Walnut and Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Ingredients

For the Yeast mixture

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp flour

2 tbsp  warm water

1 1/2 tsp yeast

Dough Mixture

1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tbsp butter

2 cup flour ( plus more if needed)

Filling Mixture

1 3/4 cup walnut ( grounded)

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

Topping for the bread

2 tbsp coffee

1 1/2 tsp sugar

melted butter

Method

First combine the yeast ingredients and proof it in a warm place.

Warm up the milk and butter slightly.  Add egg, milk, sugar, salt and yeast mixture to flour and make into a soft dough.  Put in an oiled bowl and let it rise and double.

Meanwhile mix the ground walnuts and the rest of the ingredients and keep aside.

Once the dough has risen, roll out into a large rectangle.  Make sure it is very thin. Spread out the filling on the dough evenly.  Roll the dough into a long cylinder.  

Spray the loaf pan.  Take the rolled dough and turn it around twice.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and the reduce the oven to 300 degrees and  bake for another 45 minutes.

Mini Granola Bites

I love the chewiness of the oats, the sweetness of the cranberries and coconut and the crispy rice cereal, flax and sesame seeds work great in this recipe

Ingredients

2 1/2 C. quick oats
1/2 C. crisp rice cereal
1/2 C. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. brown sugar
3 tbsp unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. canola oil
1/4 C. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp sunflower seed, optional
* optional: ground flax seed and/or wheat germ (I use 3 heaping Tbs. or so of each).

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) really well. I used a wooden spoon. Take your time to make sure everything is really blended. Taking your time also allows the wet ingredients to sort of soak into the dry components. If your mixture seems dry after mixing then you may need to add a little more oil and/or honey - a teaspoon at a time - until it starts to clump up a little.

When your granola mixture gets to a point, not too wet, not too dry, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Spray the mini muffin pan liberally with cooking spray, scoop the granola mixture in and form the mound compactly. I use a rounded tablespoon to help form them, a small cookie scoop would work too.

Press the remaining granola into your baking pan (if you are making bars). Make sure your baking pan has been sprayed well with non-stick spray!  Press mixture firmly, compacting it as well as you can.

Its small so my little one had fun holding it and munching...

Baking Times

Granola bites: 12-15 minutes ( sometimes it takes less than that, keep checking)
Granola bars: 17-22 minutes
They are ready to remove from oven when the tops are golden.  If they don't cook long enough they may not hold their shape. If they cook too long they will get too dry (not to mention they can burn) and may not hold their shape.  (I've found granola bars to be finicky.)

Let the granola bites cool completely.  Then, they are done to be munched on as a healthy nutritious snack.

Fruits and Nut Granola

One of the thing that I love to munch on whenever I am hungry are nuts and fruits.  On the other hand, I had these old fashioned oatmeal that I got sometime back to make cranberry walnut bread which has been lying around ever since. So, what would be the best thing to do...GRANOLA of course.  I just cannot resist the combination of nuts, fruit and oats. These granola are super chewy. After cooling and cutting them into bars, I put them in a airtight container and popped them in the refrigerator. Hope you would enjoy them as much as I do...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ingredients

2 cups oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup nuts ( pecan, walnut, peanuts, cashewnut, almond), chop them a bit
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp  salt
approximately 8 oz. dried fruit ( cranberries, raisin, dried blueberry, dried pineapple)

Method

• To crush your peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet, measuring cup, or sauce pan.
• Then, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned.
• Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.
• Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (I forgot to take a picture of this step, but it looks so pretty!)
• By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit.
• Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.
• Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.
• Press hard all over, you want to make sure its all compact.
• Leave it aside to cool completely for about 2-3 hours.
• Cut them by pressing them firmly down with a knife (not sawing) . Cut them in whatever size bar you want.
• You can either pack them individually in a plastic wrap or just put them in a airtight container between sheets of wax paper so that they dont stick together.

Coffee Hazelnut Muffin

Out of the blues i just felt like having a hazelnut muffin with coffee. I had this cookbook with me for many years but only now I was looking through it and found some wonderful recipes. This muffin uses ground hazelnut and coffee.  Looking at the amount of coffee specified here, I thought it would be a bit too much but actually there is not much coffee taste. The frosting uses Nutella.

Ingredients

2 cup self raising flour

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup ground hazelnuts

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp coffee powder

1 tbsp boiling water

2 tbsp Nutella

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cup buttermilk ( no buttermilk substitute every 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice for 1 cup buttermilk)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Hazelnut Topping

1 cup confectioner sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp Nutella

40g butter, softened

1 tbsp milk

Method

Grease 12 cup muffin pan. Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Sift flours, cocoa powder into large bowl. Stir in ground hazelnut, brown sugar, combined coffee and water, Nutella, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil. Use a metal slotted spoon to stir.  Do not overbeat the batter. Muffin mixtures will require minimum mixing. The batter will look coarse and lumpy.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake in moderately hot oven for about 20 minutes. Spread cooled muffins with hazelnut frosting.

Frosting :  Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, stir in remaining ingredients.