Posts Tagged ‘spelt’

Yesterday was another nasty day in my part of the world.  Nothing like a rainy damp day to make you think about baking. (or warming up the house using the oven!)  I have been doing some reading lately about using dairy alternatives in baking and was encouraged by Diane at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang to try Earth Balance – buttery flavour spread.  I had tried to use Earth balance before in a cookie recipe and the cookies had a burned taste.  As she pointed out, who knows what gave the odd taste, but try it again.  I took a tried and true recipe for cookies that I have used many times over the years and made a few substitutions.  The original recipe works wonderfully so I assumed that a few changes wouldn’t make much of a difference.

The cookies turned out wonderfully.  I thought I could detect a slight chemical taste, but the kids loved them.  This recipe is small – only makes 12-16 cookies.

Ingredients:

No Wheat, No Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour (spelt or other)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or carob chips)

Cream sugars, egg and earth balance and vanilla until smooth.  Add flour, salt and baking powder to bowl and mix just until blended.  Add chips and mix by hand until evenly distributed.  Use a teaspoon to drop cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 9 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Remove cookies from cookie sheet after 5 minutes and finish cooling on a flat surface. (one that is high up and out of reach of the kids!)  The recipe can be doubled as these cookies go quickly!

It’s another blustery afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest!  Great day for baking. My daughter has been begging for granola bars for several days, so today is the day that I did the final test on the recipe that I have been fooling with over the past several weeks.  This recipe makes 14 to 18 good sized granola bars.  The recipe below has chocolate chips.  I tend to avoid chocolate and use carob chips, but I’ve also made the recipe with raisens and they all work well!  The picture below show the version that I’ve made that has carob chips and is decorated with some hershey kisses.  I also cut the granola bars in half for little fingers.

Chewy Oatmeal Granola Bars

Chewy Oatmeal Granola Bars

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup flour (I used spelt flour but wheat flour is fine)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or carob chips or raisens)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13 inch pan (I forgot to do this every time and had no sticking problems).  I used a 9×13 inch glass pyrex baking dish.  I didn’t try the recipe in a metal backing pan.  In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour and baking soda.  In a smaller bowl combine the oil, brown sugar and honey and heat for 30 seconds or so in the microwave to soften up the honey and brown sugar.  (this step is probably not necessary, but I found the the ingredients combined easier when the honey was softer!) Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well by hand.  Add the chips or raisens and mix to distribute evenly.  Press the mixture into the 9X13 pan.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly brown.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then cut into bars.  (I found that a pizza cutter worked better for this than a knife) Do not remove from the pan until completely cooled.  The consistency of the bars is much different when cooled completely!

Enjoy!

Chewy Oatmeal Granola bars

It’s a stormy, rainy day on the west coast and it feels like a good day for baking comfort food – Muffins!  There’s just something about muffins hot out of the oven and hot cup of coffee to help one warm up on a day like today.  Today I’m going to list a recipe that I adapted several years ago and love making on days like today!

Banana Apple Spelt Muffins

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Canola or Corn oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 eggs

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1 3/4 cup spelt flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

optional : 1 cup chopped pecans or chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat oil, applesauce and eggs until light and fluffy.  Stir in bananas.  Stir in dry ingredients.  Add optional items if using.  Pour into muffin tins with liners and make for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Although these muffins come out of the oven quite well risen, they tend to flatten out after 15 minutes or so.  They go stale quickly when left at room temperature so I tend to pop them into the freezer quickly.  They keep in the freezer well and thaw out quickly for mid-morning snacks in lunch kits!  Try out this recipe and let me know what you think!

My daughter loves to take “sandwiches” to school using buns that Grandma makes.  The problem in the past is that Grandma only bakes with white or whole wheat flour.  The buns that she makes are absolutely wonderful, but not a good idea for a child that can’t have wheat!!  Again, rather than fighting the situation, I asked Grandma if she wanted to bake with her grandaughter!!  What Grandma doesn’t like baking with little ones?  I supplied the flour and Grandma supplied the well loved standard recipe and the results were outstanding!!

Spelt buns

The buns were tasty, but somewhat less fluffy than their whole wheat counterparts.  If I had made them I would say that it was the fault of the baker, but Grandma has been using this recipe for probably 50 odd years and she’s got experience on her side!!

Here’s the modified recipe for those who want to try this at home!

2 Hour Buns

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

6 tblsp oil

2 tblsp Fermipan Yeast

2 eggs

7 – 9 cups of organic spelt flour

Mix the first 5 ingredients and then add the eggs.  Add flour and mix until smooth.  Pat with oil.  Let rise 15 minutes.  Punch down, let rise again for 15 minutes.  Make into buns and let rise til light (about 20 minutes).  Bake at 400F for 8 – 15 minutes on cookie sheet with sides.  Remove from sheet and cool.