Muesli Cake Bars

These are tasty and filling, they have a low GI and a high protein and fibre content, and at a pinch could even be used as a replacement for breakfast.  The classic fruit-and-nut combinations (peanut and raisin, date and walnut and so on) are classics for a reason, so try one of those for your flavour theme, or just use whatever you’ve got and take pot luck – it’ll probably be fine.  My current batch contains chopped dried apricots, dried cranberries and chopped walnuts.

This is another of those “never quite the same” recipes that I bash together really quickly.  The results are therefore a bit variable.  I’ve come to realise over the years that an awful lot of my cooking is done like this; no exact quantities, casual substitution of one ingredient for another, and so on.  I’m winging it a lot of the time, even when I cook for guests.  It works, so I keep on doing it, and I suppose once you have the confidence to start playing it by ear like that, you can only get better at it.  Certainly worth giving it a whirl.

Because, honestly, cooking isn’t rocket science, or chemistry, or alchemy.  If your variations and substitutions are sensible and you keep to more-or-less the right proportions, you’ll almost certainly end up with something perfectly edible.  Be prepared to have a go and see what happens.

What do I mean by “sensible” in this context?  Come on, take a guess.  Make sure there’s enough of the raising agent in proportion to the dry mix when baking, know what different spices and herbs taste like and which ones can be swapped, don’t substitute smoked salmon for raisins or coffee for grated cheese unless you are prepared to eat something that may taste very peculiar indeed…   

Your quiche recipe specifies Emmenthal cheese but you don’t have any?  Yes, you can still make the quiche.  Use another cheese – almost any other with a strong flavour.  You’re about to make muffins and realise you only have one egg and no milk?  Try making a much stiffer mixture, spooning out on a greased and lined baking sheet and baking it as cookies instead.  They may not be tremendous but they’ll almost certainly be perfectly edible.

Anyway, back to the Muesli cake bars.

1 ½ cups porridge oats or gf oatmeal

1 ½ cups No 1 Baking mix or No 2 Baking mix

½ cup desiccated coconut

½ cup chopped dried fruit of one kind or another

½ cup chopped nuts

¼ cup mixed seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 large over-ripe banana, mashed

2 tsp xylitol (optional – and I’d leave it out these days.  If the banana is really ripe that will give quite a lot of sweetness)

2 eggs

2 tblsp veg oil or 2 oz/50g melted butter or margarine

½ tsp vanilla essence

Milk to mix

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir together.  Mix the wet ingredients together and stir into the dry; add a little milk if necessary to get a soft but dense mixture.  It should be distinctly stiffer than an average cake mix, more like the mix for flapjacks (which these are a protein-rich cousin to).  Spread in a lined baking tin about 8” square and smooth down; mark into bars by cutting most of the way through.  Bake for 35-40 minutes at 150 degrees C in a fan oven, until golden on top.  Remove and cool, and break down the marked divisions.

Seedy lemon biscuits

These are inspired by the lemon and poppyseed muffins that some coffee shop chains sell, but using that flavour combination to make a crunchy no-added-sugar biscuit rather than a sticky sugary muffin.  They're nut-free, but not sesame-free; I still haven't completely cracked the "no allergens" puzzle.

100g/4oz/1 cup No 2 baking mix
1-2 tsp xylitol
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp poppyseeds
Finely grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
25g/1oz butter or margarine
1 egg
1-2 tsp lemon juice

Stir the baking mix, xylitol, seeds and lemon rind together, then rub in the butter to get a mixture like fine breadcrumbs.  Add the egg and stir in; the mixture needs to be fairly stiff, but not so dry that it won't hold together; you want something of about the same density and texture as wholemeal pastry.  If need be, add a little lemon juice to help it to bind.  Gather together, then divide into 9 or 10 small chunks and roll each into a rough ball.  Flatten onto a non-stick or greased/lined baking tray and bake at 150 degrees C (fan) for about 15-20 minutes or until just starting to colour.

No 2 baking mix

Yes, I have developed another option!  This one is nut-free, so I now have the option of not poisoning my younger brother, which has to be a good thing, I think?!
I haven't yet tried this with a wide range of recipes, so can't vouch for how well it will do as an all-rounder.  It certainly worked fine with the biscuits I made last night, though.  As it lacks ground almonds, with their humectant qualities, I suspect things baked with this mixture may go dry rather quicker than those made with No 1 baking mix.  It also means this has a higher carb load than No 1 and less protein.  But to compensate for that, it's lower in fat.

100g/scant 4oz/1 cup linseed meal
90g/3oz/1 cup soya flour
125g/5oz/1 cup fine cornmeal

Mix together and store in an airtight jar.