Apple Crisp | Apple crisp with cake crumbs| Leftover recipes

If you are into cake decorating or if you are a frequent cake maker for friends and families and if you are like me who hates dumping that excess cake crumbs then you would also be hunting for recipes and ways to use them. I generally make cake pops and gift it to kids in my apartment but the last time I made some butter cake I had very little crumbs leftover which led me to browse for recipes. Since nothing got me interested, I started putting things together randomly and this happened. Its perfect served warm with a dollop of icecream and a shot of amaretto. Tip: You can replace the apples with berries, peaches or seasonal fruits of choice.

~*What U Need*~ Apples - 2, cored, sliced Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp Brown sugar - 2 tbsp Lemon juice - 1 tsp Cornstarch - 1/2 tbsp Salt - a pinch For the crumble Leftover cake - 1 cup Rolled Oats - 3 tbsp Butter - 1 tbsp, cut into chunks Sliced almonds - 2 tbsp How I Made it: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4-inch slices. Place apples in a large mixing bowl and toss with sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Pour into individual ramekins or a small baking dish. In another large bowl, mix together the oats and almonds. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, gently work in the cold butter until pea-sized lumps are formed. Toss in the cake crumbs. Top apples evenly with mixture and bake until apples are bubbly and topping is golden brown, about 45 minutes, rotating once halfway through cooking.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

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Cracked Wheat & Oats bread

Ever since the winter winds set in, I have been cranking up the oven every bit that I can. Like for baking our daily breads. These days whenever I bake breads for breakfast, I try to incorporate as much whole grains as I can. Take this bread for example, its got whole wheat, cracked wheat, oats and ground flaxseed. Its wholesomeness in a single loaf but it is no less in texture. Its soft, its moist and its homemade. The bread flour is important here cos thats what gives the bread structure and body. But if you donot have access to bread flour then you could replace it with all purpose flour with a tablespoon of vital gluten added to it.

~*What U Need*~ Bread flour - 1 cup Whole wheat flour - 1 cup Cracked wheat - 1/2 cup Oats - 1 cup Ground flaxseed - 1/4 cup Vital gluten - 1 tbsp Instant yeast - 1.5 tsp Sugar - 1 tsp Bread flour - 2 tbsp cooked in 1 cup water and cooled Egg - 1 Salt - 1 tsp How I Made it: Warm the water and add the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast, add the cracked wheat, mix and set aside for 20 mins. The mixture would have risen slightly after 20 mins. Add the rest of the ingredients and using the dough hook of your standing mixer, knead for 5-10 mins. Allow the dough to rise for 45 mins to 1 hour. Once doubled, deflate and form a loaf and place in a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Brush top with milk and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 10 min and then at 350F for 25 mins. Cool completely.

Slice and serve with jam or peanut butter or spread of choice.

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White chocolate Cranberry & Coconut Oatmeal cookies

Christmas is all about gifting to friends and family. With just a few more days to go, I am planning to share a few cake and cookie recipes here and this is first of the lot. My husband is a big fan of coconuts in cookies while the kid loves white chocolate. As for me I have been wanting to make oatmeal cookies for a long time and so I incorporated all three, added some cranberries to overcome the sweetness and a teeny bit of lemon zest for some freshness. These taste delicious and make perfect holiday gifts.

Prep time: 15 mins; Baking time: 12 mins; Makes - 18 cookies ~*What U Need*~ Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup, room temp All purpose flour - 3/4 cup Old fashioned oats - 3/4 cup Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp Salt - a pinch Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Brown sugar - 1/4 cup White sugar - 1/4 cup Egg - 1/2 of an egg Lemon zest - 1/4 tsp Dried Cranberries - 1/4 cup White chocolate chips - 1/4 cup Coconut flakes - 1/4 cup How I Made it: Preheat the oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine flour, oats, salt, and baking soda; set aside. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add egg, lemon zest, and mix well. Add the flour mixture and gently mix till you see no traces of flour. Gently fold in the coconut and white chocolate chips and cranberries. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form 1 tbsp balls, flatten it a bit and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool for 2 minutes before using a spatula to move onto a cooling rack. Repeat with the entire batch.

Serve with a glass of milk.

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Baked Blueberry Oatmeal

Baking is something like an integral part of my life these days. Its like no day passes by without me cranking up the oven. Mostly its something for breakfast or to refill our cookie jar. And then there are potlucks and friends coming over. Coming to the breakfast part, I generally make banana breads when there are over-ripe bananas in the basket or some kind of yeasted breads with whole wheat flour. But this time we wanted a change and this baked banana oatmeal was what I made. Reheated the next day morning, dunked it into some milk, poured in some maple syrup and it was a yummy breakfast.

~*What U Need*~ Old fashioned rolled oats - 1 cup Chopped pecans - 1/4 cup Baking powder - 1/4 tsp Cinnamon - 3/4 tsp Salt - a pinch Maple syrup - 1/4 cup Milk - 1 cup Egg - 1, large Canola oil - 2 tbsp Vanilla - 1 tsp Blueberries - 1 cup, fresh/frozen How I Made it: Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease 8x8 cake pan. Spread half of the berries in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the fruit in an even layer. In a medium bowl, mix the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the syrup, milk, egg, oil, and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats. Sprinkle the nuts and remaining berries over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the oats have set. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Serve warm!!!

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Honey Oat Bread

So I bake our daily bread. So I am addicted to freshly baked bread. So I eat an extra slice of bread when I make them at home. Cos I know what exactly made their way into the bread. While it is mostly whole wheat with add-ins like nuts and dried fruits, I occasionally make the white variety too. That usually happens when I crave for something soft, fluffy and light like this honey oats bread. The mild sweetness from the honey makes this bread perfect for sandwiches with pestos or nutella, pestos being the current favorite.

Prep time: 10+10 mins; Cooking time: 50 mins; Makes 1 9×5-inch loaf Adapted from here ~*What U Need*~ All purpose flour - 3 cups Old fashioned oats - 3/4 cup Instant yeast - 2 1/4 tsp Salt - 1 1/2 tsp Milk - 1 cup Water - 1/4 cup Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp Honey - 1/4 cup Warm Honey and oats for topping How I Made it: In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, oats, yeast, and salt. In a saucepan, warm the milk with the butter to 115F. Once the butter is melted, stir water and honey. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, mixing with a dough hook until it just comes together to form a dough. Knead in the mixer for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough is still very wet and sticky after 5 minutes of kneading, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is barely tacky. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1/2 to 1 hour. Once doubled, place the dough on a clean, dry work surface. With your fingers, flatten the dough into a 9 by 12-inch rectangle. Tightly roll the dough, tucking the ends as needed, into a loaf. Place the shaped dough into a 9×5-inch loaf pan, cover with a clean dry towel, and allow to rise until doubled, about 1/2 to 1 hour.Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C). Place an empty loaf pan on the bottom rack of the oven and bring 2 cups of water to a boil. When the loaf is doubled again, brush the top with the warmed honey and sprinkle with the oats. Place the bread in the oven and pour the boiling water into the empty loaf pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.

Serve spread with butter and honey or a generous amount of cookie butter like me!!!

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Honey Wheat Oatmeal Bread

I am obsessed, well that happens most of the times~ lets talk about that later. Today its breads. I am totally obsessed with home baked breads. I know that its not a good season for baking but who cares when you get a good loaf of bread after all that sweat. I mostly like to include whole wheat flour in our daily breads but this time there is an additional health factor in the form of oats. The honey, the oats and the whole wheat flour gives a unique taste to this bread which makes it great for sandwiches. BTW, don't fret if you donot have quick cooking oats on hand. Give the rolled oats a quick pulse in the blender and there you have the quick cooking version.

~*What U Need*~ Instant yeast- 1 1/2 tsp Honey - 1/4 cup Olive oil - 2 tbsp Warm water - 1 1/8 cups Salt - 1/2 tbsp Unbleached all purpose flour - 1 cup + 6 tbsp Whole wheat flour - 2 cups Quick cooking oats - 1/2 cup Vital wheat gluten - 2 1/2 tbsp Egg - half of an egg How I Made it: Add the yeast to the warm water and mix. Set aside till frothy for 10 mins. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the olive oil, honey and the yeast water. Add the 2 cups wheat flour, gluten and oats and salt to this mixture and mix well in low speed. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg and one cup of all purpose flour. Blend on low until the egg is incorporated then beat on medium for 2 more minutes. Add flour by 1 tbsp and mix until it's smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover and allow to rise for 1 hour or until double in size. Punch the dough down and turn onto a floured surface. Shape into a loaf. Place in greased 9x5 inch loaf pan covered with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for another hour. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Remove bread from pan and brush with melted butter, allow to completely cool on cooling rack.

Serve toasted with butter/jam!!!

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Banana Peanut Butter Granola

I like having oats for breakfast. Be it in the form of oatmeal or upma or dumplings, I like it anyways. It keeps me full on the tummy and makes me skip my mid-morning snack. Ever since I made my first successful batch of granola, I have been obsessed with it. One reason is that it is cheap when compared to the store bought ones, secondly you can flavor it the way you want and of everything you know what exactly is going into making it ~ whether it is high fructose corn syrup or pure maple syrup. The single over-ripe banana that was lying around made me try this variation. I added in some peanut butter since the huss is a fan of anything PB and what I got was granola with mild, very mild flavors of banana and peanut butter.

~*What U Need*~ Rolled oats - 2 cups Banana - 1, mashed Maple syrup - 2 tbsp Peanut butter - 4 tbsps Canola oil - 2 tbsp Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp(optional) Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp Chopped nuts - 1/2 cup How I Made it: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, melt the peanut butter, maple syrup and oil in medium heat. Add in the mashed banana, vanilla, cinnamon and mix together. Cool slightly and add the oats, nuts and mix well till evenly coated. Spread the oats out in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring it once every 10 mins. Bake till evenly browned, remove from the oven and let them cool. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Serve with almond or coconut milk!!!

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Granary Cob

I like crusty and dense breads. I love dunking them in soups mopping the bowl clean, soaking every bit of the leftover soup. We usually have soup and bread every week and that mostly makes to our dinner. So it never gets a chance to make its way to the blog. This bread is one such crusty bread which I made to go with that night's tomato herb soup. I toasted it in some olive oil and seasoned it with crushed garlic. It was the perfect pairing for the soup.

I always like looking for discounted items be it wherever I go. Last time when I went to Barnes and Nobles, I was browsing through their bargained price books and I found this "The Best-Ever Book of BREAD" and I instantly grabbed it. It is a great book on breads and it really is a storehouse of information when it comes to breads. I am going to try atleast one bread from the book every month and this is the first one of the lot. It is made from whole wheat, has a good crust, is dense and goes perfect with soups.

From the book,

Cob is an old word meaning 'head'. If you make a slash across the top of the dough, the finished loaf, known as a Danish Cob will look like a larger roll. A Coburg cob has a cross cut in the top before baking.

~*What U Need*~ Whole wheat flour (Granary/malthouse flour) - 2 cups Salt - 1 tsp Instant yeast - 1.5 tsp Lukewarm water - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsps Sugar - 1/2 tbsp For the topping Water - 1 tbsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Wheat flakes or rolled oats - to sprinkle How I Made it: Heat water till lukewarm, add the sugar and mix well. Add the yeast and allow to activate. Once frothy add the yeast mixture, salt and the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer and knead till smooth and elastic about 6-8 mins. Set in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Once doubled, turn it over to a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 mins. Shape into a round, plump ball and place in a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a cling film. Allow to rise for another 30-45 mins. Once rised, mix water and salt and brush over the bread, Sprinkle with the oats. Preheat oven to 450F. Bake for 15 mins, then reduce the oven temperature to 400F and bake for another 20 mins or until the loaf sounds hollow. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with soups or jam/nutella/butter .

** My Notes:
** The original recipe calls for Granary flour but the book itself says you can substitute it with wholemeal flour.
** I didn't have wheat flakes so used rolled oats to sprinkle on the bread.

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Oats Aloo Tikki | Oats Recipes

Life is never fair and I am not here to complain about it. Life has its own share of reasons on why it is like that. Some recent happenings has changed me, right at the core. My belief on what or who god is has never been the same. And I blame noone but me. At times I think that everything that happens around or to me is influenced by "me" and I won't or can't blame someone who is there just hypothetically. And then there is another part of me which crops up some times and firmly believes that "God exists". That power by which this galaxy was created or which brought about "The Big Bang" is there and that is "God". And when that ME comes out, I am regular to the temple. Fridays and Saturdays whatever be it, I go and get my peace of mind.

As I said, some recent "very bad" happenings has brought about the god-believer me and I made quite a few vows with HIM. And one among that is I will give up eating potatoes through out my existence. And that brings me to stop eating anything from outside. Tell me one good restaurant dish which has no aloo in it. I am still browsing for one. But, again, thanks be to God I have been by my vow till date. I don't eat aloo with my knowledge. And the family is following steps with me. We don't by burgers, shawarmas and we don't even shop potatoes these days.

When I went grocery shopping sometime back, I found few burger buns that were pillowy soft and wholewheat too. I grabbed one immediately with a pretext to make some healthy burgers for amma and appa (okay get it, this is one among the many that I made for appa when I was back in India) and I just couldn't come up with a tikki recipe that has no aloo in it. Finally gave up, made some 2-min noodles for me and made these healthy oats aloo tikkis to slide between their burger buns. You can serve these on burger buns or bread or have it for tea.

Serves - 2 Makes - 6-8 medium sized tikkis Prep time - 20 mins Cooking time - 5 mins ~*What U Need*~ Potato - 1 medium Oats - 1 cup Wheat or white bread slice - 2 Onion - 1, finely chopped Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp Carrot - 1, grated Peas - 1/4 cup Green chilli - 1, finely chopped Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Water - to sprinkle Oil, Salt How I Made it: Boil and mash the potato. Dip the bread slice in water and squeeze excess water. Put this in a mixing bowl. Dry roast the oats till you get a nutty aroma. Heat oil in a kadai, add green chilli followed by onion and saute till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes off. Add the grated carrot and peas and cook. Add the garam masala and fry. Now add the oats and sprinkle enough water to cook it. It will form a mass. Once cooked and cooled, add this to the potato and bread and mix well. Form tikkis and shallow fry till crisp on both sides.

Serve between burger buns or with bread or as such for tea!!!

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