Homemade Granola

Do you face the problem of not knowing what to do with leftover, especially dried fruits and nuts?  It could be a few pieces of pecan nut from the pecan pie you baked or dried fruits from the Christmas cake you baked.

I often encounter this problem; a handful of raisins or a tablespoon of cranberries or a few nuts from the previous bake.  As these leftovers are often not enough for the next recipe and to buy somemore would mean there will still be some leftovers. 

I recently found the solution to my problem - Homemade Granola.  This recipe not only solved my problem but also provided a healthier breakfast in comparison to store bought cereal that is full of sugar.  Besides that, granola is a much healthier snack as opposed to potato chips, chocolate and candies; just to name a few.

  

Granola make a wholesome breakfast when served with cold milk.  These can also be used as topping for ice-cream or yoghurt. 

Homemade Granola

(adapted from Joy of Baking)

Ingredients

3 cups old fashion roll oats

1/2 cup almonds, chopped (or any nuts of your choice)

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp corn oil

1/2 cup maple syrup (or 1/4 cup maple syrup plus 1/4 cup honey)

1 cup raisins (or any dried fruits of your choice)

1.  In a large bowl, pour in all the dry ingredients except the raisins. 

2.  Give the mixture a good stir then pour in corn oil and syrup.
3.  Toss together, making sure all the dry ingredients are coated with the liquid.
4.  Spread onto a lined baking pan measuring 9" x 13".
5.  Bake at 170C for about 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally to ensure mixture browns evenly. (The browner the granola gets (without burning) the crunchier the granola will be.)
6.  Leave to cool before mixing in the raisins.

Note
(i) The granola will still be soft and sticky when removed from the oven but it will become crisp and dry as it cools. Stir while it is still warm to break up any large clumps.  Once the granola has completely cooled, store in airtight container.
(ii) The raisins and nuts can be replaced with dried fruits and nuts of your choice.

Popovers

It is amazing how a flat pancake batter can puffed up so high under tremendous high temperature.  This is the science of cooking which I find difficult to comprehend. 

Popovers are but a pancake batter baked on high heat. The high heat forced the batter to puff up and that's when you get popovers.

Popovers are usually served with the cordiment served with pancakes such as butter, honey and jam.  But that doesn't mean you can serve them with a stew or even curry. 

Popovers
(recipe adapted from Julia Child)

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup full cream milk
½ tsp salt
3 eggs
2 tbsp corn oil 


1.  Sift dry ingredient into a mixing bowl.
2.  Make a well in the centre and pour in milk, egg and oil.
3.  Mix all the ingredients together using a whisk.
4.  Strain the batter if it is lumpy.
5.  Pour batter half full into lightly greased muffin pan or paper cups.
6.  Bake in oven pre-heated to 220C for 15 to 20 minutes until the popovers are puffed.
7.  Reduce oven tempreture to 180C and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes.
8.  Serve immediately or risk loosing their puffinest.

Note
1.  Do not open the oven door until popovers are puffed up.
2.  Popovers are at their puffiest and tasted best right out of the oven.

Traditional Crumpets

As I was going through my collection of cook books over the weekend, I came across one that I bought many years ago from a secondhand book seller in a flea market.  The cook book is by Delia Smith and it was published in 1977.  The name of the book is Delia Smith's Book of Cakes.  Most of the cakes featured in her book are of the English variety.  After going through the cook book, I decided to try out one of her many recipes - Traditional Crumpets.

Crumpets are a type of pancake made from batter using yeast as the rising agent.   They are round in shape and have a distinctive flat top with many small pores and a slightly spongy texture.  The batter is cooked in a round metal crumpet ring on a griddle.  Traditionally, crumpets are eaten with butter.

Since I do not have a griddle or round metal crumpet ring, I decided to cook them in my non-stick pan using egg rings.

I have adapted the recipe by reducing the yeast from 1 tablespoon to 2 teaspoon as I do not like my crumpets to have strong yeast taste.

Ingredients
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1 tsp salt

1.  Mix milk, water, sugar and yeast and set aside for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2.  Stir in flour and salt and leave to proof for approx. 45 minutes or until double in bulk.
3.  Grease the inner sides of some egg rings and heat up a non-stick pan.
4.  Place egg rings on non-stick pan and reduce heat to medium.
5.  Into each egg ring, scoop 2 tablespoon of batter.
6.  Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes until small bubbles appearing on the top of crumpets start to burst.
7.  Turn the crumpets over and lift off the egg rings and cook for another minute.
8.  Remove and serve immediately.

Note : I serve my crumpets with butter and honey.  Any leftover can be frozen and toasted before serving.

Croque Madame

I came to know about Croque Madame from a friend who is back from a tour to France. Out of curiosity, I did some googling and found out that it is basically an open sandwich with the usual stuff like ham, cheese and egg but with an unusual name.

This is how Wikipedia define Croque Madame - A croque-monsieur served with a fried egg or poached egg on top is known as a croque-madame.

A croque-monsieur is a hot ham and cheese (typically emmental or gruyere) grilled sandwich. It originated in France as a fast-food snack served in cafes and bars. More elaborate versions come coated in a Mornay or Bechamel sauce. The emergence of the croque-monsieur (and variations) is mirrored by growth in popular fast-foods in other countries.
The name is based on the verb croquer ("to crunch") and the word monsieur ("mister")—the reason behind the combination of the two words is unclear—and is colloquially shortened to croque. While the origins of the croque-monsieur are unknown, there are many speculations on how it was first originated. The croque-monsieur's first recorded appearance on a Parisian cafe menu was in 1910. Its earliest published use has been traced back to volume two of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (Ala recherche du temps perdu) (1918)."

This is my version of Croque Madame.

Ingredients for Bechamel Sauce

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp plain flour

1 cup milk

2 tsp mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a sauce pot. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in milk and bring to bubble, then reduce the heat. Add in mustard, salt and pepper. Stir till well combine and slightly thicken.

Ingredients for 2 sets of Open Sandwiches

2 slices of white bread

2 tbsp butter

4 slices of ham, shredded

2 slices of Gouda cheese

2 eggs

1. Apply butter on one side of the bread and set aside.

2. Heat a non-stick pan and fry the 2 eggs separately.

3. Remove eggs from pan and transfer bread with buttered side on non-stick pan.

4. Top with a slice of cheese, shredded ham, bechamel sauce and egg.

5. Cover and let sandwich heat through till cheese has melted.

6. Serve hot with more bechamel sauce if required.

Soft Baked Eggs

On days that I do not work, I love to have a good breakfast at home with my newspaper next to me. When it comes to breakfast I think I am one person who is easy to please. All I need is soft boiled or baked eggs, toasted bread and a good cup of coffee. With a simple breakfast like this, I will be smilling from ear to ear for the entire day.

This is one of the easiest breakfast that I love to prepare. It is called Soft Baked Egg.

To prepare this breakfast, what you need is a ramekin, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of cream, 2 tablespoon of grated cheese of your choice and pepper to taste. No salt is required as the cheese is salty enough. You can either bake this in the oven or oven toaster. I prefer oven toaster as no pre-heating is required. This is what it looks like before going into the oven toaster.

Besides having eggs for breakfast, I also add them to my instant noodles. That is another story all together for another post. But for now, I would like to share this Soft Baked Eggs that I had this morning for breakfast. With a little planning I managed to cook the eggs, ate it and still be in time for work. This is how I did it.

7.10am - get out of bed, brush teeth and shower.

7.30am - prepare the eggs and pop it into the oven toaster set for 7 minutes. Change into working clothes.

7.40am - remove baked eggs from the oven toaster and pop in 2 slices of bread. Put on make-up

7.45am - remove bread from oven toaster. Continue with make-up

7.50am - sliced bread into fingers and make a 3 in 1 coffee. Enjoy breakfast.

8.10am - leave for work

See what I mean when I say this is one of the easiest and now it has been proven to be one of the fastest breakfast as well.