Simple Granola Bars

Once again we are heading to Nicole’s kitchen and checking in on a recipe that she tried out not long ago. She made some good for you healthy granola bars so take a look and see how she made them.

Simple Healthy Granola Bars

2½ cups of rolled oats

½ cup of coarsely chopped whole almonds

1/3 cup of honey

¼ cup of butter cut into pieces

¼ cup of packed brown sugar

½ tsp. of vanilla

¼ tsp. of salt

½ cup of dried cranberries

¼ cup + 2 tbsp. of mini chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of a 8 inch or 9 inch square baking pan with tin foil. Then spray with cooking oil or brush with melted butter.

Put the oats and almonds on a small baking sheet and cook for 5 minutes, stir and then cook for another 3-5 minutes until toasted and then pour into a mixing bowl.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter with honey, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Cook until butter melts and sugar dissolves.

Pour the butter mix over the oats and almonds and stir until well mixed. Cool for about 5 minutes and then add in the cranberries and ¼ cup of chocolate chips. Stir.

Spread and pat into the prepared pan. Press firmly to make sure it’s all packed in there. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.

Cover and then refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting into bars.

Flourless Oatmeal Muffins

It’s time for more muffins! Our focus today is on muffins that don’t contain flour. Nicole has tried some of these out and likes them quite a bit.

Oats are the basis of both recipes that we are going to share with you along with some really yummy other ingredients so that you don’t even notice that they don’t contain any flour!

Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, and Oatmeal Muffins

1 ¼ cups of milk

1 egg

½ cup of honey

¾ cup of pureed pumpkin

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. of vanilla

2 ½ cups of quick oats

½ cup of chocolate chips

First of all preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the egg, milk, honey, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla in a bowl.

Once all combined, stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Transfer into silicone muffin pans (you can use regular greased muffin pans if you don’t have silicone).

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden on top.

Cool and enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

2 bananas

2 eggs

1/3 cup of maple syrup

¼ tsp. of salt

2 tsp. of baking powder

2 tsp. of vanilla

1 tbsp. of cinnamon

1 cup of Greek plain yogurt

3 cups of oats

1 cup of whole milk

Toppings of your choice (cranberries and blueberries are good)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl mash the bananas and then mix in the eggs, syrup, salt, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and Greek yogurt.

Now add in the oats and milk and mix well.

Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes so the oats soak up the liquids. You want the consistency to be like oatmeal.

Line a muffin pan with liners and then pour the mixture into them. Make them about ¾’s full.

Add on your toppings. Push them down into the batter a bit.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool slightly before eating.

Cranberry Baking

Cranberries are the topic of the day. We have been meaning to do a cranberry blog since Christmastime but have always had other ideas pop up, so now we’re doing a Springtime cranberry blog. We have found some really delicious recipes that we hope you will like as well.

Cranberries can be used in so many different types of recipes both sweet and savory. At times they can be kinda sour if you don’t pair them up properly or sweeten them up. Cranberries pair quite well with white chocolate so those two ingredients are going to be in both recipes today. The cookies are a simple sugar cookie base with white chocolate chunks and dried cranberries, so take a look at the recipe and the final product below.

For the gooey white chocolate cranberry cookies you will need...

¾ cup softened butter

¾ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¾ cup white chocolate chips or chunks

¾ cup dried cranberries

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Mix the butter and the sugars together. Then add in the eggs and vanilla. Then add the dry ingredients slowly and mix until well blended.

Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate.

Cover and chill the dough with plastic wrap or tin foil in the bowl for 2 hours-2days.

Once chilled, scoop balls of dough. We made them about a teaspoon in size and then roll them into balls. Place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

The other treat we are making are a version of the Starbucks Cranberry Bliss bars. Since I have allergies, I have never tried a Bliss Bar, but Nicole has talked about them ever since we talked about baking with cranberries. I thought they sounded alright, nothing too exciting to me as I am not a super huge cranberry fan, but when I tasted these bars, oh my gosh, they were one of the most delicious things ever! One of my new favourites for sure. So take a look at our Friday night adventure in making Cranberry Bliss Bars.

For the bars you will need...

1 cup butter, melted

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. orange extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 cups flour

1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks (we used chunks)

¾ cup dried cranberries

For the icing you will need...

8 ounces or 1 brick of cream cheese

1 ½ cups of icing sugar

½ tsp. orange extract

½ tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup of dried cranberries

2 squares of white chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 15x10 jelly roll pan by lining it with parchment paper. You can also use a rimmed cookie sheet instead. For thicker bars you can use a 13x9 size pan.

Beat the melted butter and sugar. Then add the eggs, one by one. 

After that, add both extracts until well mixed and then add in your mixed dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt, and ginger). Beat until all just mixed together. 

Stir in the cranberries and the white chocolate and spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until set and the edges are golden brown. Don’t over bake.

Allow the bars to completely cool on a wire rack for at least a couple of hours. 

While the bars are cooling, you can mix the icing.  

Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until smooth. Add the extracts and mix well. Set aside until you are ready to ice the bars.

When the bars are cooled completely and ready to be iced, spread the cream cheese frosting over the top evenly and then sprinkle with the cranberries. 

 

Drizzle the melted white chocolate over the top (using a fork works well). You can slice and serve right away or let them sit in the fridge for a bit. That’s what we did and they seemed to firm up quite nice. You can cut them into the usual Cranberry Bliss bar shape, a triangle, or you can cut them up into square bars, up to you. They are delicious either way.