Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Baking with Fruit

I have a child who refuses to eat fruit. I think he would like it if he would put it in his mouth, but he won't.  So, during Silas and mommy time we have started doing some baking with fruit.  We experimenting with replacing butter with different fruit purees.  So far we have make: Banana Mango Bread, Banana Peanut Butter Cookies, Pumpkin Spice Granola, Mango Coconut Granola, and Banana Spice Granola.  I try not to use much sugar either.  The bread didn't have any sugar in it and the other two just had brown sugar or jaggery (dehydrated molasses) in less quantity than it would normally call for because of the fruit's sweetness.
    I really like the cookies we made today.  I didn't measure, but it went something like this:
1 cup mashed banana
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup whole grain flour
some baking soda
some baking powder
some cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
oats

Silas helped me measure and thus it is impossible to get an accurate read.  I started with about a cup of flour and then kept adding until I had the right consistency. 190 C degree oven for about 12 minutes.

Mango Coconut Granola
6 cups oats
1 cup pureed mango
3/4 cup brown sugar/jaggery (varies depending on sweetness of mango)
1Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt

 Spread out on cookie sheet. (you will have to use a few cookie sheets). Bake in 160 degree Celsius oven for 15 minutes.  Flip and then bake another 10-20 minutes depending on size of clusters.
Add shredded coconut and raisins (that is what I had available but other dried fruits or nuts would be good as well)

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