Chocolate Candy Oat Bars (gluten free)

Before I went gluten-free, Chocolate Candy Oat Bars were my favorite cookies to make during the holidays. These are basically a crumb-type base that's baked and then spread with a sweet chocolaty filling and then topped with more crumb and candy coated chocolate pieces (aka M&M's). More than once I ended up making two batches because I would consume most of the first round, leaving none to share. Having taken a few years off from making this recipe, this year I decided to try it using gluten-free flour.
The recipe only calls for 1 1/2 cup of flour, and I had just over that amount left in my box of King Arthur Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour, so that's what I used. Ideally, I should have also used certified gluten-free oats, but I need quick-cooking oats to make this recipe, and I had a difficult time finding them. They are available on amazon.com, but I didn't want to wait for an order to arrive, so I went with just regular quick-cooking oats instead. Inherently oats don't contain gluten, but cross-contamination is a concern.

For the Chocolate Candy Oat Bars:

2 cups quick cooking oats 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used the gluten-free King Arthur flour mentioned above)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

1 cup chopped pecans 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted 

1 1/2 cups candy coated chocolate pieces, divided 

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 10" by 15" jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray. If you don't have a jelly roll pan, a 9" by 13" sheet pan works. You'll just have thicker cookies.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, brown sugar, chopped pecans, baking soda, and salt. Add melted butter, stir together until mixture is crumbly.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pecan crumb mixture. Press the rest evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

In a microwave safe bowl (I just used a glass measuring cup), microwave 1 cup of the chocolate candy pieces, on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Press candies with the back of a spoon to mash them, and then stir them into the condensed milk.

Spread the chocolate mixture evenly over the prebaked crust, leaving about half an inch border on all sides. Combine remaining 1 1/2 cups of crumb mixture and the rest of the chocolate candy pieces. Sprinkle over chocolate mixture and press lightly.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars. I'm really sorry, but I totally forgot to take a picture of the cut cookies so you can see the layers and yummy goodness.

I must say that they're a lot sweeter than I remember. Maybe my taste preferences have changed since I don't try not to consume as many sweets nowadays. The gluten free flour did give these more of a grainy mouthfeel than I remember, but I don't know if you would necessarily notice unless you had a batch made with regular flour to compare them with. Overall though, I think they came out just fine.

Simpli-Made Gluten Free Pancakes

Several days ago I posted a review of Simpli Gluten Free Apricot Instant Oatmeal, complete with pictures and a smoothie recipe that calls for a packet of the instant oatmeal. I also mentioned that on the company website there were more recipes, including one for gluten-free pancakes, and promised that I would feature the pancakes recipe in another post. Well, here it is.

The first time I made these pancakes, I didn't have any oat flour on hand. Anxious to try the recipe anyway, I substituted quinoa flour because that's what I had in the pantry. I do not recommend using quinoa flour in this recipe. It leaves a distinct quinoa aftertaste, and my younger son and I were the only ones who would eat them. Even I didn't think they were all that great. However, knowing neither the recipe nor oatmeal were at fault since I didn't follow the instructions, I decided to try it again, this time using the proper flour. That made all the difference. These were at hit with my kids. So much so that out of the 14 pancakes yielded, I only got to eat 2.

Ingredients:
1 package Simpli Gluten Free Apricot Instant Oatmeal
2 cups gluten-free oat flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk (can also use dairy-free milk like almond, rice, etc.)
½ teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
5 tablespoons butter (melted but not hot)
1/2 cup water

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix together well, and set aside.

 

Beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla until well combined, then slowly add melted butter. Then gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

 

The recipe says to stir in the water to thin the batter, but I thought the batter was already pretty thin, so I didn't add any.

 

Preheat skillet and oil with melted butter or nonstick cooking spray. Use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. When the top starts to bubble, flip it over and cook until done. These cook pretty quickly.

  

You can keep the pancakes warm in an oven on the lowest setting until you've made them all. Usually what happens around here is they eat them as fast as I can make them, which is why I don't have a nice photo showing a big stack of pancakes with maple syrup dripping down the sides, but I was very impressed with how well these turned out once I used the right kind of flour.

Simpli Oatmeal

I recently received a box of Simpli Apricot Gluten-Free Instant Oatmeal to try. I'm personally quite fond of oatmeal, and it's not always easy to find certified gluten-free oats. There are five single-serving pouches in the box, so I figured that would be a few breakfasts I wouldn't have to think about.

  

Simpli oats are grown in Scandinavia, using sustainable business practices and no genetically modified anything. Their gluten-free oats are grown, harvested, processed, and packaged in fields and facilities dedicated to oats to avoid contact and contamination with other grains. Their full line of products are all-natural, and for anyone not worried about avoiding gluten, Simpli offers three flavors of dairy-free OatShakes: Chocolate, Wild Berries, and Tropical Fruits.

  

Well, let me just say that this is more than just apricot-flavored instant oatmeal. Although it is quite tasty when made as such, as well as super quick and easy. Just pour on boiling water, let sit for a minute, stir, and it's ready! This is the perfect solution for busy mornings.

But that's not all you can do with this stuff. On the box is a smoothie recipe that uses a pouch of the oatmeal. I quite like smoothies, so of course I had to try it. Just take 2 cups of orange juice, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, a banana, 6 ounces of yogurt, a pouch of Simpli, and 1/4 cup of rice protein powder (optional).

 

Mix it all up in a blender until smooth, and it's ready to enjoy! This makes 2 servings of a very filling smoothie--it's definitely more like a meal replacement shake, so it's ideal for breakfast of an afternoon snack. I really liked it. The oatmeal adds a nice texture, and the apricots give it a rather subtle tang.

  

I tried the smoothie both with and without the protein powder, as I was afraid it might add an aftertaste, but it turns out I actually prefer the smoothie with the protein powder added. There is a slight hint of an aftertaste, so I can certainly tell it's in there, but it works well with the other ingredients and isn't overpowering.

As part of researching the product, I took a good look at the Simpli company website, where they have another smoothie recipe using their instant oatmeal, as well as a recipe for gluten-free pancakes posted. My kids love pancakes, and I don't normally get to enjoy them due to the gluten factor, so I had to try out that recipe, but I'll share it in another blog post.

I ended up making the smoothie recipe and the pancakes twice, so I really only got a single bowl of oatmeal out of the box. I've never had apricots in my oatmeal before, and it was fun to try something new. I'm hoping Simpli comes up with other gluten-free instant oatmeal flavors and more recipes. I'm sure there are muffins out there that would benefit from a pouch of instant oatmeal added to their batter.

I received a box of Simpli Apricot Instant Oatmeal for free in exchange for my honest review.

Baked Oatmeal Redux

Sometime last year, I posted a recipe for vegan baked oatmeal. This is easily one of my favorite things to have on hand because it's so versatile and can be enjoyed year-round. I make it in the summer when we have freshly picked blueberries, but it works equally well with frozen.

The only trouble is that the original recipe was rather long and involved--not that I wasn't well rewarded for my efforts, but it's nice to have some quick and easy recipes for things I find myself making on a regular basis. Well! Recently I saw a revamped version of the baked oatmeal recipe that's also vegan, dairy-free, and can be made gluten free, only this recipe is much easier and replaces the sugar with maple syrup. Also, the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of peaches and 1/2 cup blueberries, but I use a cup of blueberries because I typically have other plans for my peaches. This version is a bit sweeter than the original recipe, so you may want to scale back the amount of maple syrup.

Baked Oatmeal Redux:

3 cups quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons finely ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup maple syrup
1 2/3 cup almond milk
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen this time because that's what I had)

Before you do anything, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray, and assemble the ingredients. Mise en place, s'il vous plait.

In a large bowl, combine oats, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. I also added some freshly grated nutmeg. I love freshly grated nutmeg.

In a separate bowl mix the almond milk and maple syrup together, then add to dry ingredients.

Stir until just combined, and then fold in the blueberries.

Pour it all into the baking dish--don't worry if it looks a bit soupy.

Bake at 350 for around 40 minutes or so, and this is what you get. 

A yummy snack.

Warm with almond milk.

Along with the cooler weather comes my desire for comfort foods, and this one tops my list of favorites. I like to eat it warm with some almond milk for breakfast, I can have it cold as quick snack, and it makes a yummy dessert when topped with vanilla coconut milk ice cream.