Peach Bars

I really love the collection of vegan cookbooks I have going on. The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes has some really great recipes in it and so far I have loved everything that I have made! I took the recipe for Apricot Bars and adapted it to Peach Bars. I think the peach jam I used definitely was sweeter than intended for the recipe, but I liked it a lot. When treats are very sweet it almost makes you more satisfied with one instead of wanting to go back for more. That's not necessarily a bad thing!

Peach Bars

1 earth balance baking stick, softened [1/2 cup]

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons earth balance, cut into small cubes and chilled in the fridge

1 1/2 cups (more or less) peach jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8x8 pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together earth balance and sugar. In a small bowl, mix flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches to make a stiff dough. Spread in the bottom of the pan and poke with a fork several times. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together flour and sugar for topping. Add in the chilled earth balance with a pastry cutter until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Keep topping in fridge until using.

After base has baked, spread jam across the top and sprinkle the topping on. [I found that at least 1 1/2 cups was necessary for the jam layer to cover the top - use more or less as you prefer.]

Bake 20-25 minutes, until topping is browned. Let cool on a rack for 30 mins before cutting.

Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars

I was flipping through my copy of The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes looking for something to make that I had all the ingredients for already. I found "Oatmeal Earth Bars" and figured that I could easily swap out a couple of the add-ins for things I already had, and I came up with this glorious, amazing, delicioussssss breakfasty dessert. I changed it quite a bit, so I'll probably have to make the recipe as written and see how similar they are!



Appley Earthy Oatmeal Bars (makes 9)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash cloves
3/4 cup sugar
3 T egg replacer + 9 T water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
(almost) 1 cup cooked old-fashioned oats [I aimed for a cup (cooked) and came up short - didn't seem to affect it though!]
1/2 cup chopped dried apple [I used Trader Joe's dried granny smiths]
1/2 cup chopped walnut halves

Preheat oven to 350 - line 8x8 square pan with nonstick foil.
Combine flour baking powder salt and spices in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl whisk egg replacer and water. Add sugar and mix until combined. Whisk in oil, then add cooked oatmeal and mix. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined and then fold in dried apples and nuts.
Spread batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes (toothpick test was at 40 exactly). Cool in pan on a rack before cutting.