Homemade Walnut Date Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bars

I've been looking for a homemade granola bar recipe for ages, but they always call for ingredients I don't keep on hand so I never got around to making them.

However last weekend, Sara fed me an energy bar that was pretty yummy and only had 5 ingredients, which is such a rare and beautiful thing. I decided I must buy dates and make my own.

I found a set of recipes that seemed too easy to screw up and boy was I right. The only problem was I couldn't figure out how to work my brand new food processor... Seriously, appliances confuse me. I tried everything to no avail and ended up using my magic bullet which worked mostly fine.

The dates and walnuts blended together tastes strangely (and deliciously) like cookie dough. I ate so much of the batter out of the bowl that I feared I wouldn't be able to make a full batch of granola bars, so I decided to add the raisins and oatmeal in to beef it up. This recipe was 100% off the cuff and still so delicious. Pretty sure you could put any kind of add ins in here and it would be tasty. Without further ado, here ya go:

Homemade Walnut Date Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bars (Original recipe here)

1 cup dates
2 cups warm water
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Put dates and raisins in a bowl and pour warm water over top. Let sit for 10 minutes until plump and then strain.
3. While the fruit is plumping, pulse the walnuts in a food processor, or magic bullet (if you don't have or don't know how to work your food processor like me) until they are finely chopped. If you want bigger chunks of nuts, add some extras in towards the end.
4. Then add the dates adn raisins to the nut mixture in the food processor and pulse until everythign starts to come together. Then mix in cinnamon and oatmeal.
5. Plop into the loaf pan and spread out with a spoon.
6. Refrigerate for 30 min, then cut them into 6 bars and individually wrap for snacks.

Banana Coconut Oatmeal Flax Muffins

I am working on cleaning up my pantry, which means lots of interesting baking adventures! I'm also working on getting back in shape and that means I'm hungry all the time and need more snacks. This recipe was inspired by those two things - a healthy snack with a whole bunch of stuff in it!

Who can argue with deliciously sweet banana mixed with chewy coconut and yummy oats?  Nobody that I'd like to know, that's for sure!

Banana Coconut Oatmeal Flax Muffins (original recipe here)

Ingredients

3 Tbsp flax seed
6 Tbsp water
4 Ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
2 Tsp vanilla
2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp kosher salt (or table or sea)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsweetened shaved coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease one muffin tin (this will make 12 good sized muffins).
2. In your magic bullet, blend ground flax with water. This mixture acts as an egg substitute!
3. Add the flax to your mashed bananas.
4. In another bowl mix your melted coconut oil with brown sugar, then add vanilla and flax And egg mixture.
5. Add your dry ingredients to the wet and mix untrustworthy combined. Don't over mix or you will ruin everything.
6. Scoop into muffin tin then sprinkle with coconut or oats or both. Cinnamon sugar would be delicious too!
7. Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean!

Shelly's Snickerdoodles Recipe

Merry Christmas ya'll! I wish you lots of turkey, baked goods, presents and joy!

You might want to sit down for the news I'm about to share... This is the first of four cookie blogs I'm hoping to post over the next week (Kiss Me Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies) !  I had a marathon Christmas Cookies baking session spanning three days, which was super exciting for me and now hopefully for you! Stay tuned!

So if you don't know what a snickerdoodle is, don't feel bad. I'd never heard of them until a few weeks ago when in am across them on a top 10 Christmas cookie list. Essentially they are a light and fluffy sugar cookie rolled I'm cinnamon sugar. They taste like cinnamon buns and heaven.

Shelly's Snickerdoodles (original recipe here)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup lard
11/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
2 tsps white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsps cinnamon
3 tbsps white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400. Ideally you want your butter and eggs to be at room temperature. 
2. Cream butter and sugar together then add eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla and vinegar. Don't worry you won't be able to taste the vinegar- but it's important as it acts as a leavening agent.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. 
4. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Roll 3/4 inch balls and drop into cinnamon sugar mixture until evenly coated.
5. Pop on a pan at least two inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and place on cooling rack. This makes about 4 dozen.