Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

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Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

Adapted from Lyle’s Golden Syrup by My Little Blue Heron Kitchen

Dedicated to Leon Pozniakow 

Flapjacks have become my obsession. In the U.S., flapjacks are ‘pancakes’, but to the British, they’re sweet treats made from oats. British oats, porridge oats, seem to be different than our "American" oats (like Bob's Red Mill or Trader Joe's). They seem much softer, so I recommend using them. I like Flahavan's porridge oats. You can, of course, find them on Amazon. Try to get to a local shop that carries imports from the UK or Ireland. Also, so wonderful and special: Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or light treacle syrup that has this remarkable and addictive butterscotch taste), and Demerara sugar, a sugar that is different in taste: it’s richly caramel (originally from Guyana and more often now from Mauritius, Africa).  I recommend getting these ingredients for your pantry. You'll need Lyle's Golden Syrup to make this confection. You can probably noodle your way around the oats and Demerara sugar, but I wouldn't.

Maybe you know what a Bakewell Tart or Pudding is, but I didn't until I read about it. Here's what I found out: “Bakewell” refers to the infamous Bakewell Tart. Wikipedia: “A Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds. It is a variant of the Bakewell pudding, closely associated with the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire.” So to make a mock Bakewell Tart, we have oats, butter, and caramel sweeteners for our shortcrust pastry, raspberry jam, and ground and extract of almonds as stand-ins for frangipane. And our topping is, of course, almonds.  

If you're nut-free or don't like or tolerate almonds, try coconut and vanilla extract. (There's always chocolate, but if you do opt for chocolate, give unsweetened chocolate chips a try. Pascha makes them and they're amazing. You can buy them directly, or from other places like Vitacost and some markets and of course the "A" word). Fool around with different fillings and jams. You're the boss.

 

Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

Ingredients:

225 g unsalted butter  

6 Tbsp. Lyle’s Golden Syrup

110 g. brown or Demerara sugar 

375 g. Irish porridge oats (I use Flahavan’s)

24 g. ground almonds 

generous pinch of kosher salt

1/2 tsp. almond extract (if using vanilla, use 1 tsp.)

5 Tbsp. raspberry jam at room temperature

Sliced or chopped slivered almonds to cover the flapjacks

Procedure:

• Heat the oven to 350º F.

• Grease and line an 8 x 8 baking tin with parchment.  I spray my baking tin with ghee spray before lining it. N.B.: These bars are soft and chewy. So, if you prefer a crispier product, opt for a 9 x 11 pan. Bake time will be shorter, and your flapjacks won't be soft. It's personal .. like chocolate chip cookies.

• In a medium bowl, measure porridge oats. Whisk in salt and either ground almonds or coconut. Set aside. 

• Place the butter, golden syrup and soft brown or Demerara sugar in a large heavy-based pan. (A non-stick wok or large saucier will work well.) mlbh truc: if you're pouring from a jar rather than scooping from a tin (I do) your Lyle's syrup, coat the measuring spoon with some butter (I use ghee spray.) Less to lick, but it literally slides off the spoon with no waste or mess!

• Heat gently, stirring occassionally, until the butter and sugar have just melted. This should take a few minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and dump in the porridge oats mixture. Add extract and stir until well combined.

• Spread half the mixture into the prepared baking tin, (a silicone spatula or large silicone spoon works beautifully!) to smooth and level the surface. Be sure the bottom is covered completely and make sure you leave enough mixture to completely cover the jam.

• After you've dolloped the raspberry jam, with a light touch, spread evenly over the surface. A small spatula or even the back of a spoon will work.

• Next, gently spread the remaining oat mixture over the layer of jam, smoothing the surface, taking care to cover the jam surface completely. 

• Sprinkle the sliced or chopped slivered almonds or coconut on top.

Bake in center of preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and place pan on rack, leaving flapjacks in the pan until cooled. (If you remove from the tin before cooled, you’ll be left with a hot mess.)

• When completely cooled, lift flapjacks from pan, and place on surface where you can carefully remove from parchment. A flat spatula or large icing spatula works well. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. The flapjacks will be soft and chewy.

• Cool completely before wrapping. Store at room temperature, wrapped well in an airtight container for a couple of days. You can keep them in the fridge and bring them to room temperature before serving. Flapjacks may be frozen. 

Yield 16 - 2" squares. Fewer, if you prefer larger bars.

Macaroons For All

Macaroons for All!

Vegan, Gluten Free, Paleo

Adapted from beamingbaker.com by My Little Blue Heron Kitchen

These are the simplest and most delicious macaroons I’ve made. If you don’t have these ingredients, run and get them! Neither gummy nor cloying, these macaroons are so satisfyingly chewy and light, you’ll donate those awful cans of gooey lumps and make these your holiday and every day macaroons. Keep them between layers of wax paper or parchment, airtight, at room temperature for a week. Freeze them for months. 

You’ll need five ingredients (you can get away with four if you omit the vanilla extract.)

If you don’t have refined coconut oil, please buy this. For baking, refined coconut oil is preferred because the taste of coconut is undiscernible. I use it all the time, even in these coconut/almond cookies because I want to taste the ingredients, not the fat. Try Nutiva brand, 

Buy SHREDDED and unsweetened coconut. I like this brand. You can buy it in some stores or online at you know where. Bob's Red Mill is good, too. Whatever brand you buy, organic is always a great choice. Finely shredded isn't optional, it's a requirement. The same for blanched almond flour. Don’t use the ‘natural’ flour or meal with skins. Almond flour is different than almond meal. Almond meal is good for breading things. 

I just bought a large bag at Costco.  

 No need to use your best maple syrup for baking. I always use the darkest syrup I can find. Grade “b” is no longer a permissible “grade”, so look for “formerly grade b” or “dark amber” descriptions.

My vanilla extract is from Baldwin’s in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It’s a fortune. There’s also some sugar in it, so if you’re a strict paleo human, you won’t use this. If you’re strictly GF, add ¼ tsp. Authentic Foods, certified GF vanilla powder.  If you want vanilla flavor without sugar, if you’re feeling solvent, buy some vanilla beans. You can scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean into the batter (1/2 a bean will do). Throw the empty bean into some bourbon and vodka (keep throwing them in and hide them in the dark in a glass jar, sealed.) Eventually, you’ll have sugar-free vanilla extract!

With the Mueller report and all, I think I’ll ➖➖➖and then nickname these Redactaroons. I can market them in ➖➖ and in ➖and I'll send a batch over to ➖ ➖and see if they'd like me to do some food shows.

Spring is a season of renewal, rebirth and hope. Please try not to lose hope. Get out and breathe. Stay in and breathe. Check out the app Headspace (in the app store), or at headspace.com. You can explore this great resource on your own time and share it with your children, too. Find a local sangha. If you’re in NYC, head over to one of three MNDFL meditation studios, two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Check it out! Vipassanistas: Head for NY Insight another great place with wonderful people, with sanghas all over the tri-state area. 

Enjoy these macaroons. Be happy, healthy, safe and may your life feel easy.

peace, love, hope and truth,

jane

Macaroons (with chocolate variation)

Equipment: Baking sheet, parchment paper, food processor, measuring cups and spoons, spatula, small 1” cookie scoop, cooling rack

Ingredients: 

1¼ c. unsweetened, shredded coconut, preferably organic

¼ c. finely ground blanched almond flour

3 Tbsp. refined coconut oil (SOLID, not melted!)

¼ c. maple syrup

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Procedure:

1.  Preheat oven to 350º F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2.  Measure ingredients and put all into your food processor.

3.  Pulse until batter comes together.

4.  Using a spatula, remove from food processor bowl into another bowl. There will be some liquid under the blade. Scrape the liquid into the new bowl and mix together.

5.  Using a cookie scoop, place mounds on parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving 1 1/2 inches between mounds (they will spread just slightly).

6.  Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes. 

7.  Cool completely before removing/optionally decorating/storing.

Yield: approximately 16 cookies and more for chocolate (about 22)

Chocolate variation: reduce almond flour to 3 Tbsp. + ½  tsp., add ¼ cup cacao or dark cocoa and 1½ additional Tbsp. maple syrup. DON’T OVERBAKE! 

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Coconut Wafers

Coconut Wafers

Adapted from Alice Medrich’s “Flavor Flours” by Blue Heron Kitchen

These simple coconut cookies are crispy, buttery, flourless, don’t look anything like a macaroon, are gluten-free, and are open to variations. Just in time at the last minute, here’s a Passover-friendly dessert that you’ll want to bake anyway, anytime.

Banned from gluten, I’ve been in a downward baguetteless, donutless  croissantless vacuum. It was kismet that I opened this poppy field, “Flavor Flours”. You'll want a copy for your library. Medrich is a master pastry chef.  

For the cookies: If you have vanilla sugar, use it. There are three basic ingredients: vanilla, butter and coconut, nothing less than a patisserie ménage à trois. Truc:I keep several ‘flavored’ sugars in my pantry: cardamom, rose and vanilla. Throw the pods from vanilla beans you’ve used (or if you have vanilla beans that are old and expired and you’ve never used them, put them into a jar of sugar and leave them there for a few weeks!)

Coconut? I like Bob’s Red Mill. Whatever brand you use, be sure it's fresh and unsweetened coconut.

I’ve always used Kosher salt when I bake, but for these recipes, where the batter is ‘fine’, and mixed by hand, I prefer ‘fine’ sea salt, but either will do.

We’re going to my friend Rick’s seder again.  He’ll make the famous “Molly Kugel”, his “Chrain”, and this year, he’s sous vide-ing brisket. 

Charoset truc: Add a teaspoon of Lyle’s Golden syrup to the apples, cinnamon, walnuts and (don’t laugh) Manischewitz Concord Grape wine. Splash in a bissel of balsamic vinegar (mine's flavored with fig) and some freshly grated or chopped ginger. 

To freedom and breaking through power, laced in corruption, greed and xenophobia. Three cheers and at the very least four glasses for Harriet Tubman!

peace and love,

jane

Coconut Wafers

Equipment:

Aluminum foil lined baking sheets, dull side up, buttered, or use non-stick aluminum foil

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp./45 g. unsalted butter, melted (more for greasing the foil, if you’re not using non-stick foil)

3 egg whites, size large

1 c. plus 2 Tbsp./100 g. unsweetened dried shredded coconut

½ c./100 g. granulated white sugar (or vanilla sugar, or ‘other’ aromatic sugar)

Optional: ½ cup finely chopped toasted and cooled pecans

Optional: melted chocolate for drizzling

Procedure:

Line baking sheets (you’ll have three, in all) with regular or non-stick foil. If using regular, dull side up, brush with melted butter.

Mix egg whites with coconut, sugar and salt until well blended. (By hand is fine.Take time to beat and really blend the batter.)

Stir in the butter. 

Let batter rest for at least 15 minutes to allow coconut to absorb moisture.

Even better: cover and store in the fridge for several hours or for up to 3 days!)

To bake: If you’ve refrigerated the batter, remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature (an hour.)

Position racks in upper and lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 300º F.

Stir batter well. Drop level tablespoons onto baking sheets, about 3” apart. Flatten each into a round, about 1/4” thick.

If you’re adding pecans, sprinkle (generously) each flattened round with the toasted and finely chopped pecans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (or longer), until nicely golden, rotating baking sheets, top to bottom and front to back, half way through the bake. Be sure they are nicely golden, or the cookies won’t be crispy.

Move to cooling racks. Leave on foil until easily transferred to cooling racks. Cool completely before storing in airtight container as soon as they are cool. If you don’t store them as soon as they’re cool, they’ll lose some of their crispiness.

If you’re drizzling or dipping them in melted chocolate, melt some great quality chocolate in a small bowl over barely simmering water or on a lower power in the microwave, stirring every 10-15 seconds. Using a small pastry bag or if you know how to make a paper cone, drizzle chocolate to make a basket weave pattern. You can use the tines of a fork, but you’ll have less control. If drizzling sounds arduous, dip. Place on waxed paper or parchment until chocolate is set. For a quick set-up, place in the fridge! Cookies dipped in chocolate are best served the same day.

Without additions, these should last, stored airtight, for 1 month.

Yield: approximately 3 dozen cookies