Healthy Oat Biscuits a.k.a. Oatcakes

I was introduced to oatcakes while living in London. I’ve been hooked ever since. Oats are the healthiest of all the grains, according to The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth (that’s grains only, not including the seeds such as quinoa and amaranth), so they have a lot more going for them than their beautiful, nutty flavor.

This recipe is wheat-free, vegan, low salt and contains no added sugar. They are great to snack on as is, delicious spread with honey, or would be great served with savory pates or herb kefir cheese and sprouts.

It’s taken me years to get around to making my own, but they are so quick and easy to make I’ll definitely be making more soon.

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour (put rolled oats in my coffee grinder and ground them into flour)
1 tablespoon extra virgin, cold-pressed olive or coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot water

Instructions

Put all the dry ingredients and oil into a mixing bowl, and mix well. Pour enough of the hot water into the dry ingredients to mix into a stiff dough. If you are using coconut oil and it’s solid either rub it through the flour with your hands or pour the hot water on the ball of oil to melt it. Knead the dough until it’s smooth. The hot water will soften and ‘cook’ the oat flour, and the dough will become very smooth and pliable.

Making Oat Biscuits - in the foreground is the raw dough before ready to go into the frying pan/griddle, behind it are the finished oatcakes.

Divide the dough into 2 or 4 pieces depending on the size of your frying pan or griddle. I was using a very small frying pan, about 5 inches diameter and I needed to divide the dough into 4 pieces for each round to fit. Roll each of the pieces of dough into a ball. Flatten the balls of dough by pressing them with the palm of your hand or using a rolling pin to form a flat, round shape about 6 mm (1/4 inch) thick.

Heat a heavy griddle or frying pan on medium heat, add just enough olive or coconut oil to coat the pan. Cut each round of dough into 4 quarter pieces and place them onto the hot griddle or frying pan.

Cook for 15-20 minutes until they start turning brown and crispy, then flip and cook for another 5-10 minutes on the other side.

They are great eaten while still warm, but let them cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Barley bread

This dense, rustic flat bread has a satisfying nutty taste and crunchy texture around the edges. It’s great served with soups and stews, or salads. It’s also nice on it’s own, spread with honey or avocado as a snack or light meal. Best served warm, right from the oven.

Because it’s wheat-free, this bread doesn’t contain the amount of gluten that a wheat-based loaf would, so therefore it doesn’t puff up and create a light, airy bread like wheat-based loaves. It’s more a cross between a flat-bread and a cracker, crunchy around the edges. But I love the texture, it feels much more substantial than a typical airy loaf. It’s chewy in the middle, crunchy around the edges and much more flavorful than wheat flour. Oh, and it’s vegan as well.

This is one of the easiest and quickest bread recipes I’ve ever used. No bread maker or mixer required, it’s easy enough to do it all manually. You don’t need to wait until the dough rises (proofs), so it’s a great option for whipping up some bread at the last minute to go with your meal.

Ingredients:

2 cups barley flour
2 tsp wheat-free baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp flaxseed (linseed)
2 tbsp sunflower seed

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. You can use a fine-mesh strainer instead of a sifter. Just use a spoon to tap the sides of the strainer to sift the dry ingredients through the mesh. You can also use the spoon to ‘stir’ the flour if you prefer, make sure the spoon is touching the bottom of the strainer and stir in a circular motion just inside the rim of the strainer.

Once all the dry ingredients are sifted, blend the water, olive oil, flaxseed and sunflower seeds in a high-powered blender until liquefied. The non-vegan version calls for cream and milk, so you’re creating a seed milk substitute. Fold this seed milk into the flour and mix until it forms a dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and using your hands shape it into a flat round shape about 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick.

Slide the loaf onto the baking sheet and use a knife to score the top of the loaf to form the slices. Then using the prongs of a fork, make indentations all over the top of the loaf.

Bake until pale golden in color, about 15-20 minutes. Cut or break into wedges along the score lines and serve warm.

Barley Bread Slice, ready to eat

Makes 1 small loaf.

Variations:

• Add a handful of sunflower seeds to the sifted flour just before adding the liquid ingredients.
• Add 2 tbsp citrus zest (lemon, lime or orange) to the flour mixture just before adding the liquids.

Wholemeal Bread

If you have a bread machine there is no excuse to not make your own homemade bread. It’s easy, and if you follow this recipe, you’ll end up with a beautiful light-textured wholemeal loaf that’s also a great source of fiber.

You may have to slice it yourself, but you can’t find anything in the stores like this. It’s great for sandwiches or toasted.

It keeps well too, even without the preservatives that most store-bought bread has. I’ve left mine out for 3 days, and it’s still moist and delicious.

Ingredients:
3 teas dry active yeast
1-1/2 cup warm water
2 teas brown, raw or rapadura sugar
1 teas salt
1 T oil
2 T gluten flour
3 cups wholemeal flour
1/4 cup oat bran (if you don’t have oat bran use wholemeal flour instead)

Instructions:
Measure all the ingredients into the bread maker, in the order listed or according to your bread maker’s instructions.

Set the bread maker to the whole wheat cycle, 750g loaf, with a medium crust and press start. Note the time in the display window and just make sure you are there to take the bread out when it’s finished.

Makes a 750g loaf

Baker’s Notes:
My favorite way to eat this is toasted, with butter and honey, or homemade plum jam with apple and cinnamon. As an accompaniment to soups it’s beautiful just toasted with butter or avocado.

Slow Cooker Baked Chocolate Zucchini Cake

We’ve still got an overabundance of zucchini from the garden and while trying to come up with new ways to use it all I stumbled upon baking… in a crock pot. I never would have thought this would work, but I’m so glad it does. With a slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot) you don’t have to keep an eye on it like you do with an oven. You just pour the batter in, go off to do something else and come back 2 hours later – ideal! The cake is moist and divine… well, what dish with chocolate is not divine?

If you have a really large crockpot, just double this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup soft brown sugar (if you can find rapadura sugar it’s the best)
2 small eggs
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
4 T yogurt
1-1/4 cup wholewheat flour
2 T cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice (or nutmeg)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 T dried cranberries (optional)

Instructions:
Mix oil and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs beat until creamy looking. Mix in the vanilla and yogurt.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt into the mixing bowl, then add spices. Mix just enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the grated zucchini and cranberries and mix it through the batter. I find it easiest to do by hand.

Turn the crockpot on high and spray the inside with spray on oil, then line it with non-stick baking paper. The baking paper will stick to the sprayed on oil.

Slow Cooker Chocolate Zucchini Cake Is Done!

Pour the batter into the prepared slow cooker, cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Depending on your crockpot it may take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours to cook. Once you learn how long your slow cooker takes you can just leave it to cook and come back after that time to remove it. No need to keep checking like you need to with a conventional oven.

When the cake is cooked, remove the lid and lift out the crock. Be careful it will be hot. Leave it to cool for 20-30 minutes, by that time you should be able to touch the crock without burning yourself. Turn the crock upside down over a wire cooling rack and the cake should easily fall out. After the cake cools completely you can store it in the fridge for a few days – if it lasts that long! It’s nice eaten warm, but the flavor improves after a day in the fridge.

COOK’S TIP:
To line the slow cooker with baking paper…
Take a sheet of baking paper and lid on it. Using the lid of the slow cooker as a guide, trace a line all the way around the lid and trace another line about 2 inches away from the lid all the way around. Use scissors to cut the paper at the OUTER circle. Then make lots of cuts from the outside edge toward the center, stopping at the inner circle. Spray the inside of the crock (bowl) with oil. Now place this cut paper into the crock (bowl) and smooth it out over the bottom and up the sides. If necessary, cut a strip of paper to fit upright against the sides to cover the cut strips and make a smoother surface. You can reuse this paper for several batches of cakes.

Here are some photos, which might help to explain it a bit better:

Step 1: Trace the lid. Trace all around the lid, then draw another line about 2 inches outside of the lid.

Step 2: Make the cuts. Make the cuts from the outside edge, toward the center. Make the cut from the outer line to the inner line.

Then just cut a strip of paper to stand upright and wrap around the inside of the bowl, covering the cut strips. This way it’s really easy to re-use the baking paper for another cake.

Related products you might be interested in:

• Crockpots
• Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty One-Pot Meals That Are Ready When You Are

Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

I’ve modified the recipe I posted previously, added more zucchini and reduced the amount of sugar, so it’s healthier and the results are so much better! I’m really pleased with the way these turned out. Better tasting and better for you! Now that’s my kind of dessert! Actually, you could eat these muffins any time… they make a good snack (perfect for kid’s lunch boxes – get some extra vegies into them without them realizing), if you’re like me and can’t eat a lot first thing in the morning they are lovely for breakfast with your morning coffee or tea. So without further ado, here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil *see below for healthier variation
1 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teas vanilla
1-1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teas salt
1 teas baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions:
Beat eggs until light and foamy; add vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix lightly but blend thoroughly.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients, except nuts until they are thoroughly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture, stir just enough to blend everything together. Stir in walnuts.

Spoon the batter into lightly oiled muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the muffin cup. Bake at 175C (325F) for about 20 minutes or until done. To check if they are done, insert a clean toothpick, skewer or wooden matchstick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, they’re done.

Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Cool and serve. Can be refrigerated for a few days (the flavor seems even nicer the next day), eaten warm from the oven, or wrap and freeze them.

Makes 24 small muffins.

* Variation for even healthier zucchini muffins:

Allie, one of our readers, has this excellent suggestion for an even healthier variation. (I bet it’s even yummier too!)

I also modified the fat; instead of 1 cup oil I did 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce. It didn’t change the taste, but it was a little moister and healthier. This is also a great trick for brownies! ~ Allie