Snack or "Matcha Greenola" Bars

Snack Bars

“Matcha Greenola Bars”

Adapted from Sarah Britton by Blue Heron Kitchen

With apologies, recipe posts have been sparse. Life has been busy with work, packing and purging for my upcoming move*, and taking care of my convalescing dog, Alice. Despite that my cookbooks are packed, I’m still in the kitchen and it’ll be the last (and the worst) room to pack. These bars, coupled with Life-Changing Bread, have become staples in my house. Like L.C. Bread, they’re packed with whole grain, seeds, dried fruit and simple, good ingredients.

These satisfying, chewy, delicious emerald ingots are vegan, gluten, soy and dairy free. They’re portable, freezable, individual and satisfying. You and your kids may win the coolest snack ever award this year.

“Power”/“Protein” bars have elbowed their way into our supermarkets, lining complete aisles with colorful boxes, touting energy, health and well-being. Ever try to lift that seam that hides the ingredients?

The best and only protein bar that BHK thinks is great is Rise bar. With minimal ingredients (one of their best bars has three, and I think usually no more than five), these are convincing, real. The one I have has five ingredients and 17 grams of protein – no soy, no gluten. My colleague, a serious marathon winner and two-time qualifier for the U.S. Olympic trials told me about it. Thanks, Jodie!

Stop spending money on candy in drag and whip up a batch of these great bars. (I also cut them into smaller squares for a smaller snack.)

Matcha powder is finely ground (by stone), green tea. There are different grades, the highest being 'ceremonial.' The finest (imho) is from Japan. I don't think you'll need top shelf Matcha for baking or cooking. Try a source like My Spice Sage and you'll find great bargains when you buy 4 oz. or more. There are conflicting reports about Matcha from China. I don't know enough about any of this to weigh in on the stuff. Comments/input appreciated. It touts mega anti-oxidant properties. The finer Matcha is prepared with a bamboo whisk. But for regular folks like me, consumption of this beautiful stuff isn't grand. Today, along with some ground flax, cinnamon and stevia powder, I mixed some into my yogurt. I liked it. Its color is what you’d imagine Emerald City to look like. I bought mine in a local Asian supermarket chain called hMart. I bought the good stuff, but next time, I'll buy cooking grade Matcha. It’s a distinct taste, so if you're going to drink it straight, I recommend buying the higher grade powder .. from Japan. And no, I don't think you need worry about it being radioactive. 

The original recipe required 1 to 1 ½ tablespoonsful. For Matcha heads, add more. For newbies, begin with a smaller amount and ease into this green goddess.

Sarah’s recipe requires unsweetened puffed rice or ‘other’ puffed cereal. Fairway is the only market that consistently carries this unsweetened cereal. The light went on in the piazza as I stared at unsalted organic rice cakes. Easy. You just crush them gently, with your hands, back to their birthday suits.

Whatever puffed stuff you use, don’t use sweetened or salty. And I don’t recommend using puffed corn. Puffed corn was like eating packing material. Puffed millet scored high (and Pickle, my canary, loves it too.)

Instead of tahini, try different (unsalted) nut butters. Try toasting some unsweetened, dried coconut. For a decadent snack bar: peanut butter, peanuts, coconut and chopped dark chocolate!

Thank you for giving me an imaginary reason to take a break from the tedium of sorting through mountains of papers that are making my shredder threaten to overheat. 

peace, love; and for now, not Matcha more,
jane

*BHK moving truc: as much bubble wrap you think you may need, triple it.

Matcha Greenola Bars

Ingredients:

2 c./200g rolled oats, gluten-free if desired

1 c./135g pumpkin seeds or ½ pumpkin seeds and ½ ‘other’ seeds, like sunflower or sesame

3 unsalted rice cakes, broken into a puffed rice cereal state (measure 1½ cups**)

½ c. organic raisins, roughly chopped

            (or other dried fruit try chopped dates,                  cherries or cranberries!)

½  tsp. flaky sea salt (Maldon is great!)

2 ½ tsp. Matcha green tea powder (more or less,      to taste)  (You read above, now***see below.)

1/3 c./80ml brown rice syrup (Lundberg organic      brown rice syrup is good!)

3 Tbsp./45 ml maple syrup

½ c./125ml unsalted tahini

2 Tbsp. coconut oil (organic, virgin is best and          tastiest)

1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

**(Sarah’s recipe calls for 1 ½ c. puffed rice or ‘other’ puffed cereal, but after not finding this at Whole Foods, I realized that unsalted rice cakes would be much more accessible. Make sure they are unsalted. I bought unsalted, organic brown rice cakes.

*** If you don't have or feel like buying Matcha (after all I've done to tell you about it), which I would understand (but the Matcha really does make these delicious; and when was the last time you told Siri, "call Mom"?), try adding some unsweetened (raw, if you have) cocoa; or if you have it, protein powder (I don’t.) If your protein powder is sweetened, cut back on the maple syrup, not the brown rice syrup. It’s the brown rice syrup that's responsible for the great chewy texture.

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C.

2. Combine oats and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring a few times, until the oats are golden and have a nutty aroma. This step is essential. Both texture and flavor rely on toasty oats and seeds. (For the blue heron botch record, I once forgot this step, and besides being crabby about wasting expensive Matcha powder, as much as I wanted to settle, I dumped them.
If you don't want to fire up your oven because it’s 97º, print this page out, or to be true to your Greenola school, memorize bookmark it.

3. Remove from oven and baking sheet, transferring to a large bowl or cool baking sheet so the oats and seeds may cool

4. Line a ¼ sheet pan (12 ¼” x 8 ¾”) with parchment (it can hang over the sides.) You can use waxed paper (waxed paper will be a great help when you're pressing the batter into the pan.)

5. In a large bowl, combine the cooled oats and pumpkin seeds with the chopped dried fruit, rice puffs, salt, and matcha. Set aside.

6. In a small saucepan combine the brown rice syrup, maple syrup, tahini and coconut oil. Using a silicone spatula, stir vigorously until combine. Take care to not overheat.

7. Remove from heat and using the spatula, quickly stir in the vanilla until it is completely incorporated.

8. Working rapidly, pour the warm, wet mixture over the dry ingredients and stir quickly to mix.

9. Pour the mix into the prepared pan. Using some waxed paper (or your hands, or the back of a spoon or silicone spatula), press the mixture firmly, especially into the corners. Put pan in the fridge for an hour, or until set up enough to slice.

10. To slice: lift parchment from pan and set on cutting board and slice into bars or smaller squares. For modest sized bars, slice into 16, for larger, 14; and for my personal fave, Jolly Green Glutton size, slice 12.

11. After slicing, if the bars aren't completely firm, you can return the sheet to the pan, cover and return to the fridge. When ready, wrap individual bars, using waxed or parchment paper.

12. Store in the fridge up to two weeks, or freeze!

Life-Changing Bread (or you can hope)

Life-Changing Bread

Adapted from Sandrine Sharbani by Blue Heron Kitchen

The name is problematic. This is how it arrived in my email. The bread has already changed my life because I'm hyphenating wherever I can grab a dash.

The bread: A gluten-free, oated, seedy loaf that’s dense, satisfying, ridiculously good for you, makes fantastic toast, and instead of laying like a lump in your gut, as do most breads, this will stimulate your digestive track while it absorbs all the goodies that the ingredients are shooting out. Life-changing? Well, for some, who eat baguettes slathered with butter (oooooh), this may prove to be just that. It couldn’t hurt.

Every ingredient here (not sure about the brown rice syrup) can be bought at Trader Joe’s. Well, almost. As of this date, Trader Joe's has pulled raw sunflower seeds from their shelves because of stuff growing on the seeds due to how they're processed (pasteurized and then blasted with something) prior to packaging. This is what customer service representative told me. It sounded potentially dangerous and kind of gross. I may try the roasted/unsalted ones to see how it goes. Or, I may go to another market. Now I'm wondering if all "raw" sunflower seeds are potentially .. sigh.

If you don’t like hazelnuts, use almonds. I’ve used both, but hazelnuts are my favorites. To remove skin from hazelnuts, toast them on a baking sheet at 350º F. for about 6-8 minutes until the skins are darkened (but take care that they don’t burn.)  Remove from oven and rub them in a dish (tea) towel. You can use the ones that are stubborn and hold on to their coats as long as almost all have no skin. The skins are a little bitter. Hazelnuts are majestic.

Some recipes add salt and some use clarified butter (ghee) in place of coconut oil. I haven’t used butter, but I like to add a little salt. Try throwing in some dried fruit. Fool around. You’re the boss.

No yeast.

Allow for time. Once you’ve mixed it, it rests on your counter for at least 2 hours before baking. Mix it before you go to work and pop it in the oven that evening. Or, the loaf can sit overnight and be baked in the morning.

Try: toasted with excellent butter or a replacement like “Earth Balance.” It’s fantastic with some almond, sunflower (my new fave), peanut or other nut butter and jam. If you eat cheese, try it with a soft cheese. Try it with goat cheese. Drizzle some truffle honey on top and you’ll groan. Thinly slice some gruyere and place under broiler. If you’re a meat eater, add ham. Avocado! Your turn.

Spring is for renewal and change. Try this completely different angle on bread, just for the equinox of it. It's hard-earned and well-deserved.

peace, love and change,

jane

Life-Changing Bread

Dry ingredients:

1 cup of raw sunflower seeds

½ cup flax seeds*

2 Tbsp. of chia seeds*

3 Tbsp. psyllium husk or powder

½ tsp. kosher salt (opt.)

½ c. of hazelnuts, skins removed or raw almonds

1 ½ c. Old-fashioned oats

Wet ingredients:

1 ½ cup water (room temperature)

3 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted (you can do this in your microwave)

1- 1 ½ Tbsp. brown rice or maple syrup (or other comparable liquid sweetener such as dark agave)

Procedure

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. (You can do this by hand, or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer, like a Kitchen Aid.

Add all the wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients, mixing well.

Transfer the mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper or if you have a silicone loaf pan, directly into the silicone pan. Smooth the top.

Let sit on counter for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350º F. and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes in the pan. After 20 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan (and its parchment), and gently place upside-down directly on the oven rack for an additional 35 minutes. (Having done this both ways, do this. The loaf browns and bakes much better upside-down.) (Like all the hyphens? I'm growing fond of them.)

Remove from oven and cool, right-side up (stop smirking), on a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing. Wrapped well, this will keep for about 5 days. You can slice and freeze the loaf and pull out slices and toast them on a regular basis.

*If flax/chia seeds are gut-busters (and I feel that flax seeds are better absorbed when ground or at least partially ground), grind them in your Vitamix or in a powerful blender or food processor.

Macaroons

Top to bottom:
Flaked coconut with all-purpose flour
Chocolate with shredded coconut and Valrhona cocoa
Flaked coconut with almond flour

Coconut  and Chocolate

Macaroons (updated)

Adapted by Blue Heron Kitchen from David Lebovitz

This recipe is simple, doesn't need an electric mixer; and with your leftover yolks, you can make ice cream or, make a Breton! These lend themselves to any number of varieties and little twists. Make the batter in advance, refrigerate or freeze it!

These are meringue based (egg white, no milk) macaroons. I like them better than the sweetened condensed milk version. If you're a fan of those, click here! I used both flaked and shredded coconuts. Bob's Red Mill coconut is great. For cocoa and dipping, go for the gold: choose Valhrona cocoa and excellent chocolate too. However, if you like your chocolate macaroons very fudgey, don't go dutch, use Hershey's or Trader Joe's brand cocoa.

If using almond flour and want an almond flavor, add some almond extract with the vanilla. Almond extract is strong, so use a little less. You can substitute liqueur. I added Kirsch to mine while the batter cooked and then added vanilla after the batter came off the stove.

Add some liqueur to your melted chocolate for dipping. (Grand Marnier makes everything taste good.) A drop or two of coconut oil will add sheen and a little more coconut buzz to your melted chocolate (but only if you're not using "high end" chocolate. It'll dress up chocolate that isn't as "fine.") Don't bother to tamper with excellent chocolate. Valhrona offers a bittersweet/orange bar chocolate that could add a nice orange swing.

For my chocolate macaroons, I replaced the honey with Lyle's Golden Syrup. Its amber color didn't alter the color of the batter; and it rounded the chocolate umami.

If you're celebrating Passover (tonight's the second seder):

Go ahead, ask questions (more than four), ask the Knesset and Netanyahu why Israel is enslaving.

Here's to compassion, love and cooking.

Have a sweet spring.

peace and love,

jane

Macaroons

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites

1¼ cups sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. honey or Lyle’s Golden Syrup

2½ cups unsweetened coconut (shredded or flaked)

¼ cup flour or almond flour (finely ground almonds)
optional: add 1 tsp. Kirsch (German cherry liqueur) while cooking the batter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (for dipping)

For chocolate macaroons:

remove 1 Tbsp. of the flour

add: 2-3 Tbsp. sifted, unsweetened cocoa powder (Valrhona or Guittard are best), to taste and chocolate-saturation preference.

Important: When making the chocolate variation, be careful to not ‘scorch’ the bottom. Cook this over lower than medium-low heat and be vigilant. Burn the chocolate and you’ll have maroroons (maror are the bitter herbs that are eaten during a Passover Seder to symbolize pain and suffering while Jews were enslaved in Egypt.)

Procedure:

In a large skillet, mix together the egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut and flour (or almond flour) and optional Kirsch.

Heat over low-to-moderate heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom as you stir.

When the mixture just begins to scorch at the bottom, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

According to Lebovitz, the mixture can be chilled for up to one week, or frozen for up to two months. Nice.

When ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and preheat the oven to 350º F.

Form the dough into 1 1/2-inch mounds with your fingers. Truc: Don't pack down the batter. Using a light touch, form them into small conical mounds. If you pack them tightly, they won't caramelize and have this perfect coconut/caramelized/marshmallow/crunch/chew that when bitten into, the only comment will be, "you MADE these?". 

To prevent sticky fingers, have a finger-bowl of cool water and a towel nearby for a quick rinse. Space your macaroons evenly on the baking sheet. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until deep golden brown, transferring the sheets front to back and top to bottom, halfway through the bake.

Cool completely until removing from parchment (or you'll write to me that they fell apart.) These harden when they cool.

Don't dip in chocolate until they're completely cooled.

To dip the macaroons in chocolate, melt the chocolate in a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave.) Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. (I love waxed paper.) Dip the bottoms of each cookie in the chocolate and set the cookies on the baking sheet. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate is set. (You can dip the tops, but I prefer dipping the bottoms.)

Yield: approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies