Honey-Oat Granola Bars

Honey-Oat Granola Bars

Are granola bars healthy?

When they first became popular, back in the 1980s when my kids were little kids, I thought so. And in my efforts to be a “good mother” who tried to give my children healthy food, I bought what was available then. Granola bars were frequent snacks in the house and for school.

I later learned that many of those so-called healthy snacks weren’t.

Just because something is called granola doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

Like if the bars are loaded with trans fats, hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, marshmallows, chocolate, artificial color and so on. 

Here’s a recipe for Honey-Oat Granola Bars. Yes, they have chocolate. And honey is a sweetener. And there’s a little brown sugar in there. Still, there’s oats and dried fruit and nuts. You can add some sunflower seeds if you wish.

And they taste good. These are rich, so you just eat a little and feel snack-full.

Honey-Oat Granola Bars

• 2 cups quick cooking oats

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil 

• 3/4 cup honey

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup chopped almonds

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

• 1 cup dried cranberries

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, letting a few inches hang over the side of pan (to help you lift the bars out of the pan). Brush the paper with vegetable oil. Place the oats on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes, mixing them once during the baking process, to toast them slightly. Mix the vegetable oil, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until blended, smooth and hot. Combine the toasted oats, almonds, chocolate chips, cranberries, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Pour in the honey mixture and stir until well blended. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toasty brown. Let cool in the pan. Lift the square out of pan using the overhanging paper. Cut into squares or rectangles.

Makes about 2 dozen 

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

I love when science and studies and experts say that some food item I love is healthy. Like in this article that speaks to the benefits of coffee. Apparently coffee can help prevent cognitive decline.

Wow! I am going to be cognitively okay then! 

Because I have been drinking coffee, and LOTS of it, since I was age 5 or so and my aunt Roz and Uncle Mac lived with us for a while. My Mom slept late and Aunt Roz took care of breakfast and got us off to school. But she was newly married and had no clue about kids so she served us coffee. Because that’s what everyone else had for breakfast.

Okay, there was lots of milk and sugar in that coffee.

Still.

Anyway, once you get that coffee habit in the morning it’s hard to break. I set up the coffee maker every night so all I have to do in the morning is turn the on button. On days when I know the exact time I am getting up I set it on automatic.

Cognitive benefits.

I wonder how I would do in Physics these days?

Anyway, when I was a kid there was nothing to go with that coffee. I like a little something with coffee. So, maybe these — not for breakfast. But they’re pretty delicious later in the day.

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

1 pound butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick oats

1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the flour, salt, oats, lemon peel and vanilla extract and mix to blend ingredients thoroughly. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. Remove small portions of the dough and roll the pieces into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Spoon a film of confectioner’s sugar onto a dish. Press the bottom of a drinking glass into the confectioner’s sugar. Press the balls flat with the sugar-coated bottom of the glass. Repeat until all the cookies are flat (keep coating the glass bottom as needed). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Makes about 100

Gingersnaps

Does Santa bring Hanukkah gifts?

A few years ago I was driving my granddaughter Lila home from preschool and I heard her tiny little voice say “you know grandma, I want Santa Claus to get me something for Hanukkah. He’s coming to town, don’tcha know?”

Wow, how do you keep yourself from chuckling at a statement like that?

And also, what do you say to a 2-1/2-year old kid from a Jewish family that doesn’t celebrate Christmas?

And also, I’m only the grandma. This is best left to the parents isn’t it? The old Jewish December Dilemma about what to tell your children about why we don’t have a tree or stockings or even Santa Claus.

But Lila’s question was a little different. She already knew that her family celebrates Hanukkah, not Christmas. She just placed Santa into the event. You know, the menorah, the latkes, the driedels and Santa.

I know all these issues get worked out in every family. Parents tell their children about Hanukkah/Christmas in the way that’s comfortable for them and at the age they feel it appropriate for their kids. I was just surprised it came up this way with Lila and at that age, because I suspected her parents hadn’t gotten to that yet.

When I asked Lila who told her that Santa comes on Hanukkah she said it was her nanny, who is Hindu.

Anyway, it’s 3 years later and all those issues are behind us. Lila and all my other grandchildren are thrilled with the 8-day Hanukkah celebration with its candles and chocolate coins and potato pancakes and gifts. And cookies too. We bake cookies at my house. Not to leave by the fireplace for Santa, but for us to all enjoy with a glass of milk.

Gingersnaps

• 1 cup vegetable shortening

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Combine the shortening and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well combined. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well blended. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg and beat until the dough is well blended, smooth and uniform in color. Take off small pieces of dough and shape into small balls about one-inch in diameter. Roll the balls in the remaining sugar to coat the surface. Place the balls on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving an inch space between each ball. Bake cookies for about 12 minutes or until the cookies have spread and are flat and crispy, with lines on the surface. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 6 dozen

Tagged: gingersnaps, cookies, Hanukkah

Hurricane Irene and having extra cookies

Okay, 4 days without electricity isn’t exactly overwhelming. Just inconvenient. Friends of mine are still in the dark after Irene.

And during the days of darkness my husband Ed and I discussed whether, even given the facts that we had no lights, no internet, email or hot water, and the cold water was beginning to become a trickle (so there was the potential pesky flushing issue), maybe even so we were still much better off than our great-grandparents, who never got any warnings that a storm was coming and even if they did, they couldn’t have prepared the way we did. I did all the laundry, filled the freezer with ice, bought extra butane tanks for the portable cooktop, had plenty of batteries and flashlights. I have a loyal battery-operated radio. They didn’t even have Scrabble or Monopoly.

As long as I can make hot coffee in the morning I can feel human. I made coffee the way my mother did back in the day: old fashioned, pre-electric drip pot.

The reason so many people in Connecticut lost power is because so many trees fell on wires. The ground is extremely wet from all the rain we’ve had this year so the big old old trees are just giving up.

A day after the power went out all the cleanup and repair crews were out in full force. These photos show the mess on the street next to mine. We were lucky the weather was warm and sunny so cleanup could proceed and I could also go out and watch. For hours. Four hours. And I took photos of almost the entire process.

I wasn’t there when they cut the first large limbs. But for a steady four hours the tree people buzz-sawed the enormous trunk and limbs, the City Operations staff picked up the debris and loaded it into containers, more City of Stamford workers trucked the stuff to a center where the trees would be chopped down into mulch. The telephone repair people, the internet repair workers and the workers from the electric company worked steadily for hours. All this included the drilling of a deep deep hole for a new pole (an amazing process to watch as an enormous drill gets into the ground and the drill truck shakes like it’s in an earthquake). I left just as the men had finished putting the new pole in place and the electric company workers began bundling the wires.

If anybody grumbles and tells you that these workers aren’t doing their job or that it’s taking too long, they should call me. This was one tree on one street and the entire process of getting it cut and carted away, drilling a new hole for the pole, putting the pole in exactly where it needed to go to be safe and bundling the wires and putting them in place took hours and hours. And even with hundreds of crew working around the clock, they couldn’t get everyone back to normal because there was so much damage in Connecticut.

Anyway, we did have some goodies in our freezer so we nibbled. I was really happy to have some of these Lemon-Oatmeal Cookies to eat as I listened to the latest hurricane updates on WSTC, our local station.

Lemon-Oatmeal Cookies

1 pound butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick (not instant) oats

1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the flour, salt, oats, lemon peel and vanilla extract and mix to blend ingredients thoroughly. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remove small portions of dough to form 1-inch balls. Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets, leaving some space between them for the cookies to spread. Spoon some confectioner’s sugar onto a plate. Press the bottom of a drinking glass into the confectioner’s sugar and press the balls with the bottom of the glass to flatten the cookies. Add more confectioner’s sugar to the glass bottom as needed. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a cake rack to cool completely. Makes about 100

Greek Butter Cookies

Today I woke up thinking I lived in Portland, Oregon. I’ve never even been to Portland but have been watching The Killing on AMC and I noticed that it rains in every episode.

It’s been raining here for several days straight. It’s dark and gloomy and it’s going to rain some more today, tomorrow and the next day. So it seems as if I am in Portland, in spirit.

Of course if I were in Portland, I would visit this bakery and have something delicious to eat.

But I’m not and I’m in need of a sweet goodie. So I’ll make these, which are really easy and I can freeze leftovers for the next time I’m in this mood:

Greek Butter Cookies

1 cup butter

1 large egg yolk

3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup ground almonds

confectioner’s sugar for coating

ground cloves, optional

Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Add the egg yolk, confectioner’s sugar and salt and beat until well blended. Add the flour and ground almonds and blend them in thoroughly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about one hour or until firm. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Take off pieces of dough to form balls about 1-inch in diameter. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool. Roll the cookies in confectioner’s sugar. Sprinkle lightly with ground cloves if desired. Makes about 4 dozen

Oatmeal Cookies

I don’t understand the green food thing for St. Patrick’s Day. Someone emailed me (and several other women who bake for a biweekly Tea at Stamford Hospital, sponsored by our local Hadassah group) and suggested that we could, if we wish, bake something and color it green because the next Tea will be a St. Patrick themed event.

Nope.

When I bake with my grandchildren I let them use food coloring and we frequently have lavender or cerise blue or fuchsia butter cookies or layer cake. I have lots of little bottles with lots of colors that they can mix together.

But they’re kids.

Green bagels, green cake and so on is just not happening here. I don’t remember when that whole thing started.

Green Ireland is an amazing country, one of the most gorgeous I’ve ever been to. Emerald Isle is a good name for it, so true, so lovely. It rains a lot there and then it stops and the grass and the leaves, the bushes and plants and everything else is incredibly beautiful. To me the green in nature conjures up hopeful signs of life. But green, fake-colored food? Nope.

I’ll be making:

Oatmeal Cookies

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanila extract

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups quick oats

1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together for a minute or so until creamy. Add the brown sugar and blend it in thoroughly. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and beat until the ingredients are well blended. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop mounded tablespoons of the mixture onto the cookie sheet, leaving some space between each lump of dough. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 4 dozen

Snow and Peanut Butter Cookies

Snow is falling in big flat flakes here. I should make that beef stew right now because all my appointments have been cancelled. I’ll do that as soon as I finish the peanut butter cookies I want to bake “just to have.”

My Mom always had a freezer full of stuff “just to have.” In case the grandchildren came over. Or she got unexpected company. Or she just wanted a little nibble. So, I guess I have become my mother. I need to have some peanut butter cookies in the bin.

If you do too, here’s my Mom’s terrific recipe. I use lots of organic products but for these, I stick to good old Skippy, which still tastes the best in cookies. I give a large range of cooking time — if you like soft, light cookies, use the minimum time. I like them dark and crispy, so I bake them a little longer. Up to you.

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix at low-medium speed until the ingredients are well combined. Add the peanut butter, shortening and eggs and beat until the mixture forms a soft, uniform dough. Shape small clumps of dough into rounds, then flatten them to create 1-1/2 inch circles. Place the circles on a cookie sheet, leaving some space between each circle, and press the tops with a fork, making a criss-cross design. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until browned and crispy.

Makes about 60

Kichels

Fried is one of my favorite foods. Fried anything, but especially potatoes, onion rings, chicken wings and doughnuts.

So on Hanukkah, when “fried” is fashionable, I’m not going to be the person who makes the healthy alternative. We eat relatively healthy stuff almost all of the time. Hanukkah is a celebration of delicious little goodies cooked to a crisp in vegetable oil!

I won’t do it for the entire eight days, but at least on the first night of Hanukkah (December 1st this year) it will be fried, fried, fried. Potato latkes for sure, but I’m thinking also about “kichels”, a kind of cookie my Mom used to make.

Kichels are an old Jewish family favorite and most recipes for them tell you to bake the dough. But my mother fried them. They were ultra-thin, crispy, not too sweet and absolutely impossible to resist. Her recipe is amazingly simple and only calls for one cup of flour, but it’s enough for a family of 4-6 as a first night treat. Or whenever.

Kichels

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 1/4 teaspoon white vinegar

• vegetable oil for deep fat frying

Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the beaten eggs and vinegar and mix thoroughly until a smooth dough has formed. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough is very thin, almost like paper. Cut into squares or rectangles or odd shapes as small as 1-1/2-inches or up to 3-inches. Heat about 2-inches vegetable oil in a deep saute pan (or use a deep fryer) over medium-high heat until the oil reaches about 375 degrees (a bread crumb or tiny piece of dough will sizzle quickly). Drop the cut-outs, a few at a time into the oil (they will puff up) on both sides until they are crispy and faintly browned. Drain on paper towels. Sift confectioner’s sugar on top.

Makes 4-6 servings

Mom’s Butter Cookies

It wouldn't be a proper Break-the-Fast without these cookies. My mother made them so