ginger pear breakfast loaves

These luscious little parcels of warm fall flavors were my simple solution to the cool breezy new season blues today. I needed a mid day warm up and the over-ripening scent of pears in the air were beckoning for a cozy baked home.

Like all muffins, these come together quickly and after a ginger cinnamon sugar sprinkle the top crisped up with a doughnut like lace finish. Yum. Made with spelt flour and two kinds of ginger, just enough coconut and a hint of cardamom, these are perfect for a blustery day in the garden.

In a large bowl combine:

3/4 cup cane sugar
4 oz melted coconut oil
2 eggs
1 splash of real vanilla
2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup coconut
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp fresh ginger zest
1 tsp cardamon
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup almond milk
2 1/2 cups pears, unpeeled and diced small

Portion into prepared muffin tins (I used coconut oil to grease the cups)

Sprinkle with a blend of cane sugar, ground ginger and cinnamon

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Oh enjoy at least one warm or at least with a warm cuppa.

creamy garlic and purple kale spelt egg noodle pasta

I know when I need a hearty stick to your rib comfort food, I always turn to pasta, which is tricky in my house as the whitey noodles just don’t fly around here. When we eat pasta we stick to brown rice, buckwheat or corn verities, so when I saw organic spelt egg noodles from a local deli, I was well on my way to a creamy pasta diner.

To make this garlic béchamel sauce start by melting:

2 tbsp butter in a small pot along with

2 tbsp whole spelt flour

4 cloves of finely minced garlic

cook down and bubble and brown for about 4 minutes

add 2 cups whole farm fresh milk

2 tbsp grainy mustard

a pinch of nutmeg

a pinch of paprika

a pinch of garlic granules

S+P

Cook pasta to serve 4

In a small separate pan quickly sear off

6 large leafs f purple kale ribboned to about 1/2 “ strips,

with a drizzle of both olive oil and lemon juice,

finish with S+P and remove from heat after no more than 2 minutes.

Once your pasta is cooked and strained, combine kale and garlic sauce and finish with fresh chopped basil.

Curl up with a good book and enjoy this warming rich entre.

pork and apple spelt “toad in the hole

A british classic, with a twist…

I was thawing a package of lovely locally produced pork sausage, when I was suddenly inspired to drown those “toads” in yorkshire pudding and bake them up into a puffy pan of crunchy caramelized onion and tart apple goodness. I used spelt flour for the yorkie dough, and made a lovely pork and maple glaze to serve by the bucket load along side the ‘pud. Here is the yorkshire pudding recipe (my mom’s), which I always use, in the case I did a single batch of dough.

1 hour before you want to eat, while your dough is setting up warm your oven to 425°

In a large deep pan, fry:

1/2 yellow onion

5 pork sausages

3 cloves of garlic

fresh rosemary spring (about 1 tbsp)

Let everything get nice and golden brown, then remove sausage from the pan and slice into 1 cm thick slices and add them back into the pan to brown both sides (you can skip this step but I love a well browned and crispy piece of sausage). Once you add the sausage back in, grate one tart apple into the pan and fry until the sausage is to your liking. Season with S+P.

Grease a large rectangular roasting pan with vegatable oil or bacon drippings if you keep those, and spoon the sausage mixture into the pan, evenly arranged. Keep the dripping and bits in the pan to make a gravy with!

Now pour your puddin’ batter over the pan and pop the works into the oven for 45 minutes.

Once set remove slice and serve with a glaze or gravy, or mint sauce!

elvis cookies; fit for a king

These cookies are like fluffy banana pillows laced with peanut butter, chocolate and oats. They are light and are not too sweet.

I had a bag of peanut butter easter eggs in the pantry (which the easter bunny delivered a little early to the discovery of my daughter who knows that shiny packaged candy store treats don’t come home with me often) and some over ripe bananas on the counter, the combo was obvious and the elvis cookie was born! Apparently the king loved PB & banana sandwiches and therefore every time I combines these things I think he deserves some props!

I remember back when I was opening my second bakery, testing endlessly vegan banana cookie recipes, none of them really hit the mark. Bananas by nature make for fluffy-cake-y baked goods… so if you like a crunchy flat cookie, this recipe might be more to your liking with an extra 1/2 cup of butter added to make them more flat, and spread-y with a crisp bottom. I however like the occasional muffin top style of cookie, and this one I would make again for sure. Mmmabey even with some nuts thrown in for good measure!

Start by creaming

1/2 cup of butter

1/3 cup of almond butter (or peanut butter)

1/2 cup dark cane sugar

1/2 cup light cane sugar

2 eggs

2 over ripe bananas

splash of vanilla

Slowly add

2 1/4 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup oats

1/2 tsp bs

1 tsp bp

pinch sea salt

1.5 cup of chopped up chocolate peanut butter cups

Chill dough for 20 minutes then portion and top with a piece of peanut butter cup and bake on baking sheet at 375º 12-15 minutes.

spelt butterscotch brownies

My most favorite sister-in-law in the whole wide world spent the last week visiting us, and we celebrated her 30^th Birthday early (a couple times), and her birthday treat request was for chocolate brownies! They had brought with them a bottle of scotch so making real butterscotch brownies seemed only natural! This recipe was adapted from the Joy of Cooking Butterscotch Blondies. These brownies were pretty over the top! Filled with huge chocolate chunks, pecans, almonds, hemp seeds, and of course butterscotch sauce to die for. Next time I might just serve the butterscotch with spoons, straight up!

In a small pot melt and simmer:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup dark cane sugar

1/3 cup cane sugar

until bubbly and deep and silky

Add 1 Tbsp Vanilla

and 2 Tbsp scotch

remove from heat and allow to cool and thicken

In a bowl sift together

1 cup spelt flour

1/4 tsp bp

1/8 tsp bs

pinch of fine sea salt

once the butterscotch is cool (if you can stop your self from eating it all) wisk in

2 eggs

1 tbsp  brown rice syrup

Add sauce to flour mix and bring together

Now add your chunks of goodness:

1 did 1 cup of chopped nuts (almond & pecan)

1/2 cup hemp seeds (hearts)

1 cup chunks of dark chocolate

bake in a small 8”prepared square pan  for 20-28 minutes at 350º