Holiday Baking

I'm not a baker, and this is definitely not a cooking blog, however, sometime around November, I get all bake-y, and I start trying to find recipes that are quick and easy but also fill my holiday need for baked goods.

 

I hunted this recipe down to make use of an over abundance of oatmeal.

 

This is the original source of this recipe, but, determined to use what I had on hand, I tweaked it a bit for my purposes, so here goes....

 

I gathered up my ingredients and subbed in dates for the cherries (I don't like cherries), dropped the chocolate bits, and subbed in sunflower seeds for the pumpkin seeds. Everything else I had on hand. (I also only had about 30 min. before the baby woke up, so you'll forgive me if some photos are missing.) Oh, and also, you'll see two eggs here, I only used one and really have no idea why I put two on the towel as the recipe clearly calls for just one.

(Oh, and yes, that is a Mexican Nutcracker in the background. Feliz Navidad!)

 

Next, I got my pan ready, no parchment paper in sight, so I used aluminum foil, which I may or may not have generously buttered.

 

I chopped up my dates and walnuts and carefully separated them...I have no idea why.

 

All the dry ingredients got thrown into the bowl, and I gave them a little mix to just make sure everything was together.

 

Oops! Almost forgot the sunflower seeds.

 

I followed the recipe and mixed all the wet ingredients together in another bowl. (Sorry no photo, I was in a rush, I could hear the baby talking to herself in her room, so I was really in a rush at this point.)

I then added the wet to the dry ...

 

and gave it a mix to get everything together.

 

It was very soupy, but fit in my not-quite-9 x 13 pan perfectly.

 

I threw it in the oven, set the timer, and went to get the baby, whose conversation had gotten a bit more boisterous and more along the lines of..."Hey Mom, I'm AWAKE!"

 

The finished product:

 

These are definitely more cake-y and less granola-y, but they have a great chew with a bit of crunch and they're not overly sweet. Perfect for breakfast.

 

That said, sorry I didn't give you something you could serve for Christmas dinner, but if you end up with some overnight guests, you could probably throw these together pretty quickly.  Ya' know, sub in raisins for the cherries, or maybe cranberries if you like a bit of that tartness, keep the chocolate chips, add pecans instead of the pumpkin seeds. The options are endless.

 

 

I hope you have a really great holiday.

I'm looking forward to mine, I think it's going to be very special.

Happy Holidays and

Merry Christmas!