Apple Strawberry Oat Bars

Stress baking usually happens when I have an overabundance of an ingredient on the verge of going bad, therefore making me more stressed knowing that it needs to be used in the next few days (or less!). My current dilemma was that I hadn’t polished off all my Jonagolds procured from apple picking a few weeks ago and that there were two cartons of strawberries that needed to either be eaten or remade into something else just as tasty. So, what else was there to do but combine them as a baked good? I looked to see what else I had around– of course there was flour and sugar in the pantry, but with oats, I instantly thought of fruit bars. No, not the kind you would want to consume on a long hike, but more of a dessert bar thanks to of all the butter that’s used. And that butter is worth it–these are so good! I couldn’t stop eating them, and needed to give them away to friends as soon as I could. It was this recipe that got me started. In my version, the crust was a lot thicker on top but it might have been because I used a smaller pan– what I did was take a circular 9×9-inch pan and pack the mixture into a 9×5-inch rectangle using wax paper. I also used more apple than strawberry, changing the ratios. And a sprinkle of cinnamon made things just right!

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Yield: 12-15 bars, depending on bar size

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 tbsp butter
• 1 cup finely diced apple
• 1/2 cup finely diced strawberries
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Melt butter. Combine rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt.
2. Pour melted butter over oats and flour and incorporate until everything is well mixed.
3. In a separate bowl, combine apple and strawberries and lightly mash to incorporate the two.
4. Layer a pan with wax paper. In the prepared pan (I used 9×5 measurements), pack in half of the oat mixture. Add the apples and strawberries next, then sprinkle the cinnamon, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice over it.
5. Top with the remaining oat mixture, and pat everything down to make sure it will stick together.
6. Bake for 40 minutes, making sure the top is lightly browned. Once out of the oven, let cool completely before cutting into bars. If it seems to be falling apart, leave in the fridge for at least an hour to firm things up.

fruity oat goodness!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been baking so much lately, for better or worse in this early fall heat resurgence. The only pro I can think of when it comes to baking on hot days is that it takes little-to-no time for butter to become “room temperature” if you spontaneously want to make something that involves it. Not that I would ever hold off on baking if it’s too hot outside, but I especially wanted to one recent evening because I was going to a housewarming and wanted to make something for friends there to enjoy. These cookies are inspired by Anne Burrell’s recipe  but I decided to not use nuts since they were going to a crowd. I love putting cinnamon in plain chocolate chip cookies because it really gives an extra dimension to the flavor. These were no exception, and I was happy to see it as an ingredient in her recipe.

My one tip is that when putting the cookie dough on the sheets, try to avoid having chocolate chips at the bottom of the dough ball. Trying to scrape off melted chocolate from a cookie sheet is no fun, and then I always think about the chocolate that was lost as a result, even if it’s one chocolate chip!

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Yield: 36-40 cookies

Ingredients

Wet

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Dry

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 10 oz chocolate chips or chunks

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter and two kinds of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to combine.
2. Leaving out the chocolate chips, add the dry ingredients together in another bowl and mix together until it appears uniform.
3. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet until everything is just incorporated. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F <- I’m putting this step in the middle/end of the prep process to save energy. In my experience, the oven will heat to the right temperature in time.
5. On a greased cookie sheet, drop large tablespoonfuls of dough about an inch and a half apart from one another.
6. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
7. Let them cool for a few minutes before trying to move them off the cookie sheets.