepe for Hot Cross Buns with Lemon Glaze is from the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living supplement from Tuesday the 3rd of April.

Bun dough

75g (1/³ cup) caster sugar
2 x 8g sachets dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm milk
600g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
60g butter, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp chopped mixed peel
²/³ cup currants

Paste for crosses
1/2 cup plain flour
4 tbsp water
2 tsp caster sugar

Lemon glaze
1 tbsp water
1 tsp gelatine powder (or equivelent leaf gelatine)
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp lemon extract (some marmalade might work here - I used lemon infused caster sugar because I didn't have and lemon extract)

Combine caster sugar, yeast and milk in a bowl, stir until smooth and rest covered in a warm place for about 10 minutes or until frothy.

Sift flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and mixed spice into a large bowl

and rub butter into mixture with fingertips. Stir in yeast mixture, egg, mixed peel and currants until well combined.

Cover and rest in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until mixture has doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 220C. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic (I did it in the kitchenaid for almost 5 mins, then finished it off by hand. It needed just a little more flour incorporated, and I wouldn't have known without hand kneading it a bit).

Divide dough into 16 even pieces and roll into balls. Place balls into a 23cm square cake pan that has been lightly greased and lined with baking paper. Rest covered for 10-15 minutes or until balls have risen to the top of the pan.

Combine paste ingredients in a small bowl and, using a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle, pipe crosses on buns.

Bake buns for 20 minutes or until well browned and cooked. Combine lemon glaze ingredients in a small pan and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Brush buns with warm glaze and cool on rack.

Makes 16