Every holiday season, my dear friend K, would invite a bunch of friends over to her beautiful kitchen overlooking rolling hills. There, we would gossip, drink wine (or cider), stuff our bellies with munchies and scatter a lot of flour, sugar and other stuff on her clean wooden floors. At the end of the day, we would have trays of caramel, cookies, bars, toffee, brittle, cakes, breads, biscotti and other goodies to share. My nose still tingles with the sweet, warm memories of those fun baking days. Even though I don’t live in Sacramento any longer, I always reminisce about those days when I do my holiday baking. And since 2018 was a tough year for K, I dedicate the recipes below to her!
Recipe for Walnut Date Oat Bars
Makes around 24 bars
Ingredients:
For the filling:
- 3 cups pitted and chopped dates
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- Around 1 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp powdered cinnamon
For the bar:
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 400F
- Grease and flour a 9×13″ pan
- Cook over low heat the ingredients for the filling stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick. It could take around 15 mins. Let cool.
- Mix together the butter and flour. Then sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and add it to the butter-sugar mixture. Add in the rolled oats and use a hand mixer at low speed to combine everything gently
- Put half the dough mixture in to the pan and gently press and smooth it out
- Pour the date mixture over it
- Crumble the remaining dough mixture on top and press gently to even it out
- Bake at 400F for 25-30 mins until lightly browned on top
- Let cool and cut in to bars
Recipe for Lavender Tea Cookies
Makes around 16
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1/2 cup for rolling
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 2 Tbsp dried lavender
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 375C
- In a bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence
- Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder and add to the butter-sugar mix and blend
- Add the chopped nuts and lavender and combine
- Roll the dough out in to two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour
- Remove from refrigerator after chilled and roll the dough out and make around 16 equal sized balls
- Place on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes (Keep an eye on it so that the bottom does not burn. If it does then move the sheet a little further from the heating coils.)
- After removing the sheet from the over, wait just 15 mins or so. While still slightly warm, roll the cookies in powdered sugar and then let cool completely. Roll in powdered sugar again.
K has made a strong comeback after her trying year and sent me pictures of her baking day this year! Here’s to surviving and thriving in 2019! Wishing all readers of Veggie Sutra a resilient, healthy 2019.