Raspberry-Blueberry Oat Bars

I was so proud of myself on Saturday. That's when I baked these and I even took the picture the very same day. Shocking, I know. Yet here it is, Wednesday, and I'm finally getting my butt into gear and posting. Oops. And I don't think there's even a valid excuse this time, outside of plain laziness.

Things have been going very well in the meat-free department. There are definitely some challenges at times, but overall, I'm feeling positive. And I'm feeling BETTER in general, too. Which is the biggest thing, as far as I'm concerned.

This is another recipe from the Vegetarian Times website, which I've had bookmarked for quite some time. Only did a few alterations - adding some nutmeg and allspice - and swapping out the plain jam for the Queen's Blend jam from Ikea. Raspberry and blueberry. It's the best. Get thee to an Ikea to buy some. (The Daim chocolates are yum, too) :)



Ingredients:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, divided
1 cup raspberry jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9-inch-square baking dish with cooking spray.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix until combined. Stir in 1-3/4 cups oats.

Spread 2/3 of batter on bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread raspberry jam over the batter with back of spoon. Add remaining 1/4 cup oats to remaining batter. Crumble over top of raspberry jam.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting into bars.

Peach Oatmeal Bars

Everyone has one of those cabinets where, no matter how hard you try, things just seem to get lost in there for some time, right? Right?? Comfort me here, okay? :)

So in an attempt to find something completely unrelated to baking, it was discovered that I still possessed a jar of peach preserves from Harry and David. They weren't there too long. Darcy (Dave's older sister) sent us a gift box from H&D for Christmas. So, they were still good. I bookmarked this recipe from Vegetarian Times probably around that same time, and somehow the two met in my mind in a moment that could only be described as fateful luck. :D

The recipe came together like a dream, with my only change being the addition of some nutmeg and ginger, figuring it would compliment the peach preserves. Which, yes, it did. When I took the pictures for this post, admittedly, I ate two of the display models afterwards. But what good models they were! ;)



Ingredients:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, divided
1 cup peach preserves/jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch baking dish.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in large bowl; set aside.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts until smooth. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix until combined. Stir in 1-3/4 cups oats. Spread 2/3 of batter on bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread peach jam over the batter with back of spoon. Add remaining 1/4 cup oats to remaining batter. Crumble over top of raspberry jam.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely on wire rack, before cutting into bars.

Happy New Year!

I hope everone had a fun, safe evening on NYE. We tried valiantly to stay up, but alas... early morning work schedules were what defeated us. Next year, Dick Clark. Next year. ;)

So my first baked good of 2009 proved to be a bit of challenge. Mainly because of one thing: Dave and my mom used up the last of the brown sugar. Do you know how many recipes call for brown sugar? Especially if you're feeling like something with peanut butter? HMPH!

After a lot of searching, I found these over on AllRecipes... Czechoslovakian Cookies. Which led me to the following thoughts:

-I was the only kid in my 3rd and 4th grade classes that not only knew that Czechoslovakia existed and where it was, but I was also the only one that could spell it properly. :) (I really liked maps as a kid lol)

-Czechoslovakia no longer exists. As of some-year-I-can't-remember, it's now Czech Republic and Slovakia.

That out of the way, these bars. Cookies, if you will. Pretty darn easy to make, but not nearly enough jam. I didn't measure to begin with, just covered the dough, really, but it definitely could have used more. I found the use of cardamom in them to be interesting. Maybe it's just me, but cardamom, in what I've used it in, gives it a slight citrus-y flavor. Does anyone else ever get that? *shrug* It worked out well, though; I used seedless raspberry preserves and thought it went nicely together.



Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
¼ tsp. ground allspice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
½ cup jam of choice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8-inch baking dish.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, then vanilla. Whisk together flour, spices, and pecans (if using), then gradually add to the butter mixture.

Spread half of the dough onto the bottom of prepared pan. Carefully spread jam over the dough, then cover the jam with remaining dough.

Bake at 325F for 55-60 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Spiced Oatmeal Jam Bars

This worked out amazingly well, both in the time-wise sense and the "needing to use things up before moving"-sense. Because we're now 4 days out from moving and only my "vital" baking things aren't packed.

Time-wise, this works because Rachel of Coconut and Lime, one of my fave blogs, is holding a Blogiversary Contest. It's quite simple - make a recipe she's posted at some point, blog about it, and send the link. Good deal. Timing never works out so well for me. Seriously. Timing and gravity often seem to have vendettas against me.

But, yes, this worked very well. Super easy to put together and it leaves the flavor options open. I used two kinds of jam - huckleberry jam from Ashland, OR, and Ikea's Queen's Blend Jam (it's a strawberry/blueberry mix and simply DIVINE); one on each side. The bars are very reminiscent of the jamwiches I made a while back. (Which I can't seem to find on here; did I ever post them?) They also work really well re-heated as a breakfast treat, too. :)



Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
3/4 cup jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease an 8-inch baking dish.

Mix together the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, and spices; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add dry ingredients. Remove 2 cups of batter and press onto the bottom of prepared pan. Spread jam over dough. Crumble remaining pieces of dough onto of the jam.

Bake at 400F for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool in pan on wire rack, then cut into bars.

Jamwiches

Remember the good ol' days? When it was rolling towards September and you had both that mixture of sadness and excitement over the quickly-approaching first day back to school? (Alright, it's September back home. Out here, it's next week, I think.) I was one of those kids that actually enjoyed school, so it was definitely a mix of feelings. On one hand, I'd be going into (whatever) grade, and somehow I always got the teacher that I wanted, all the years of elementary school. But at the same time, when I think back on my childhood summers, it's all very vivid greens and blues and flowers. Sleeping in, playing house/restaurant/school/whatever with April or Erin, swimming in the pool, etc. Sometimes I really miss my childhood, and I do hope that when I have kids, they wind up with the same fond memories.

I digress. Of course. LOL

Really, those words and the recipe are connected, I swear. I think it's because the flavors of the bars remind me slightly of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, even when there's no peanut butter. It's just a very comforting taste, and it works out well that's so super-easy to make. And, as I pointed out, there are oats in it, so therefore, there's healthiness. :)



Ingredients:
½ cup butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats (not the 'quick-make' version)
1 cup jam (any flavor)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan.

Beat butter, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt until smooth and creamy. Add in oats.

Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread the jam over this layer (close to edges, but not touching edge of pan as the sugar will burn). Sprinkle the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top and press lightly.

Bake at 350F for 22-25 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into bars. Makes about 16 bars (depending on the size you cut them. I cut them small, thus making more, just because they seem better when bite-sized) :)

Thumbprint Jam Cookies

When I first made these, it was in the middle of my Obsession with all things Lord of the Rings. As... fate? worked out, one of them, after it had cooled and what not, had the exact shape as the Eye of Sauron. So, secretly, because I guess it's kinda dorky, even for me, I call these the 'Eye of Sauron' cookies. Shhh ;)


Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/3 cup jam of choice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add sugar; beat until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually blend into butter mixture. Stir in walnuts.

(Optional: you can chill the dough for an hour, if needed. According to notes, I don't recall doing this)

Roll dough into balls and put on cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space in between them. Make an indentation in the center of each ball with your thumb or the handle of a wooden spoon. Fill each cookie with about 1/4 teaspoon of jam.

Bake at 350F for 14-15 minutes, or until edges are brown. Remove from oven; let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Makes 24-30 cookies.