The simplest lunchbox filler or bushwalking snack, muesli bars are great for their easy transportability, tasty snackability and calorie-dense nutrition – and homemade ones are much tastier and better for you.
Muesli Bars
Makes 20 bars
Base Recipe:
- 120g rolled oats
- 120g pumpkin seeds
- 120g sunflower seeds
- 120g sesame seeds
- 45g chia seeds
- 150g unsalted butter
- 135g honey
- 90g caster sugar
- 135g tahini
Variations (add to dry mixture):
- 75g each roughly chopped dried mango and flaked coconut
- 75g each cacao nibs or chocolate chips
- 75g each roughly chopped dried figs
Line a 20x30cm baking tin with baking paper, ensuring the ends extend just past the top of the tin – this provides the handles you need to get the bars out of the tin once set.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Combine the butter, honey, sugar and tahini in a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat. Use a whisk to combine the mixture as the butter and tahini melt, and continue whisking over the heat until the mixture thickens into a caramel and pulls away from the side of the saucepan.
Pour the caramel over the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until all the dry ingredients are bound in the caramel. The caramel sets as it cools, so it may initially feel like you can’t work the caramel through fully. Work quickly and persist – you’ll get there! Transfer the mixture to your tin and press it firmly into all corners. Work with wet hands to reduce the mess and spread the mixture evenly. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight, then remove from the tin and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Pumpkin pie muffins with maple cream cheese
Half a jar of pumpkin seeds plus some bran, a bit of butternut pumpkin and the remains of a packet of cream cheese were reminiscent of pumpkin pie, and so this muffin was born.
Makes 12 muffins
- 150g wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 120g pumpkin seeds
- 30g bran
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 120g caster sugar
- 230g sunflower oil
- 240g butternut pumpkin, grated
Cream cheese frosting
- 300g cream cheese
- 80g maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk with a fork to knock out any lumps. Add the pumpkin seeds, bran and spices, and mix well.
In a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. With the mixer still running, slowly drizzle in the oil. Continue to mix until the oil is well incorporated.
Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture, mixing until just combined. Gently fold through the grated pumpkin. Spoon the mixture into your muffin tray and bake for 25-30 minutes. The muffins are ready when they’re golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, maple syrup and vanilla in a food processor. Mix until well combined.
When the muffins are completely cool, spoon some of the frosting onto each one and spread it over the top. If you’re keeping them over several days, store the muffins at room temperature in an airtight container, and keep the frosting in the fridge. Add the frosting just before eating.
Pistachio and cardamon cake
Pistachios are chock-full of healthy fats. In addition to being highly nutritious, they’re also very forgiving to the baker – the high fat content provides incredible moisture and makes it almost impossible to overbake this cake.
Serves 10 – 12
For the cake:
- 140g unsalted butter, softened
- 250g raw (demerara) sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or 1 tsp real vanilla paste)
- grated zest of 1 orange
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 150g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 150g pistachios, roughly ground
- 2 tsp ground cardamom seeds
- 140g sour cream or crème fraîche
For the icing:
- 110g icing sugar
- 20g lemon juice
To finish:
- 30g pistachios, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 25x10cm loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and orange zest for about 10 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. In several stages, add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture, mixing well between each addition to ensure the eggs are fully incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl as necessary to ensure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Add the ground pistachios and cardamom and mix well. Use a spatula to gently fold the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture in two or three batches. Finally, add the sour cream and gently fold it in until just incorporated.
Pour the mixture into your tin and use a spatula to gently smooth out the top, then bake for 40 minutes. Rotate the tin in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool your cake in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once cool, ice the cake. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl and whisk in the lemon juice until the icing is a thick pouring consistency. Adjust by adding a little more juice or icing sugar as required. Spoon it over the cooled cake to cover the top, allowing a little to drizzle over the sides. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the top immediately, so they set into the icing as it cools.
Peanut butter cookies
This cookie has been a long-time labour of love. The sought-after result has been elusive – light, crisp, full of peanut butter flavour but without the gluey texture that peanut butter sometimes gives. And this is it. These have more of a shortbread texture than a traditional American cookie, and they’re very moreish. American bakers may know them as Nutter Butters.
You want good aeration in the dough to achieve a light cookie that spreads well during baking. Cream the butter and sugar for at least 10 minutes, and be gentle when folding in the oats and peanut butter to maintain that lightness in the dough.
Makes 15 cookies
- 175g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla paste)
- 65g rolled oats
- 90g raw caster sugar
- 90g soft brown sugar
- 135g plain (all-purpose) flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 90g chunky peanut butter (unsalted or lightly salted)
Melt 60g of the butter in a small frying pan over a medium heat. If using vanilla bean, scrape the pulp and seeds into the butter as it melts. (If using vanilla extract, add it with the oats.)
Add the oats and lightly toast them for 4-5 minutes, until light golden in colour. Once toasted, set the oats aside while you make the cookie dough.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the remaining butter with the sugars for 10 minutes on medium-high speed, until pale and creamy. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt, and then gently fold into the butter mixture. Fold in the oats, and finally the peanut butter, until just combined. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
When you’re ready to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 160°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Portion the dough into pieces about 20g each – you should have 30 pieces in total. Roll each piece into a ball, then roll them back and forth on the bench, tapering one end to form a teardrop shape, with a slightly pointed end.
Take two of these pieces and place them together with the points just touching. Using the palm of your hand, apply even pressure to flatten both pieces, so the adjacent ends join together, creating a peanut shape. Use a sharp knife to gently score a criss-cross pattern over the top, resembling peanut shell markings. Repeat with the remaining pieces, and place your prepared cookies onto the baking trays.
Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the trays and bake for another 4-6 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside to cool on the tray. Once cool, these cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
An edited extract from Sweet Seasons, by Michael & Pippa James (Hardie Grant Books, RRP $55).
