Road Trip Eats: Apricot Oat Bars

I really love road trips. The open road, blasting tunes on the stereo, the promise of a new place, and the opportunity for road snacking.

Me and three friends made a trip upstate (Schenectady) to see one of our favorite authors, David Sedaris, do a reading and signing. If you haven't jumped on his bandwagon yet, DO IT. He's such an amazing writer! I decided, that since we were heading out kind of early, that I'd make something tasty for the ride up. I had a lot of errands to run before we left, so I wanted whatever I made to be simple, wholesome, and easy.

These Apricot Oat Bars are exactly that. At 7 in the morning on a Saturday, you don't really want to fuss much. These took 10-15 minutes to mix; the only thing I didn't have in my pantry was the apricot preserves, which was fixed by a jaunt to the market. Not a fan of apricot? You can totally sub in any flavor you want. I like the Bonne Maman brand myself, but use what you like. Just don't use grape jam/jelly or something like that. NASTY.

First, get your oven nice and toasty at 350. Combine a cup and a half of flour, the same amount of old fashioned oats, a teaspoon of baking powder, a cup of packed brown sugar, a half teaspoon of salt, and a stick and 3/4ths of butter (cut in pieces, please) in a large mixing bowl. Just mix it up in your hands til the mixture looks like crumbs. This works best when the butter is slightly soft.

Take half of your mixture and press it into a BUTTERED 8 inch square dish (I just used a smallish rectangular dish). Then, take your 12oz jar of preserves and spread it over your bottom crust evenly. Lick the spatula clean (optional, but I think you should do it). Sprinkle the second half of the mix over the preserves and press it down lightly. Now, all you gotta do is pop this in the oven for 45 minutes until golden brown and delish. They smell AMAZING coming out of the oven. But, don't be tempted to cut into them right away. Let them cool COMPLETELY. If you don't they will completely fall apart...like they did in the car. We ate them anyway though, hands covered in sticky sweetness. Hey, anything goes on the open road.

SIDEBAR: You know why the picture I posted for this recipe is so nice? Because my fool butt left the picture I took of these on my external hard drive! And I borrowed this one from The Pioneer Woman, which is fitting, because this is also her recipe. I already asked her permission, but just wanted to put it in writing here. :-)

Food Memories - Bacon Daze, Part 1

My mom's special weekend treat for me were either Aunt Jemima panacakes (from the mix) or the frozen waffles. They were nestled happily next to scrambled eggs and bacon, and all drowned in warm maple syrup dappled with lumps of still melting butter. Oh, and only real maple please. I could always taste a fake. I always left the bacon for last, swirling each rasher one by one through the syrup puddles.

The syrup and almost sweet fatty rind became one, melting on my tongue. All this playfulness was corralled, then, by the toothsome, savory streak of meat. I ate each piece slowly, knowing that this was only a limited time only occasion; my mother worked during the week, and it would be silly to expect her to make me breakfast every morning. But, as with any addiction, weekends just weren't enough.

Oneshot: Fatty McFatterson Breakfast - Croissant French Toast

....yes, I have no shame.

The first time I took part in this insanely delicious treat was with my friend David at Maureen's Kitchen in Smithtown (Long Island). I was in love with the place at first site, squealing over the adorable cow print motif and cozy atmosphere. I had their baked oatmeal with warm milk, which tasted like a warm, gooey oatmeal cookie and a huge cup of tea. What really stole the show though was the croissant french toast with blueberries and apple cinnamon cream cheese. Good God. I like my french toast on the crunchier side, and all those buttery flaky layers in the croissant soaked up the custardy batter without making it soggy. With the fresh fruit and slightly sweetened cheese: fantastic. I dreamed of remaking it at home, and years later...I did. What can I say, I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

If you look at the picture, you notice that there's some juicy berries, Nutella, and wait...some cream cheese on my lovely creations. Before I got started with the toast, I prepared those first. The cream cheese was just softened (via microwave) and mixed with 2 spoons of sugar. The berries were macerated with sugar and a little red wine for hutzpah and oomph...and other emotive words. 

For the french toast itself, I used croissants from Balthazar Bakery because, I used to work there AND because I think they're delicious. But you can use any that you fancy, but just make sure they're good quality. Don't use the whomp canned kind.

Whenever I make french toast, I kinda just put it together off the top of my head. I used (for 4 croissants) 2-3 eggs, beaten well, added some whole milk (skim will NOT DO), a couple spoonfuls of sugar, a generous teaspoon of vanilla, and shakes of nutmeg and cinnamon. I used a whisk to get it nice and homogenized. Get a nice heavy pan/skillet on the stove and set it to medium heat. Let it get all warm and happy.

Slice the croissants so that they open like a book. You want that yummy batter to really soak in. I try to use a shallow dish to dredge as many pieces as I can. Make sure you let them soak a bit on both sides!

Now take a pat or two salted butter (you can use unsalted too), and swirl it around your skillet. Let it foam and turn a little brown...I usually turn down the heat a tad because my stove has demons. Slap those bad boys in, two at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side. Replenish the butter as needed, and let them get real golden brown and delish. As they finish up, i put them on a foil covered sheet pan in a VERY low oven to keep warm. REALLY LOW, because i didn't want them to get to crispy, aka BURN.

I served them up the way I had them at Maureen's, like a sandwich. Nutella on one side, cream cheese and berries on the other. Smushed together, with a little maple syrup drizzled over the top. To keep me honest!


Egg whites, bacon, and sausage links round out this perfectly HEALTHY and NUTRITIOUS breakfast!

I figure if I type it in large letters...it'll make it true.