Baked

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

It's been a weekend of baking, eating, cooking and then eating again. Tonight's our huge Thanksgiving dinner with my family. One more day of stuffing, then that's it ;) Who else is having their big dinner tonight?

I haven't posted anything for a few months...where did the summer go? Hope you're all well!

Thought I'd share an easy recipe from the recipe box of my mom. Hermits (which I've been all long weekend).

Hermits - makes about 36

1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I buy whole nutmeg)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts and a little extra to sprinkle on tops of cookies

Preheat oven to 375f/190c. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and combine well. Stir in raisins and walnuts.
Drop about a tablespoon of mixture onto lined baking sheet, then sprinkle tops with extra chopped walnuts. Bake for about 10-12 minutes.

That's it! Pretty simple to make. 

Have a great day!

janis

Baked

Hello all! Hope you've had a good week. Any exciting plans for the long weekend?

This week has been mostly spent in front of my computer, catching up on editing a few shoots. I wanted to make some kind of a loaf/bread the other day, to help ease the pain of editing, but had no bananas. I did have dates, walnuts and coconut though, so tossed them all in a basic bread mix.
Since there are a lot of dates in this recipe, it's already super sweet, so I didn't add sugar. If you want to add sugar, I wouldn't add more than half a cup.

Date Walnut and Coconut Bread - makes one 9"x5" loaf (I couldn't find my large loaf tin, so I used my old Hovis tin, which is smaller. The result was just taller bread!)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1 cup pitted dates, soaked in hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup large flake coconut
a little raw sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line loaf tin with parchment paper, and set aside. In a small bowl, cover chopped dates with 1/2 cup of hot water. Cover and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Beat the butter, in a large bowl, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry mixture to creamed butter, a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Drain water from dates, and fold into batter along with walnuts and coconut. Spoon batter into loaf tin and sprinkle raw sugar on top. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean.

If you try out this recipe, I'd love to know what you think!

Have a lovely long weekend!

janis

Baked

Hi everyone! For those of you enjoying a long weekend, I hope you've had a good one. To everyone else, just a big, old fashioned, happy Monday!

I made some really crispy, and pretty tasty, crackers. They are actually good for you too. Super easy to make but, the rolling out, I must admit, is pretty labourious. It's hard work rolling out to 1/8 inch! Keep in mind, it's good for the arms ;)

Walnut, Fig and Flax Crackers - makes about 48 2"x2" crackers

1/4 cup finely ground flaxseed (either grind your own, or buy flaxseed meal from a grocery shop)
1/4 cup whole flaxseed
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 chopped dried mission figs (any fig would work)
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325F/160c. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, flaxseed, salt and sugar. Add the butter and mix at medium speed with an electric mixer until the mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs (you could also use a food processor).
Fold in the walnuts, figs, and milk and mix until you have a smooth dough. I use my hands for this part.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Spilt dough in two, and roll out to 1/8 inch on a lightly floured surface. Cut with a pastry cutter, or knife, into squares. You can use cookie cutters to create any shape you like, really. Transfer shapes, using a thin spatula, to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake crackers until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

I hope you try these crackers out. Again, they're super easy and, if I can make them anyone can!
Have a good day. Back soon!
janis