Raspberry Oat Crumble Bars

A happy new month to everyone! I love May as it usually means warmer temperatures and everything is starting to grow and bloom. The grass is finally looking green and my Daffodils are blooming.

These raspberry oat crumble bars are a great snack to bring to school!

Made with whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, oats and almonds.

 

Raspberry Oat Crumble Bars

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
• 1 cup raw almonds, finely chopped
• 300 g raspberry jam

– Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F/180C (convection setting).

-In a large bowl, mix together the butter and coconut sugar. Add all other ingredients except the raspberry jam, and stir until well combined.

-Save 3/4 cup and set aside. Fill remaining mix into prepared baking dish, press down evenly.

-Spread raspberry jam evenly over crust, sprinkle top with remaining crumble.

-Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

-Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

 

This recipe is adapted from Healthy Hands Cooking Blog, “Raspberry Cookie Bars”.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

You can find me on Instagram:littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Blueberry Coconut and Granola Jars

This is a simple but so yummy treat! Using my coconut milk custard recipe, crunchy granola and blueberries! That’s it! A lovely dessert or a fancy breakfast!

Served in a glass or in a jar.

 

Blueberry Coconut and Granola Jars

Coconut custard:

You can find the recipe here: Coconut Custard mini tarts with mixed berries

-Prepare in advance as the custard needs some time in the refrigerator to set.

Tip: Instead of the canned coconut milk I used 500 ml coconut milk from a tetra pak that only contains coconut milk.

-Using your favorite homemade or store bought granola, fill into jar or glass, top with some coconut custard and finish with blueberries, as much of each layer as desired.

-Tip: use fresh or frozen blueberries.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and everyone involved in the Toronto tragedy last Monday.

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oat Seed and Nut Country Style Bread

I’ve been baking bread for a long time now. It kind of started to be a regular thing after I came to Canada (19 years ago) because I just couldn’t find a typical European style bread, you know the kind with an actual crust;) It is more common to get a soft white bread here, which is just not what I prefer on a regular basis.

Anyways, this is the style of bread I make once a week, changing the ingredients up a bit, this week I added oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and walnuts which turned into a rustic country style bread. My family liked it! Next plan for me is to try my hands on making sourdough bread. I’ve been thinking of this for quiet some time, it just seems a little intimidating to prepare and look after the sour dough starter. Wish me luck!!

I love the smell of fresh baked bread!

 

Oat Seed and Nut Country Style Bread

Ingredients:

• 200 g white spelt flour
• 150 g whole wheat flour
• 100 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/2 cup sunflowerseeds
• 2 tbsp flax seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp quick yeast
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp honey, optional
• 250 ml room temp. water

-Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl or use your standard mixer. Add oil and honey and start with 3/4 of the water, mix together, add more water if it is to dry. Once it comes together nicely, take it out onto your counter and start kneading the dough until it is a soft and shiny dough, or let your standard mixer do the work. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour or longer.

-Line a 9-inch bundt form with parchment paper.

-Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it again a few times. Lay the dough into your prepared baking dish and sprinkle with some extra oats and seeds if desired. Let rise until stove temperatures is set.

-Bake in preheated 375 F (I use convection setting) oven for about 40 minutes or golden brown and crusty and sound hollow if you tap the sides or take it out of form and tap bottom.

-Let cool completely.

Tip: the oil gives it a nice texture and helps preventing drying out to fast. I guess you could leave it out. If you do not like the all-purpose flour, just use more spelt flour instead.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maple-Pecan-Coffeecake

 

This is a recipe from Rolling Ridge Maple Products. A small Maple Syrup producer in Southwestern Ontario, just outside of London. We had my Mother visiting for two weeks and of course we had to visit a Maple Syrup producer;) She loved it!! We went home with some Syrup, Maple Sugar and Maple Butter…amazing!

 

 

Maple-Pecan-Coffeecake

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup Maple Syrup

Topping

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

 

-Preheat oven to 375F. Sift together the white flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the whole wheat flour with a fork. In a large bowl, beat egg until very light; add the buttermilk, melted butter and maple syrup and beat until just combined. Spread batter smoothly in a buttered 8-inch pan.

-Sprinkle with topping. (To make the topping: mix together whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, pecans, cinnamon and melted butter)

-Bake the coffeecake about 25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

-Drizzle with some Maple Butter, Maple Syrup or Icing Sugar.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Follow me on Instagram!  @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

Making healthy back to school snacks-Crackers. Garlic-Spinach and Garlic-Basil.

Happy Sunday everyone! We are having a wintery day again, with snow squalls and freezing temperatures.

Days like this are perfect to do some baking:) Christmas Break is coming to an end and it is time to prepare some healthy treats for my kids school lunches. These crackers are easy to make and are very tasty. We will have some with tonight’s chicken soup;) If you are wondering about my kids (teenagers) and spinach-they do not like it at all…ha. Somehow turned into a cracker they do not mind the green veggie. And for the garlic, they are used to me putting it into almost everything:)

You can use onions instead if you do not like garlic.

 

Spinach-Garlic Crackers

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 tbsp garlic, grated
• 4 tbps mixed dried italian herbs
• 1 cup warm water
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 egg white
• Himalayan salt

 

-Combine flours, salt, pepper, garlic. Add spinach. Add olive oil and water, mix well and knead dough to form a ball. Add more water if to dry.

-Roll out dough thinly into a rectangle, directly on parchment paper. You might have to use a second sheet if you have to much dough. Transfer with parchment paper onto baking sheet. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle with some Himalayan salt. Cut into rectangles or squares.

-Bake in preheated 375F oven for 10-15minutes.

 

Garlic-Basil Crackers

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 tbsp garlic, grated
• 4 tbsp basil, dried
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 egg white
• Himalayan salt
• sesame seeds (poppy seeds, nuts, cheese…)

-Prepare and bake like Spinach-Garlic Crackers.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Chocolate Squares (Studentenschnitten)

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year!!

It can be very tricky to translate a German word/sentence, because if you do translate word by word it often does not make any sense. This cake is called Studentenschnitten, which means student slice. This does not sound so great, therefore I will call it simply, Chocolate Squares. You can buy it ready made in Switzerland, and that is what my Mother and everyone else I know used to do-we never made it ourselves…

This recipe is a great way to use up any leftover Christmas cookies and chocolate. I used a simple recipe from a Swiss chef, Annemarie Wildeisen. The base crust, which is similar to a pie crust, is from my Tiptopf cookbook. (She is using a store bought dough)

 

Chocolate Squares

 

Base crust (Pie crust):

• 150g flour
• 1/4tsp salt
• 90g butter, cold
• 2tbsp sugar
• 1 egg

-Mix together flour and salt. Add butter and with a fork or pastry blender mix until it resembles fine crumbs.

-Add whisked egg and mix dough only until it holds together. Wrap in plastic foil and chill for 30 minutes.

 

Filling:

• 300g cookies, finely ground
• 6 eggs
• 175g sugar
• 100g bittersweet chocolate or milk chocolate
• 175g butter
• 100g flour
• 150g hazelnuts or almonds, ground

 

Chocolate Icing:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 40g butter
• 3tbsp icing sugar

 

-Whisk together eggs and sugar. In a double boiler melt together chocolate and butter, add to egg mix.

-Combine flour, nuts and cookie crumbs. Add slowly to wet ingredients.

-Roll out base crust to fit into a 30cm square or round pan.

-Cover with the filling. Bake in a 350F/180C oven for 40-50 minutes.

-In a double boiler melt dark chocolate, add butter. Sift the icing sugar and mix well. Spread onto the cooled cake.

-Cut into squares.

(You could spread some Strawberry jelly onto the cake first, and then add the chocolate icing)

Can be kept in refrigerator for 3-4 days

 

 

Love, Peace and Happiness!!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Marinated Oranges with Meringue topping

After all the holiday meals this dessert is light and refreshing. Citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C, that is for sure useful during the cold winter month. The meringue reminds me of the beautiful mountains in Switzerland. I grew up surrounded by hills and on sunny days you could see the mountains in the distance. We spend many vacations renting a Chalet in the mountains and hiking every day in a still almost untouched surrounding. Whenever we visit my family, I soak in all that beauty, and make lots of pictures too:)

Here in Canada we have the beautiful Rocky Mountains but they are far away from Ontario where we live. The landscape here is pretty flat.

Marinating the oranges gives it a special touch, but it also tastes great without alcohol. I dusted the meringue with a little bit of icing sugar to mimic the snow covered mountain tops;)

 

 

 

Marinated Oranges with Meringue topping

• 3 Oranges; blood oranges, Grapefruit…
• 2 Mandarins
• 100ml Orangejuice
• 2tbsp Cointreau, Rum, Schnapps…

• 4 eggwhites
• 1pinch of salt
• 3tbsp honey, or sugar
• 1tsp orange zest

 

-Cut oranges and mandarins in thin slices, remove white skin. Layer in a baking dish and cover with the alcohol and orangejuice. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

-In a medium bowl whip eggwhites with the salt until soft peaks form then add honey and whip until stiff and shiny. Add orange zest and fold it gently under the eggwhites. Cover the fruit with the egg mixture and bake immediatly in a 200C preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

-Dust with some icing sugar and serve warm.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Christmas Baking

Here are some of the Christmas Cookies I have been making this year. Most of them are old European (Swiss/German) recipes that my Grandmothers and my Mother used to make.

 

Nusshaufchen, Zimtsterne, Maple Cookies, Spitzbuben and Domino Stones (you can find the recipe here Sweet Domino Stones). I also made a fruit cake-with raisins soaked in Kirsch Schnapps overnight-amazing:)

 

 

I also made some Truffles (made with dark Chocolate and Coconut milk, no added sugar)-these were delicious!!

 

My favorite: Spitzbuben with homemade red currant jelly-so delicate:) My mother gave my those cute cookie cutters years ago when my kids were still little.

 

Most of the cookies are already gone! I had to actually hide some of the Spitzbuben because I was not able to eat (chew) cookies after my surgery. So they are waiting for me in a special hiding place;)

I decided to make some more cookies. I found two great recipes that are slightly healthier-without white refined sugar-great!

If you like Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Dates and Honey-you will LOVE these cookies!!

Found the recipe in a German magazine.

 

Date-Nut Cookies

For the dough:

• 200g whole wheat flour
• 100g white flour
• 50g hazelnuts, ground
• 1 egg
• 100g honey
• 160g butter, cold

For the filling:

• 200g dates, finely chopped
• 50g almonds, finely chopped
• 50g honey
• 1tsp cinnamon
• dash cloves
• dash cardamom

-Combine flour and nuts, add egg, honey and butter. Mix together (like a pie dough) until it holds nicely together. Wrap in plastic foil and refrigerate for 1 hour.

-Mix together dates, spices and honey.

-Roll half of the dough out to fit into a square or rectangle baking dish (30cm length). Spread filling evenly onto dough. Roll out remaining dough and cover filling. Gently press down a bit.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 20 minutes.

-Let cool. Cut into triangles. Decorate with almonds, icing or chocolate.

-Yields: about 20

 

 

Following recipe adapted from a Martha Stewart magazine. I used coconut sugar.

 

Honey-Walnut-Coins

• 2 1/2c white flour
• 3/4tsp sea salt
• 3/4cup finely chopped (toasted) walnuts, plus 48 walnut halves for decorating
• 1cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4cup coconut sugar
•  1/3cup honey, (orange blossom or regular)
• 1/4cup honey for brushing

-Combine flour, salt and walnuts. Beat butter until fluffy, add sugar, beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in honey. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Halve dough.

-On parchment paper, shape each portion into a round log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 1/2 inches long. Wrap tightly in plastic foil and chill 1 1/2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 325F. Let dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating log as you go to keep it from flattening. Place round on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Spacing 1 inch apart. Press a walnut half into each round.

-Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are pale golden, about 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; brush cookies with honey. Let cool completely.

-Can be stored in a airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

 

Merry Christmas!

Toblerone Tart

Happy 4th Advent! Only one week till Christmas-my kids are very excited:) It also looks like we will be having a white Christmas this year, with all the snow squalls we had so far I can say we do have enough snow for the rest of the winter;)

I have not been posting recipes for the last two weeks because I was not feeling so well. First I had a gum graft surgery done which left me with eating only soft foods (pureed foods actually) and then we had the FLU visiting our house…I have been making cookies and posting them on Instagram. That must have been funny to watch me baking, I had one cheek very swollen and when I am on medication I am not really myself;) That might explain why I can not find my measuring cup anymore…

I found this Toblerone Tart recipe in a older German Magazine. I kept a few of those Magazines because they have really nice Christmas/Holiday recipes in it. Toblerone chocolate always brings back one specific memory from my teenage years. When I went to college I had to take the streetcar in Bern, Switzerland. On the way there was a stop at the Tobler Factory. It always smelled so good there…:)

Toblerone was created by Theodor Tobler and his cousin Emil Baumann in Bern, Switzerland, in 1908.

 

Toblerone Tart

For the dough:

• 1 organic orange, zest
• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 50g almonds, ground
• 200g flour
• 1/4tsp baking powder
• 2tbsp whipping cream

For the Mousse filling:

• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped
• 200g Toblerone, chopped
• 70g butter
• 300ml whipping cream
• 2 eggs, fresh
• 2tbsp honey, liquid

 

-Whisk together butter, sugar, egg and orange zest until foamy. Add almonds, flour and baking powder mix well. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 28cm tart/pie dish.

-On a floured surface roll out dough. (it is a very soft dough, so I ended up rolling it in the dish). With the rest roll out and cut out stars in different sizes if you have, then place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Mix together egg yolk and cream and brush cookies. Bake for 5 minutes.

-The tart shell has to bake without the filling. Place a parchment paper on the tart and fill with dried beans/legumes, (or put a slightly smaller dish on the parchment paper). Bake for 15 minutes, Remove paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool.

-In a double boiler melt chocolate, Toblerone and butter. Brush cooled tart with 3 tablespoons of the chocolate mix.

-Whip whipping cream only halfway, not completely stiff. Whisk eggs and honey until foamy.

-Fold chocolate mix and cream gently under the egg/honey mix until well combined. Fill into the tart shell. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Decorate with the star cookies.

(If concerned about the use of uncooked eggs in the filling, it might be possible to leave the eggs out, just using the honey. We have our own chickens, so we have very fresh eggs indeed:)

 

 

 

The filling is perfect for my post surgery diet;) So smooth!!

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!