Glorious (Sugar-Free) Granola Bars

I was forced to come to terms with the fact that granola is basically just bits of biscuit in bowl or bar form when I read Marian Keyes’ new novel The Woman Whol Stole My Life as part of a (soon to be published) book review for Stylist. When the narrator casually dropped in this poignant point I put the book down on my lap and stared into space for several minutes, mourning the loss of my dilusional healthy lifestyle. ‘But surely granola and yoghurt is better than a bowl of Coco Pops?’ I wanted to cry. But didn’t, as suddenly I wasn’t so sure.

And so I set upon searching for a healthy vesion for granola, without sugar or butter. One I could eat smugly with dried fruit packed in for extra fruit points (no brownie points allowed here). Having experimented with several different options, this peanut butter version was my favourite, and you can make it as gooey or crunchy as you like by adjusting the amount of honey/peanut butter to dried ingredients ratio (these ones are on the crunchy side).

Glorious (Sugar-Free) Granola Bars

Ingredients

200g Rolled Oats
1 Jar Honey (approx. 340g)
1 Jar Smooth Peanut Butter (approx. 340g)
50g Raisins
100g Whole Peanuts (Crushed)
50g Mixed Seeds (Sesame, Golden Linseed, Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds)
(Optional: dried dates; dried apricots – sliced)
 

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Start by melting the peanut butter. Scrape the contents of one jar (yes, these really are best if the whole jar goes in) into a small saucepan and melt over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally.

While the peanut butter is melting combine the dry ingredients (the oats, raisins, crushed peanuts and seeds).

Once the peanut butter is melted add to the dry mixture together with the jar of honey. Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined.

Tip the mixture into a baking tray lined with baking parchment and press down so that it fills any gaps. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes (until lightly golden, or even a bit brown, on top).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing into bars with a sharp knife.

 

Yoghurt and Blueberry Pancakes

Like Harry and Sally, salt and caramel, and popcorn and the movies, there are many things that go together in this life so well that they should hardly ever be separated. And blueberries and pancakes are one of them.

I was first introduced to this magical combination by my aunt in America many years ago. As I helped her stir the thick, cloying batter, and drop handfuls of plump round blueberries into the mixture, I was sold almost immediately. And when I took my first bite of the warm pancakes dotted with sweet purple explosions and drizzled in sticky maple syrup, the deal was done.

This recipe is a slight variation on the classic American Blueberry Pancake as the batter is made with yoghurt, which, like frozen yoghurt versus ice cream, adds a note of bitterness that plays beautifully against the sweetness of the blueberries (and whichever topping you choose to add).

This version is very much based on Mary Cadogan’s No Weigh Cinnamon and Yoghurt Pancakes recipe, with just some small tweaks (and of course the addition of blueberries).

Yoghurt and Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

75g Blueberries
125g Plain Flour
1tbsp Demerara Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
125g Natural Yoghurt
1 Egg
1 tbsp Milk
Knob of Butter
Maple Syrup to Serve

Serves 4 – Makes approx 12 small, but perfectly formed, pancakes

Start by whisking together the flour, sugar and cinnamon, and set aside. Next whisk up the egg, gradually adding the yoghurt and milk.

Add the yoghurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the batter comes together. Drop in the blueberries and mix in until they’re evenly distributed.

Put a frying pan on the hob at a medium heat and add the butter, moving the pan around until the melted butter covers its surface. Use a piece of kitchen paper to wipe out the butter so only a thin film is left.

Spoon three dollops of mixture onto the pan, leaving space between each one, and flip over with a spatula once cooked on the bottom. Repeat until all the mixture has been used up. Serve with maple syrup or a handful of fresh blueberries and runny honey.

Three Cheese Quiche Lorraine with Thyme

As the various species of trees lining the streets of London become tinged with the early signs of Autumn, and the air all too suddenly begins to cool, my thoughts start turning towards the recipes that bridge the seasons – the ones that Goldilocks would love; the ones that aren’t too cold or too hot, but are just right. And one of the recipes that springs immediately to my mind at this time of year is a warming quiche, served with a leafy salad or mixed roast vegetables.

My Three Cheese Quiche Lorraine, with its mixture of gruyere, cheddar, and goat’s cheese, is naughtier than the wealth of healthier options out there, but sometimes – and especially as the end of luxuriously long summer evenings approaches – naughty is best. I used Black Cow Cheddar in this recipe, and if you can get hold of some it works really well. Produced in Dorset by the same team who make Black Cow Vodka (the world’s only pure milk vodka, which is absolutely delicious), the cheddar is soft and creamy with a strong – but not too sharp – taste.

This recipe is based on a BBC Good Food recipe by Saturday Kitchen’s James Martin. My version is an adaption of James’s, and it uses puff pastry instead of shortcrust. Puff is not always considered wise in a quiche due to the dreaded possibility of a soggy bottom, but its light flakyness and soft butteryness perfectly complement this recipe in my opinion, making this quiche even naughtier, and even nicer.

I should also mention this pastry was not of my own creation. When there are so many brilliant pre-made pastry options out there, why not make life a little bit easier?

Three Cheese Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

1 Sheet Puff Pastry (approx 300g)
100g Gruyere (grated)
100g Mature Cheddar (grated)
50g Soft Goats Cheese (sliced into small chunks)
200g Bacon
5 Medium Eggs
100ml Milk
200ml Double Cream
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Pinch of Nutmeg
Several Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Start by rolling out the pastry on a floured surface and fitting it into the dish, with the pastry hanging slightly over the edges (trim off any excess). Refrigerate for 15 minutes. While the pastry is in the fridge you can begin prepping the other ingredients: grate the cheese, and slice the bacon.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and prick the dough lightly with a fork so the steam can escape during cooking to keep the pastry as crisp as possible. Line with a piece of baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for 25 minutes. Usually with shortcrust pastry you’d need to bake it without the beans and parchment for a few minutes, but as puff pastry is so eager to do what it does best – puff – I find pinning it down for the full blind bake keeps it under control slightly more. You can always give it a couple of extra minutes without the parchment and beans if the base is looking a bit uncooked.

While the pastry is in the oven, fry the bacon until it’s golden and crispy, and tip the pieces onto some kitchen roll to soak up the fat.

Remove the pastry case from the oven and leave to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C.

Mix the three cheeses together in a bowl and tip into the bottom of the pastry case, flattening out with your hands so the base is covered. Sprinkle the bacon over the top.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and cream, seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove the leaves from any thicker sprigs of thyme, discarding the woody parts, until you have a small handful of leaves (this saves the softer sprigs for scattering over the top at the end). Add the leaves to the egg mixture, and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture over the bacon and cheese.

Scatter the remaining thyme sprigs over the top (six small sprigs should do it) and place the quiche on the middle shelf of the oven.

If your oven cooks unevenly like mine, you may have to keep an eye on your quiche and turn it at points to ensure it is evenly cooked all over. But if you are blessed with the finest kitchen equipment, bake for 30 – 40 minutes until lightly golden on top.

Take the quiche out of the oven and serve hot. Leftover slices will be delicious cold too.

Lavosh Cheese Biscuits (Thyme & Sea Salt, and Cumin, Chilli & Sesame Seed)

Lavosh is a Middle Eastern flat bread which has its culinary and linguistic routes in Armenia (Lavosh means ‘flat’ or ‘thin’). While this bread is traditionally wafer thin but soft when it first comes out of the oven, it goes crisp and almost cracker-like quickly, making it the perfect cheese biscuit (in my mind at least). Equally, it works brilliantly as a nibble alongside dips before dinner.

Having discovered these wonderful flat breads at what must be one of the best restaurants in London, Ottolenghi’s Nopi (where they were served with a velvety green avocado purée), I fell in love with their spicy flavour and decisive crunch. The recipe below is very much inspired by Ottolenghi’s version of Lavosh, in that the thinly rolled out dough is cooked until it is crisp so it can be served immediately (or as soon as it has cooled down).

One of the great things about Lavosh is you can experiment as much as you want with it by adding different herbs, spices, or seeds, making their flavour stronger or weaker depending on what you are serving them with. And if you would like to make them as a snack without an accompaniment they work very well with grated cheese on top (try a hard, full flavoured cheese like gruyere or parmesan).

With the recipe below (which is adapted from Inside Cuisine) I made two different versions – Thyme & Sea Salt to go with stronger cheeses, and Cumin, Chilli, and Sesame Seed for those who like a bit of a spicy kick.

 

Lavosh Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients

130g Plain Flour
45g Wholemeal Flour
1 Pinch Table Salt
60ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus 1tsp to finish)
1 tsp Sesame or Wok Oil
120ml Water

Thyme & Sea Salt:
1tbsp Dried Thyme
1 Pinch of Sea Salt

Cumin, Chilli & Sesame Seed:
1tbsp Cumin (or to taste)
1tsp Chilli Flakes
1tbsp Sesame Seeds (plus 1 pinch to finish)

Preheat the oven to 165˚C.

Whisk together the plain and wholemeal flour with the table salt. If making both varieties, divide the mixture into two bowls at this stage (weighing out to ensure they are even) and add the dried thyme to one mixture, and the cumin, chilli and sesame seeds to the other.

Next combine the olive oil, sesame or wok oil, and water in a jug, whisking with a fork to combine (again if you’re making two different flavours of Lavosh you’ll need to divide the wet ingredients in half, and it’s easier to do this at the measuring out stage and use two jugs if possible).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing them with a fork until they come together as a soft dough. If you are making one flavour, divide the dough into two balls at this stage.

Tip the first dough ball out onto a floured work surface and roll out until around 1 – 2mm thick. Brush lightly with olive oil and transfer to an oven tray lined with baking parchment. Do the same with the second ball of dough, laying it out onto a separate tray.

For the Thyme & Sea Salt Lavosh, sprinkle with sea salt, and for the Cumin, Chilli, and Sesame Lavosh sprinkle with the extra sesame seeds.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until they are a golden and the dough has gone crisp (I find you get the most even bake by doing this in two separate batches).

Leave to cool, and if you have any leftovers be sure to tuck them away in a sealed container.

Blissful Breakfast Bircher

From seasonal fruit salads to yoghurt and granola, breakfast in summertime is a colourful affair. And while I love sunny morning breakfasts, there’s something about the comfort of a hot bowl of porridge that can’t quite be recreated in the warmer months. And that’s why, from time to time, I need bircher muesli. As porridge’s cooler summer cousin it’s comforting, yet still light and refreshing, and is easy to make.

This recipe is based on an article by Claire Thomson that appeared on The Guardian. My version uses a bit less yoghurt than Claire’s (you can do this by taste, stirring in heavy spoonfulls until it looks, and tastes, about right). And I add sultanas at the same time as the apple juice; they soak up the juice becoming wonderfully plump and juicy.

However, this is a recipe that can certainly be adapted in a thousand more ways, adding cinnamon and stewed apple for an autumnal hit, or blackberries for a taste of August. And instead of grated apple and sultanas, a heap of summer strawberries or raspberries would make for a lovely addition as well.

I tend to use this recipe when I want to make a batch to take with me to work during the week, leaving out the yoghurt and grated apple until just before serving. And the great thing about it is that I can usually make it with ingredients I already have in my fridge and cupboards.

To ensure your blissful bircher is ready for breakfast time in the morning, I find it works best to soak the oats and sultanas overnight. But if you have more willpower than me, and can handle the wait, 2 to 3 hours will work as well. This recipe makes around 4 servings.

Blissful Breakfast Bircher

Ingredients (Serves 4)

200g Rolled Oats

400g Apple Juice (good quality)

1 Large Apple

75g Plain Yoghurt (or Goats Yoghurt)

75g Sultanas

Tip the oats and sultanas into a bowl and pour over the apple juice, giving the mixture a quick stir. As this is a simple recipe, the quality of the ingredients really shines out, and so it’s worth investing in a good quality or organic apple juice, as concentrate will make the muesli too sickly sweet.

Cover the bowl and leave to soak in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

Remove the mixture from the fridge just before serving and spoon in the yoghurt (I like goats yoghurt as its tartness plays nicely against the sweetness of the sultanas and apple, but cows or sheeps yoghurt is delicious too). Stir to combine all the ingredients.

Serve with the apple grated on top, and enjoy with the Sunday papers.

Summer Plum Cake

This recipe was inspired by one of my favourite cookery blogs of all time – Smitten Kitchen by the amazing self-taught cook, Deb Perelman, who I’m sure needs no introduction. My version is based on her Purple Plum Torte, and is almost the same, except I’ve used yellow plums instead of purple ones here, which give the cake a golden hue, but an equally sweet taste.

I was introduced to Smitten Kitchen via the cookbook, which is a beautifully photographed collection of incredibly unusual, mouth-watering recipes, and more classic dishes with a twist (think popcorn cookies and peach and sour cream pancakes). Deb Perelman has a wonderful ability to take the reader through experimental yet comforting recipes with the assuredness of an experienced cook, and her anecdotes at the beginning of each dish make it feel like you’re cooking alongside a great friend.

Whenever I get my hands on a new cookbook I go through each page, tabbing up the recipes I want to make as soon as possible. With Smitten Kitchen there was barely a page un-tabbed – certainly a very good sign about this book.

This recipe is in fact from the blog rather than cookbook – an even more exciting collection of recipes that one can (and does) spend hours exploring and experimenting with. Having received a punnet of organic yellow plums (which are in season at the moment) fresh from the farm via Abel & Cole, I set about looking for a way to use them and celebrate their summery flavour. And I had a feeling Smitten Kitchen would have the answer.

Deb Perelman recommends leaving her Plum Torte to sit for 24 hours to let the juices of the plums seep through the fluffy cake dough, and this was very much my intention. But living with four hungry flatmates means food doesn’t stay around for long, and only a few crumbs were left by the end of the day. However, the juiciness of the plums had certainly begun to work their way through the cake. I can only imagine how much better this cake would be if I took a leaf out of Deb Perelman’s, er, blog.

 

Summer Plum Cake

Ingredients

1 Punnet Yellow Plums (approx. 6 – 8)
125g Plain Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
Generous Pinch of Salt
200g Caster Sugar
115g Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
2 Large Eggs
2tsp Lemon Juice
1tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to around 175°C.

Start by halving and pitting the plums, and setting aside. Next whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. In a separate mixing bowl use an electric whisk to cream together the butter and 170g of the sugar (keeping the remaining 30g to one side) until fully combined and the mixture turns a light golden colour. Stir in the eggs, and then tip in the flour mixture, stirring lightly until all of the ingredients come together.

Line a round 9 inch spring-form cake tin with a sheet of baking parchment, cut to size, and lightly butter the edges. Spoon in the mixture, using a spatula to make the top of the cake flat.

Lay the plums on top of the batter cut-side down (I like to arrange these in a circular pattern). Scatter the remaining sugar on top, along with the cinnamon and lemon juice. (The sugar will add a satisfying crunch that offsets the squidgyness of the rest of the cake).

Place in the oven for around 40 – 45 minutes, until golden on top and cooked in the middle. Remove the cake from the tin and set it on a rack to cool (or enjoy warm with a dollop of crème fraiche and grated lemon zest).