Chocolate Granola Bars (no-bake)

I used to buy granola bars. I used to be so addicted to them. But since I learned how to make them at home, I never buy them again. Okay, just sometimes.

This was the first time I made granola bars with chocolate. And THESE turned out amazing. Imagine a soft, chewy, sweet bar packed with juicy raisins, chocolate and an amazing coconut aroma. It was so hard to resist eating the whole batch at once.. But I was strong enough to save some for the next day. And it's so great to know that what you eat is actually healthy. Oh come on, stop reading and give these a try.

Chocolate Granola Bars (no-bake)
2 cups quick cooking oats
50ml unrefined coconut oil
5-6 tbsp honey
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder (use high-quality!)
20-25g dark chocolate, chopped
100g golden raisins, chopped

1) In a small saucepan, melt together coconut oil and honey. Mix in cocoa powder and stir just until there are no lumps and the mixure is smooth.  Remove from heat.

2) In a medium bowl, mix together oats, chocolate and raisins. Stir in the coconut oil/honey mixture and stir until combined. Press into 10x22cm loaf pan and place in the fridge. Refrigerate at least 3 hours and cut into squares. Store in refrigerator (if it isn't very hot you may store them at room temperature)

Recipe by collecting memories

Banana Carrot Bars (Oil, Butter & Sugar Free)

Here's another easy recipe for healthyish snack bars. As these contain bananas, carrots and applesauce there's no need to add sugars. It's sweet enough with only 4 tablespoons of honey and, moreover, honey gives moistness which keeps for many days. It's a perfect snack for school or tea-time!

Banana Carrot Bars (Oil, Butter & Sugar Free)
50g oat flour

100g all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1 tbsp wheat bran (optional)

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

4tbsp (~50ml) honey

70ml buttermilk (or milk)

1 large egg, beaten

4 tbsp applesauce

1 large overripe banana, mashed

1 large carrot, shredded 

1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Prepare a 20x20cm silicone baking dish.

2) In a small bowl, combine together all-purpose flour, oat flour, baking powder, salt, wheat bran and pumpkin pie spice. 

3) In another bowl, combine together buttermilk, honey and egg.

4) In a large mixing bowl, mix together applesauce, banana and carrot.

5) Add buttermilk mixture to the banana mixture, stir to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir well. Pour the mixture to the baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely and cut into squares.

Recipe by collecting memories

Pumpkin Pie Crumb Bars

Couple weeks ago I made a pumpkin pie bread and added some ground oats into the batter. The taste was so good, there was something different about that dessert. And then I realised that I found a new favourite combination - pumpkin and oatmeal. These two ingredients taste amazing together and I immediately started thinking of other desserts where pumpkin and oats could be used. As I wanted to make pumpkin crumb bars for a long time, I decided to make the crust out of oats. And voila, the experiment turned out great! These bars came out delicious. An oatmeal crust, a soft and creamy pumpkin filling and sweet crunchy crumbs drizzled with some white chocolate. Oh, and as usually, I added just a small amount of fats and white flour. So these are healthy, too!

Crust:

25g butter, melted
2 tbsp honey, melted
125g ground oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg yolk
25g all purpose flour

Filling:

2 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (I used homemade)
60g unrefined light brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla sugar
100g sour cream
25g all purpose flour


Crumb topping:

25g butter, cold
1 tsp cinnamon
40g flour
40g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

White Chocolete, to drizzle (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C.

Make the crust:
1) In a medium bowl, combine together the oat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and cinnamon. Add egg yolk. Add butter and honey and and mix until well combined. Press the mixture into a 20x20cm baking dish. Set aside.

Make the filling:
2) In a large bowl, beat egg and egg white. Add light brown sugar, vanilla sugar, sour cream and beat until very well combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix. Finally, add flour and mix just until combined. Spread the mixture over the crust and set aside.

Make the crumb topping:
3) In a small bowl, combine together cinnamon, flour, brown sugar and salt. Cut the butter into small cubes and throw into flour mixture. Using your hands, knead the butter into the mixture so all the sugar/flour is incorporated into butter. Sprinkle the crumbs onto the pumpkin filling.

4) Bake for 30 - 35 minutes.

5) Let cool completely on a wire rack and transfer to the fridge. Refrigerate overnight and cut into squares. 

Recipe by collecting memories

Mushroom Pierogi

BEST pierogi you'll ever try. Challenging, but worth the effort!

Pierogi dough:*
500g flour

1 large egg, lightly beaten

240ml warm water
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp sour cream

*You will only need to make half of the recipe. Or you can also double the ingredients for the filling and freeze some of the pierogi (what I did). You should get around 60 pierogi if you make the whole batch.

1) Place flour in a large bowl. Mix in the egg, water, salt and sour cream. Mix until well combined. Knead until you get elastic, soft but not sticky dough, about 10 minutes. 

2) Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest while you prepare the filling.

3) Roll out the dough into 2-4mm thickness. Cut circles, fill them and pinch to seal. 

4) Boil 5-8 minutes, until floating. (I like to boil them longer as I like softer pierogi). 

Pierogi filling:

400g mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
pinch pepper

1) Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and saute over medium-high heat until softened and browned. Add  garlic and mushrooms. Stir to combine. Cover and cook until mushrooms start to release liquid. Uncover, increase heat and cook until all the liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Now you can fry your pierogi if you want them to be crispy. I browned half of them and can't really decide what tasted better. Try frying half of them and decide what you prefer.

butter, to fry (optional)
sour cream, to serve

1) Heat oil in a skillet. Place cooked pierogi into the skillet and brown both sides over medium-high heat. Top with sour cream and serve. Enjoy!

Recipe by collecting memories

Sticky Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Bananas. Peanut butter. Honey. Oats. Applesauce. 

I can't describe how much I love each of these ingredients. And when they come together I am the happiest person on the earth. 

These sticky bars are kind of easy to make. As they're no-bake you can probably throw everything in a bowl and have them ready in 5 minutes. Okay, you actually have to wait several hours until they firm up and that's a hard thing to do. So I highly recommend making them in the evening and refrigerating overnight. So you won't be tempted everytime you pass the fridge.

One important note about these yummy bars is that they're quite sticky. I considered trying to bake these and expect that the heat would dry them out a little and make less sticky but in fact I'm not going to do this. They're simply too good as they are. Believe me, the taste is so good that nothing else matters.

Sticky Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

1 medium overripe banana, mashed
4 tbsp honey
50g salted peanut butter
1 tbsp applesauce
1 1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup old-fashioned oats

1) In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine banana, honey, peanut butter and applesauce. Stir until melted.

2) Add oats and mix to combine. Press into 10x20cm baking dish and refrigerate several hours until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Recipe by collecting memories