20

Oct

Day 8: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cake

Ever bake with oatmeal? Me, not so much. But I’m an oatmeal lover, all kinds of oatmeal. And who doesn’t love cake? Let’s combine them.

Chocolate Chip Irish Oatmeal Cake
My in-laws’ Irish heritage runs deep. I know very little about my own Irish roots. But Irish oats are delicious (heh), and so that calls for incorporating them into a dense, delicious chocolate cake that wouldn’t be overshadowed next to a Guinness. Also great with black coffee or a Fall hot cocoa.

1 cup Irish oats (steel cut oats)
1 3/4 cups boiling water 
6 TB butter/margarine
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 TB cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet) 
Powdered sugar, enough for dusting the top
 

In a large bowl, carefully combine the dry oats and the boiling water, letting it sit for about 10 minutes together. Next, add the butter and let it melt. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

After that, add both sugars and then whisk in the egg. In a second bowl, whisk together the two flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and optional cinnamon; then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips.

In a nonstick 9X13 pan, pour the batter in. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until center of cake is firm. (This is a dense cake!). Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm or room temperature.

Adapted from McCann’s Irish Oatmeal

Happy eating!
Laurel

~Laurel~

12 years ago Short URL 4 Comments

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07

May

Lowfat Carrot Cake?

Do you ever read those monthly features in Cooking Light magazine? You know, the ones where they take a cream puff that would normall have 1550 calories and 89.7 grams of fat, and they transform it into a delicious cream puff with 22 calories and .5 grams of fat? Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the chefs and contributors at that company do come up with some pretty tasty dishes that are pretty healthy, too.

I remember one month’s feature was carrot cake. Traditional carrot cake with cream cheese frosting had something like 1000 calories and 85 grams of fat, more fat than your daily allowance. And, if you’re a lover of carrot cake or any cake, is it really humanly possible to eat just one slice? Doubtful. So they transformed the cake into 430 calories and 17 grams of fat, or something like that. Better, but not exactly healthy-ish. So I found a Martha Stewart recipe (of all places) that was a little more reasonable, and I’ve kicked up the “healthy-ishness” up another notch.

Lowfat Carrot Cake
Adapted from Martha
This moist cake is easy, simple and quite delicious. If you must devour more than one piece of carrot cake goodness, this is the one that won’t make you feel so guilty afterward.


1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled into the measuring cup
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon or 1/2 t. cardamom
1 large egg + 1 egg white
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup + 2 TB plain lowfat yogurt
2 TB canola oil
1 cup finely shredded carrots, packed (about 2 carrots)
Glaze: 2 TB milk + 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon/cardamom. In a second bowl, combine eggs, sugars, yogurt, and oil.
step 2: Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Fold in carrots. In an 8-inch round cake pan, spray with non-stick oil and dust with flour. (line the bottom with parchment paper if you like) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.
step 3: Let cool in pan on a baking rack for 10 minutes, then transfer cake to cooling rack for 20 minutes. Drizzle with glaze and serve proudly.



















This cake                                        Starbucks’ Carrot Cake Bar

I apologize that I had to break the news about the Starbucks bars. But, on the bright side, you can make something a little less bad for you! 🙂 Happy baking!

Laurel

~Laurel~

14 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

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12

Apr

Weekend Brunch

Yes, two Brunch Posts in a row. But yesterday’s was about a fancy schmancy brunch at a Thai restaurant. Today’s is fancy, easy brunch right at home!
Cornmeal chive waffles with super eggs and thick bacon. Butterscotch apple breakfast cake. We’ve got salty/corny/bacony/egg and sweet/buttery/apply/cake. We’ve got yummm. I made these at the same time, and it takes an hour. Just warning you, but it’s brunch and a treat, so turn on a record or your favorite morning show, and Let’s get started. 

cornmeal chive waffles with super eggs and thick bacon
4-6 servings, but easily doubles
This dish is hearty, delicious, and beautiful brunch on a plate. Serve with orange juice or strong coffee. If you have room, add a sweet pastry on the side, or maybe just some fruit.
adapted from Joy the Baker
12 slices of bacon (2 for each person)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal (fine cornmeal is good, but I love a coarse grind for this recipe)
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
4-6 large eggs (one for each person) + salt/pepper/dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup salsa
4 additional eggs
Step one: Preheat your oven to 350. Preheat your waffle iron. Once the oven is preheated, lay bacon on a cooking rack, which is rested on a jellyroll pan. (This cooking rack–most can be put in the oven–allows the bacon grease to drip down into the walled pan, instead of just letting the bacon soak up grease while it cooks on the pan.) Set the timer for 25 minutes for the bacon.
Step two: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, baking soda,  and salt.In a second bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, butter, and buttermilk.  Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients.  Add the chives.  Stir until just incorporated; there may be a few lumps, which is a-ok.
Step three: Cook waffles according to your waffle iron instructions. While the waffles cook, fry up some sunny side up eggs in a nonstick frying pan, one egg for each person eating. Season eggs with a bit of salt, pepper, and dried rosemary.
Serve waffles warm with hot fried eggs and then topped with fresh cilantro and salsa on top.  Top with extra chives and shredded cheese (optional).  Serve crispy bacon on the side. Waffles are best served immediately.

Now on to the sweet treat…

butterscotch apple breakfast cake
serves 6–8
This breakfast cake is a mix of scone and bread, with apple bits baked right in and creamy/crunchy butterscotch in each bite. It is buttery, hearty, and real comfort food. Not for the faint of heart.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup butterscotch chips (next to chocolate chips in the store)
3/4 cup chopped apple bits (I used pink lady)
1 stick of butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 slices of apple (to garnish on top)

Step one: Preheat the oven to 350 (or add a rack on top of where you’re cooking bacon for the waffle dish).


Step two: Two bowls, one large and one medium. In the large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butterscotch chips). In the medium bowl, combine the apple bits, butter, milk, egg, milk and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine until just moistened. It will be lumpy.

Step three: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper (or foil, if you must). Roll the dough onto the pan and spread into a disc shape, with about 1/3 inch thickness. Bake for 30–35 minutes, adding the apple slices on top halfway through the baking. Remove after cake is firm in the middle and baked throughout. Eat warm and love it.

I do hope you like the cake. It is pretty and imperfect and sweet. Hmm, that’s actually a good describer of a person, too. Anyhow, I hope you do enjoy these two recipes. My waffle iron is at my parents’ house, so we enjoyed this brunch together at their casa. I hope your weekend (tomorrow) is full of food and happiness.

Happy eating!
Laurel

~Laurel~

14 years ago Short URL

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