Tag Archive: Maple

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

Written on June 8, 2014 by in Dessert

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

Everyone has a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe but not many have a go-to oatmeal cookie recipe.

As soon as I pulled these out of the oven and tasted them these became mine.

Chex is launching this month a line of oatmeal including flavored oatmeal packets and sent me some to try. I’m glad gluten-free oats aren’t a “specialty” food anymore and it’s easier to get classics like packaged oatmeal. The maple brown sugar flavor was by far the best breakfast I’ve had in a while.

Instead of loose oatmeal this recipe uses quick-cooking packaged oatmeal. It’s an easy way to add a lot of flavor. When you’re baking it’s better to use quick-cooking oats than rolled oats because they’ll bake faster and softer. 

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients

I made mine with chocolate chips, but if you wanted to make these healthier you could add chopped walnuts, pecans, or even dried blueberries! Basically, if you’d have it with a bowl of oatmeal, it’s going to go great with these cookies. 

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 14 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 24 cookies):

  • 3 packets Chex gluten-free maple brown sugar oatmeal
  • 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free or regular flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 2 eggs

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the oatmeal packets, flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and baking powder.
  3. Add in the vanilla extract, butter, and eggs and mix thoroughly until it makes a soft dough.
  4. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten them out just a bit before putting them on a nonstick baking tray. 
  5. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the bottoms begin to brown. 
  6. Remove from the oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to a week. 
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Blueberry Pancake Syrup

Written on July 22, 2013 by in Sauce

Blueberry Pancake Syrup

Fresh fruit in the Summer is great. It really is. But turning that fruit into a maple pancake syrup is just a little bit better.

After I made homemade strawberry syrup, I couldn’t eat it fast enough. It’s a great sweetener for pancakes, ice cream, yogurt, oatmeal—just about anything. After giving it a try I can say that making the recipe with blueberries is just as good.

Blueberry Pancake Syrup Serving

You can use fresh or frozen blueberries for this recipe—it doesn’t make a difference. Unlike the strawberry version, you need to strain the syrup once it’s cooked to get the skins out. Don’t waste the solids though! They’re full of sugar and make a great jam-like spread for toast or mixing into yogurt.

Blueberry Pancake Syrup Pancakes

Blueberry Pancake Syrup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 1 1/2 cups):

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2/3 cup blueberries
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Blueberry Pancake Syrup Boiled

Method:

  1. In a small pot over a burner, combine the sugar and water and heat until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Boil the water until the simple syrup reduces to about half of its original volume.
  3. While the water is boiling, puree the blueberries and maple syrup in a blender or food processor until they make a smooth sauce.
  4. Off of the heat, combine the blueberry puree and simple syrup and whisk together. Whisk in the vanilla and cinnamon as well.
  5. Put the pot back onto the stove and continue boiling until the syrup reduces to about half of its volume again. Don’t over-reduce the syrup to be quite as thick as maple syrup because once it cools off of the heat it will thicken.
  6. Strain the sauce through a sieve to remove the blueberry skins.
  7. Store any extra sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator when not enjoying.

Blueberry Pancake Syrup Yield 

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Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Written on April 15, 2013 by in Sauce

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

The best part about making anything at home is the flavors. Artificial dyes and ingredients just never taste as good as the real deal. You can buy strawberry flavored maple syrup that vaguely tastes like skittles with absolutely no maple syrup in it, but why do that when you can make something with actual strawberries?

Homemade Strawberry Syrup Strawberries

Since Spring is here, Driscolls offered to send me some coupons to use their fresh berries as a recipe ingredient. I was shocked how many recipes they already have on their website including a large section of gluten-free recipes; 106 and they’re still adding more—that’s no joke.

I was inspired to make this syrup because I hadn’t made chickpea flour pancakes in a long time. At first I was just going to cook the berries into the pancakes but that didn’t seem quite as exciting as making a strawberry maple syrup. All you need is the whipped cream and it’s a decadent breakfast.

Homemade Strawberry Syrup Boiled

I originally planned to use this for pancakes and waffles, but after tasting it it’s hard to think of a food this wouldn’t be delicious on. I’m already planning to pick up a pint of vanilla ice cream from the store to drizzle this on. You can also use it in any recipe in place of maple syrup.

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 1 1/2 cups):

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2/3 cup hulled strawberries
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Homemade Strawberry Syrup Strawberries 2

Method:

  1. In a small pot over a burner, combine the sugar and water and heat until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Boil the water until the simple syrup reduces to about half of its original volume.
  3. While the water is boiling, puree the strawberries and maple syrup in a blender or food processor until they make a smooth sauce.
  4. Off of the heat, combine the strawberry puree and simple syrup and whisk together. Whisk in the vanilla and cinnamon as well.
  5. Put the pot back onto the stove and continue boiling until the syrup reduces to about half of its volume again. Don’t over-reduce the syrup to be quite as thick as maple syrup because once it cools off of the heat it will thicken.
  6. Store any extra sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator when not enjoying.

Homemade Strawberry Syrup Stack

This is also a really delicious topping on plain oatmeal and oatbran for those days you don’t quite feel like making pancakes.

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Maple Almond Granola

Written on July 6, 2012 by in Breakfast

Maple-Almond-Granola

Granola is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods. I’ve been eating it morning, noon, and night. It’s just a matter of time before I buy some oversized glasses and Toms and join a coop.

It’s so much more appealing to make your own because it gives you an endless possibility of flavors. You can have chocolate, banana, peanut granola one morning and maple almond granola the next. And since oats are cheap(well, unless you’re stuck buying name-brand certified gluten-free oats—but let’s not go there), it’s not a meal that’s going to bleed your pockets dry.

Maple-Almond-Granola-Collage-2

The hint of cinnamon in this recipe adds a familiar warmth that doesn’t overpower the other flavors. Make sure to use a tasteless oil like canola or safflower unless you’re looking to add the flavors of coconut or extra virgin olive oil into the mix.

Maple Almond Granola

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 3 cups):

  • 2 1/2 cup oats*
  • 6 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons neutral flavored oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons shaved almonds

*Make sure these are certified gluten-free if you’re dealing with a gluten allergy.

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, maple syrup, oil, salt, and cinnamon.
  3. Lay the oats out in a 1/2-inch thick layer on a baking tray. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the oats are crispy and toasted, occasionally breaking the granola with a fork or other utensil while it bakes.
  4. Remove the granola from the oven and let it cool completely.
  5. In a separate bowl, combine the granola, raisins, and almonds and toss together until completely mixed.
  6. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Maple-Almond-Granola-Yogurt

You can toast the almonds for an extra level of nuttiness before adding them to the granola. I’d also suggest adding almond extract to the raw oats before baking for a kick of flavor but it’s not necessary.

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Autumn Almond Butter

Written on September 16, 2011 by in Miscellaneous

Autumn-almond-butter

I don’t care what the calendar say–Autumn definitely came early this year. The temperature is cold and the leaves are all falling; store shelves are lined with cans of pumpkin pie mix and candy corn; the farmers’ market is back in swing with squashes no one has ever seen before; I’m back to hastily finishing homework and quizzes. Need I say more?

This weekend I was planning on making an almond version of Winnie’s amazing looking walnut butter, but I decided to save it for another time(when I actually have all the ingredients) and went with an Autumn themed one instead. I’m glad I made that decision because the spice from cinnamon and nutmeg paired with sweet cranberries have made cool mornings a little warmer.

I like my almond and peanut butters on the thicker side, so I didn’t blend this for too long. Taking Ashley’s tip, I’d suggest to keep blending up to 12-15 minutes before adding in the second batch of ingredients for a drippier butter.

Autumn Almond Butter

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(makes about 20oz):

  • 1lb almonds, raw or roasted, blanched or unblanched
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons neutral oil(I used coconut oil)
  • 1/4 cup cane sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Autumn-almond-butter-lateral

Method:

  1. Combine the almonds and oil in a food processor and blend until the almonds form a thick paste(about 5-10 minutes). Scrape down the sides as necessary to make sure all of the almonds get processed.
  2. Stop the processor and add the sugar, spice, salt, and extract. Continue pulsing until the ingredients have all been mixed evenly.
  3. Turn off your food processor. Add in the cranberries and fold them in throughout the almond butter. Move to an air-tight container for storing.

Autumn-almond-butter-side

If your Autumn involves chocolate(and that’s a pretty good Autumn), add 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips at the end and fold them in along with the cranberries.

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