Wanting to show your baking mastery in this Christmas season? Would you prefer to do it with healthy ingredients, possibly gluten-free treats? Turn to the recently released The Holy Crap Cookbook (Douglas & McIntyre) for ideas. It’s a full colour compendium of 60 recipes, sweet and savoury, all prepared with the cereal that made the Sunshine Coast famous, Holy Crap.
I tested one of the recipes: Apple Cheddar Bites, a savoury muffin. I had already tasted the Two-Ingredient Gluten Free Oat Cookies that Holy Crap founder Corin Mullins and cookbook author Claudia Howard were offering as samples during their visit to The Seasoned Kitchen in Gibsons. You need only banana and the Holy Crap with Oats product to make the easy desserts, though a little chocolate drizzled on top doesn’t hurt.
My savoury mini-muffin “bites” were made with quinoa, apple, cheese and eggs; they were good, but the first batch was a bit soggy. My advice is to use the olive oil abundantly to oil the pan as described. It not only makes it easier to remove the muffins but it crisps them and adds flavour. Extra cheddar cheese was a good idea too, along with some parmesan.
The colourful photos that illustrate the book were taken by Christina Symons, one of the best food photographers. It’s a beautifully designed book – in fact, that’s my only quibble. Cooks must hold the book open while they prepare – it won’t lie flat – and the ingredients are written in small type size, making it difficult to see measurements of fractions. Was that one-third of a cup or two-thirds of a cup? Better get your glasses to see properly.
The book is available for $22.95 on the Coast at stores and online at www.holycrap.com.
