maple syrup

Posts Tagged ‘maple syrup’

Whole Wheat Walnut Pancakes with Brown Butter Apple Cinnamon Compote

A couple weekends ago, some girlfriends and I hopped on I-5 heading south for a 2 1/2 hour drive. Our destination; The Cedar Grist Mill. The oldest working water powered flour mill in the state. The September afternoon was bright and sunny, it felt like a much needed mini road trip. The mill is completely volunteer operated, so the hours are limited, but the setting is absolutely beautiful and arriving a little early was nice because we found ourselves exploring around the riverbank.

We were given a tour and complete history by a charming man in overalls named Fred. He even went over the health benefits to eating whole grains vs. processed ones. I was completely blown away at the whole process of how flour was milled in the late 1800′s. The whole system is massive, yet so utilitarian and simple in design. There were huge belts that wrapped around all sorts of large gears and when the water tank was full all you had to do was turn a large wheel to open the water flow and the mill was off and running, at least until the tank emptied. It even powered some of the electricity. I kinda wanted one.

That day there were two different flours milled, soft wheat and hard red wheat. Other times they grind cornmeal as well. We crunched on the different wheat berries and the flavor was incredibly distinct between the two. The sacks of flour Fred handed out at the end were warm and really fragrant. For a small donation we each took home a bag of the soft wheat, which is considered perfect flour for pancakes or scone making. Fred mentioned that he himself enjoys a short stack several times a week. I think I know why he volunteers! I couldn’t resist taking the guy up on his pancake suggestion.

I’ve made many whole wheat pancakes before, but there was absolutely no mistake about the difference in taste when I used the freshly milled flour. I wish I had one of these mills closer by, because it makes such a difference. I added in some ground walnuts to the batter and topped them with warm brown butter apples. Perfect for the crisp mornings we’ve been having. Have you ever used freshly milled flour before? And what did you make?

Whole Wheat Walnut Pancakes with Brown Butter Apple Cinnamon Compote / makes 8-10 pancakes

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup walnuts
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs or 2 flax eggs (2T. flax meal mixed with 6T. water)
1 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons apple sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup

apple compote
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
big pinch cinnamon
maple syrup

Place the walnuts into a food processor and pulse until the walnuts just start to become flour-like. Don’t go too far or you’ll end up making walnut butter. Place the ground walnuts, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk together.

In another bowl whisk together the eggs, almond milk, apples sauce, and maple syrup. Pour into the dry mixture and whisk just until everything is wet. Let sit while you prepare the apples.

Start heating the pan you’re going to cook the pancakes on, that way it’s good and hot. In another large skillet or frying pan melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, watch (and smell) closely for little flecks of brown and a nutty smell. Once this happens add the apple slices in one layer, sprinkle with a little cinnamon and let sit for 4-5 minutes, or just until browned on one side. Flip and repeat on the other side and let it get golden. Lower heat and drizzle in a bit of maple syrup. Keep warm over a low heat until the pancakes are finished cooking.

Pour the pancake batter, about a quarter cup at a time, into the hot skillet. Cook until the edges are set and there are lots of air bubbles surfacing. Flip and cook until the other side is dark golden brown. Keep warm in the oven. Serve with the apple compote and more maple syrup.

Breakfast, Fall, Fruits, Grains, Vegan

Pear Spice Granola

It’s only been 5 months, but I think we’ve fully settled into our house. Or at least the idea of being in this place for the long haul. I already know most of the creaks in the floorboards, the way certain drawers in the kitchen need to be pushed in just a little harder, and the way our open slot mailbox will always deliver very crumpled mail. It feels good. Really good. However, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned our neighborhood.

We live a few blocks up from downtown. The city used to be the hub before Seattle ever was, so the houses in our area are old with lots of character. Ours was build in 1900, with a large garage that’s even older and was apparently at one time the main house. I read somewhere that back then people would plant fruiting trees in their yards when they first settled. They knew they may never get to enjoy the fruit themselves, but that the generations after them would and that thought alone was enough reason for them to plant.

Our yard has a giant, very old, cherry tree. Next door there’s another one. Behind us there is a pear and plum tree. Between the neighbors and us, we probably harvested over 50lbs. worth of plums. For two weeks there was plum butter, plum sorbet (a recipe that was too good not to share, but time got away from me… next year), plum crumble, and finally a freezer currently stocked with frozen plums. On the other side of us there are more apple and pear trees. If you can say anything about the generations that lived here before us, it’s that they must have loved the community and they must have loved food.

This is how I feel about our neighbors. Every single person we’ve met on our street has welcomed us. They’ve shared their knowledge on what they know about the area. We’ve had outdoor backyard movie nights and day hikes with the incredible couple next door. We gave away zucchini and squash and this week received a bag filled with pears. Our area doesn’t exactly have the best reputation, but that’s because most people look at it from the outside. This is a community that watches out for each other, shares, sits out on their front porches until the sun goes down and greets every passerby. In a generation where many people have never even talked to their next door neighbors, I’m happy to call this area home.

These were the pears from the tree next door. I think they’re beautiful in a rough and old-time way. They weren’t getting eaten fast enough so I made plans for pear sauce, made just like this apple sauce and the rest were made into pear chips. This granola is made up of several steps before you actually get to the granola making part, but I think it’s worth the effort. You can do it in stages, which makes it easier. Make a big batch of pear sauce and dried pear chips, then get to the granola another day.

Full of toasty walnuts and hazelnuts, and warm spices, it feels like a bowl of Fall. Alternatively I think it would be great made with applesauce and dried apples chips and they’re easier to find pre-made if you don’t want to make your own. This granola isn’t super sweet, but it’s great paired with yogurt for breakfast or if you shave in a bit of dark chocolate and serve over vanilla ice cream it makes an excellent dessert.

Pear Spice Granola / makes about 5-6 cups
I made dried pear chips similar to this method, but without the sugar or spices and pear sauce exactly how I made my homemade apple sauce.

4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons flax seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch sea salt
2/3 cup pear sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dried pear pieces

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the oats, walnuts, hazelnuts, flax seeds, spices, and salt.

In a smaller bowl mix together the pear sauce, maple syrup, and olive oil. Pour this mixture over the rolled oat mixture and stir until everything is wet and well combined.

Spread out onto the baking sheet in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes, stir, then bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully after stirring to avoid burning. Let cool, add the dried pear pieces and store in an air tight container.

Breakfast, Fall, Fruits, Gluten-Free, Vegan

Lemon Almond Coconut Ice Cream Sandwiches

I am so beyond excited to finally share my new blog with you! It’s been so hard keeping it a secret for this long, but when you’re running a small design and handmade business, it’s sometimes hard to get your own personal projects finished. It’s been about a year since I decided I wanted to change from blogger to my own domain, soon finding out that So Good & Tasty was already taken, so I had to come up with a new name, not exactly easy when there’s already so many sites out there.

I thought carefully this time about a name I really felt connected to and that would describe exactly what I want to share here and Good Things Grow was one that just seemed to stick. It resonates with the fact that I enjoy cooking with whole foods that were grown and tended by a farmer and not long listed complicate ingredients that come from a box. I also feel this is a place for me to grow and learn personally and feel that even if things don’t turn out perfectly as planned I’ve still grown from it and that’s ultimately a good thing.

I really want to thank everyone who comes here and reads or even actually makes any of the recipes I share, it means so much to me. There’s always been something about sharing food with others, even if only virtually, that really makes me happy, so I’m truly so glad you’re here. I’d greatly appreciate it if you let me know by email, if you notice any site glitches. I’ve also set up a page on facebook for Good Things Grow and you can also follow me on twitter (sorry if it’s confusing being @slidesideways, that’s our business name), and Pintrest. I’m hoping to add some extra things at a future date, but for now I’m really excited about how everything turned out.

I have one amazing lady to thank for bringing my vision together. Although the logo and design of my site was done by my husband and I, my brain absolutely can not code a website. So a huge thank you to Kristy of Wreckless! She is amazing to work with and I can’t recommend her enough if you want to take your website or blog to the next level. p.s. check out her photography work too, she’s multi-talented!

Now, let’s talk about why you really clicked over here… ice cream sandwich cookies! I know this is a summer time favorite, but I couldn’t help myself and they made it feel like summer was just around the corner, even if it was just for that fleeting moment. Plus these little guys are vegan, gluten free, and processed sugar free, but they’re so tasty you seriously wouldn’t even know it. Several times I kept exclaiming to Scott that come this summer I think our freezer is going to be filled with nothing but these little sandwiches! Heck, I want to make more for this weekend.

Lemon Almond Coconut Ice Cream Sandwiches / makes 10 sandwiches

These cookies do have several steps, but you can do it over the course of a couple days if you want. Bake the cookies and make the ice cream first, then do all the assembling the next day.

coconut ice cream
1 can coconut milk, preferably full fat
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt.

Process according to your ice cream maker manufacture’s instructions. Place in a freezer safe container and allow to freeze for at least 3-4 hours before assembling the sandwich cookies.

lemon almond cookies
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
4 tablespoon honey (maple syrup or agave if making vegan)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 large lemon

Whisk the almond flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, combine the coconut oil, honey, lemon juice, and lemon zest, mixing well. Pour into the dry mixture and stir until everything is well moistened, the dough will be slightly crumbly, but should hold when pressed together with hands.

Lay out a piece of parchment and use your hands to sort of squeeze the dough together and transfer to the parchment. Carefully roll into a large log about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Works best if you roll with the parchment, tucking in the ends. Place in the freezer for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking pan with parchment.

The best method I found to cut these was to unwrap the chilled dough and cut into 1/4-inch slices, then lay the parchment back over each slice, one at a time, and flatten it out to an 1/8-inch thick. The reason for doing this is if you try cutting them 1/8-inch they start to sort of crumble apart. If any pieces do break off just re-press together, they’ll bake fine.

Place slices on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Make sure to check after 8 minutes, then only add a minute at a time, you don’t want them to burn. Allow to cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack, this is an important step! If you transfer before letting them rest they will break. Cool completely before filling with ice cream. You can also place them in the freezer if you’d like to speed up the process.

To assemble, spoon out one scoop of ice cream, place in the center of an upside-down cookie, top with another cookie and carefully smash down, applying even pressure. Place in the freezer for another hour to re-chill before serving. If you’ve let your ice cream chill for longer than 4 hours you may want to set it out to soften a bit before this step. Soft ice cream works best when assembling sandwich cookies.

Desserts + Sweets, Gluten-Free, Vegan

Peach Maple Bundt Cake

Yesterday marked a very special day. One year ago I married the man who has been my best friend for the last eight years. We spent a long weekend in one of our favorite places to be. Paradise on Mt. Rainier.

His family has a little cabin nestled among the tall trees with a creek running through the back. It was a perfect weekend with sunny blue skies and temperatures in the upper 70′s. We spent our time hiking, reading, relaxing, talking about things other than work. I love these times we spend in the outdoors. For me it means I get a chance to unplug and rejuvenate my mind and body. I am so very thankful that I have found a man I can enjoy these times with and who enjoys our outdoor activities just as much as I do.

Our actual wedding day included about a dozen beautiful homemade bundt cakes to serve our guests, ranging in flavors from raspberry and chocolate, to root beer and cinnamon and everything in between. I couldn’t see having a traditional wedding cake when I never was much of a cake lover. Plus the pattern of each cake was unique and beautiful in a very rustic way. I think it only made sense for me to want to make another bundt cake to celebrate our first year together. And in a way, maybe this will be a new sweet little tradition of ours.

Peach Maple Bundt Cake / serves 10-12

Peaches are all I could think about when deciding on the flavor of cake I wanted to bake. I wanted it to be moist, with a delicate crumb, not very sweet, but with lovely juicy peaches dripping out the side. What I made was actually very close to that. I’ve written the recipe below as I made it, but the only major change I would make to this cake is actually stirring in small peaces of peach into the batter rather than layering them. I think it effected the rise a little bit more than I anticipated. Other than that this cake is super moist and only very slightly sweet. If you want a sweeter cake I would suggest making a simple glaze and adding it to the top after the cake has cooled. I sprinkled on a little bit of raw sugar plus a few flowers to make it prettier.

2 cups spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups peach puree, about 2 large ripe peaches, plus 1 peach cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons flax meal mixed with 6 tablespoons water or 2 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan, dust with flour and tap out excess.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add flax meal mixture (or eggs if using), beating well. Beat in the peach puree, maple syrup and vanilla.

Pour the flour mixture into the butter mixture in three additions alternating with the yogurt, beating until just combined after each addition.

Pour 1/2 the batter into prepared pan. Place a layer of peach slices down then cover with remaining batter, smoothing over the top.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes. Let cool in pan upside down on a wire rack for 15 minutes. If it hasn’t already pulled out from the Bundt pan, carefully remove and cool completely on wire rack before slicing and serving.

Serve with fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or by itself. Store covered tightly for 2-3 days.

Desserts + Sweets, Fruits, Summer

No-Bake Pistachio & Cherry Granola Bites

I wasn’t sure weather or not I’d be sharing these little cookie balls with you today. I experiment a lot in the kitchen and many times I’m lucky in that things come out just as I imagined in my head, but there are times things don’t always work out as planned too.

Everything was working out perfectly until I started to roll the sticky dough between my hands. The dough was much looser than I had imagined it would be, but I kept going thinking to myself at least they will taste good even if they don’t look as pretty. But towards the end, as I was gathering the last few bits of dough together, they started staying together better. It was still a bit of a sticky mess, but they were holding together by themselves into little balls and it made me realize I just needed to let the dough sit for a bit before shaping them right away. In the instructions below I’ve allowed for a five minute rest before shaping the dough. If you live somewhere where it’s super warm right now, you may even want to let the dough chill in the fridge a few minutes before shaping.

This little experiment came about because Scott and I will each be at two separate craft shows this Saturday. I usually like to make little treats for us to enjoy during the long show hours but thought it was especially important this time because we’ll be split up making lunch and snacks much harder to pick up when there’s only one of you.

I wanted something granola bar like with oats, dried fruit and nuts to keep our energy up and I liked the idea of making them bite sized for a quick bite in between talking with customers. Right now they’re packed up and ready to go in the freezer. I’d normally keep them in the refrigerator, but I’m hoping they’ll keep their structure when we head out the door early tomorrow morning.

If your interested, I will be in Seattle at the Intiman Theatre from 11-5pm for the Etsy Rain Show and Scott will be down in Portland, OR for the Crafty WonderlandSpring show. Stop by and say hello if you’re in the area we’d love to see you there! And to all the mother’s out there here’s wishing you a lovely Mother’s Day weekend!

Also a quick note on the coconut oil I used in these. I love cooking with coconut oil whenever I can, not only because it tastes delicious but because it’s really good for you too. A couple weeks ago a package was sent to me with a jar of Kelapo coconut oil. I’m always a little hesitant to review products here, but after reading more about the company I couldn’t resist. Not only is it a 100% organic product, but they are also a fair trade company and it’s tasty to boot. If you haven’t added coconut oil to your diet yet I urge you to give it a go. It’s really versatile and can be added in place of butter in many baked goods as easily as it can be added to sautes and savory meals. I’m curious if you’ve used coconut oil before and what you’ve used in in?

No-Bake Pistachio and Cherry Granola Bites / makes about 20 small balls

I’d imagine these little granola balls could work with any nut or dried fruit you’d like. You could even replace the maple syrup with honey for another option as well. Make sure to source gluten free rolled oats if you are thinking about making these for a gluten free friend.

6 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup almond butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
1/4 cup dried cherries

Stir together the maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil and almond milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Stirring constantly allow to boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, pistachios and dried cherries. Pour the almond butter mixture over the oats and stir until everything is well coated. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes to cool slightly. This will make it easier to make into balls.

Have ready a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. Taking rounded tablespoons full of dough, roll and press together between your palms and place on the baking sheet. Once finished place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes until the balls have hardened. Then enjoy!

Keep the balls stored tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Breakfast, Desserts + Sweets, Gluten-Free, Grains, Proteins, Vegan