Slice ‘n Bake – Fruit & Nut Shortbread (Gifts From the Kitchen)

     Slice and bake “icebox” cookies are handy and appeal to my desire to do things in steps. I can make the cookie logs a couple of weeks early and either refrigerate or freeze. Then, I can slice and bake as many (or few) as I might need. The recipe is variable and I've included several ideas for variations  – both for the dough and the finished cookies.

     Then I had an idea – rather than baking them for gifts, why not package the logs and let friends slice and bake as they are in need of fresh baked cookies. So, be sure to check out the unique packaging for my cookie logs below.

I did "plump" the dried cherries by
adding a little water and letting them soak
for about 20 minutes . . . until they had
absorbed all of the liquid.

Fruit & Nut Shortbread   Makes about 5 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon salt

2½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup dried fruit (such as craisins or cherries)

½ cup chopped nuts

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

1.     Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2.     Add milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until just combined.

3.     Gradually add flour, dried fruit and nuts. Mix on low speed until fully combined.

4.     Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 8 or 9-inch logs, about 2” in diameter.

5.     Wrap logs in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. (Logs may also be wrapped in foil and frozen at this point.)

6.     To bake —preheat oven to 375°.

7.     Using a sharp knife, cut logs into ¼” thick slices. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, about 1½” apart.

8.     Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes.

9.     Transfer to a rack to cool. 

10.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.

11.  Store up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. Or freeze.

Variation: Add ½ to ¾ cup semi-sweet or white chocolate chips to the dough. Or, omit the powdered sugar sprinkle and instead,  partially dip baked cookies in chocolate.

I just melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with a drop of two of vegetable
and then partially dipped the baked cookies in the melted chocolate. 

PACKAGING . . . Wrap a foil, wax paper or plastic wrap box in gift wrap (I actually flattened, wrapped it and then taped or stapled it back together on the sides). Insert a parchment paper liner and add the log. Provide the recipe with baking instructions with this edible gift.

Rather than a typical bow, form a loop at the top of the package,
running the ends under package (above). Pull the ends
through the loop and tie (below). 

Recipe without photos:

Fruit & Nut Shortbread   Makes about 5 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon salt

2½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup dried fruit (such as craisins or cherries)

½ cup chopped nuts

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

1.     Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2.     Add milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until just combined.

3.     Gradually add flour, dried fruit and nuts. Mix on low speed until fully combined.

4.     Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 8 or 9-inch logs, about 2” in diameter.

5.     Wrap logs in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. (Logs may also be wrapped in foil and frozen at this point.)

6.     To bake —preheat oven to 375°.

7.     Using a sharp knife, cut logs into ¼” thick slices. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, about 1½” apart.

8.     Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes.

9.     Transfer to a rack to cool. 

10.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.

11.  Store up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. Or freeze.

Variation: Add ½ to ¾ cup semi-sweet or white chocolate chips to the dough. Or, omit the powdered sugar sprinkle and instead,  partially dip baked cookies in chocolate.

Call it what you will . . . Muesli, Overnight Oats, No-cook Refrigerator Oatmeal

Pineapple Upside Up
Overnight Oats

    I first discovered this easy, make-ahead breakfast dish in the late 1970s via a Quaker Oats promotional cookbook. Back then, food companies often provided all kinds of free lesson plans and teaching materials to schools. The Quaker Oats Wholegrain Cookbook was a wonderful resource, full of interesting and somewhat different recipe – from breakfast dishes to sides and entrées to desserts.

     Their recipe was called Muesli (Swiss Oatmeal) and it served six. I would mix up a batch and eat it for breakfast for several days.

     I haven’t made it for awhile but now, all of a sudden, there is an explosion of Overnight or Refrigerator Oat recipes on blogs . . . and many of them end up on Pinterest. The latest recipes have lots of really creative add-ins including chia seeds (rich in omeage-3 fatty acids). But the most innovative take is that instead of making a large batch, bloggers are making individual jars of no-cook oats that you can even grab-and-go!

     So I decided to play around with my own versions and this is what I came up with . . .

Muesli (Overnight, No-cook Oats)– since I really prefer fresh Muesli (vs. two, three or more day-old), I just create the basic mix and then add the wet ingredients the night before it is to be eaten.

Note: Some recipes make larger portions, but it’s way to much for me . . . not that I’m a small eater, it’s just that enough is enough . . . of some foods. This being one!

Step 1: Dry Mix (Make day ahead if you like)

1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (I often use part rolled barley that I obtain at a bulk store)

1 to 2 teaspoons chia seeds

To one individual container (pint canning jars work great), add the above ingredients. Make several ahead if you like and then add the wet ingredients the night before it is to be eaten.

Step 2: Wet Additions (Add the night before eating)

1/3 cup yogurt (I prefer plain Greek yogurt)

½ cup milk (I prefer Almond milk; orange juice was used as the liquid in early recipes)

Add wet ingredients to dry mix, cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Note: dried fruits could be added at this stage, if they need to be softened.

Jar on the left contains the dry mix while the one on the right has the wet ingredients added

Step 3: Add the FUN stuff right before eating – fruits, nuts, whatever

Now is your chance to be creative. Here are 3 of my additions + links to several other blogs that might inspire other additions . . . (vary the amounts as desired)

1. PINEAPPLE UPSIDE UP OVERNIGHT OATS – add chunks of fresh pineapple, dried cherries (I added them in step 2), chopped pecans and just enough brown sugar to sweeten.
2. HAWAIIAN- style OVERNIGHT OATS – add sliced strawberries, chunks of fresh pineapple, toasted unsweetened coconut, chopped macadamia nuts and just enough brown sugar or agave syrup to sweeten.
3.  FRUIT & NUT OVERNIGHT OAT DELIGHT – add raisins &/or craisins (in step 2), chopped nuts of your choice, chopped dried plums (politically correct term for prunes), banana slices and sunflower seeds + enough brown sugar, honey or agave syrup to sweeten.

Fruit & Nut Overnight Oat Delight is packed with  craisins, nuts, dried plums,  banana slices & sunflower sneeds.

Or check out the additions that these bloggers came up with:

Overnight, No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal 

Overnight Oats      

Or, if you prefer to use steel cut oats, instead of rolled, check out the recipe @ Lets’ Talk Breakfast 

All of this talk about Muesli made me wonder about its HISTORY. Did a little digging and here’s a quick review of what I found . . .

• Around 1900 a Swiss physician, Maximilian Bircher-Benner, introduced it to patients in his hospital; it was an addition to a diet already rich in fresh fruit and vegetables. A small bowl of Muesli was served before meals.
•  Dr. Bircher-Benner was somewhat of a rebel – introducing raw foods during an era when cooked foods were deemed the healthiest.
• The dish was inspired by a concoction he and his wife has been served on a hike in the Swiss Alps.
• Traditional Muesli was eaten with orange juice and not milk.
• Modern day Muesli became popular in western countries starting in the 1960s, during an era of  increased interest in health food and vegetarian diets.
• For more details + Dr.Bircher-Benner’s original recipe, click on Muesli. 

AN INTERNATIONAL BREAKFAST COMPETITION and my Baked Cran-Walnut Oat Casserole from Kansas

      Our breakfast menu varied but it was almost always hot! I grew up on a farm in Kansas eating eggs, sausage, bacon, or fresh side, pancakes, waffles, French toast, sometimes a bowl of oatmeal.

     Oatmeal was one of those “stick to the ribs” dishes. My mom served it as a main dish with sugar and thick, heavy cream, skimmed from the top of our own pasteurized milk. However, it was merely an add-on, along with the standard fried eggs, bacon and toast, at my paternal grandparent’s table.

     I’ve “fancied” up this oatmeal dish, a tribute to my 1950s era childhood breakfasts, for an international contest -- “Breakfast around the world” at Very Good Recipes. This site is home to over 11,000 food blogs from all around the world; it is under the direction of Stéphane Gigandet.

    Very Good Recipes sponsors monthly competitions that are overseen by ten judges from around the world and, I am honored to be one of them. Other judges and links to their sites follow:

- Drina – Eaternal Zest

- Françoise – A French Cook Diary 

- Judy – Jude’s Juice 

- Kiri – Healthy Foodie Travels 

- Kym – Free Spirit Eater 

- Leslie – Cooking Memoirs 

- Marie-Claire – Half a Century of Recipes 

- Mimi – Mimi Cooks 

- Simona – Briciole 

To participate in the Breakfasts of the World contest all you will have to do is publish a breakfast dish recipe; it can be sweet or savory. Please submit only one dish, not the whole breakfast buffet! To make it more a challenge, you can prepare a breakfast dish from a different country than your own, or you can add your twist to a traditional dish from your country. For more information on how to participate, go to the Breakfasts of the World Challenge page. Please take the challenge, be creative and have fun! 

Rules:

·      There must be at least one picture in your recipe, and both the recipe and picture need to be your own. If your recipe is inspired by another, please mention it in your recipe.

·      You cannot use an already published recipe to participate in the challenge, you need to publish a new recipe (otherwise there's no challenge!)

·      We would love to have participations from all around the world, including from blogs in languages other than English. Please do include an English translation of your recipe in your post though. If you need help with the translation (proofreading etc.), we will be glad to help if we can.

Contest runs from Monday, January 9, 2012 through Monday, January 30, 2012.

Here’s my example . . .

Baked Cran-Walnut Oat Casserole    6 servings

2 cups half-and-half or milk or almond milk

¼ cup brown sugar, more or less to taste

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup regular or quick-cooking oats

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ to 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries (or dried apricots, raisins or cherries, etc.)

¼ cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts) + additional nuts for sprinkling

1.     Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease or spray 6 individual casseroles or custard cups.

3 of the 6 individual casseroles have been misted with non-stick pan spray.

2.     Combine the half-and-half or milk, brown sugar, butter and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Misture is heating.

3.     Remove from heat; stir in the oats, dried cranberries and walnuts. Ladle into prepared casseroles and sprinkle with additional chopped nuts. 

Mixture is ready to ladle into prepared casserole dishes.
It will be thin and runny at the point but will thicken as it bakes.

4.     Place casseroles on a baking sheet and put in oven. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Casseroles are ready to go into the oven.

U.S. Map

Kansas is located smack-dab in the United State’s Midwest region.

OATMEAL. According to a CBS news story,  “Americans didn't start growing oats in quantity until the 19th century. Quaker Oats was registered as a cereal trademark in 1877 and, by 1885 oats were being sold in boxes, not just in bulk. ‘Quick Oats’ were introduced in 1922, and ‘Instant’ Oatmeal in 1966. In the 1970s, flavored oatmeal arrived.
The Victorians used to cook their oatmeal forever. Marion Harland, whose massive cooking tome was published in 1903, commented, ‘Four hours of boiling makes oatmeal good; eight hours makes it better; twenty-four hours makes it best’ The original oatmeal was made with ‘groats,’ the hulled and crushed grain itself, cut into pieces and often soaked overnight before cooking.” 

Grab ‘N’ Go Breakfast Cookies

    Chock full of nuts and dried fruits, this breakfast cookie recipe was one that Madisyn Riffel entered in the 4-H Foods division at the Central Kansas Free Fair!

Judging them, I was impressed that they contained the typical granola bar ingredients but actually were moist and didn’t crumble into pieces after you took a bite!

     Madisyn used whole wheat flour, so in combination with the fruit and nuts these cookies are nutrient-dense. However those same fruit and nuts, along with butter and brown sugar, make them fairly high in calories as well. Madisyn made large cookies – her recipe yielded just 1 dozen cookies. I used a 2-tablespoon dipper and ended up with 2 dozen cookies.

     Also I didn’t have a package of mixed dried fruit or dried banana chips on hand so I used a combination of raisins and craisins + also added some sunflower seeds.

     I plan to have a cookie or two, along with a glass of almond milk, for breakfast the next few mornings.

Grab ‘N’ Go Breakfast Cookies    Makes 1 dozen large cookies using ¼ cup measure or 2 dozen using a 2-tablespoon scoop

½ cup butter, softened

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup mixed dried fruit pieces

½ cup dried banana chips, broken up

½ cup chopped walnuts

1.     Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease or spray cookie sheet(s).

2.     In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add eggs and vanilla.

3.     In a small bowl, mix whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda an salt.

4.     Stir flour mixture into egg mixture. Add oats, mixed fruit bits, banana chips and nuts.

5.     Scoop dough (using either a ¼ cup measuring cup or a 2 tablespoons dipper); plan on prepared cookie sheet, 2” apart.

6.     Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool on sheet for 1 minute and then move to cooling rack.