Apple Crumble with Oaty Topping (v)

This is based on Jamie's recipe and is a good quick midweek pudding to fortify the soul and ward off against the cold winter horribleness.

For 3-4 people you need:
Crumble:
50g rolled oats
15g plain flour
20g caster sugar
35g vegan margarine

For the filling:
400g cooking apples, peeled, cored and quartered
50g vanilla sugar
1 tbsp water

Stew the apples till soft (takes about 15 mins). Blitz the margarine with the flour and sugar and then mix through the oats. Place the apples in an ovenproof dish and top with the crumble mix. Bake for 20-30 mins and serve with vegan custard.

Apricot Porridge (v)

Bored with the usual plain porridge, apricots make a nice addition and boost the iron content :)

For one person you need:
1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup soya milk
3-4 dried apricots, chopped roughly

Place everything in a pan over a gentle heat and stir till thickened. Eat. Fill fortified.

Chocolate Flapjack

This was a mistake recipe as in I thought it would be nice to add chocolate chips to my usual flapjack recipe, and I'm sure it would have been. But they melted. So this is chocolate flapjack. Not my finest hour, but tasty none the less :)

For about 20 squares you need:
6oz butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
6oz sugar
10oz oats
1 pack plain choc chips
1 pack white choc chips

Melt the sugar, butter and syrup in a pan. Once melted add the oats and the chocolate. Press in to a lined swiss roll tin and bake at 160 degrees for 15 mins. Leave to cool then cut and scoff. I wonder whether prodding the chocolate on to the top of the flapjacks would be more successful? Anyone any tips?!

Seeded Honey and Oat Bars

This is a River Cottage recipe which we all saw being made earlier today. Lex was inspired by the recipe so we all made them and scoffed them. I would never have thought to add lemon and orange zest to the mix but it adds a lovely, zingy fresh taste. Yum. The original recipe is on the river cottage website.

For about 12 bars you need:
125g butter
150g light muscovado sugar
125g peanut butter
75g honey, plus a little more to finish
Finely grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
200g porridge oats (not jumbo)
75g sultanas
75g chopped dried apricots
50g each of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds

Melt together everything bar the oats, fruit and seeds. Mix the wet into the oats and fruit and 2/3 of the seeds. Pour into a lined 20cm square tin and press down. Scatter over the remaining seeds and drizzle with a little more honey. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 mins. Leave to cool before cutting in to bars and scoffing. Deeeeeelicious!

Summer Fruit & Flapjack Bake (v)

This is based on Nigella's Blackberry Crisp in her Nigella Express book (p52)

For a generous 4-6 portions you need:
125g butter or vegan marge
60g oats
40g flaked almonds
30g sunflower seeds
70g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
75g soft light brown sugar
650g mixed summer fruits (I used frozen cherries and summer fruit mix)
1/4 cup vanilla sugar

Begin by laying the fruit in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Scatter over the vanilla sugar. Melt the butter/marge and then mix with the remaining ingredients. Press lightly into the fruit (you won't have enough to cover everything). Bake at 160 degrees for about 30-40 mins. Enjoy warm or cold, au natural or with swedish glace/ice cream. It's also suprisingly good for breakfast too ;-)

Flapjack

A storecupboard staple and a snack that's easily knocked up in 15 mins or so.

You need:
6oz butter
6oz sugar (I use half granulated and half soft brown)
2 tablespoons golden syrup
10oz oats

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup; then add the oats and pack into a lined baking tin. Bake at 160 for 10 mins, leave to cool, cut in to squares and scoff. Wonder why you've got that fat!