Sourdough cranberry-oat bars

With coconut + fermented cocoa.

I should save these for fall, when cranberries are in season here in North America.

But I made this batch with a bag of cranberries that had somehow lasted just fine in the fridge through the winter. I’d bought too many when I made fermented-cranberry relish for Thanksgiving.

It was a brutal winter, and I’m not actually talking about the weather. I’d had a vague idea that those cranberries should be put into something for months, but honestly it was a miracle we managed to use up our pumpkins left over from the fall of 2023 bumper-crop harvest, which we did, and that was enough for the winter homesteading projects.

Like me, the cranberries were a bit winter-worn, some prune-shriveled and showing their age. But still good.

They would work fine, and with them, an already-opened bag of dried coconut, no additives like propylene glycol, just coconut, because you can still find these if you look hard enough.

Plus the perfect leftover quantity of fermented cocoa nibs, which is one of the healthiest and best ways to imbibe chocolate.

Here are all of the ingredients, along with commission links for the ones you can purchase on Amazon. I’m legally obligated to tell you that I might earn a small commission if you purchase via those links, though truthfully what this means is that every once in a great while, I get kicked a few random dollars from Amazon, not even enough to buy a coffee these days.

But that and the paywall below are what we have left here in the present global economy that privileges the top 10 percent at the expense of the rest of us, and as you can see, Substack is just a mirror for our world. I would rather exchange this recipe with you for a jar of honey from the bees you keep in your backyard, or better yet, make these oat bars for you and swap a sheet pan of them for that jar of honey, but we don’t live in that kind of world.

Perhaps we’ll return to it, and sooner than anyone thinks. Then you and I could stand in my kitchen swapping stories about our lives as well, like neighbors used to back in the day. We might feel some community in that, and friendship. I tear up as I type this now.

Until then, we have this queer digital space where I can share with you a recipe I pulled together with leftovers from my pantry and fridge, building on having made many pans of oat bars over the years. Maybe you’ll want to chat with me about it.

Sourdough cranberry-oat bars with coconut + fermented cocoa

Ingredients

• 2 lbs or 900 g rolled oats (2 bags if you use these from Bob’s Red Mill), though mine were from a local farmer

• 12 oz fresh (or dried) cranberries (though maybe mine were a bit stale!)

• 6 oz or 28 g fermented cocoa nibs

• 6 oz or 28 g dried coconut chips (or shredded, if you prefer)

• 1 1/2 c or 250 g maple sugar or coconut sugar (if you use white or brown sugar, you might want to dial back the quantity)

• 1-2 tablespoons or 30 ml sourdough starter (see my instructions for how to make starter)

• 5 c filtered water

• 10 eggs

• 2 c (473 ml) melted, unsalted butter (grass-fed cow’s milk has more nutrients)

I used Kate Downham’s book A Year in the Off-Grid Kitchen (subject of one of our past giveaways) as a starting point for this recipe, building on her basic idea of sourdough-fermented oats. From there I dialed back on the amount of oats, increased the liquids and yeast activity, swapped the sweetener, and replaced her dried fruit and spices with my special blend of cocoa nibs, fresh cranberries, and coconut, a combination that elevates it into the realm of decadent dessert. You could also swap the cranberries for cherries for an even richer take.

And here is how I put the ingredients together for one of my favorite and most versatile concoctions. Paying members get this recipe plus 17 more in the archive and as both individual PDFs and in a 35-page booklet.