Cheese and Oatmeal Cakes

I've made several oat-based snacks on this site, but one thing they all had in common was their chewiness. These oat cakes, based on the ones mentioned in the book Lord Brocktree, are super crunchy and perfect for chip cravings.

Cheese and Oatmeal Cakes

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Yield: 6 cakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 380F.
2. Mix together the oats, baking soda, and salt.
   
3. Mix in the melted butter.
   
4. Add water one tablespoon at a time until the oats start to stick together. You might not use all of the water; I only used about 5 tablespoons.
   
5. Stir in the Parmesan.
   
6. Press the mixture into the bottom of six ramekins and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
   
7. Let cool completely on a cooling rack, then tip out of the ramekins. You may need to loosen then from the edge with a knife first. 
   

Plum and Nut Slice

This idea of a "slice" is very different from the previous two examples and comes from the book Lord Brocktree. For this version, I combined fruits, nuts, and seeds in a food processor to make a thick paste that could solidify into something similar to fruit leather without all the cooking time. Sliced into squares, it makes a great chewy snack

Plum and Nut Slice

Prep time: 10 minutes
Chill time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 9 pieces

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried plums (ie prunes, preferably unsweetened)
• 1 cup sticky dried fruit of choice (I used cherries)
• 1 cup walnuts
• Optional: 2 tbsp seeds, such as chia, poppy, or caraway

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor.
   
2. Run the food processor for about 5-10 minutes, scraping down the sides if necessary, or until all of the ingredients have formed a smooth, shiny paste.
   
3. Press the paste into an 8x8" pan lined with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill until solid.
   
4. Cut into slices.
   

Arrowroot and Almond Slice

I know that I just posted a recipe for an almond slice, but my group had an experiment, so I needed to come up with a dessert to share that could sit out at room temperature and that everybody could eat. This one is very different from the last one, but no less delicious.

Arrowroot and Almond Slice

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Yield: 32 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp arrowroot (or cornstarch), dissolved in 6 tbsp water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almond meal, baking soda, and salt.
   
3. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, and vanilla until light in color, smooth, and fluffy. 
   
4. Add arrowroot liquid and stir in -- this will NOT come together, but don't worry. All will be well in the end, I promise.
5. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until you have a smooth dough.
   
6. Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil and press the dough into the pan. I put my hand into a plastic bag and used that to press it down evenly.
   
7. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Almond Slice

I actually have no idea what a "slice" is in the context Redwall uses. I believe it's basically a "bar," or something sweet that is made in a square or rectangular pan and sliced into portions. For the almond slice, I decided to base the recipe off of a no-bake cheesecake. It came out pretty nicely. Leftovers can be frozen, but I don't recommend keeping these around for too long after making them.

Almond Slice

Prep time: 15 minutes
Chill time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Yield: 16-24 servings

Ingredients

• 8 graham cracker sheets
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

1. Place the graham crackers in a zipped bag and smash them with something heavy until you have fine crumbs
   
2. Pour the crumbs into an 8x8 baking pan. 
3. Melt together the butter and the 1/4 cup of ricotta, mix into the crumbs, and press everything into an even layer in the pan. 
   
4. With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, cup of ricotta, honey, and vanilla until light and fluffy. 
   
5. Pour the cheese mixture into the pan and smooth into an even layer
   
6. Top with the sliced almonds
7. Refrigerate for an hour before attempting to cut. After cutting, you can store these in the freezer and either thaw before serving or just serve frozen -- they're good both ways.

Seedcake

It's always bewildered me that banana bread is considered "bread" while poppy cake is considered "cake" when they're both highly-sweetened baked loaves...Anyway, this seed cake tastes wonderful even with half the sugar I mention in this recipe, so feel free to make it as sweet -- or not sweet -- as you like. Be careful when folding the wet ingredients into the dry -- the vinegar and baking soda will react to make bubbles and you don't want to pop those.

Seedcake

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp poppy seeds
• pinch salt
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup white or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt
   
3. In another bowl, whisk together milk, oil, vinegar, and vanilla until well combined
   
4. Pour the wet ingredients into dry and carefully fold together
   
5. Pour batter into a loaf pan that you've either greased or lined with parchment paper
   
6. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown

Sweet Oatcakes

Sweet oatcakes, just like the baked apples, were discovered in The Outcast of Redwall when Sunflash was teaching the hares of Salamandastron how to cook. They are made with milk, honey, dried fruit, and nuts and can be cut into squares for easy snacking. For mine, I used dried blueberries and chopped walnuts -- a combination I find particularly wonderful, especially with the addition of some cinnamon. Feel free to use your own favorites, though. I bet dried cherries and chopped almonds would also be fabulous.

Sweet Oatcakes

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Cool time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 8-16 bars, depending on how big you want them

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or other nut)
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries (or other fruit)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Mix together the oats, nuts, fruit, and cinnamon.
   
3. Mix together the water, oil, and baking powder (this is making a binding similar to an egg), then add the milk, vanilla, and honey.
   
4. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients. At this point, you will think that I have missed an instruction or ingredient because you will have a bowl of wet oats sitting in a puddle of milk. Don't despair and don't add anything. This is how it's supposed to be, I promise. It'll all work out. 
   
5. Pour the mixture into a greased 7x11 inch pan and use a spoon or your fingers to spread the oats into an even layer. The milk should spread itself out on the bottom.
   
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the pan on a rack before cutting.
   

Turnip 'n' Tater 'n' Beetroot Deeper 'n' Ever Pie

The Turnip 'n' Tater Deeper 'n' Ever Pie is one of those things that is constantly mentioned in the Redwall series, but is constantly changing. It goes from Turnip 'n' Tater to Turnip 'n' Tater 'n' Beetroot to Turnip 'n' Tater 'n' Beetroot 'n' Bean. I decided that the biggest version would be too big for my pie tin, so I went one step down. It was still a little too big for my tin, but it juuust fit.

The mashed potatoes can be made a few days ahead of time if you like ,just place them in an airtight container and refrigerate until you're ready to make the pie itself.

Turnip 'n' Tater 'n' Beetroot Deeper 'n' Ever Pie

Yield: 6 servings

Prep time: 45 minutes if you don't multitask during the potato cooking
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound potatoes (I prefer Yukon gold)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 medium onion
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, sour cream, or greek yogurt
• 1 pound turnips (about one large one)
• 1 pound beets (get golden if you can...my store didn't have them)

Directions

1. Peel potatoes and place in a large pot of water
   
2. Bring water to a boil, then keep at a boil for 20 minutes
3. Drain potatoes, add milk, and mash
   
4. Preheat oven to 425F
5. Chop onion and saute in oil for about 10 minutes, or until translucent and just starting to brown
   
6. Add the cream or yogurt to the onions and stir until melted and mixed in
   
7. Peel turnip and beets
   
8. Slice the turnip and beets into thin slices (I used a mandolin on the 1/4" setting)
   
9.  Press about 3/4 of the mashed potatoes into a 9" pie tin to make a "crust"
   
10. Layer the onions into the bottom of the pie, then top with the turnip and beet slices and sprinkle with the remaining potatoes
    
11. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes, or until beets and turnips are beginning to soften
    

Apple Cake

The idea of apple cake came up in Mariel of Redwall. After some thought, I decided I wanted to make it in the style of a pineapple upside down cake. I used honeycrisps, which are super-sweet, and added very little sugar to the cake itself. If you use apples which are more tart, you may wish to increase the amount of sugar to compensate.

A note: I baked this in a 8x8-inch square pan because I wanted to cut it into many small, easily share-able pieces. If you are planning on only splitting this between a few people, though, feel free to bake it in a 9-inch round pan like a normal cake.

Apple Cake

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Yield: 1 9-inch cake

Ingredients

• 2 honeycrisp apples
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/5 cups white whole wheat flour
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Peel the apples and slice them thinly. I used my mandolin on the 1/6" setting. A knife would work well, too, just try to cut them as thinly as you can.
2. Arrange apple slices to cover the bottom of your pan. Dice any remaining slices.
   
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (baking soda through salt).
   
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (oil through vanilla).
   
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix until just combined. You should have a very thick dough.
   
6. Add in the chopped leftover apple.
   
7. Gently press the dough into the pan, taking care to not disrupt your apple slices.
   
8. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. 
   
9. Let the cake cool (preferably on a rack) COMPLETELY (don't get impatient like me and do this too soon), then invert the cake onto a platter so the apple slices are on top.
10. Cut up the cake and enjoy! If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar or top with ice cream.