Power Bars

Here's another good freezer recipe - that is, if you open my freezer at any given time you would find either muffins or these Power Bars from Canadian Living. I saw them made on Best Recipes Ever a few summers back, when I was watching lots of daytime TV, and thought they would make a great snack. These are definitely not dessert - despite being full of sugar they aren't very sweet. But they are perfect for a good hit of energy in the afternoon, or before a workout (that advice is from the TV hostess, not me, HAHA).

First the dry ingredients. Two cups whole wheat flour (I usually use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup oats), 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup skim milk powder (this you have to buy at the bulk store, but could probably leave out, as it's just there for extra protein), 1/4 cup wheat germ (I don't usually have this, so I leave it out or throw in some ground flax) and 1 tsp baking powder. Then comes the fun part - mixing your choice of dried fruits, nuts and seeds. For this batch I used 1/2 cup each chopped dried apricot, dried cranberries, raisins and sunflower seeds.

The wet ingredients are particularly yummy - 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil (I had to use olive oil because I was out of canola, oh well!), 1/2 cup molasses and 1/3 cup (natural, obvs, so it needs a few seconds in the microwave) peanut butter. Yes, I buy molasses pretty much solely for this recipe, and it's delicious. It tastes just like those cheap candies they used to give out at Halloween in the orange wrappers that no one liked at the time but I would totally eat now.

Now you give your arm a bit of a workout stirring all of this deliciousness together. It is super thick and sticky. I advise using parchment paper in the 8x8" pan for easy lifting once they're cooked. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. And unlike brownies or cake, cut these into pretty small squares. The pan should yield about 20 at least. They're hefty little things. Not overly sweet, but with a rich molasses taste to them, and studded through with fruit and seeds. Way better than store-bought power bars or granola bars.

Lime Coconut Squares

Spring is in the air and that means cravings for lighter, fruitier fare - no more heavy winter meals. I made these bars for Easter dessert and they were fabulous - sweet and tart at the same time. The recipe comes from Canadian Living - what a good find.

To make the crust, you need graham cracker crumbs, coconut (which can be toasted ahead for more flavour, though I didn't do it this time), sugar and melted butter. Press into pan, cook for 10 minutes to brown @350. I should mention now that I've made this recipe in a 8x8" pan (like the recipe says) and a 9x13" pan (by accident) and it turned out fine both times, so either one will do. I just got graham cracker crumbs at the store - feel free to smash your own if you're so inclined.

The lime curd on top is really zippy, due to the large amount of lime zest and juice. If you love lemon or lime desserts, these are for you. Apart from zesting and juicing a good 5 limes, the curd is really easy - it's only made with 4 egg yolks (save and freeze the whites in a ziploc bag - use for macaroons!), one can of sweetened condensed milk (the magic ingredient in my Breakfast Bars) and lime juice and zest. Cook about 15 minutes, then stick them in the fridge overnight to firm up.

Mmmm do I ever love lemon and lime desserts! It's April, the sun is shining, my kitchen table is covered in Easter chocolates - the perfect time for something different. And because bars travel so well, they're perfect to bring to your next food-based celebratory get-together. If you want them as thick as the picture, use the 8x8" pan - the 9x13" made them thinner but just as delicious.

Cherry Brownies

We were having some friends over for a Friday night of cheese, desserts and Rock Band so I decided to try the Blackcurrant Brownies from the LCBO's lovely Food & Drink (Autumn, 2012). Something a little different, since I don't make brownies too often - but hey, sometimes I like to go all out with gooey brownies full of butter! Especially when others are around to eat them.

First up was melting the butter (I took it down to 3/4 cup from 1 cup) with the chocolate. The Hershey's bar I had bought was less than the 175 grams they called for, but luckily I usually have some dark, mini chocolate chips in the freezer, so I threw in a handful of those too. I also took it down to 3 eggs from the 4 the recipe called for, and cut the sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup. Sometimes recipes are just too decadent, ya know? These ingredients cost money!

The batter was quite grainy (so much sugar!) but looked very chocolatey. Next up was putting half the batter in the pan, then freezing it for 30 minutes. The recipe claims the freezing makes them more moist - maybe, but more importantly it lets you put a nice layer of jam in the middle! I used an organic Morello cherry jam I had, because who doesn't like cherry and chocolate? It was a little tough to spread the second half of the batter onto the jam, but it didn't need to look very pretty - I figured it would all even out in the end.

After a further 20 minutes in the freezer, they were ready to be baked. Even with the slight reductions in butter, sugar and eggs they tasted fabulous. Really chocolatey, gooey, and the layer of jam in the middle gave them an extra fruity kick to cut through the rich chocolate. Fairly easy recipe, if you don't mind waiting while the pan's in the freezer.

Breakfast Bars

I recalled the other day that I had two cans of condensed milk in the cupboard. Well, I only make one recipe with condensed milk, so it was time to make Nigella Lawson's Breakfast Bars! And can I take a moment to comment on the use of baby pink and baby blue on her website? (I got the recipe from the Nigella Express cookbook so I had never visited before) Everyone seems to describe these bars as 'cereal and milk' in bar-form but I see them more as sweet granola bars. And so versatile - you can throw in whatever you like.

I only knew condensed milk from the rare times I've had Vietnamese coffee. I knew it was thick and sweet. It is imperative to heat the milk before mixing in the mixin's because it's so thick. I scorched it a tiny bit this time - still getting used to our electric elements, I suppose. Just be careful not to cut yourself on the metal lid when you're spooning the leftover milk out of the can and into your face. Because you will be doing it. And don't even try looking at the nutritional info.

I put on some No Doubt and got to work figuring out the amounts of the different ingredients. Unlike a good British home chef, I do not have a kitchen scale. And no one else does either over on this side of the world, so please start putting cup measures with the grams! I see on Nigella's website you can switch between imperial and metric, but it's still all weights! After a complicated few minutes at a cooking conversion site (the first time I made them), I seem to have settled on the following:
2 1/4 cups oats
2/3 cup coconut
3/4 cup raisins/dried cranberries
3/4 cup nuts (this time: peanuts and walnuts)
3/4 cup seeds (this time: more walnuts, sunflower seeds)

It quickly makes a thick oaty mess that gets pressed into a 13x9" pan and baked for an hour at a low temperature. Then you have delicious snack bars for the week! Even the hubs likes them, and he doesn't like coconut. And as mentioned before, you can of course throw in whatever you want. Have fun exploring your local bulk store! They're the best. I also discovered that heating them up for a few seconds in the microwave and then eating them with vanilla ice cream is quite tasty...