February is going to be a month of breakfast. Yup. . .I am going to focus on only breakfast blogging. Surprising because for about the first 30+ years of my life I didn’t really eat breakfast. Not that I didn’t like a good breakfast from time to time (or a sausage McMuffin to soak up a few to many cocktails) but I was busy and didn’t make time for morning food. Plus eating before noon made me feel yucky.
In my old (healthier) age, all that has changed. I always eat breakfast now. Usually nothing too giant. I’m not downing plates full of pancakes and sausage every morning, but some sort of sustenance in the a.m. is a good thing.
I am pretty predictable in the morning food department. For weeks I eat plain greek yogurt sweetened with brown sugar and fresh fruit and then when I get bored with that (rare) I switch to plain oatmeal with almond butter and fresh fruit. Tim laughs because I (might have) told him in the past, after finishing my yogurt and fruit bowl, that it is so sad when my breakfast is gone because it is so delicious. It really is! And it’s sad when it’s all gone.
In the interest of a month of breakfast recipes I will be branching out. Some. These “oatcakes” are made with oats, after all.
I got a WONDERFUL new cookbook for Christmas. Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. I have read it cover to cover and have a zillion pages marked to try out. Heidi makes delicious looking, healthy dishes.
This was the first recipe I tried. But I have to tell you I modified them (kind of a lot) to fit our tastes, allergies and diet restrictions. And then I made it again and modified it even more. And even though I really like the second set of modifications (less sugar and no butter) I think the bulk of you will like the first batch I made. Which is highly addictive! I’ll share that recipe with you today.
These are very dense and only mildly sweet. They really fill you up. The fiber and healthy fats keep you full for hours.
I could not stop eating these. They are so good. Add a piece of fruit and you are good until lunch. . . maybe even dinner.
Almond and Brown Sugar Oatcakes
Modified from the Oatcake recipe in Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt, flax seeds and almonds. Set aside. In a small sauce pan combine the butter, apple sauce and brown sugar. Over a low heat stir until the butter has just barely melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir it in gently. Add the eggs and stir until it makes a wet dough. Fill your muffin cups with the dough. It will make about 12 oatcakes.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes and then run a knife around the edges and place on a cooling rack. Yummy.
Sugar Coated Sarah 