Heidi's Oat Cakes

Dear sweet old elegant lady at the park,

I'm glad our paths crossed today. 

You were on your afternoon stroll when you saw me taking photos of flowers (roses, specifically), because that's what I do when I need to clear my head.

You must've been intrigued as you walked over and struck up a conversation with me. Am I a high school student, you asked. I didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or as a sign to consider a wardrobe makeover. For the sake of my wallet, I picked the former.

You adore roses, you said. Especially ones so dark, rich and deep in colour, because they have the best smelling perfume in the world. You walked over to a naked patch of the garden where only 1 red rose still stands, the rest all stems and thorns - a consequence of this unforgiving winter. This is undoubtedly the best patch during blooming seasons and you said you could never walk past without dipping your nose into them all. Your eyes twinkled then!

Store bought roses are just not the same, they lack in real rose scents. I nodded in agreement.

So it turned out we have a few things in common. Well, for one, we are both terrible gardeners but we love strolling in the park to appreciate the hard work of other gardeners!

Then you told me to wait. What for?

Wait until the summertime when everything will be back to normal again. The richly perfumed flowers will fill the entire garden and it'll be so fragrant that just one sniff is like drowning in a glass of red wine, in your own words.

(I will remember to check there are no insects/bees hiding inside the roses before I smell - thanks for the heads up.)

It seems a long way away, summer, doesn't it? Especially on days when we're bundled up from head to toes and still feeling like popsicles. But experiences from previous years comfort us - it'll come before we know it.

So I told you that I will wait with happy anticipation.

I don't know if our paths will cross again. If they do, I will definitely bring you a tray of these flaxseed oat cakes one day. I just have a strong feeling that you'd totally dig this wonderfully fragrant and healthy (bonus!) treat as I have! 

Thanks for being part of my life today.

Yours sincerely,

The 'high-schooler' with the camera.

This recipe is from Heidi's new cookbook Super Natural Everyday (I've doggy-eared so many pages!). These oat cakes are on the dense/heavy side, really moist and filled with chunky bits of walnuts and deliciously scented by the coconut oil and maple syrup. They are filling too, in a good way of course :) These will be making many many more appearances in my kitchen for sure, and I hope yours too.

Oat Cakes (oats, flax seeds, walnuts)
From Super Natural Everyday via 5 Second Rule

Makes 12 oat cakes

• 3 cups / 10.5 oz / 300 g rolled oats
• 2 cups / 8 oz / 225 g spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
• 2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
• 1/4 cup / 1.5 oz / 45 g flax seeds
• 3/4 cup / 3 oz / 85 g chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
• 1/3 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g extra-virgin coconut oil
• 1/3 cup / 3 oz / 85 g unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup / 180 ml maple syrup
• 1/2 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g natural cane sugar (I omitted this as the maple syrup is already really sweet)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F / 160°C with a rack in the top third of the oven. Butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

2. Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, flax seeds, and walnuts in a large mixing bowl.

3. In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the coconut oil, butter, maple syrup, and sugar and slowly melt together. Stir just until the butter melts and sugar has dissolved, but don’t let the mixture get too hot. You don’t want it to cook the eggs on contact in the next step.

4. Pour the coconut oil mixture over the oat mixture. Stir a bit with a fork, add the eggs, and stir again until everything comes together into a wet dough. Spoon the dough into the muffin cups, nearly filling them.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges of each oatcake are deeply golden. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Then, run a knife around the edges of the cakes and tip them out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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I've finally gotten around to numbering each of the eligible entries for the Baker's Delight Challenge!

(Terribly late I know!)

The 3 winners are:

hy

2 fit and fun gals

Anh

Will email you all soon :)

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Hope you smile today and come across nice people in your path too this week!