Tag Archives: oats

Drool-Worthy Date Bars

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Start your drool engines! You know the flavors have blended perfectly in a baked goodie when you can’t wait to share them and to make them again. This is one of those bars. They are very similar to a bar I made many years ago from an old cookbook.

trio of treats

The bottom crust and top crumble are full of crunchy oats blended with butter and just enough brown sugar to make them sweet, but not too sweet. (And it’s the same batter so it goes together quickly.)
The middle date layer blends orange zest, orange juice, and a bit of lemon to create a citrus note that really works with the natural sweetness of dates. Yes, this is a recipe to bookmark.

cook dates till thick

cut in butter

crust

middle layer

top layer

baked till golden

crunchy bars

a fine date

Dates are one of nature’s candies. They’re a fruit and so sticky-wonderful you can convince your sweet tooth they’re bad for you…but they’re not. They are full of vitamins and fiber. Our little secret.

These are the final pick for the couple I’ve been baking for as part of an auction for our church. So these, too are adapted from Esther Brody’s “500 Best Cookies, Bars and Squares.” She calls them “Matrimonial Date Bars.

Ingredients for filling
2 cups chopped pitted dates
2/3 cup water
2 TBS packed brown sugar
2 tsp grated orange zest
2 TBS orange juice (I used orange concentrate to make the orange note really sing.)
1 tsp lemon juice

Ingredients for Oat base and top
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 C)
Grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Prepare filling by cooking dates, water, brown sugar and zest over medium heat until thick and smooth. Remove from heat and add orange and lemon juices. Set aside to cool.

For top and bottom crusts, mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut in the softened butter. Mix until there are coarse crumbs.

Press half the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan until it’s uniform.
Spread the date mixture on top.
Crumble the rest of the oat mixture on top and smooth lightly.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
Increase heat to 350 degrees adn bake 5 minutes longer or until the top is lightly browned.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Cut bars while they are still warm.

Baking for another family each month has been a fun culinary adventure and is ending on a high note. Love these crunchy date bars and I hope you love them too!
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Toasted Oatmeal and Coconut Cookies

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thin cookies


Move over cupcakes! It’s National Oatmeal Cookie Day and in my house oatmeal cookies reign.

toasted cookies


There’s some debate in the food world about what dessert will take over for cupcakes when the current craze wanes; but in my world cookies have always been king. They’re easy to make, easy to hold and easy to love. They’re not as sweet as cupcakes, not as messy and not as guilt-inducing. With cookies, you can hide all sorts of healthy ingredients in them and still present them as decadent.

lacy cookies


When I was searching for a new oatmeal recipe to try, I realized I’ve already presented a few for you to enjoy.
My first post was the Good Carb Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie. In that post, with only one pathetic picture, I mentioned that “I’ve never met an oatmeal cookie I didn’t like” and this still holds true.

http://www.nanaclareskitchen.com/2011/10/24/good-carb-chocolate-oatmeal-cookies/

toasted oat cookie

cook oats and coconut


dip glass in sugar

After this I blogged about: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies; Healthy Peanut Butter and Honey Oatmeal Cookies and Oatmeal Scotchies.

A few of the bars featured oats, including Easy O’ Henry Bars, Chocolate Oat Bars and Blueberry Almond Energy Bars.
There are also a number of no-bake options including: No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies; Great Balls of Energy and Dr. Oz Peanut Butter and Oat Balls, My Way, which are wildly popular.

Today I want to feature a cookie where oatmeal is the star ingredient, rather than a binder or fiber-booster. One where the oats really shine. If you love oats, as all horses and I do, you’ll love this Toasted Oatmeal and Coconut Cookie. Yes, coconut plays a major role as a costar, but together they’re a great marriage of toasty flavors.

The recipe is adapted from “500 Cookies, Biscuits and Bakes,” by Catherine Atkinson, who wrote this for an Australian audience.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
½ cup sugar
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

add choc chips

cookie with chips


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Spread oats and coconut on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 5-8 minutes until browned. Check every two minutes and stir to prevent burning.
Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugars together.
Add milk and vanilla and continue beating another minute.
Whisk dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture.
Stir in the toasted oats and coconut.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheet, leaving two inches between cookies.
Grease the bottom of a glass and then dip it in sugar. Flatten each cookie with the sugared glass.
Bake 8 – 10 minutes.

After my test batch, I added ¼ cup more flour. It’s also very humid right now and that can account for the batter being extra soft. The flour made the cookies puffier. And yes, for the last few I added some chocolate chips, just to see if they’d be good and they were a great addition.
But oats are still the star of the show for this toasty crisp cookie.
Happy National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

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Chocolate Oat Bars

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chocolate oat bars


I’ve always suspected that I’m part horse. I could eat oats everyday and never tire of them. I’m not sure if horses like chocolate, but if they do, they’ll love these bars. However, while mixing up these easy, yummy bars, I had one of those moments when I was knocked off my high horse, so to speak.

blend in butter

press crumbs into pan


Let me explain. My mother has always hated housework. Growing up she plastered little signs around the house that said things like, “Dull people live in immaculate houses.” Her housekeeping style was “What you see is what you get.” She also never really enjoyed cooking or buying groceries.

My father, however, has a shopping fetish and LOVES to buy groceries. He always did. So he buys groceries and buys groceries until the cupboards shelves are heaving from the weight of canned corn, pasta sauces and brownie mixes. Then usually one of us “grown kids” (read: old ladies) will go in and thin the herd; pitching out-of-date items and taking others to a food pantry for the needy. When this chore has fallen to me, I’ve been amazed to find foods that had passed their expiration date by five or more years. I pride myself (uh oh – all sin begins with pride) on having a pantry where foods are labeled and rotated and life is tidy…not immaculate, but tidy. (I don’t want to be accused of being dull.)

ewewweeww-that's just not right

So while I was making these bars, I opened a can of condensed sweet milk and found brown muck instead. I peered at the expiration date barely visible on the bottom of the can and discovered the milk expired in 2005 – seven years ago! Seven. The worst part is that my husband was there to witness the humiliation and laughed at how THAT could have happened. A little humiliation is good for the Holy Week soul, I guess. And yes, I can hear my mother howling as she reads this.

pour on fresh condensed milk


press in chocolate chips


Have no fear, I pitched that can and found one with some life left in it and finished making these bars.
This recipe is from “Entenmann’s Big Book of Baking,” 2011.

walnuts


Ingredients for crust
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup (1 stick) butter

last few crumbs on top


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Whisk the dry ingredients together.
Cut in the butter until the crust is crumbly.
Save out ½ cup of the oat mixture.
Press remaining mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Bake 10 minutes.

sweet crunchy chocolatey


Ingredients for the filling on top
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark.)
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts.)

Directions to finish bars
Take pan out of oven after crust has baked ten minutes.
Pour milk evenly over hot crust.
Sprinkle on the chocolate chips and then the nuts.
Sprinkle on the reserved oat mixture and press firmly.
Bake another 25 – 30 minutes.

caramel like bonus


The condensed milk will creep up over the edges of the bars as they bake and create a sort of caramel topping in places. This is a bonus to the crunchy, sweet oat and chocolate flavors. Even if you’re not related to a horse, you’ll enjoy this delicious bar.

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Peanut Butter and Honey Chocolate Chippers

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cookie heaven


Let me offer another fairly healthy cookie recipe to enjoy. Another one of my experiments, but I think you’ll agree it’s a winner. These are softer than some cookies because of the honey and peanut butter. If you want yours to be crispier, leave them in the oven a minute or so longer than golden brown.

My 83 year old mother still bakes oatmeal cookies for my Dad now and then. She just uses the recipe on the oatmeal container and then turns the oven off and leaves the cookies in the oven for another 10 – 15 minutes. They turn very crisp, which is a delightful texture.

batter is thick and hearty


added two types of dark choc chips

dough we love to eat


Ingredients for 2 ½ – 3 dozen cookies
1 egg
6 TBS coconut oil
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat white flour (or ww pastry flour)
2 TBS wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup oats – I use old fashioned
1 cup dark chocolate chips

dough changed overnight


dough was harder to handle


Note: the first time I made these, I left the batter in the fridge over night and it was a bit difficult to deal with the next day. However, they were still delicious.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Put ingredients into mixer and add in order listed through the oats. Beat just until incorporated.
Fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie or bar sheet. A bar sheet will allow the cookies to poof up more and to be crisper.

cookie sheets produced flatter cookies

warm from the oven


You can feel good about making, eating and sharing these peanut butter cookies. With honey, oats, wheat germ and whole wheat flour they could almost pass for a breakfast food. Almost. Oh yes, don’t forget the dark chocolate chips for that sweet burst of chocolate in every bite.

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