Ever since I tasted Duchy originals lemon curd I was in love with the products.
On my last trip to the library I came across this Duchy Originals Cookbook and took it home without even looking inside. I knew there would probably be a lot of meat recipes in there but that didn’t matter. I just wanted to have a closer look at it. And I am glad I did.
The book is divided into four seasonal chapters with sub chapters like lambs or the forest in spring, bread or bees and honey in summer, jam or salmon in autumn and cheese, sausages or chocolate in winter.
The foreword is written by Prince Charles, who founded Duchy Originals twenty years ago, then we learn about the history and philosophy of the company. Some of those are the promotion of sustainable and organic farming, producing food in a traditional manner and working according to the cycle of nature.
It is an absolutely lovely book with beautiful pictures, interesting articles and very yummy recipes. Even though I only looked at the vegetarian ones I found plenty of dishes I want to try out.
The one I did try out right away are the granola bars.
Granola Bars with organic honey
Frame by Audrey Neal.
Ingredients
- 100 g rolled oats
- 25 g pumpkin seeds
- 25 g sunflower seeds
- 75 g brown sugar
- 150 g butter
- 75 g organic honey (preferably Duchy Originals, but any kind will do)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 150°C.
Mix rolled oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and sugar in a bowl.
Melt butter together with honey and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Line a baking dish with baking paper and pour mixture into it. Even it out and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Take out of the oven and cool down completely. Take off paper and cut into bars.
They keep in an airtight container for about a week.
I didn’t have bought pumpkin seeds but a Hokkaido pumpkin instead and wanted to roast my own seeds, but it didn’t work out. They burnt in the end, but I am not sure they would have turned out ok even if they hadn’t.
If anyone has a few tips on how to roast your own pumpkin seeds I would be grateful.
Anyway, I ended up using twice the amount of sunflower seeds instead and that worked, too. The bars are super nice, a bit on the sweet side, so I suppose you could cut down on the sugar a little.
The veggie factor
| Recipe ratio (non.veg./veg.) | I didn’t count, and I could be way off, but I reckon about 75%/25% |
| Worth it? | Yes, definitely. In spite of the veggie factor. |
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Duchy Originals Cookbook |
| Author | Johnny Acton & Nick Sandler |
| Publisher | Kyle Cathie Limited |
| ISBN | 9781904920694 |
| I got this book from | the libary |
| Buy link | Buy Duchy Originals Cookbook |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
This post is part of
Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.
Looks like a wonderful book judging by your granola bars! They look amazing! I haven’t roasted pumpkin seeds since my kids were small but I remember rinsing them, spreading them on a baking sheet and toasting them in the oven but that’s all I remember. And I burned them, too!
Carol @ Always Thyme to Cook’s last post ..Finally getting to be soup weather!
Those honey granola bars look wonderful! And I like that the idea behind Duchy Originals is to support sustainable and organic farming.
Roasting pumpkin seeds: The trick is to stir them once in a while and keep you eye on them.
Beth F’s last post ..Weekend Cooking: Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu
Those granola bars look so good! Roasting pumpkin seeds is tricky business. I seem to burn them as often as not, but BethF is right – stir every so often and watch them carefully. I leave the oven light on while they roast.
JoAnn’s last post ..The American Way of Eating by Tracie McMillan
Are you vegan (and so are your kids)? I have lots of problems eating vegetables and fruits so I’m very interested on your recipes for your chilren, Rikki.
I’ve never had granola bars but many people love them. These seem easy to make which is highly important since I’m terrible at cooking.
Elena’s last post ..The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Me and John went vegetarian a couple of years ago (I could never do vegan), but the kids eat meat. I am not cooking full meat meals at home, but we have meat stuff in the house for their lunch boxes, if they get a craving I cook them something meaty to go with our veggie dishes. And they also eat regular meat meals at school. When they are older they can choose for themselves whether they want to contoinue eating meat or not.
Yes, those granola bars is very easy to make.
Your granola bars look so yummy! Will look for this book
!!
jama’s last post ..friday feast: celebrating fall with a janet wong giveaway!
I’ve been on a real pumpkin and honey kick, so these granola bars are calling to me.
Diane (bookchickdi)’s last post ..Weekend Cooking- Pinterest Testing Three Chicken Recipes
I love cookbooks that are organized by seasons. Those granola bars look wonderful.
Angela at Oh She Glows wrote about how to roast pumpkin seeds this week: http://ohsheglows.com/2012/09/17/how-to-roast-perfect-pumpkin-seeds-easy-crunchy-addictive/
Oh, thank you for that link, Joy! That will come in handy.
Those granola bars look delicious! And the cookbook cover makes me want to dive in. Love that it’s seasonally organized, too. So helpful when you’re a farmer’s market shopper like me! Thanks for sharing!
Cecelia’s last post ..cape cod october pie
those bars look delightful…
The concept of this book sounds so interesting! Once upon a time Prince Charles was laughed at for all his ideas, but these days it seems he might have been right!
These granola bars do not seem that hard to make, in addition to looking delicious. I like the general concept of the cookbook too.
Fay’s last post ..A Dutch Molasses Cake from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
I really must make bars like these myself one day. I never done this before and that just has to change
Uniflame’s last post ..Weekend Cooking: Soup of the Day
I’d love to try making granola bars
Hm, not sure what the best way is to roast pumpkin seeds, I only know how to toast seeds :S Are the non-veg recipes easy to adapt?
Chinoiseries’s last post ..Book review: The Passage – Justin Cronin
The post that Joy pointed out really helps. I will def. try the roasting again.
No, I don’t think the meat recipes are adaptable, they are typical meat dishes, goose, sausages, lamb chops and what not.