Baking Day

I love a day spent at home in the kitchen. Yesterday was one of those. I tied on my apron and spent most of my day being a domestic goddess. It was a good day. I had a few baked goods on my list of things to do, so I just went from one to another, and checked them off my list.

The first thing I did was bake Abby's wonderful Chocolate Banana Bread. I followed her recipe exactly, except I prefer walnuts to pecans in my banana bread, and I added a layer of nuts to the top so they would get roasted and crunchy. Yum! It's a really good recipe. It was a little crumbly, but I attribute that to the nuts on tops which make it harder to slice (but, that's o.k., I like the nuts). This is not exactly a low-fat recipe (if you want one of those, try Deborah's which is also very good), so I'll keep this recipe as a treat.



Then I made some granola. I used a different recipe (see below) than my normal, because I was going to turn around and make granola bars (see below) with the granola. I didn't want to add nuts or raisins because the kids prefer plain and I was making the granola bars for them (if you want a good granola just for eating try this one, or this one). The bars turned out very good. They are more moist than packaged granola bars, but not gooey. They are dense and very flavorful. I used Sunbutter instead of peanut butter, but, to use peanut butter just substitute equal amounts and omit the lemon juice.



My last baking project for the day was Coconut Biscotti. I think they are really good, but my boys wouldn't touch them. They all suddenly developed a dislike for coconut. Oh well, Peach and I will have to eat the entire batch!

Granola

3 cups dry oatmeal
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. corn oil (or another vegetable oil)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt butter in the microwave in a glass bowl.
Add oil and then honey.
Add the salt and the oatmeal.
Stir well.
Pour mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet with low sides
or a large 9 by 13-inch pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown, stirring once or twice.
Let cool on pan and then proceed with granola bars.


Granola Bars

3 cups of homemade granola (I just used the entire batch)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Sunbutter
1 t. lemon juice
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional: 1/2 cup add-ins like raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large glass bowl (or in a 2-quart pot on the stove)
melt butter and Sunbutter in microwave (one minute).
Stir well and make sure it is completely melted (but do not overheat).
In a small bowl, beat eggs with a fork and quickly whisk
into melted sunbutter mixture.
Beat in the vanilla.
Stir in the prepared homemade granola.
Add any optional ingredients.
Press mixture into an greased 8-inch square pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Cool completely and then cut into 16 squares.
Cover and refrigerate.

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