OH MY OATS

Good evening!

Is it a good evening? Of course it’s good evening! I hope you’re having a wonderful, relaxed, chilled out time. Well deserved after a hard day’s work, I’m sure. You’re worth it. Today’s been a funny one for me. Having had a night out last night, I woke up in a pretty poor state today.

A definite hangover gremlin.

I decided to take the morning for recovery. This turned into ‘working from home’. Then a blatant acknowledgement that me surviving the day would be achievement enough. Today was not the day for moving mountains. Shifting my headache would do.  Its day’s like these, of self-inflicted gloom, that I wish for certain things.

Like family…

… A dog …

… Just a hug! ...

… And (weirdly today) curtains.

 

Student houses don’t have them. I’d really like to draw together some heavy, velvet, floor-sweeping drapes. Oh satisfaction. But home days are also good. They don’t ask too much of you and you can take the time to appreciate little things.

Like socks…

… Tealights…

… Cuppas…

… And a good book :)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I realised that CHRISTMAS IS A MONTH TODAYYYY! Wahooo!

I also realised that I was mooching about a house filled with baked goods!! So, yesterday, I thought that I was going to be helping to host a charity bake sale today. It got called off, I’m afraid, but not before I did my baking for the sale!! Yesterday I was being a busy bee but I still found the time to get my bake on. And baked on a big scale.

Here are some twenty four girly cupcakes I baked!

I ALSO baked up one of my two signature recipes. Now, these recipes are my ULTIMATE best things to bake. They’re the recipes that I know off my heart without a book. And this is good because the book pages are long since stuck together with mix! My flatmates usually get to enjoy one or the other of these recipes at least once a month. I love to spend time baking these, they aren’t hard to bake, and they taste really good! No fancy ingredients needed and no high-tech equipment. None of that. My two signature recipes are… Banana bread! …. And Oat Crunchies! And yesterday I baked some Oat Crunchies. :) This is a recipe I originally found in the ‘Vegetarian Nosh for Students’ cookbook and it TASTES SO GOOD.

Want to bake some Crunchies yourself? Here’s how, in ten easy steps…

Recipe: Oat Crunchies

Time taken: Half an hour

Ingredients: Porridge oats, desiccated coconut, self-raising flour, sugar, butter & golden syrup

1. Preheat your oven to 180˚C.

2. Find a mug. Measure a mug of oats, a mug of coconut and a mug of flour into a mixing bowl.

3. Add half a mug of sugar and stir this all together with a wooden spoon.

4. Melt 100g of butter in a saucepan on a low heat.

5. When this is all melted, add a tablespoon of golden syrup and three tablespoons of water.

6. Stir until this all combines together, then add it to the bowl of dry ingredients and give it a good stir until the mix comes together into one modge.

7. Use a little bit of butter to grease a pair of baking trays.

8. Take a small handful of the mix at a time and squeeze it into a ball in your hands. Place this on the baking tray and squash it down gently.

9. Keep repeating this and spacing your Crunchies a little apart on the baking trays, since they tend to spread when they cook. I usually make about 8-12, depending how big they are.

10. Carefully escort your baking trays into the oven and bake your Crunchies for 10-12 minutes until they’re golden brown and you can safely take them out. You can enjoy these warm, or leave them to cool and decorate them any way you like!

ChefBeHere Top Top: When your Crunchies are in the oven, it’s a good idea to swap the trays around after five minutes. I know in our oven things on the top shelf bake more quickly than things underneath them on the bottom shelf. You don’t want to over bake one tray and end up with Crispies rather than Crunchies!

And there you have it, a batch of sweet, oaty, mouth-welding treats! I’ve yet to find a person who doesn’t approve of my Crunchies. I certainly enjoy them and our house is filled to the brim with them! Not for long….

Here are the Oat Crunchies I made yesterday

And some I made a different day

Aaaaand a close up shot  from another day to drool over

Tempted yet? Go bake! What are you waiting for?? You need these in your life. And these earn you some BIG LOVE from friends and family. Suddenly they like you again. They want to know when to expect the next batch. You have a purpose in life.

In my case, my faith in my baking has been restored following the Peach-Related Meltdown I had last week (see my blog post from Sunday, go on). I’ve still got it! And Oat Crunchies have been a much-need remedy today to one hell of a hangover.

This has been me alllll day…

What do you think of Oat Crunchies?? Are you in love? Can you unstick your jaw enough yet to speak?? I want to hear what you think. Shout it out!

And crunch safely,

Hayley