All-New Granola Bars

Firstly, my apologies for the lack of posts recently. My father died recently...expected, but very sudden at the end...and I found that amongst other things, the immediate grief really sapped my creativity. I've been ok just keeping things together...baking brownies as usual...keeping up with orders and even the Farmer's Market. But any new ideas just didn't seem to flow at all. Happily, this was a temporary state and I now feel more myself a couple of months on - so expect to see plenty of updates !

Granola/energy bars are one of those troublesome things to bake, I find. Not because they're difficult to make at all....throw a load of ingredients into a bowl, mix, bake and they always taste delicious! But cooking professionally is different. At home, no one minds if their cake disintegrates on the plate into a heap of crumbs...as long as it can still be scooped up and eaten, it's all good. But if you're buying that piece of cake, you expect it to look perfect all the way through - quite rightly, when you're spending good money on it. And here is where the problem lies. Flapjacks and granola-type bars are notorious for falling apart when cut and crumbling into an oaty heap. It's something I've battled and puzzled over for years!

Well, at last, I think I've found the way forward. I have done so much research on this topic and found  useful information in posts by Heidi Swanson on her fabulous blog 101 Cookbooks & Deb Perelman on hers, Smitten Kitchen (both are wonderful for so much more too...if you love cooking in general and have a few hours to spare, visit either or both and get lost in them!) These, together with my original and much tweaked recipe has given me All-New Granola Bars that are luscious, chewy, fresh-tasting and - most importantly - stay together when cut!! The secret is that I made the mistake of increasing the fat content, believing that this would stick the ingredients together. This is, in fact, what makes them crumble, so too much is fatal! Water is the magic ingredient...

The measurements are a bit of a combination at the moment...when they are standardised for the book I'm planning, they will be one or the other...but at the moment they are a combination of cups and metric (I have a plain metal set of US cups, which I'd really recommend you invest in if you love baking...they open up a whole new world, literally!) so do forgive me.

All-New Sugar Moon Granola Bars

1 & 2/3 cups porridge oats

1/3 cup oat flour (just whizz porridge oats in a food processor until they become a powder)

1/2 cup bran cereal (I use All Bran)

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 tsp ground cinnamon

50g pumpkin seeds

50g sunflower seeds

1/4 cup broken pecan pieces

3/4 cup whole almonds, roughly chopped (skin-on or blanched are both fine)

3/4 cup pitted dates, soaked in boiling water (I just use enough to cover them)

50g flaked coconut (you can use desiccated if that's all you can find, but the unsweetened flakes are in many supermarkets and give a more interesting texture)

1/2 cup rice malt syrup OR honey

1/4 cup soft brown sugar (you can omit this if you like...I find they are sweet enough without)

1 tbsp pure organic coconut oil

60g unsalted butter

2 tbsp water (I use the soaking water from the dates)

1 tsp pure vanilla powder, or natural extract

Line a 23cm/9"square baking tin with parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 170c/325f

In a large bowl, combine the oats, oatflour, bran cereal, salt and cinnamon.

Put the seeds, nuts and coconut flakes onto a large flat baking sheet and toast in the preheating oven for 10-15 minutes until starting to turn golden brown.You need to keep an eye on them to check they don't burn, and stir a few times to distribute the heat. Remove from the oven and add to the dry ingredients in the bowl.

Gently melt together the butter, coconut oil, syrup or honey & sugar - if using - either in a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave. When the fat has melted, remove from the heat and pour over the dry ingredients. Add the drained dates and the water and mix really well.

 It should look something like this.....you can add another tablespoon of water if you don't feel it's damp enough...

 Tip into the prepared tin...

 Pack down well using a flexible spatula...

 and smooth the surface...

 Bake for approximately 30 minutes. The top should be golden brown and fairly firm to touch, but not have a 'dried out' feeling. Remove from the oven and leave to cool thoroughly in the tin. You can refrigerate once cool, to really firm them up. Remove from the tin using the parchment paper to help you and,with a sharp knife, cut into approximately 12 bars (or as many as you like!)

 Store in an airtight box in the fridge for best results...but anywhere cool will do. They'll keep for at least a week like this.

Brilliant for lunch boxes, picnics or - as my great friend Charlie does - as the ultimate running fuel!

Hope you enjoy them....thanks so much for reading, and visit again soon for more Sugar Moon magic!

A Taste of Paradise

That isn't as arrogant as it sounds! Today's offering to the Coffee Tree was actually called...

Paradise Slice! It's an old fashioned recipe...rich almond shortbread on the bottom, a thick layer of raspberry jam and then a moist coconut sponge on top. It's delicious and very popular...

and I never change or fiddle with this recipe as it's such a favourite and perfect just the way it is!

I've been so busy this week and it will get busier. My biggest customer has a mobile coffee trailer (a very upmarket one, with a proper Italian machine) that travels to all the major horse eventing trials in the season which is from early March to early November. He takes my brownies, flapjacks and other things with him (I'm happy to say!) but it means I don't often stop during the day.

This is one corner of the first order of the season, completed yesterday. The first event starts on Friday so it'll be full steam ahead now until the end of October. Yesterday I went to pick up 100kg chocolate (yes, 100kg!) That will last about 3 weeks but I don't have space at the kitchen to store more...

I love being so busy and feeling that sense of satisfaction that comes from a completed order delivered on time!

I hope your week has started well too xoxo

Cakes, Bakes & new Brownies for a friend...

A friend of mine has an exciting new venture on the near horizon...and I wanted to create a new brownie to wish him good luck and offer some sweet respite from the stress and confusion that always abound when a big creative project is coming together. These were what I came up with....TA DA! Toasted Pecan Salted Caramel Brownies....luckily, they're also quite beautifully photogenic...

they were packed absolutely full with chocolate chunks and pecans...but I think that too much is never enough, which is why I added the extra dimension of the salted caramel, one of my current favourite, favourite ingredients.
I wrapped them in black tissue, in a glossy black box tied with satin ribbon (my friend is very chic!) and they were well received and very much enjoyed...which was really the point! I'll squeeze the recipe into the book (120 and counting now...maybe 2 books is more sensible!) Very proud of them.

Back to the Coffee Tree...and I also made a new creation for them on Saturday. Based on a Dream Bar, but with added coconut, dried cranberries for some sourness...I can never leave things alone!

This is the tray before cutting...

and here's a slice in closeup. I wanted to have crispness mixed with chew, which I think was achieved. Very sweet, which made them perfect with a cup of strong coffee...anyway, they sold out so mission accomplished!

And this morning, I made Seville Orange & Almond Tarts...a sweet, shortcrust pastry tartlet with a layer of thick cute homemade marmalade (from a jar our friend Steve made last year...dark, bitter, perfect!) all topped with an almond frangipane to which I added some seville orange zest.

there's Steve's marmalade in the background too!

I made an extra one so I could show you inside...and as I'm a complete pushover for anything almond-y, I had to eat it later! Lovely, especially a little bit warm...

I've decided not to afflict a daily post on you...except sometimes...I read a very good article which said that one can blog too frequently & put people off! I'd hate to do that, so I thought I'd make it every couple of days instead...I wouldn't want you to get sick of me. But I'll still take the pictures daily so that I can post the deliveries then....

I'll leave you with a last picture of those brownies...I feel like a new mother!

Thanks so much for reading...have a great day xo

Baking Round-Up!

I'm sorry I've been AWOL for the past couple of days...I've been so busy with work and writing that I haven't found a minute to spare. BUT I did remember to take pictures, so I can now post a mammoth catch up from the end of the week!
Above is the Coffee & Walnut Cake I made...a real English favourite that always sells amazingly well.

The plain cake is made with ground walnuts, which mean that the cake is never dry and has a wonderfully deep flavour. When it had cooled I cut it in half...

and sandwiched it together with coffee buttercream...

making sure that there was plenty left to swirl on top. Then I finished with a generous sprinkle of broken walnut pieces..

I could actually do with a big slice of this right now

as we've just returned from a freezing but beautiful long walk with Alice and I'm having a cup of hot Earl Grey as I write. But, in fact, it's all been sold already...I'm pleased to say!

I also invented a new traybake (I think I invented it, at least I've never seen it before!)

It had a crisp, buttery polenta shortbread base, studded with dried sour cherries and topped with a light vanilla sponge cake baked with fresh cherries. So a sort of soft yet crunchy vanilla double cherry delight!

I did manage to sneak an edge as I cut it up (just to consumer test, you understand) & the sour/sweet tenderness was delicious...it's now going in my book!
Another old favourite were Buttermilk Raisin Scones....first I rubbed the butter into the flour& sugar until it was well mixed and added the raisins...

then I mixed buttermilk & eggs, poured it over the dry ingredients and mixed lightly with a blunt knife to form a soft dough...

patted the dough out and cut into rounds which I glazed with more buttermilk and sprinkled with demerara sugar..

before baking in a hot oven until well risen and golden brown...

at The Coffee Tree they were served warm,with a little dish of softened butter to spread. Yummy!
So that's a round-up of the baking adventures.. I also splashed out and bought two new baking books. One that I've wanted for a long time...

Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It looks wonderful - a real encyclopaedia of cakes, which I sometimes need when I run out of inspiration. The other is one that was recommended to me by my dear friend Kary at My Farmhouse Kitchen who received a copy as a Christmas present

Sarabeth's Bakery, by Sarabeth Levine. I've only had a chance to have a very quick look so far, but it seems just my sort of thing and I can't wait to try some recipes out. Hopefully, Kary & I will ve trying out the same recipe on our blogs soon and comparing results in our posts, which will be so exciting!

So that's the end of another week. I'm looking forward to the next one already. I have my monthly stall on our Farmer's Market on Tuesday, which means a lot of work but is always fun (and cold!) I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks so much for reading, and for your lovely comments which mean so much to me xo

One of those nights...

Last night, I went to bed at a reasonable hour. My body was tired, but my brain was still buzzing....I'm writing a lot at the moment and I find it so hard to switch off the flow of ideas and words. As the church clock struck midnight, I gave up & came downstairs for a hot cup of Earl Grey tea. Still no luck. So I decided to be productive and bake The Coffee Tree's morning order while I waited!

It was time well spent, as it meant that I could do something a little more involved than the recipe I'd originally planned, as there was plenty of time for it to cool and settle down (I find that everything except muffins, scones & other breakfast breads needs a 'settling' period!)

Even at 2.30am, this White Coconut Cake with Fresh Lime Coconut Cream Frosting smelt very good....it's a close textured and very (hated word) moist cake that keeps well as long as it's well wrapped or stored in an airtight tin.

I kept a small slice back (they only request 9 portions of everything - I gave them 11, so I figured it was ok!) and have just eaten it after a long, cold, blustery walk across the hills with Alice...it was, though I say so myself, totally delicious!
But tonight, I think I'll sleep instead and save the baking for the morning! I was thankful to my sweet Twitter friend, Rosinda, for keeping me company last night while I waited for the cake to cook...it can feel very lonely & dark in the wee small hours, but I had her cheerful words for company & knowing she was out there really helped!

Wishing you a wonderful Monday....and a very good and restful night's sleep! xo

Welcome to Wednesday!

Today is clear, cold and sunny I'm happy to say! I'm busy all day with baking and, later, writing up some new recipes...which is something that I love to do. One of them will be today's treat. I thought of it last night (which is when a lot of inspiration hits...I'm cooking supper, food is on my mind I suppose) and I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. The only problem is what to call it. I write out a new label for every delivery so that the ingredients are listed for everyone to see, and there has to be a name at the top!

What food is called is surprisingly important - menu descriptions make a real difference. It's psychological which makes it even more fascinating, and I'm sure I'll be returning to the topic. For instance:

this is today's delivery. It comprises a bottom layer of buttery chocolate shortbread, spread with plenty of black cherry jam and topped with a chocolate almond sponge, whole cherries, flaked almonds & milk chocolate chips. I really wanted to call them Black Forest Bars - because they have many of the elements of the traditional Black Forest Gateau & I knew that most people would know what to expect, flavourwise.

However, this also creates some problems. It only contains some of the elements...there's no kirsch and no cream. I didn't want to be misleading. The most important problem for me, though, was that Black Forest Gateau - sadly - has many negative connotations attached to it. It became so ubiquitous a couple of decades ago, that it started to be mass manufactured - often cheaply & badly. What was once a beautiful, traditional cake became a bit of a national joke. The name was synonymous with dry, oversweet sponge, fake cream, sugary chocolate vermicelli sprinkles, old fashioned restaurant 'sweet' trolleys...none of it good. And it still hasn't really recovered. I just know that, however different my version is, if I'd called it by my original name it wouldn't have sold well.
I decided to call it what it is. So, this Wednesday, I give you my new creation.....

Chocolate Almond Cherry Bars. Would you buy one??

Have a great day! x