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Solar Brownies
Weight Watchers and brownies may seem like two things you’d never see in the same sentence but this recipe was adapted for the Sun Oven from one of their cookbooks.
Sun Oven Brownies
Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light cream cheese, at room temperature
Solar Upside-Down Cake
If you find that you Sun Oven baked cakes are coming out a little lopsided try baking an upside-down cake. Any imperfection disappears once it’s flipped over. That makes it an ideal candidate for Sun Oven cooking.
Sun Oven Apple Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 baking apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
A Winter Dessert from the Sun Oven
The Sun Oven’s gentle heat is ideal for this easy winter dessert. Baked apples are good warm or at room temperature and cook relatively quickly in the Sun Oven. Get a batch in first thing and you’ll still have time to make a solar cooked dinner.
Sun Oven Baked Apples
Ingredients
4 large baking apples
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup rasins, chopped
1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Solar Baked Blueberry Phyllo Pouches
Almost as good as pie with a lot less work. Use any kind of fruit, fresh or frozen, for the filling. Serve them with vanilla ice cream for even more of a treat.
Ingredients
6 Sheets of phyllo dough, defrosted
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional sugar for topping
1 tablespoon flour
Solar Baked Christmas Tart
If you’re looking for an easy to make solar baked dessert to bring to a holiday party look no further. This tart is an ideal candidate for the Sun Oven. It won’t come out lopsided (as batter cakes unfortunately do) and you don’t have to be an artist to decorate it. It’s basically one large, almond paste-filled cookie. I’ve been making it every Christmas for the past few years and it’s always a hit. Both the dough and the filling have to be refrigerated for at least two hours so it’s best to prepare them the evening before baking.
The recipe is from Bon Appétit and can be found by clicking here; it needs no modification for Sun Oven Baking other than a slightly longer cooking time.
Easy Solar Side or Dessert
This fruit sauce makes a good side for pork chops, or can be topped with whipped cream for an easy dessert. It’s also good on vanilla ice-cream or on it’s own as a snack. Pretty much any kind of apples or pears can be used so get the ones that are on sale.
Solar Apple-Pear Sauce
Ingredients
2 pounds Jonagold apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 pounds Anjou pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch kosher salt
Preparation
Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.
Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover and cook in Sun Oven until fruit is softened, about 1 hour. Remove cinnamon stick and mash fruit with a potato masher.
Makes 6 cups.
Solar Baked Chiffon Cake
Back in my early solar cooking days I’d always make new recipes in my indoor oven first, especially baked goods. My reasoning was that if it came out right using a traditional oven but not in the Global Sun Oven I’d know where to lay the blame. I no longer have time for that. When I want to embark on a new baking adventure I go directly to my GSO. And that’s exactly what I did today. I’d never even heard of a chiffon cake, let alone baked one, before I found this recipe in the L.A. Times. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous, I’ve had my fair share of cake disasters, with and without the Sun Oven, but I decided to go for it anyway. It came out great.
I didn’t make any changes to the original recipe – which contains my all time favorite instruction “Set the pan aside in a quiet place until cooled completely, 1 to 2 hours.” – even the cooking times were the same. Click here to read the recipe.
Sunny Peach Cobbler
This biscuit-like topping can be used with any cobbler filling. Use a cookie cutter shape that reflects the occasion.
Sun Oven Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 pounds peaches, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Solar Baking is Easy
This is the first cake I ever baked in my Sun Oven; that was two years ago. It was a partly cloudy day and I don’t think the oven ever got above 325 but it came out great anyway. I’m not a very good baker, anything with icing always comes out looking like a total mess, but this upside-down cake came out almost as pretty as the picture in the magazine where I found the recipe.
Peaches are in season so I might just bake another one just to make sure my first successful attempt was not a fluke. I didn’t make any changes to the original recipe, except baking it in the Sun Oven. Click here if you’d like to see it.
Individual Solar Oatmeal Berry Crisps
These crisps are not very sweet on they’re own so be sure to serve them with vanilla ice-cream. If you don’t have a set of black metal mugs you can use custard cups or ramekins, but the cooking time will probably be a little longer. I love my metal mugs, they come in handy for all sorts of things. I got mine at a thrift store but, they can be found at camping supply stores. Six of the metal mugs just fit on the leveling tray or you can use a metal cooling rack and do two layers of three to allow for better air flow.
Solar Berry Oatmeal Crisps
Ingredients
2 12-ounce packages frozen mixed berries
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.
Toss frozen berries and cornstarch in a large bowl. Let stand until the cornstarch dissolves, tossing occasionally, about 20 minutes. Divide berry mixture among six metal mugs. Toss brown sugar, flour, oats, nuts, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, blend butter into mixture until coarse crumbs form. Divide oat mixture among mugs, sprinkling evenly over berry mixture. Bake crisps in GSO until topping is golden brown and fruit filling is bubbling around the edges. Cool crisps at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
