Earthly Eating

Recipe #1: Oat and Cranberry Scone Mix
Makes: 2 batches of 6 scones each

1 cup quick cooking oats, uncooked
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread oats in a 13″ by 9″ baking pan. Bake oats 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally. Cool in pan on wire rack.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to mix well, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar with fingers. Stir in oats and cranberries. Divide mix in half. Store each half in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

To prepare the scones: For each bath: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease 1 cookie sheet. Turn 1 container scone mix into a large bowl. In a medium bowl, with fork, beat 1 large egg; remove 1 tbs. beaten egg and reserve to brush on scones before baking. To egg remaining in the bowl, add 5 tbs. melted butter or margarine, 1/3 cup milk, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract; beat with a fork until well blended. Pour over scone mix and stir with a spoon until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Let the dough stand for 5 minutes. Scrape dough onto prepared cookie sheet; pat to 6-inch round. With floured knife, cut round into 6 wedges, do not separate wedges. Brush with reserved egg. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm, or transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Recipe #2: Toasted Almond & Cherry Chocolate Bark
Makes: About 1 1/2 pounds of bark

3/4 cup natural almonds, toasted and chopped
3/4 cup dried tart cherries
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1. In a small bowl, combine almonds and cherries, ser aside.

2. In 2-quart saucepan, melt semisweet chocolate over low heat, stirring. In a 1-quart saucepan, melt white chocolate over low heat, stirring. Remove saucepan from heat.

3. Stir half of the almond mixture into semisweet chocolate. On a large cooking sheet, spread semisweet chocolate mixture to about 1/4-inch thickness. Drop white chocolate by tbs. onto semisweet chocolate mixture. With the tip of a knife, swirl chocolates together for marbled look. Sprinkle with remaining almond mixture.

4. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Break bark into pieces. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Recipe #3: Hazelnut and Fruit Granola
Makes: About 10 cups of granola

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup hazelnuts, chopped
1 cup dried tart cherries
1 cup dried Cali Myrna figs, stems removed, chopped
1 cup dried apricots, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, whisk honey, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon until well blended.

2. Add oats, coconut, and nuts to honey mixture; stir until coated. Divide mixture between two 151/2″ by 101/2″ jelly-roll pans; spread evenly.

3. Bake oat mixture 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown, stirring twice during baking. Cool completely in pans on a wire rack.

4. In a large bowl, toss cooled oat mixture with cherries, figs and apricots. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week. For storage up to 3 weeks, and to keep granola crunchy, spoon oat mixture into 1 container and cherries, figs, and apricots into another. Mix together when ready to use.
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Earthly Eating Daily Recipe

Hot Mocha Mix
Makes: About 4 cups mix or enough to make about 20 cups mocha

To prepare hot mocha: For each serving: In a microwave-safe mug, mix 3 tbs. Hot Mocha Mix (do not include vanilla-bean pieces) with 1 cup milk. Heat in the microwave oven on HIGH 1 1/2 minutes, stirring once halfway through heating until blended and hot.

Happy Eating!