the rest of the yogurt parfait - granola

I am truly not a cold cereal or granola fan.  My Beloved is.  On a camping trip, I actually found a granola recipe I liked.  Adding it with fruit to the yogurt I made make the best yogurt parfait I have ever eaten.  My Beloved likes this with plain hempmilk as a cold cereal.

I am giving you all the options here but I find that I like the simplest the best.  No nuts.  No fruit.  My Beloved likes all the additions.

Granola

3 cups quick oats (the better the oats, the better the granola.  Quick oats are really better then old fashioned rolled oats)

4 - 8 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon (or less or more dependent on your taste)

2 teaspoons ginger (or less or more dependent on your taste)

1/2 cup dried fruit (optional - I only do this on request)

1/2 cup chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts (again, optional and I only do this on request)

In a large skillet over medium high heat, put the butter or oil.  Melt the butter or warm the oil.  Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.

You want this to cook until it is bubbly.

Add the oats, nuts, and fruit and turn off the heat.  Mix it together.  I find a wide spatula or a large wooden spoon works well.

Turn out on a silpat or parchment paper and let cool.

Yummy granola.

I gave the options in the butter and sugar because sometimes I want sweeter or I am doing something with the granola that I want more buttery.  This recipe also easily doubles.  A lot of times I am working with 5 1/2 cups of oats at once.  I just open the bag of oats and dump in.  I like that I do not have to bake it and watch that it will burn in the oven!  Easy easy.

yogurt

I like yogurt but it does not always like me.  But I had a yogurt parfait at lunch recently and I did not crash that afternoon.  It was a "aha!" moment.  I have been crashing in the afternoon and having troubles finding what I really needed to eat.  My naturopath was telling me it is an adrenal crash and I believe it but I still needed something.  The yogurt and nice beasties worked.  The thing is that if there is yogurt in the house my Beloved eats it and it starts getting very expensive.  I do not like the least expensive yogurt on the shelf.  I always seem to like the most expensive yogurt! 

What is the answer?  Make your own of course.  But I normally do that in my oven with my oven light as a heat source for the beasties to grow and be happy to make my yogurt.  My oven light went out during my Christmas baking and I needed to find an alternative.

I got on the internet and found out that YES! I could use my crockpot to make yogurt.  This was very simple.

Yogurt

Whole milk

Heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup active yeasty beasties yogurt (same as bread, just different!)

My Beloved wanted me to try making yogurt with heavy whipping cream in it so I did.

Very every two cups of whole milk add 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to your crockpot.  Fill the crockpot with this mixture until about 1 to 2 inches from the top. Cover.  Turn on low for 2 1/2 hours.

After 2 1/2 hours, turn off and unplug your crockpot for 3 hours, never lifting the lid.

After 3 hours, put 1/2 cups of yogurt in a small bowl.  Uncover the milk/cream mixture.  Take two cups of the mixture out of the crockpot and whisk it into the yogurt.  When well mixed, pour it back into the crockpot with the rest of the milk and stir well.  

Cover.  Wrap with a thick bath towel.  Let sit for a minimum of eight hours.  I let mine sit for closer to twenty.

Unwrap and you will have yogurt.  It will be on the thinner side.  If you wish thicker, line a colander with a clean towel.  Pour the yogurt in.  Cover with a plate and let drain for a couple hours or until it is the consistency you wish.

Yummy very smooth, very rich yogurt!  Without breaking the grocery budget or running to the store every two days.  I may need a larger refrigerator (smile).  I may try it with hempmilk and probiotics for my Beloved.  Hmmmmm.

last of the christmas baking - scones

I bake scones for my Mother and Grandmother as part of their Christmas box.  They love these and I am quite fond of them as well.  When we go to the beach, scones have a tendency to be our breakfast of choice.

Scones

1 cup heavy whipping cream soured with 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup melted butter

sugar for dredging

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl put the soured cream, egg, and sugar.  Mix well.  Add the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.   Mix.  

The dough will not have come together yet.  Add the melted butter and mix everything together.  The dough should have the feel of a biscuit dough but look more like cellulite.  

Pat the dough out to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness.  You can roll it out if you wish but I find patting is enough.

Cut the scones out with a circle cutter or glass.  Roll all sides in sugar.

Put on a baking sheet covered with a silspat or parchment paper.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and done (check the sides)

I particularly like these with homemade butter and jam.  After a few days, I toast them.  My Grandmother freezes hers to make them last longer.  Yummy in the tummy!

last of the christmas cookies - sables

I found a recipe in the nytimes.com years ago, Dorie Greenspan's Master Recipe for Sables.  It looked good but just a tad to fussy for me.  It is really only a shortbread recipe with eggs but those eggs make such a difference!  

Sables

1 cup butter (2 sticks, the highest fat content you can find makes a better cookie, like Plugra but works even without that)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 large egg yolks

2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream it together well.

Like I said, the only difference from shortbread is the egg yolks, so add the egg yolks to the bowl now and mix well.  Add the flour and salt and mix.

Prepare baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.  Take a small spoon full of dough. Roll in a ball. Place on baking sheet.  I mush with a glass bottom just so the look different then shortbread.

(At this point, if you have read the Dorie Greenspan recipe you will have noticed I left out a lot of fuss.  This is really how I do it and they turn out as good as the fussy way.  I have tried both).

When the baking sheet is full, bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

The Christmas cookie baking is done.  I did not say Christmas baking, just the cookie portion.

More tomorrow.

more christmas baking - molasses crinkles

I am continuing the Christmas baking.  My boxes will be out late because I hit a wall due to being anemic.  The iron is helping but when I am done, there is no way I can push any farther through.

One of the cookies I added to the Christmas boxes a couple years ago was molasses crinkles.  These should never be kept in the house or only baked when you know the hordes will be descending.  Then make a double batch so everyone can have their fill!  (smile)

Molasses Crinkles (old common recipe, but a good one!)

3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses ( I have used every strength including blackstrap and nobody complains.. munch, munch, munch)

1 egg

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

granulated sugar to roll them in.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Put the sugar, brown sugar, and molasses in a bowl.  Cream together.

Add the eggs and mix well.

Put the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt in the bowl.  Carefully mix into the egg mixture.  I say carefully because this when I normally get flour in the middle of my back somehow!

If you want, you can refrigerate at this point for a hour or more but I never do because I just do not want to take the time.

Put a bit of granulated sugar in a bowl.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats (or aluminum foil like when I grew up).  Take  a teaspoon of dough out of the bowl.  Roll into a ball.  Roll in the sugar in the bowl.  Place on the baking sheet.  Repeat until the baking sheet is full.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until set.  I actually like them a little underbaked so that is why there is a range.

Cup of tea.  These cookies.  Life does not get much better.

Enjoy and relax!