Chocolate Granola

I remember my first foray into 'granola' production:

Recipe ingredients: bowl of cornflakes with a token handful of oats and a generous drizzling of warm honey.

Method: Mix it all together to a sticky paste, carefully slather it on a baking sheet then bake it till it's golden perfection. Grab the scraper to expunge the sweet gummy mess off the baking tray to a bowl to cool till it's crunchy. Break into clusters and serve with a thick sprinkling of sugar and a generous pouring of milk.

I was such a healthy child. Thankfully I grew up a little. And so did my granola. I admit I don't eat it as much as I use to, simply because I'm not a breakfast person anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love my brekkie food but not at the ungodly hours of well, morning (vampire rarr). But you gotta love the granola because it isn't just for morning sustenance

You can use anything you like in the dry ingredients; rolled oats, seeds such as pumpkin or flax, nuts, dried fruit and dessicated coconut, cocoa powder or ground hazelnuts for added flavour. To bind the dry ingredients I used honey, brown sugar syrup and melted butter. And oh baby, chocolate.

I haven't made chocolate granola in ages but after a bit of online food-porning, it was all I could think about to munch on. I followed my usual honey granola recipe only with added melted chocolate. The addition of cocoa for added chocolatey oomph was inspired by these beauties, which were the instigators behind the cravings.

You can of course, have this plain with milk for a bit of cereal love. But it's also brilliant sprinkled on yoghurt, ice cream, rice pudding, baked or poached fruit or berries. This stuff is so easy and quick to make and it keeps for ages in an airtight container so you can always have some on hand to throw on whatever you desire. Or you could do what I do; leave a (hefty) jar of it on the coffee table so you can greedily pick at it while watching TV.

Chocolate Granola


Ingredients

500g rolled oats
100g dried cranberries or sour cherries, chopped (or substitute with any dried fruits)
50g raisins
50g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
50g dessicated coconut
3 Tbl cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

125g brown sugar
100ml water
30g butter
125ml honey
1.5 tsps vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate, chopped


Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and line three baking trays with baking paper.

Place the oats, dried cranberries, raisins, pumpkin seeds, coconut, cocoa, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl and toss until combined (hands are the easiest tool here).

In a pot over medium heat, heat the sugar, water and butter until sugar has dissolved and butter has melted. Add the honey and vanilla and stir to combined.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate and stir until melted and everything is combined.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the oats and with a wooden spoon, mix until everything is coated and combined.

Spread the clusters of granola on the trays in a single layer. Or if you wish, break up the clusters if you prefer a 'looser' granola (just like The Captain because crunchy clusters hurts his old man teeth, poor thing).

Bake each tray separately for 20-25 minutes until it's dried out (granola will get more crunchy as it cools). Make sure to turn the granola and move it around halfway through the baking time to make sure it bakes evenly and doesn't burn.

The longer you bake it, the browner it gets, which means super crunchy granola but it also burns quickly after 20 minutes so keep an eye on it.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container.

Serve it with fresh fruit, baked fruits, yoghurt, as a cereal with milk, on ice cream or as crumble on your favourite dessert.


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Recipe lovingly inspired by Nigella Lawson and Delicious Days.

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Autumn 'Pig and Beer'

With autumn settling in, the stockings and jackets are coming out and so is my cast iron pot. Once again, brawn meets beer for another hearty and soulful tryst and I couldn't be happier. I love my one pot cooking. For my family, it's easy and effortless and it never fails to fill our stomachs for days.

This is another deep and flavoursome concoction; a chicken stock based stew that is permeated by the flavour of pork, beefed up with potatoes and fragranced with pale ale. Crusty bread is an essential here but it is equally heavenly with a side of braised cabbage, particularly this one which, as I've already shouted from the rooftops, is the best cabbage dish I've ever tasted.

Stew with Braised Cabbage in Balsamic

I must've cooked every type of meat in every type of grog under the sun but the 'Pig and Beer' is one of our favourites. The comfort level is high but it's not overly rich and heavy. And despite the increasingly cool weather outside, this autumn beauty goes down very well with a few cold pints.

• • •

Related Recipes

Irish Stew

Beef and Red Wine Pot Pie

Sunday Gravy

Flashback

6 months ago: Cream of Asparagus Soup

1 year ago: Gubana (Sweet Italian Easter Bread)

Autumn 'Pig and Beer' Stew


Ingredients

2kg of pork leg chops, excess fat and rind removed
2 brown onions, chopped into small pieces
6 cloves of garlic, finely diced
3 rashers of middle bacon, sliced thinly
800ml of pale ale
800ml chicken stock (low-sodium)
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 Tbl of worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
6 large waxy potatoes, peeled and chopped
Handful of chopped fresh parsley to serve (optional)


Method

In a large pot over high heat, melt a knob of butter with a dash of oil and brown pork chops on both sides until golden. Remove and set aside. Reduce heat to medium.

Add the onions, garlic and bacon and sauté for 5 minutes until veges have softened and bacon is golden.

Add the pork back into the pot and pour in the beer and stock. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, stir in the herbs, worcestershire sauce, paprika and simmer gently for 2.5 hours until pork is pull-apart tender and the stock is reduced and flavoursome (the thick leg chops will need a bit of time to really tenderise).

Add the potatoes for the last 45 minutes to cook until tender (as in after 1hr 45 mins). Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

If you wish, use a bit of cornflour (mixed in a little cold water to form a paste) to thicken the stew to your preference.

Serve with a scattering of chopped fresh parsley and crusty bread (and beer!).


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Braised Cabbage in Balsamic

Friends, there's a breeze up my skirt and it ain't from the autumn wind. Ok sit down and look into my eyes. You trust me, don't you? Because I'm going to tell you one thing that's going to change your life. Ya ready?

Braised. Balsamic. Cabbage. You need to make this now.

Who could've guessed that a humble cabbage could give this carnivore a nice lofty breeze in her tail (hold the cabbage wind jokes peeps). But seriously, this is the best cabbage dish you'll ever taste and for a vegetable that is pretty bloody boring, it's a big claim. But then again, the cabbage is cooked in butter, sugar and balsamic vinegar. And it does sit all pretty and tender in a spiced, syrupy, sweet-but-with-a-bite glaze. Not hard to love it at all, no siree.

You can serve it as a side dish to any rich red meat but I reckon any game especially duck, would be the most divine. I never thought I could be in love with a vego dish and now I can't imagine preparing cabbage any other way. Far be it for me to mess with magic right?

Braised Cabbage in Balsamic


Ingredients

1 red cabbage (about 700g), outer leaves removed, quartered, cored and sliced thinly
2 tart Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thickly
150g butter
150g light brown sugar
150ml balsamic vinegar (substitute with cider vinegar if you wish)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp ground cloves


Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

In a casserole dish over medium heat, stir together the butter, sugar and vinegar until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Add the cinnamon and cloves and remove from heat.

Add cabbage and apple and toss to coat. Cover the surface with a sheet of wet, crumpled baking paper (a.k.a a cartouche) and bake in the oven for 1-1.5 hours or until the cabbage is tender but with a slight bite and the liquid has reduced to a slightly syrup consistency.

Give it a stir every 30 minutes or so but be sure to re-wet the baking paper each time you do to prevent it from burning.

Serve warm on the side to any meat dish.


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Recipe adapted from Cooking For Friends by Gordon Ramsay.

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'The Bananarrot' (Layered Carrot and Banana Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting)

As if the title wasn't clear enough, but just in case you didn't know, The Bananarrot is basically one layer of awesome atop another layer of awesome, slathered with one helluva creamy smooth frosting to make one epic awesomemest of awesome cake. Ok short and sweet confession, I'm not feeling the most articulate and eloquent today so forgive my teenage-esque superlatives hehe.

These cakes comes from my favourite cookbook, Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum, a beloved member of my family with its well-thumbed flour-covered pages and a few noticeable stains of grease. If you love baking cakes like I do, then I demand beg implore you to get this book. I want Rose to adopt me as her long lost niece so we can spend many afternoons together baking cakes and drinking tea. Umm I promised myself that I wasn't going to sound like a gushing fan-girl but looks like I failed!

I've made the banana cake and the frosting so many times before that it has pretty much earned the lifetime achievement award (you can read me getting all hot and dreamy about it here). Needless to say, the carrot cake is a worthy competitor for my affections. Both, as you can gather, works brilliantly with the subtle sweet and tangy frosting so instead of picking one of the two to make for a lunch gathering, I decided to sandwich the two together, which led to its new brilliant moniker, The Bananarrot.

A few nutrition fairies will probably die when I say this but this has to be most amazing (albeit naughty) way to get my daily serving of fruit and veges. Hmmm lets have another perve at the cake shall we? Hello!

Classic Carrot Cake


Ingredients

150g of plain flour
3/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbl of cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
150g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar or muscovado
150ml of canola oil
2 large eggs
1 tsps vanilla extract
1.5 cups or 227g of coursely shredded carrot


Method

Preheat oven to 175°C and grease and line a 22cm cake tin (9-inch).

In a bowl, sift and whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, cocoa and cinnamon.

In another large bowl, beat together the caster sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla on medium speed for a minute or until well blended. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated.

Add the carrots and beat for another 10 seconds or until combined. Scrape batter into cake tin, level the top and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean and the centre of the cake spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool in tin for 10 minutes then turn out to cool completely.


Banana Cake


Ingredients

2 large very ripe bananas, peeled and broken into pieces
116g sour cream
2 eggs
1.5 tsps vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
170g caster sugar
120ml canola oil
200g cake flour (or 30g cornflour plus 170g plain flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda


Method

Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin (9-inch).

In a food processor, add the bananas and sour cream and blend until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides with a silicone spatula to incorporate it all.

Add the eggs, vanilla and zest and process for about 10 seconds until smooth. Scrape out into a large mixing bowl.

Add the sugar to banana mixture and with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk until combined. Gradually add the oil, beating it until it's completely mixed through.

Sift over combined dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder and bicarb) and mix on low speed until the ingredients have moistened and it has combined.

Scrape batter into cake tin, level the top and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean and the centre of the cake spring back when lightly pressed.


White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients

255g white chocolate, chopped
340g cream cheese, softened but still cool
85g (6 Tbl) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
21g sour cream


Method

In a double boiler or bowl over gentle simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water), melt the white chocolate. Remove from heat and set aside until it is cool but still fluid.

In a food processor, process the cream cheese, butter and sour cream until mixed and smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides with a spatula to incorporate it all. Add the cooled white chocolate and mix until it's all smooth and mixed. If it's a little soft, firm it up in the fridge before icing.


To Assemble Cakes

Trim your two cakes if necessary to get two even layers. Use about 3/4 cup (or 180ml) of frosting to sandwich the two cakes together. Use remainder to frost the top and if you have enough the sides too. Garnish with chopped walnuts and/or raisins if you wish.


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Recipes adapted from Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

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Sweet Thyme and Choc Chip Muffins

I've always been taught to be grateful for what you have and never take things for granted. In an unpredictable world where circumstances can change for the worse in a snap, there's really no other motto that I ardently live by.

I'm grateful for The Captain and my dog "The Fi", both of which, have the awesome ability to soothe and calm my frazzled soul.

For my amazing friends; the special kind who truly knows who you are and will stand by your side unconditionally and without hesitation. To have one is miracle enough but to have a handful, well I count myself extremely lucky (insert love heart here).

I'm also thankful for the simple joy of baking and for eggs, butter, milk, flour, sugar, chocolate...

Finally, for the ritual of sipping hot tea and taking a bite out of a warm, freshly baked muffin that has been lovingly slathered with butter. These muffins ain't fancy but the pleasure it brings is immeasurable.

For all of that, I am grateful.

Sweet Thyme and Chocolate Chip Muffins


Makes 12 large muffins


Ingredients

200g light brown sugar
2-3 Tbls of thyme leaves (this gives a subtle flavour but feel free to adjust and ramp it up!)
2 large eggs
250ml milk
125ml of canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g plain flour
4 tsps of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
150g chocolate chips (dark, milk, white, your choice!)


Method

Preheat oven to 200°C and line a 12-muffin tin with patty cases.

Whisk the sugar, thyme leaves, eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract until combined.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt and lightly mix with a whisk until just combined. Fold through the chocolate chips. It's totally fine for a muffin batter to be slightly lumpy because it'll yield softer muffins. Overmix it until smooth and they'll end up dry and hard (and honey, nobody likes a hard muffin!).

Spoon out the batter into muffin cases to about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden and the centre springs back when lightly pressed or the skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Transfer muffins to wire rack and cool slightly. Serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar and butter on the side.


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Recipe adapted from Paul A. Young's Adventures with Chocolate.

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