Okay. Fuel for journey. Here we go…

I’m a big fan of homemade granola bars for the following reasons:

• they’re super easy to make
• cheaper than buying AND less waste in packaging
• you get to pick your own flavor combinations
• the sweeteners we use are healthier and can be locally found at farmer’s markets
• baking them makes your home smell AMAZING
• you can give new life to leftover pantry bits (no kidding, one of the best batches I’ve made was with the dregs of cinnamon shredded wheat. Killer!)
• you get to “nutsmash.” It’s fun…. read on. I’ll show you what I mean…

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The Basic Ingredient Outline:

Dry:

• 6 cups Oats*
• 1 ½ cups Dried Fruits
• 1 cup Nuts

Wet:

• 16 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ¾ to 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ¾ to 1 cup honey OR syrup**

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Today, we’re making Apricot Cranberry with Almonds and Molasses.

 

I used:

• 6 cups thick cut organic oats
• ¾ cup chopped dried organic apricots
• ¾ cup dried organic cranberries
• 1 cup salted almonds
• 16 Tablespoons unsalted organic butter
• ¾ cup organic brown sugar
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup molasses

 

Preheat your oven to 300°

Start by melting down all of your wet ingredients in a small sauce pan

until they look like this:

You want this hot, but watch it so it doesn’t boil over.

 

While that’s heating up, put the nuts in a large plastic bag, get yourself a wooden spoon and a three-year-old***, and do this:

(It helps if you leave a small opening in the top of the bag so you don’t pop it…)

 

Throw the nuts, oats, and fruit in a large mixing bowl,

and pour the hot syrup/honey magma over the top.

 

If you want a crunchier bar, simply mix the ingredients until combined.
If you like a chewier bar, mix until the oats get a little soft from the hot magma.

 

 

Now, this is important. You must “grease”**** your cookie sheet, put a piece of parchment over the grease, and grease the parchment.

(Do this or you’ll be sending me angry comments about how impossible it was to get your granola bars out of the pan so you threw the whole thing, cookie sheet and all, out a two story window. Don’t do that. It’s wasteful. And you could severely harm the unlucky bloke beneath your window.)

Then, dump the oat-lot on top of the parchment and spread it out with the back of a spoon. When it’s evenly dispersed, give it a good press and mash so it’s tightly packed.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 300°, until golden brown. Granola will over brown and burn quickly, so watch it carefully near the end of your bake time.

Rest it on your stove top and set a timer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, cut the granola into whatever size bars you prefer, but DON’T REMOVE THEM until they’ve completely cooled.

Once cool, they’ll break apart easily and still retain the shape you cut. Wrap your bars in cling wrap for individual servings, or stack them up in a large container. These are good at room temperature, though I’d refrigerate them after a week (if they last that long). You can also freeze them and keep a stash for random road trips…

There, you see? you’ve just raised the bar.
(Bad, bad, pun. I know.)

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* If you want a VERY chewy granola bar, use quick oats. You can also substitute a portion of the oats with cereal or other grains.
** I have used honey, brown rice syrup, agave, and maple syrup (in various combinations) for this. Any of them work and are completely up to your taste/nutritional preference. If you use molasses as I did in this batch, add it to the syrup meltdown.
*** three-year-old not required.
**** I use Spectrum organic vegetable shortening, but you can substitute butter.

Please o Please o Please,
tell me you saved your
Raisin Whiskey Juice
from yesterday.

 

We’re going to make some Irish Butter to put on that soda bread you made on Day 19.

It’s also rock-steady good on pancakes or buttermilk bread or cooked carrots or fingers (do not chew fingers).

Irish butter is typically not as salty as “American” butter, so you can either use an Irish Butter (like Kerrygold) or mix 4 Tablespoons of salted butter and 4 Tablespoons of unsalted butter together.

Let your butters come to room temperature and cream them with a mixer. Start it up on high and slowly drizzle 3 Tablespoons of the Raisin Whiskey Juice until it’s incorporated.

I also advise the following new kitchen rules:

#1: If it’s in butter, it’s not considered alcohol and kids can eat it.
#2: While incorporating whiskey into butter and residual whiskey sloshes out of the mixer and sprays onto your forearms and cheek, it is perfectly acceptable to lick your wrists and bathe yourself like a cat to get the little drops off your face. (Counter licking is optional, but please, leave the spoon alone.)

 

Now, chill. The butter.

 

This is best done with silicone ice cube trays. Just spoon heaps of butter into the cavities and scrape it off the top.

Chill until the butter is set, wrap in wax paper bundles,

and label with love.

 

Bhácáil Le grá

Now we’re talking…

I have made more loaves of Irish Soda Bread than I care to count (calorically speaking) in search of THE ONE. This is pretty close….

We start by saturating raisins with Irish Whiskey (of course we do.)

Take these:

and throw one cup of raisins into a half cup of whiskey, like this:

and let them sit for AT LEAST 30 minutes, OR you can leave them on your counter overnight to soak in the whiskey goodness.

In due time, strain the raisins and set them aside, but…VERY IMPORTANT!

 Save the Whiskey.

Don’t start baking until your raisins are plumped.

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The Bread Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup Unbleached, all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour (not pictured)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

Preheat your oven to 375º.

Mix all your dry ingredients into the bowl and then plop the cold butter in 1/2” cubes onto the flour.

Now you’re going to “cut in” the butter, by pinching it between your fingertips while combining it to the flour. Pinching out the large clumps, it should look like this:

Then, plop your plumped raisins in:

and gently mix them until they’re all coated.

Add your buttermilk and combine until there is no dry flour.

This bread will only require a soft knead: basically fold the dough over onto itself about 8-10 times. It’s a’gonna be sticky!

Soft kneads are more easily done by scraping the dough up and over with a bench scraper (not pictured), a bowl scraper,

or a chef’s knife will do in a pinch.

Otherwise, roll up your sleeves and get to it. (You don’t want to know what my camera looked like when I was done with this post… I’m insured):

Mound your dough into a 6” dome onto a cookie sheet or baking stone. Slice a large X onto the top of your loaf to keep away the evil spirits. (Not making this up. I love the Irish.)

Bake at 375º for 35 minutes.

Check for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into the middle of the loaf (my mom always used a knife) and making sure it comes out clean. If it’s still wet inside, turn down your heat to prevent over-browning the crust and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Now, you can stop here and your bread will look like this*…

Or you can go full-on-bakery-style with me and glaze it….

1. Set aside 3 Tablespoons of the Raisin Whiskey juice (that you saved, remember!?!?) and don’t touch it until tomorrow. Trust Me.

2. Put what remains (about 2 Tablespoons) into a small saucepan and heat it up until it boils and your bubbles start to pop rapidly. Watch it. You’ll see it thicken a bit. Pull it off the heat before it starts to blacken.

3. Brush the top of the loaf with the syrup and if you want to get REALLY fancy, sprinkle sugar on top. REALLY, REALLY fancy? make it Turbinado Sugar. Hmm. Look at you…

until she shines…

Oh! and come back tomorrow. We’re making Whisky Butter.
Yep.

 

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*let your bread cool wrapped in a flour sack dish cloth. It will keep the crust from drying out but still allow the steam to escape and not make your bread soggy.