Granola

With so many people this time of year, myself included, watching what they eat, I wanted to share with you some of the healthy recipes I enjoy. First up, granola. This recipe was adapted from one of my favorite new cookbooks, Super Natural Everyday by Heidi Swanson. I think what really makes this granola stand out is the orange zest so be sure not to skip it when making this recipe. This granola is delicious with milk, yogurt or just on its own.

Granola
4 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces
1 cup unsweetened shredded large-flake coconut
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2/3 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
zest of 2 oranges
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Arrange racks so that one rack is in the top third and the other rack is in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil, set aside till needed. In a large bowl mix together the oats, walnuts, coconut, sea salt, golden raisins, flaxseed meal, and orange zest. Then in a small sauce pan over low heat melt the butter then add the the maple syrup and whisk until combined. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until coated. Divide and spread out mixture among baking sheet. Bake for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow granola to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Homemade Power Bars

This week I will be experimenting with a few new recipes and ingredients, (well new to me that is). I am going to try my hand at a vegan recipe or two and make a few healthy(ish) baked good recipes as well.  First up, homemade power bars, new ingredient: brown rice syrup. Brown rice syrup is made from brown rice and purified water. It is used as an alternative sweetener.
These bars are quite tasty and really simple to make. They would be a great snack to take along on nice afternoon hike (just make sure you have a little water to rinse your hands with because they can be a bit sticky).

Homemade Power Bars
Unsalted Butter for Pan
1 cup Toasted Walnuts *
1 1/4 cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup Oat Bran
1 1/2 cup Puffed Cereal (such as Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins) **
1 cup Dried Cranberries
1 cup Shredded Coconut
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Brown Rice Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Butter a 9x9 inch pan and set aside. In a medium sized bowl stir together all of the dry ingredients. Pour the vanilla and brown rice syrup into a sauce pan and heat over medium until mixture is warm and syrup has thinned. Pour syrup over dry mixture and stir until fully combined. Press mixture into prepared pan and freeze for 45 minutes. Then cut into squares. Store bars in the refrigerator.

Makes 9 Large Squares

* Toast walnut in a 350 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes
** Place puffed cereal in a large plastic bag then using a rolling pin, crush into course pieces

Recipe adapted from The Kitchn where it was adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

Easter Cupcakes

Easter morning in our house usually goes something like this... sleep in, make coffee, eat candy and other various forms of sugar for breakfast. I guess once D and I have little ones running around we may have to set a better example but until then we are going to live it up.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour

3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

3/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoons Salt 

2 Eggs

3/4 cup Buttermilk

3 tablespoons Canola Oil

1 teaspoon Vanilla

3/4 cup Warm Water 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a standard muffin tin with baking cups. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Beat in the eggs, buttermilk, canola oil, vanilla, and water. Divide batter among the prepared cups, filling 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. 

Recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting 

16 Large Marshmallows

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 pound Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 

8 ounces Marshmallow Cream

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set oven to broil. Broil marshmallow for about two minutes or until toasted. Keep a close eye on them so they don't burn. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together the butter and powdered sugar until combined. Add the vanilla and beat for a few minutes until fluffy. Beat in the toasted marshmallows and marshmallow cream until incorporated, about a minute.

Recipe from Sweetapolita

Toasted Coconut
5 ounces Sweetened Coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread coconut out on a baking sheet. Bake for about 7-8 minutes, tuning coconut half way through. Keep an eye on the coconut as it bakes, it can burn pretty quickly.

Assembly 
Frost cupcakes and pour toasted coconut into a bowl. Swirl frosted cupcake around in the coconut until all the frosting is covered. Top each cupcake with a mini Cadbury Creme Egg.

Carrot Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies are fun and pretty simple to make. The dough comes together quickly so you can easily make it the night before then stick it in the refrigerator and make your cookies in the morning. When rolling out the dough be sure to use enough flour so the dough does not stick to the rolling pin. If you find the dough is getting too soft to work with, stick it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes until it firms up a bit. I find it helpful to use a metal spatula to transfer the unbaked cookies from the work surface to the baking sheet.

Sugar Cookies 

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
1 Egg, Room Temperature*
3/4 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together the butter and the powdered sugar till fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat to incorporate. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Working with half of the dough at a time (leaving the other half in the refrigerator), on a floured work surface roll out dough then cut into shapes. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12-15 cookies

* To bring the egg to room temperature place the egg in a bowl and fill the bowl with hot tap water. Allow egg to sit in water for 10 minutes.

Adapted from Taste of Home

Frosting 
8 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
1 tablespoon Meringue Powder
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
3 tablespoons Milk 

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter, meringue powder and vanilla until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat to combined. Pour in the milk and beat for a few minutes, until frosting is nice and fluffy. 

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Assembly
Place 1/3 cup frosting in a separate bowl and stir in two drops of green food coloring until all frosting has been colored. To the remaining frosting add 4 drops of orange food coloring and beat until all the frosting has been colored, add more food coloring if desired. For the coconut, place 2 drops green food coloring in a container fitted with a lid. Add 1/4 cup shredded coconut, cover and shake until all coconut has been dyed. 
Frost the carrot leaves first then sprinkle with coconut. To frost the carrot, fill a pastry bag fitted with the star attachment half way full with the orange frosting. Line the border of the carrot with stars, then fill in the middle.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Fridays are my favorite day of the week. Most Fridays D and make a pizza, have a glass of wine or two and watch a movie. I know this is not the most exciting evening, but it's what we do. Tonight however we will be going over to a friend's house for dinner because one of D's good friends is in town and we are going to celebrate his birthday. We actually celebrated his birthday last year too, only he wasn't there. It's long story, anyway this year we are happy he will be in town to celebrate his birthday with us.

Lime Cupcakes

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Cake Flour

3/4 cup plus one tablespoon Super Fine Sugar*

1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt 

6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened*

2 Egg Whites

1 Whole Egg

1/2 cup Sour Cream (the full fat kind)

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Zest and Juice of 1 Lime 

Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together all of the dry ingredients starting on low then gradually increase the speed to medium until well mixed, about 2 minutes (make sure flour doesn't fly out). Switch to the paddle attachment, add the softened butter and mix till crumbly. Beat in the egg whites until fully incorporated, about 1-2 minutes, then beat in the whole egg, about 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom as necessary. In a separate bowl stir together the sour cream, vanilla, lime juice and zest then beat 1/2 of the mixture into batter until well mixed about 1 minute, then beat in the rest of the sour cream mixture until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom as necessary. Fill baking cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. 

Makes 12 cupcakes 

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

* A few notes:

1) To make super fine sugar from regular granulated sugar, put it in a food processor and grind until sugar is fine. 

2) Make sure butter is soft. To soften butter cut it up into tablespoon sized pieces and allow it to sit at room temperature until it become very soft, I let mine sit for 45 minutes. 

3) Always remember to scrape down the bottom and the sides of mixing bowl as needed to be sure all of the ingredients get incorporated.

Super Fine Sugar

Batter

Baked

Frosting

8 ounces Cream Cheese, Softened 

4 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened 

1 cup Powdered Sugar

2 teaspoons Vanilla 

3 ounces Sweetened Coconut for Topping 

Beat together the cream cheese and the butter for a few minutes. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar beat for a few more minutes. Frost cooled cupcakes. 

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home

Assembly 

Pour the coconut into a wide and shallow dish such as a pie tin. Using a small offset spatula, create a little dome of frosting on top of each cupcake. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the coconut and roll them around a bit until the coconut covers the frosting.

This post is linked with Everyday Sisters Sharing

Frosted