Instead of just rolled oats I use a four grain mix that includes rolled oats, rye, barley and wheat. The grains have been precooked and then flattened to make them quick to prepare, just like oats often are. This specific four grain mix can be bought in any little grocery in Finland, and we usually cook it into porridge which takes 3 to 10 minutes – we use organic cereals that are ready in 5 minutes. Of course there’s a whole world of cereals, nuts, dried fruit, and seeds you could toss in these bars!

I’ve made three variations so far and they’re all pretty great – the one with peanut butter and sunflower seeds is a basic cupboard-staple option with a sweet caramel undertone, cocoa with cherries is always a lovely combo and satisfies my sweet-tooth quite perfectly, and the mandarin-pistachio-cranberry-goji is the most colorful and sparkles with fruity flavor. I would make each one of these again, but to be honest I guess it is much more likely I’ll experiment with new combinations and ingredients for each batch I make!

Basic Peanut Sunflower Snack Bars:

• 1 and 1/2 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 1/2 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1/2 dl sunflower seeds
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl apple juice
• 3 tablespoons smooth natural peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Cocoa Cherry Quinoa Snack Bars (pictured below):

• 1 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 1/2 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1 dl puffed quinoa
• 1/2 dl dried cherries, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 tablespoons cashew butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Zesty Berry Pistachio Snack Bars (pictured above):

• 1 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 3/4 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1 dl puffed quinoa
• 1/2 dl dried cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 dl dried goji berries, chopped
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl unsweetened mango sauce
• 1 dl (unsalted, shelled) pistachios, chopped
• grated zest of 1 organic mandarin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

I toasted the cereal and gram flour (and sunflower seeds for the peanut version, or walnuts for the pistachio one) on a dry frying pan until fragrant and just lightly browned, for about 10 minutes.

While I was toasting the cereal, I placed the sugar and the apple juice (or the apple sauce for the cocoa version, or mango sauce for the pistachio one) in a small cooking pan and cooked over medium heat for about 6 minutes until thick and bubbly. Then I added the nut butter (if used), salt, vanilla, and cinnamon or cocoa powder (if used) in the pan and mixed thoroughly.

Now I poured everything in a mixing bowl and stirred with a fork until there were no dry lumps visible. I placed the dough between two pieces of baking parchment and pressed it with my fingers (I needed to use oven mittens, it was so hot) to a square about 3/4 cm thick. Then I let it set in room temperature, which took about an hour or so, before cutting into bars – this batch makes about 9 to 12 depending on how large you like them. If the bars seem too sticky, I let them dry on the counter for about an hour on each side and they’re easier to handle.

I store these in zip-lock bags, separated by layers of parchment paper to avoid sticking, and in room temperature – these keep pretty well, and this batch isn’t huge either. In warmer climates it might be a good option to store these in the fridge, tightly sealed to avoid moisture creeping in.

This is nice and crunchy and not too sweet, with a hint of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and cashew nut butter for extra flavor. We usually don’t eat sweet things for breakfast and rarely ever buy granola, but I am now very much hooked to this homemade version – it’s so delicious as a snack with plain soy yoghurt or vegan milk. And obviously there’s plenty of room for creativity when it comes to granola, with all the nuts and seeds and dried fruits and extracts just waiting to be added for good measure.

Here’s what I used:

• 6 dl rolled oats
• 2 dl soy flakes (by Soyappétit), slightly crushed
• 2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 dl muscovado (whole cane) sugar
• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon cashew nut butter
• 1 tablespoon soy milk

First I heated the oil, sugar, nut butter, and soy milk on medium heat until the sugar had melted. I removed the pot from heat and combined the dry ingredients – oats through ginger – in a bowl. Then I poured the sugar mixture and vanilla extract in the dry stuff, stirred with a fork until thoroughly combined (this takes some time), and spread the granola on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

I baked my granola in 150 degrees Celsius, first 12 minutes, then tossed it, and baked for another 12 minutes, removed from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet. This all depends on the oven I guess, so the granola might need another 5 to 10 minutes of baking time – it should get golden brown (the bits that aren’t cocoa brown) and crunchy.

This is how our soy flakes look like: they’re very light and airy.

Adding wheat bran to cookies is a good way of making you feel like you’re baking something almost healthy without compromising flavor. This batch yields about 10 medium-sized cookies, and they keep very well in room temperature for a few days at least.

The Dry Ingredients:

• 1 dl whole spelt flour
• 1 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl wheat bran
• 1/2 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

The Wet Ingredients:

• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I first mixed the dry and the wet ingredients in separate bowls, and then combined in one of the bowls. The dough was dry-ish but kept together when pinched between two fingers.

I then proceeded to cover a baking sheet with baking parchment and rolled the dough into 10 balls. I flattened the cookies slightly – they only spread a little in the oven, so this is an important step. Then I baked them in 175 degrees Celsius for 8 to 9 minutes, when still soft but just slightly browned on the underside.

These cookies had a good crunch, but also a nice and chewy center – there is a risk of overbaking these, so good care should be taken.

I wanted to make a chewy cookie, and coconut and currants did give these a very nice chewiness. Somehow there is also a crispy and light dimension to the texture, akin to the caramelized oat biscuits that I baked a while back. The nutmeg sort of took over the taste after a few days in the cookie jar (and the chewiness took over the crispiness as well) so I’d say these are at their most delicious right after baking!

The Cookie Dough:

• 1 dl desiccated coconut
• 1 dl graham (whole wheat) flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons currants
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and covered a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Then I mixed all the dry ingredients (coconut through nutmeg) together in a bowl, and then poured in the oil. I mixed until a little combined, and then started adding soy milk until a nice, slightly sticky dough formed.

I placed tablespoon-sized dabs of dough on the cookie sheet, and flattened them a little bit with a fork. These cookies spread out pretty much, but I managed to fit them all on just one baking sheet.

Then I baked my cookies in the pre-heated oven for about 8-9 minutes, and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing them with a spatula. These cookies are soft right out of the oven, but crisp up while they cool down.

This batch makes about 9 smallish chokladbollar. It’s not very much, and I think we’ll have to double the recipe next time. We used a light vegan margarine, but I guess the commercially produced chokladbollar have coconut oil in them since they hold their shape in room temperature. I love the flavor of coffee in these, but it can be replaced with another liquid if desired – soy milk would be perfect, or maybe even a dash of some nice liqueur for extra decadence.

This is what we used:

• 50 g vegan margarine, in room temperature (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3/4 dl (muscovado) sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons good cocoa powder
• 1 and 1/2 dl rolled oats (ground)
• 1 tablespoon coffee (we used espresso)
• about 1 dl desiccated coconut for rolling

First, we ground the oats in our mini food processor until they resembled a coarse flour. I haven’t seen this done in any other recipe, but I just think it’s much nicer this way – I like smoother texture without chewy oats. We also brewed a little bit of coffee in our smallest stove-top coffee maker and let it cool to room temperature.

We creamed together the sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder, and margarine. Then we added the oats and the coffee, and mixed with our immersion blender until well combined. The dough can be mixed by hand just as well, but again, it wont be quite as smooth.

Now, we chilled the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes – it’s too sticky to handle otherwise. Then we just rolled the dough into 9 more or less equal-sized balls, rolled the balls in the desiccated coconut, and chilled them for about 1 hour more.

This recipe makes 12 muffins. We also halved the recipe a few weeks back, and the results were just as delicious.

The dry mix:

• 4 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

The wet mix:

• 1 dl liquid margarine
• 1 and 1/2 dl sugar
• 2 dl (sweetened) soy milk
• 2 dl plain soy yogurt
• 100 g chocolate, melted
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (or another orange liqueur)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

Additions:

• 1 and 1/2 dl chocolate chips

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, greased our 12-cup muffin tin, and dusted it with cocoa powder.

We mixed all the ingredients of the dry and the wet mixes in separate bowls, and then mixed the two together, stirring with a fork until relatively smooth. Now it was time to add the chocolate chips, and stir a bit more to combine. Then we spooned the batter into the cups of the muffin tin, and placed the muffins on the middle rack of the preheated oven.

In our oven it took about 25 minutes for a toothpick inserted in a muffin to come out clean, indicating that they were ready. I placed the muffins upside down on a wooden rack to cool down for half an hour or so, and then packed them for the picnic.