Chocolate Cookies (low dairy, low gluten)

The low-dairy brownies were popular, but I wanted a more biscuit-y snack with some crunch to it. As always, I ignored the advice of a fellow Aldershot resident "why don't you just follow a recipe this time?" and did my own thing. I mean, what's the fun in just copying someone else's work? I like to live life on the edge.

Ingredients

2 mugs oat flour (any other flour probably good too)
1 mug rice flour
1 mug date sugar (or brown sugar if that is what you have)
0.75 mug vegetable oil
2 bars (or 200g) dark chocolate

What To Do

Melt the chocolate - start this first as it takes a few minutes. It is best to put a glass bowl in a pan with water and heat the pan on the cooker with the chocolate in the bowl. This gently heats the chocolate. The bottom of the glass should be resting in the water. Don't try to melt chocolate in the microwave - it usually ends in tears.

Stir in the oat and rice flours together in a large bowl. Now stir in the date sugar, then finally oil and the melted chocolate. It is quite difficult to mix, so it is best to use a food mixer at this point to get a smooth mixture.

Now get two large baking trays and put grease-proof/oven paper on them and use a small spoon to create a biscuit blob many times on the trays.

Cooking

Heat the oven up to 180C. Cook for 12 minutes max - this cooks quicker than brownies and any longer may burn them.

Storage

I have not put these in the fridge, they seem to be fine in a biscuit tin or box.

Brownies (low gluten, low dairy)

My last attempt at a healthy cake was labelled "joyless" but this one got an enthusiastic thumbs up, so worth a try...

Ingredients

2 mugs oat flour (any other flour probably good too)
1 mug porridge oats
1 mug brown sugar (or golden syrup or other sweetener)
1 mug water
Half mug vegetable oil or vegan butter
2 bars (or 200g) dark chocolate
Optional: chopped nuts

What To Do

Melt the chocolate - start this first as it takes a few minutes. It is best to put a glass bowl in a pan with water and heat the pan on the cooker with the chocolate in the bowl. This gently heats the chocolate. The bottom of the glass should be resting in the water. Melting chocolate in the microwave usually ends in tears.

In another bowl, mix the oats, flour and water together. Now stir in the sugar/syrup. Mix well. Next, add in the oil/vegan butter (if you use butter, the butter should be melted) and mix well again.

The chocolate should be melted by now, so pour the chocolate in and stir. If you want to add chopped nuts, stir them in too.

The mixture should be fairly runny.

Cooking

Heat the oven up to 180C. Pour the mixture into a ceramic baking dish - mine is 25 x 18cm (10 x 7 inches). Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, depending how soft you like your brownies (I went for the 20 minutes option).

Storage

Probably best stored in the fridge, but should stay good for several days even at room temperature.

Joyless Cake

This is my current favourite. It is a vegan no-sugar cake bake with oat flour, chopped dates and orange. Chewy and delicious. But don't take my word for it - listen to the food critics:

"it is like a cake but with all the joy taken out of it"

 (an Aldershot resident)

So here is how to make it:

Ingredients

1 mug oat flour
1 mug wheat bran (or oat bran)
The grated peel of a large orange
The inside of a large orange
1 mug of chopped dates
1/2 mug of water

What To Do

Put everything in a food mixer and mix it up until it is the consistency of one of those premium cat foods.

Cooking

Then spoon into a large baking tray and put in the oven for 25mins on 180C.

Let it cool completely before tasting.

Storage

Store in the fridge.

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter

185g dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

3 large eggs

275g golden caster sugar (other sugar does just as well)

What To Do

Butter & Dark Chocolate Mix

Melt butter and the dark chocolate in a saucepan. 

It is best to break up the chocolate into pieces first!

Melt on a very low heat - I turn on the gas ring to warm the pan then turn it off again. It takes time but avoids burning the chocolate.

Egg & Sugar Mix

Break the 3 eggs into a large bowl and beat until smooth

Stir in the sugar

You can use an electric mixer for this if you like.

Pour Butter/Choc Mix Into Egg/Sugar Mix

Stir well.

Flour & Cocoa Powder Mix

Mix the flour and cocoa powder together in a small bowl.

Add Flour/Cocoa Powder Mix To The Rest

Add the flour/cocoa into the rest and stir. It is best to add the flour/cocoa mix a bit at a time to avoid it going lumpy. Keep stirring until the whole thing is smooth.

Add White/Milk Chocolate Chunks Too

Break up the white and milk chocolate into chunks.

Stir the chunks into the mix

Cooking

Pour the mixture into a ceramic dish - make sure it is not too large or too small. 

The depth of the mix should be about 8cm or thereabouts (3 inches in old time) - too thin and it will over-cook, too thick and it won't cook in the middle.

Cook on 180C for about 25mins. You did pre-heat the oven, didn't you?

Attribution

This is a much abridged/mangled version of this recipe:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-brownies-recipe

Ian's Aldershot Spoon Biscuits

Ingredients

Half block of butter (125 grams)

Three-quarters of a mug rapeseed oil

1 teaspoon ground cardamom (x2 for more flavour)

1 teaspoon ground ginger (x2 for more flavour)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 mug sultanas (ignore if you don't like sultanas!)

1 mug fine cornflour (or 125 grams)

2 and a half mugs flour (self-raising flour is good)

Half a mug golden syrup

Cooking

Warm butter in large saucepan until melted then remove from heat

Add all other ingredients except the syrup

Mix well

Stir in the syrup

Spread some dough into a tablespoon (or other large spoon) using a knife - like spreading jam on toast

Turn spoon over and get dough on to greased paper on a baking tray with the knife

Repeat until all dough is used

Place tray in oven on 180C for 15 minutes

Remove from oven and allow to cool

Margaret's Fruit Loaf

Margaret's Fruit Loaf is quick & easy to make - you need to let it cool before serving though.

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of rasins & sultanas

1/4lb butter (120 grams or 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

Put butter, sugar, fruit & water into large pan and bring to boil

Add baking powder - stir for 2 minutes - it all goes a bit mad and bubbly

Turn off heat - leave to cool

Stir in flour & egg

Put in a lined loaf tin or similar.

Gas mark 4 or 180C for 40 minutes.

Leave to cool.

No-sugar Flapjack

Twice as much porridge oats as milk

Tablespoon of rapeseed oil (or other veg oil)

Add some golden syrup, pumpkin seeds and raisins if you like.

180C for 30 minutes

tbh it's not very sweet and more like cake than flapjack. Perhaps more oil?

Inspired by https://sarahdietitian.com/2016/03/30/super-healthy-flapjack-recipe-no-butter-sugar/

Revised version:

1 cup oats

Half cup corn flour

Cup sultanas

Half cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Cup of water (this was too much I think)

Two tablespoons golden syrup

I wonder if other fruit would help make it softer - apple sauce?

Simple Flapjack

75g of butter or margarine

50 - 75g light brown sugar

1 tablespoon of golden syrup

175g of porridge oats

1. Put the butter or margarine, sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the fat and sugar have melted.

2. Add the porridge oats and blend thoroughly.

3. Press into a well greased 18cm square sandwich tin.

4. Bake in the centre of a moderate oven at 180c or 350f or gas mark 4 for 25 minutes or until evenly golden brown.

5. Mark into fingers whilst warm.

6. Allow to become almost cold in the tin before removing.

From: https://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/flapjacks.php