No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

To the individual who made 50 pineapple Jello shots and set them on refrigerator door in the Winthrop kitchen, which promptly spilled all over my feet when I opened the fridge:

Just so you know, putting pineapple pieces in Jello will prevent it from setting. There are enzymes in pineapple that break up the proteins in gelatin. Thus, the soupy Jello shots that I spilled all over the floor. Sorry about that—it looked like those shots took a lot of work, but they wouldn’t have worked out anyways…I hope you found another source of booze for the evening. And that next time you don’t stick all of the shots on the door of the refrigerator, which, you know, is the bit that always yanked open and closed.

I don’t mean to be passive-aggressive, Jello person, really. I think little disasters like this in a communal dorm kitchen have actually made me appreciate the simple things in baking. I tend to turn my nose up at standard cookie and muffin recipes and such when I'm at home, always looking for something fancy and new and challenging. Yet somehow a simple biscuit or banana bread suddenly gains novelty when I'm at school. I always marvel that my haphazard attempts at baking, the last-minute substitutions for ingredients I forgot to get, the lack of proper equipment, and slipping on liquid Jello on the floor (ahem), somehow are able to yield fresh, homemade scones, or a gooey, fragrant pan of brownies. Baking seems more magical, more special.

That definitely goes for homemade granola, like these no-bake chewy bars. It’s exciting to make a simple snack that tastes a hundred times better than the stuff you buy at CVS in the square. They take just a few basic pantry staples (like, maybe three more ingredients than your Jello shots), yet, as always with baking, the sum is so much greater than the parts.

They are chewy, sweet (but not too sweet), and crunchy from the nuts, which make these such a healthy and filling snack. Nuts contain healthy fats and fiber that are reported to help do all sorts of things, from making you feel full longer to improving cardiovascular health.  (You can read all about it here.) Don’t quote me on this, but they’d probably work as hangover food too. 

I adapted these from David Lebovitz’s recipe, which for some reason is called “no-bake granola” even though the first step is “preheat the oven to 350 F.” Very deceiving. Anyways, my version just requires a skillet, a mixing bowl, a spoon, and something to put your granola in. You could probably find all the equipment even in the Winthrop kitchen. 

It yields a wonderfully fragrant and flavorful granola—oh, and if you want to get clean slices, you can chill it for a while. Because, you know, it does actually set in the fridge. 

Hope the Jello shot making is more successful next time,
Caroline

This post was done in collaboration with nuts.com. All opinions are my own.

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No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.
Yields: 16 bars
Adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients
½ cup whole almonds (walnuts, pecans, or a mix of all three can be substituted)
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ cup rolled oats (if making these gluten-free, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ freeze-dried (or normally dried) fruit, such as strawberries or apples
½ cup dates, pitted and chopped
2 tablespoons flax seeds
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup honey
½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Toast the nuts. Place the nuts in a large skillet over medium heat, tossing occasionally to prevent them from burning, until they are lightly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Let cool, then roughly chop them. Place them in a large mixing bowl.

In the same skillet, melt the butter, and add the oats and salt. Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oats begin to toast and turn slightly golden. Pour them in the mixing bowl as well. 

Add the fruit, dates, and flax seeds to the mixing bowl.

Place the peanut butter and honey in the skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is smooth and combined. Mix in the vanilla extract.
Pour the peanut butter/honey mixture over the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon until well-combined. It should be very thick and sticky. Press the mixture into an 8x8 inch baking pan lined with foil or parchment paper. 

Let cool completely, then slice into squares. If the granola is too sticky to slice, place the pan in the refrigerator for an hour before cutting. 

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Gluten-Free Banana Bread

I woke up to a text from my roommate yesterday morning telling me, "I finished the banana bread. I am a monster." It was definitely one of the best compliments to my baking I've gotten in a while. 

I am being 100 percent honest when I say that this gluten-free and dairy-free banana bread is significantly better than any normal banana bread I've made. None of this it-tastes-almost-as-if-it-were-the-real-thing business. My go-to Smitten Kitchen's banana bread recipe is wonderful, but I have to say this one is significantly better.  (Admittedly, I just turned legal and always had to leave out the bourbon, so maybe I've been doing it wrong...)

It's been a while since I've gotten this excited about such a straight forward baking project (I had been planning on sharing this cool honeycomb candy but I couldn't hold back on this one). You see, the crumb and texture of this bread is beautiful. Wait, hold on...appreciate this for a moment: 

Especially take note of the bottom of the loaf. A lot of banana breads have what I call the bottom 1/3 problem. The loaf bakes up dense and moist, but the bottom fraction of the loaf actually becomes way too dense to the point that it is unpleasantly gummy. 

Not so with this banana bread recipe. I think baking with gluten-free flours can actually be an advantage for quick breads, since you don't want the gluten to develop for these recipes. The oil in place of butter also helps keep the banana bread from going dense as a doorstep. 

One of my roommates just got diagnosed with a gluten intolerance so you'll probably be seeing more gluten-free recipes around here. I still think the gluten-free health fad is silly (gluten-free does not mean healthy...we have quite. a few. really. unhealthy gluten-free recipes on this blog), but it is helpful for getting more gluten-free recipe ideas. (Packaged foods advertising to be gluten free are another story...some of them can still contain traces of gluten, which can be an issue for people who actually are allergic).

And of course, I'm always up for new baking challenge.

-Caroline

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Gluten-Free Banana Bread

Yields: one 8x4 inch loaf
Click here for the printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
2 eggs
⅓ cup packed brown sugar (you can increase this to ½ cup if you prefer a sweeter bread)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup almond flour
½ cup white rice flour
¼ cup brown rice flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 8 inch x 4 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil. 

Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in the mashed bananas, followed by the vegetable oil.

Whisk in the salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix in the almond flour, white and brown rice flours, and cornstarch. Fold in the toasted nuts, if using.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes, then turn out of the pan, and cool completely. 


Notes
Your bananas need to be very, very ripe to get the best results and best flavor for this bread. 

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Related Posts

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Cake

My brother and I were both born in the middle of winter, but we've long had a strange tradition of ordering ice cream cakes for our birthdays. I have a lot of fond memories of picking out ice cream flavors for my cake at near-empty shops as it snowed outside. (The local Maggie Moo's used to offer free scoops if more than an inch of snow had fallen.)

I've come to associate celebrations with not just cake, but specifically ice cream cake. It's not decadent if there's no ice cream.

I tried my hand at making an ice cream cake at home this year. It wasn't terribly hard, just fussy and requiring frequent trips to and from the freezer. The trickiest part was working quickly enough to keep everything from turning into a melty puddle.

I definitely recommend giving this one a try. Yes, now, in the middle of winter. There's something about making your on ice cream cake that makes you feel so accomplished. Maybe it's just from frantically shoving the cake into the freezer as cream begins to ooze down the sides.

The flavors of this cake is inspired by one of my brother's favorite ice cream flavors from Ben and Jerry's, Chunky Monkey, featuring banana ice cream, walnuts, and chocolate chunks.

You can, of course, swap in whatever ice cream flavors and add ins you want. A few notes, though, on ice cream cakes:

• The frosting: You'll need something that won't freeze solid, so don't use buttercream or whipped cream. Cream cheese works well, as does (forgive me for saying this) Cool Whip. Whatever fake milk thingy is in that stuff keeps it nice and fluffy even in the freezer.
• The cake layers: I've included makes a fairly thin cake (I've always liked a higher proportion of ice cream to cake), so it's a little hard to slice into layers. Here's a great tutorial on how to get even layers (unlike mine). You could also cut it into two layers instead of three, so that your top layer will be ice cream instead of cake. 
• The ice cream: you'll have an easier time spreading and slicing the ice cream if you use an airier one (or, in technical terms, an ice cream with higher overrun. Read all about that here.), such as Breyer's. Since Breyer's has some three times the air pumped into it than something like Haagen Dazs, it make the final cake much easier to slice through. But by all means, break out the premium ice cream if you'd like, you may just need to let it thaw a little bit before you spread it on the cake.

Good luck, and enjoy!
-Caroline

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Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Cake

Yields: one 9-inch cake
Cake adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Click here for the printable recipe

Ingredients
For the Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil*
¾ brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium bananas, very ripe, smashed
½ cup whole milk

For the Ice Cream
½ gallon vanilla ice cream**
1 medium banana, very ripe, mashed
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

For Assembly
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium banana, sliced

Notes
*Don’t use butter here. It’ll make the cake very hard when you freeze it.
**I’d recommend Breyers. It’s airier than most, so it’s easy to scoop, spread, and slice.

Directions
Read the entire recipe before getting started. But actually.

Make the chocolate cake. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well-combined. Whisk in the oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Whisk in the milk.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch springform cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely, then refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.
The next day, cut the cake into three even layers. Re-assemble the springform pan. Line the sides with plastic wrap or wax paper for easy removal of the cake so you don’t have to saw the edges of the cakes later on. 

Place the top layer (the domed one) of the cake on the bottom of the cake pan. (You’ll spread a thick layer of ice cream on top of it so that this way, the top of the cake won’t be domed. Alternately, if you really want to make your layers even, cut off the dome before layering your cake.)

You’ll need to work quickly for this next part. Add about 4 cups of vanilla ice cream, half of the mashed banana, and half of the chocolate chips and walnuts to a mixing bowl. Mash them together with a wooden spoon. It doesn’t have to be perfect, its more important that the ice cream doesn’t melt. Spread the ice cream over the layer of cake at the bottom of the springform pan. Place the pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes, so that the layer of ice cream is firm.

Place another cake layer on top of the ice cream. Repeat the the step above with the remaining ice cream, banana, nuts, and chocolate chips. Top with the final cake layer. Freeze the cake for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Make the frosting. Whisk together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. 

Remove the cake from the springform pan. Spread the frosting over the cake, and decorate with banana slices. If the cake starts to melt while you’re frosting it, return it to the freezer for another 30 minutes.
Cut the cake with a sharp knife run under hot water, and serve!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cups

I struggled with starting this post, and out of curiosity, I looked up "chocolate peanut butter" on Food Blog Search, just to see  how other people start them. Phrases like "One of the best flavor pairings on earth" and "Hello chocolate peanut butter perfection!" aren't uncommon, and we've used them several times for recipes like this chocolate peanut butter mug cake and this brownie pie: It is a truth universally acknowledged on the blogosphere that chocolate and peanut butter go together.

So anyways, I'm just going to describe the anatomy of a bite. Your teeth first sink through a layer of fluffy, creamy, sweet mousse that is strongly flavored with peanut butter while remaining light as air. You then encounter the thicker crunchy peanut and chocolate ganache, chewing through the slightly salty peanuts (I used the Smoked flavor from Planters, to give it a slight savory edge to balance the sweet), and feel the intense dark chocolate of the cup melt on your tongue. 

Apart from just the standard peanut butter/chocolate combination, the flavors, textures, and levels of sweet and salty balance each other out perfectly.

Plus, you can get plenty mileage out of the fact that they look super fancy but are actually no-bake, and are fairly easy to make. The chocolate cups, which is the most time-consuming part, can easily be made ahead a day or two ahead, if you're planning a dinner party or something. I'm imagining a scene in which you say oh-so-casually "I just made some peanut butter cups" and then whip these out.

Enjoy, all!
Caroline

Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample by Planters to review. All opinions are my own.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cups

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe
Yields: about 15 chocolate cups

Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cups
6 ounces good quality semi-sweet chocolate

For the Crunchy Peanut Ganache
1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate
1 ounce milk chocolate
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

For the Peanut Butter Mousse
½ cup peanut butter
2 ounces white chocolate, chopped
⅔ cup whipped cream
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Make the chocolate cups. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at medium power, stopping every 20 seconds or so to give it a stir. 
With a clean paintbrush or a butter knife, carefully spread a thin layer of chocolate on the inside of 15 mini cupcake liners. Chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, until firm. Spread a second layer and chill for another 15 minutes.

Make the peanut ganache. Place the chocolate and heavy cream in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for about 20 seconds. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the peanuts. 
Place about 2 teaspoons of the ganache in each of the chocolate cups. Replace the cups into the refrigerator.

Make the peanut butter mousse. Place a large mixing bowl in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Mix together the peanut butter and white chocolate in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave at medium power, stopping every 20 seconds to give it a stir, until the chocolate has melted.

In the pre-chilled bowl, Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip until stiff peaks form.

Mix about a quarter of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it. Fold the peanut butter into the remaining whipped cream.
Pipe the mousse into the chocolate cups, on top of the ganache.