Thursday 28 February 2013

Chewy buckwheat clusters

You should all know by now that i'm a little obssesed with oats...and that doesn't look set to change anytime soon! BUT there is a new kid on the block...in the form of buckwheat. I had a top up delivery of foodie delights from my wholesaler last week which included 10 kilos of raw buckwheat groats!



Up until now I've genrally milled the buckwheat to make flour, since that is the GF flour of choice for the majority of my recipes. However, recently a few recipies using the whole groats recently caught my eye, in addition to a few energy bar experiments that I wil be rervealing more about shortly! This buckwheat granola by Angela over at Oh She Glows particulalrly grabbed my attention and so I wanted to try out my own spin on it!

Anyway, back to the recipe itself. This is a buckwheat granola and I simply swapped buckwheat for the usual oats and in keeping with my sugar free WholFood Challenge I have used date syrup to sweeten and bind, it works perfectly and gives lovely crispy chewy nuggets of buckwheat delight!

Here I made a date syrup with roughly a 4:1 ratio of dates to water made by soaking the dates in hot water and then blending until smooth (you can make a jars worth and store in the fridge) Once again, we have a very versatile recipe as a great base for ‘mix ins’. Just be sure that the balance of dry ingredients to wet stays roughly the same to ensure the mixture clumps together well as it is baked.

I actually made a similar recipe using a few different ingredients including coconut sugar for a more itense caramelly flavour. You can find the recipe here at Real Food Source  (along with many other recipes I have created for them).

 



Recipe: Buckwheat granola clusters 


Makes 1 ½ cups

Ingredients:

1 cup buckwheat groats (soaked and well drained*- they don't need to be totally dry)
¼ cup date syrup and a pinch of stevia to taste
¼ cup coconut flakes or other nuts/seeds (optional)
2 tbs peanut butter (or other nut butter) this should be drippy
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt (omit if using salted butter)


Method:

Mix the date syrup with the nut butter of choice, cinnamon and salt. Add the buckwheat groats and coconut flakes, nuts or seeds and mix through lightly until well coated.

Lay in clumps in a even layer on a lined baking sheet and bake on a low temperature- approx 140C for approx 30-40 mins until just golden. The granola will still be soft and sticky but will crisp up as it cools.

*Soak the buckwheat for a few hours or overnight, drain and rinse at least twice as buckwheat residue is very slimy. I prepared a big batch and kept the remainder in the fridge for a few days. to use for other things,

 

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

8 comments:

  1. This is amazing idea!

    For how long do you soak buckwheat groats?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point Lana, I will update the post. Soak the buckwheat for a few hours and then drain well a few times. I soaked mine overnight and then drained and rinsed in the morning and soaked for a further hour before draining and rinsing again. I made a big batch of buckwheat to use for other things to so it didn't matter that it was a little time consuming. Just make sure it is rinsed very well as buckwheat residue is slimy. Have fun!

      Delete
    2. Great, thanks Jo!

      I love buckwheat - well, all Russians do:)) It's just I have never used it for desserts, except for pancakes. Your clusters look really yummy and healthy!

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  2. Oh my gosh, this looks delicious! I've seen buckwheat increasingly around the blogosphere, but never really knew how to use it. I'll definitely be trying this recipe. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! I hope you do, I've been using it more and more recently, will post some more recipes soon.

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  3. Can you eat this like cereal with milk? Or will the groats separate and disintegrate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, the groats won't disintegrate (I have mixed them into overnight oats before), the clusters may separate a little bit but they wont turn to mush. I have eaten them with soy yogurt but not with milk so I am not sure how exactly it will turn out.

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  4. Love your take on this! I love date syrup and made a raw granola with it before. So so yummy. The only thing you have to be careful with regarding buckwheat granola is not to break a tooth! heh.

    ReplyDelete

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