Granola with Nuts, Dried Fruit, and Cinnamon

I didn’t intend to write about granola today. Instead, I had planned to present the perfect vegan pancakes! Well, the thing is, I’ve been testing them the whole week now, and I couldn't find any recipe that actually worked: either they were impossible to cook, or they tasted horrible, or both. But I’m sure I’ll find one and as soon as I do, I’ll post it!

So, I’m writing about granola, which is oven-cooked muesli. Muesli can be delicious, too, but what is so special about granola is the irresistible smell it creates - as long as you don’t forget you have it in the oven, like already happened to me a couple of times ;)

You’ll need:

• 200g rolled oats


• 30g butter (or margarine)


• 3 Tbsp sunflower oil


• 2 Tbsp honey (or agave syrup)


• 2 Tbsp dark sugar


• a pinch of salt


• ½ tsp cinnamon


• 100g chopped nuts - pecan, walnuts, hazelnuts..


• 50g dried fruit - sultanas, apples, cranberries..

In a small pan, melt butter or margarine. Add oil, honey, sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and stir. Place the rolled oats in a baking bowl, pour the liquid mixture on top, and stir, making sure that all oats get moist. Spread evenly on an oven pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven in 150 degrees for about 15 minutes. After 7-8 minutes or so, take the pan out, turn the oats so that the ones from below get to the surface. At the same time, add the nuts evenly on top of the oats. (I’ve also tried adding the nuts in the beginning, but they burn quite easily, so I find this strategy better.) Bake until golden and crispy. Take out of the oven, let cool, transfer in a serving bowl, and add dried fruit.

Serve with plain natural (soy) yoghurt and some fresh fruit.

This is my last post in the brunch series - hope you found some useful ideas for your weed-end breakfasts! Next week I'll be writing about child-friendly veggie dishes, but now I'm heading to Zurich for two nights - and hopefully find a nice brunch place to write about!

Omelette Rolls with Sour Cream and Smoked Salmon or Fried Mushrooms

For me, omelette is an essential part of a brunch. Yet that’s one dish I’ve never fully mastered! It's hard to know how many eggs exactly one needs, it gets burned easily but still might be uncooked from inside, it's tricky to transfer it from the pan to a serving plate without breaking it.. Luckily these omelette rolls are easy to make - a bit like pancakes, but even easier! And they taste fantastic - either with smoked salmon or fried mushrooms. You can keep them warm in the oven, but they are even better when served right away. I’d advise at least two per person, but the amount obviously depends on how many other dishes you have prepared for your brunch!

For four omelette rolls, you’ll need

• 4 eggs


• ⅓ tsp salt


• a bit of oil or butter for frying


• 150g smoked salmon, in slices OR 200g mushrooms, thinly sliced and fried, sprinkled with salt


• 150g sour cream


• a couple of basil leaves


• freshly ground black pepper

Crack the eggs into a baking bowl, add the salt, and beat until the mixture is pale yellow. In a frying pan, place a bit of butter or oil, then pour just enough mixture to make a thin, pancake-like omelette. Fry from both sides, then transfer on a plate. When all of your omelettes are ready, it’s time to fill them: spread about 2 Tbsp sour cream on each omelette, place salmon or mushroom slices and 2-3 basil leaves on top of the cream, then grind some black pepper on top. Roll the omelette and transfer on a serving plate (oven-proof if you’re not serving them right away and want to keep them warm).

If you want some smoke flavour in the veggie version, you can sprinkle your fried mushrooms with a bit of liquid smoke - but don’t exaggerate!

Scones with Plum Compote

Scones are an element sine qua non for a brunch, at least if you ask me! They are salty and sweet at the same time, so you can eat them either with butter and cheese or with honey, marmalade - or with this easy plum compote with a hint of cinnamon. They can be baked with any flour of your liking - I prefer a mixture of rolled oats and spelt. I’ve tried a vegan version of scones as well - I just left the egg out and replaced butter with margarine and milk with spelt milk (a bit more than in the original recipe, to compensate for the egg). The structure was great, but the taste was a bit compromised. Maybe you’d want to add some dried fruit - raisins, cranberries, sour cherries - to make them tastier!

For about 10 scones, you need

• 100g butter (or margarine)


• 300g flour (rolled oats, spelt, wheat..)


• 50g sugar (or more, if you like it sweeter)


• 50ml milk (or soy milk)


• 1 egg (for a vegan version, leave out)


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 0,5 tsp salt

First, preheat your oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Cut butter into small cubes and place in a baking bowl. Measure all dry ingredients together and pour onto the butter. Work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then add egg and milk and work into a dough. It’s a bit on the liquid side, but don’t add too much flour, or they’ll get dry! Divide the dough into 10 pieces (about 40g each) and, with your hands, form round cakes. Use some extra flour in doing this if the dough is too liquid. Bake in the oven for some 15 minutes, or until nicely brown. Let the cool a bit before serving as a part of brunch - or for afternoon tea.

For the plum compote, cut 400g ripe plums into small cubes, set in a pan with 100g sugar and one cinnamon stick and cook until plums are thoroughly cooked. Take the cinnamon stick out and serve either warm or cold.

Chocolate Ice Cream

As most Finns, I eat a lot of ice cream. Or I used to, until I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. That meant no milk, yoghurt, cream - or ice cream for a long, long time. Then some eight years ago I got an ice cream machine as birthday present! Cool! I could do all kinds of sorbets and soy-based ice creams myself. But when the first lactose free ice creams appeared on the supermarket shelves, I didn’t feel motivated to continue my own production - until I moved to Germany where even most of the sorbets have added lactose in them! Good news for my abandoned Krups Sorbetière - now she’s got something to do again.

I’ve tried a lot of different recipes so far, and this very creamy, very chocolatey one here is among my absolute favourites.

For a portion that fits into my sorbetière, I need:

• 200g dark chocolate


• 500ml double cream, divided


• 200ml milk (I use 3,8% fat)


• some sugar, depending on how bitter your chocolate is and how sweet you like your ice-cream


• optional: 2 Tbsp of any liquor of your liking (Amaretto, Cointreau..)

Bring 300ml cream to a boil in a pan. Set aside and put in the chocolate and sugar. Let melt, then add the milk. Pour into a recipient with a lid, then set in your fridge for a couple of hours. About 30 minutes before serving, whip the rest of the cream into chantilly, add liquor (if using), mix with the chocolate-cream mixture, and prepare the ice-cream according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker. Serve as a dessert - or as part of your Sunday brunch!

Bright Day Banana Muffins

These are THE muffins for me. I've been baking them for so long I could probably make them with my eyes closed! And yet, every time I make them, it comes as a surprise how good they taste. It's a bit like bread with butter - you just don't get tired of it! I got the recipe from a kitchen-wizard cousin of mine some years ago. I ended up losing the original recipe (a long story...), but this is how I make them:

Dry ingredients:

• 230g flour


• 75g sugar


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• a bit of cinnamon


• a hint of nutmeg (be careful, too much will ruin the muffins)

Liquid ingredients:

• 100g melted butter


• 1 egg


• 100ml milk


• 2 bananas, mashed with a fork

+ some extra butter (melted, 20g or so), cinnamon, and sugar

Combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ones and stir well. Pour the batter into a muffin pan (this dough makes 6 muffins). Bake 20 minutes or so, the move the muffins on a plate. When they are still hot, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top. Serve as a part of brunch - or on any other occasion!

P.S. This morning I tried them with whole-grain spelt flour - and started wondering why I didn't start using whole-grain years ago...

Sunday's a Brunch Day

Today was Parliamentary elections day here in Germany. As foreigners, we were not allowed to vote, but why not use this special day as an excuse for having a bit fancier brunch? So this morning we enjoyed freshly baked bread and scones, sweet whole-grain pancakes, cheeses, veggies, fruit, coffee, and Mimosas. Brunch is by far my favourite meal - you can serve it practically any time, and there’s nothing you couldn’t serve as a part of it - it’s a total carte blanche! I love having a lot of variety - warm stuff, cold stuff, something sweet, something salty, something crunchy, something fresh.. And of course, great coffee!

During the following week, I’ll be posting my best brunch recipes - maybe next Sunday, you’ll be serving some of them yourself! So stay tuned…

I like to start my brunch with a fresh drink, so today I’m sharing the recipes of my two preferred brunch drinks with you: the classic Mimosa, and pineapple juice with fresh mint.

For the Mimosa, you’ll need

• the juice of ½ orange per serving


• about 6cl of your favourite champagne or bubbling wine per serving

For the pineapple mint juice, you’ll need (for about 6 servings)

• 1 pineapple


• 20g fresh mint


• 300ml water


• possibly some sugar or agave syrup

The night before, remember to put all ingredients in the fridge and to fill your ice-cube maker! For the Mimosa, squeeze oranges, divide the juice into glasses, and fill the rest with champagne. Serve immediately!

For the pineapple mint juice, peel the pineapple and cut it into cubes. Wash the mint. Combine pineapple cubes, mint, water - and sugar or agave syrup if you prefer it a bit sweeter - in your mixer and pulse. (It will be a bit foamy, that’s ok!) Serve with ice cubes.

Pizza with Smoked Tofu and Pineapple

I’ve eaten a couple of times in a vegan restaurant in Stuttgart, called Coox&Candy. Once I happened to eat there on a Tuesday, pizza day. We just couldn’t get enough of their vegan pizza with smoked tofu and pineapple! Since they are a vegan restaurant, their pizza includes a special type of cheese, which they also sell to take away. I immediately bought a package of No-Muh-Cheese (the spicy one) and was ready to try my first vegan pizza. It was a success! Unfortunately, we live in a small town where there are no vegan cheeses available (yes, one could buy it on the internet, but somehow I’m not that deep in the world of internet shopping just yet), so today I used a local cheese from our organic farm instead. This time, I wanted to try whole-grain spelt flour in the dough, and it was really tasty (according to my hubby, it was the best pizza ever, but he was so hungry I’m not sure if he can be trusted ;) ) - in the future, anyway, I’ll be using only whole-grain flour in my pizza dough.

This recipe yields 2 big pizzas - that’s usually more than enough for us 5.

Dough:

• 250ml water


• 12,5g fresh yeast or half a package instant yeast (that would be about 5g)


• 1 tsp salt


• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• about 450g flour

Tomato sauce:

• 1-2 onions, peeled and chopped


• 600g tomatoes, peeled and cut into cubes


• 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped


• olive oil


• salt, pepper, and oregano to taste

On top:

• 200g smoked tofu in thin slices


• 5 Tbsp chopped pineapple


• grated cheese of your choice

Preparing the sauce

Begin with the tomato sauce: sauté onions in olive oil, add garlic, continue frying for 2 minutes or so, then add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Bring to a boil and let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, reduce heat and let simmer over a low heat for about one hour. (If you’re in a hurry, feel free to reduce cooking time - and if really in a hurry, just take one can of tomatoes, and purée it with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and olive oil.)

Preparing the dough

To prepare the dough: measure the water in a baking bowl, throw in yeast and stir until dissolved, then add salt, oil, and sugar, stir again, and then add as much flour as you need to get a good dough. Then knead for a couple of minutes, cover the bowl with a cloth, and let ferment for an hour or so.

Depending how quick you were, you now have some time to do other stuff - go for a walk, read a book, call a friend.. But if your memory is as good as mine, it’s better to set an alarm, though!

Once your dough and sauce are ready to go, set your oven to 250 degrees Celsius. Knead your dough so you get the air bubbles out, divide into 2 pieces, and roll them both into a square a bit smaller than the oven pan you’re using. Transfer onto the pan, bake in the oven for 5 minutes or so, take out, and then cover each pizza with a layer of tomato sauce, tofu, pineapple, and finally cheese. Put back in the oven for some 15-20 minutes more, or until nicely brown and crispy.

Serve with a side salad - und ein kaltes Bier!