Nutty, Corny, gingery, Oatmeal Cookie bars

I have become too busy lately. Busy with work, with the never ending needs of a growing kid, with chores that now I have to do single handedly as Hubby seems never to be at home. Either he is travelling or coming home at midnight. With these we have some added responsibilities that we never had to take care of before as we were away. Am not complaining a single bit as this is how life should be and thank God I have trenmendous support from my Brothers. But life is hectic and sometimes I feel exhausted. I am a kind of a person who needs sometime for herself. Give me 15 minutes for myself and I would be recharged. Remember this post where I talked about my 'Me time' with chai, cookies and books. Thats how it is till date, the only change is now I prefer coffee.

With the constant visits from family and friends and with so many cups of 'chai' been guzzled down I hardly crave it anymore. So my new found 'me time' companion is my South Indian filter coffee. Sometime black, sometime latte. With this I prefer some home made cookies. Not those buttery chocolaty ones but something healthy, something easy with some rustic flavours.  I really do not like to stuff my shopping bags with those overtly priced so-called fat free, gluten free, cholesterol free and don’t know what else snacks from the super market. Rather I prefer to make them at home.

I have recenty started experimenting seriously with whole wheat flour and these cookie bars that I adapted from Sunita’s blog are a real winner. These are enough to convert anyone who doesnot believe in whole grain baking. Simply try this once and you would be convert for life…just like my father and husband. Who always believed that cookies could never taste good without APF, now they are advising me to seriously thinking of opening a cookie shop. Yes these are that good.

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Oats, Cornmeal, Ginger and Cashew cookie bars

(Yields 18 bars)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat Flour: ½ cup

Cornmeal: 6 tbsp

Oats: ¾ cups

Cashew or any nuts of your choice: 10-12 pieces

Candied Ginger: 2 tbsp

Raisins or Apricots (chopped):  3 tbsp

Brown sugar: ½ cup

Vegetable oil: 3 tbsp (if you like substitute this with butter)

Butter: 3 tbsp

Almond essence: few drops (use vanilla if you don’t get this)

Cold milk: as required

Method:

Toast oats on very low flame till a nutty aroma rises (5-7 minutes). Keep aside.

Similarly toast nuts till lightly golden. Cool and chop in small bits.

Chop candied gingers, dried apricots if using.

In a big bowl mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, nuts, ginger bits and raisins. Mix well.

To this add the butter and oil. Mix to form a dough. If required add a few drops of milk. The dough should just come together, not smooth.

Take this in a piece of cling wrap. Flatten into a 3” wide, 1/3” thick log. Cover and chill for 4-5 hours.

Before baking preheat the oven at 180C. cut 3” long strips. Place them on a greased baking tray.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or till the sides are brown.

Cool and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy your guilt free treats.

Events:
sending this to Sanjeeta's WWC: Cornmeal for Breakfast hosted this month at Anu's healthy kitchen.

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