100% Whole Wheat Cinnamon Pull-A-Part Bread

I’ve been reading Chef Dennis’s Blog, “More Than a Mount Full” since I began blogging. How could I not? His blog provides a wealth of knowledge for both new and seasoned bloggers. For seasoned bloggers, he provides recipes and tips that are inventive and original.  For new bloggers, in an effort to help them find their niche and succeed, in what some may consider, a saturated market, he dedicates a great deal of his posts to [food] blogosphere “trade secrets”. He also dedicates every Friday to giving a blogger the opportunity to blog on a stage, other than their own.

I’ve been secretly dreaming about the day I would be able to metaphorically, sing on his stage. (I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to many of you as I’ve already shared what happens when I have an opportunity to sing.)

Well, today is my first opportunity, since launching my blog thee months ago, to have my voice heard in front of an audience other than what I’ve been able to generate on my own. Sure the timing wasn’t ideal, and I didn't really feel ready, but when is it ever the right time and when do we ever feel ready? If I spent my life waiting for the perfect moment, I’d never get anything done. So, I said, “ YES!” (As it turns out…that was the easy part). To find out what I did next, you’ll have to head over to Chef Dennis’s Blog More Than a Mountfull.  (don't forget to say hey when you stop over.)

Thank you Chef Dennis! I’ve truly appreciated how this opportunity has helped me find my [blogging] voice.

100% Whole-Wheat Waffles

Does someone in your family make the best…something? Have you ever asked for the recipe? If your family is like mine, what you end up with is a recipe that reads something like this.

You add a little bit of this to the mixture until you get it to the right consistency.

Then you sprinkle some of this and that in until it tastes just the way you want it to.

These recipes frustrate me to no end because up until about 6 months ago I followed recipes religiously. It’s all I knew how to do. I followed them blindly always believing that what the creator had written would turn out as promised if I followed the directions. I lacked the understanding and knowledge to tweak the recipe at all. So when I came across recipes like the one above, I was parallelized and didn’t really know how to move on. Plus even if I did take a chance, I didn’t keep notes in the kitchen so if a miracle did happen and my tweaking worked, repeating my happy mistake was nearly impossible. So what was to be done with Dad’s whole-wheat waffles?

When I got married I wanted to continue some of the traditions I grew up with, like Saturday morning waffles. When I asked my Dad for the family recipe he said:

“The recipe?” while staring at me with a worried look. “Well I guess I could come up with a recipe, I just kinda throw it all together.”

Ergggh!

Over the past 13 years (or is it 14) I’ve been doing my best to make these waffles just like Dad’s. Sometimes I hit; sometimes I miss.

When I started this blog I knew eventually I wanted to share this recipe with all of you but before I could I knew I had to get it right AND it needed to be duplicable so with my handy kitchen notebook in tow, I set out to get it right.

There were two issues with the original recipe that I wanted to change. 1)- I wanted it to be 100% whole wheat and 2)-I wanted to eliminate the sugar.

The biggest problem I had in trying to reach my goal was that the 100% whole-wheat batter was too heavy, even with the egg whites. While the first batch of waffles was cooking on the waffle iron the eggs would separate from the batter leaving a less than ideal runny mess in the bowl for the next batches. The second issue I had was that the waffle, although super tasty with syrup and fixings, wasn’t good enough to stand on its own. After several attempts to add flavor with other sweeteners & flavors I began to think a bland waffle was just the way it was meant to be, after all It would be loaded with fruit, syrup (may I suggest strawberry or white), whipped cream and what have you.

While watching Food Network Star this week, Bobby Flay made a comment on how it was essential for each component of a dish to be able to stand on it’s own while still being able to meld with everything else in the dish and on the side. I knew what had to be done - my goal to keep sugar out of the recipe had to be nixed – a little bit of sugar was necessary to keep the acidity of the baking powder and buttermilk at bay. It worked!

Well, that day has come. I’ve finally done it! I’ve tweaked the recipe just enough so that it can be shared and duplicated. And wouldn’t you know it, the day after I figured it all out, someone emailed me a waffle recipe that was almost exactly the same as what I had come up with. Why didn’t I just google in the first place? You think you have an original idea or an “old family recipe” only to find out that about a million other people had the same idea and the same recipe. How does that happen?

100% Whole Wheat Waffles

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Yield:  20 4x4” waffles (easily halved)
Serving Size 2, 4" waffles

Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon juice

~2 cups milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

3 – 3 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ cup sugar (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Separate the eggs placing the yolks in a small bowl and the whites in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside and bring to room temperature (or just long enough to take some of the chill off)
2. Pour 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a 2-cup measuring cup and then fill the measuring cup to the 2-cup capacity with milk (this is essentially a 2 cup buttermilk substitute but I prefer this to buttermilk in this recipe). Stir the lemon juice and milk together then set aside to sour and thicken.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and waffle iron to desired setting.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; set aside.
5. With a stand mixer on low, whisk the egg whites until frothy (about 1 minute). Add in the cream of tartar and whisk eggs on high until soft peaks form. With mixer still on high, slowly add ¼ cup sugar (if using) to egg whites until stiff peaks form. With mixer on low add in vanilla until just incorporated. Set aside.
6. Whisk egg yolks, soured milk and oil into the dry mixture. If batter is too runny, whisk in another ½ cup of flour until lump are gone.
7. To temper the batter, stir in a quarter of the egg whites into the batter until well combined then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites. Once folded together, the batter should be airy and silky.
8. Spray your waffle iron with cooking pray then pour a portion of the batter (about 1cup or so) onto the center of your iron, close the top and cook to desired doneness. Place waffle onto a wire rack in the oven until all the waffles are cooked or serve immediately with syrup, fresh fruit or whipped cream.

Source: family file, Apron Appeal original

Nutrition Facts/Info:
Without sugar: Serving Size: 2, 4" waffles. Calories - 231, Fat Calories - 75, Total Fat - 10, Saturated fat - 1.7, polyunsaturated fat - 1.9, Monosaturated - 5, Cholesterol - 113, Sodium - 122mg, Total Carbs - 29, Dietary Fiber - 3.6, Sugars - 2.5, Protein - 10, Vitamin A - 5.6%, Vitamin C - 1.6, Calcium - 9.6%, Iron - 2.4%.

WITH sugar: Serving Size: 2, 4" waffles. Calories - 250, Fat Calories - 75, Total Fat - 10, Saturated fat - 1.7, polyunsaturated fat - 1.9, Monosaturated - 5, Cholesterol - 113, Sodium - 122mg, Total Carbs - 34, Dietary Fiber - 3.6, Sugars - 7.3, Protein - 10, Vitamin A - 5.6%, Vitamin C - 1.6, Calcium - 9.6%, Iron - 2.4%.

Gwenevere

Graham Crackers I

I’ve been looking for a cracker recipe that my teething 7-month old can safely eat. Safely being that it does not contain the known ingredients he’s allergic to (soy, milk, eggs) and he can put it in his mouth without choking. Finding a recipe for puffed rice stars and cheerios isn’t going so well so I’ve started looking for other soluble, allergy free solutions.

Enter Baby Food Experiment  #1 – Graham Cracker I

I chose this graham cracker recipe because it came from a trusted source (thank you Andrea for referring me to Two Peas and Their Pod) and this recipe contained more whole grain flour than any other recipe I looked at.

These crackers were easy to make and really delicious. I made three different versions, one with butter (for my other kids – which I cannot vouch for because I couldn’t eat it), one with coconut oil and one with butter-flavored palm shortening. The difference between the coconut oil version and the butter flavored palm shortening were negligible so next time I’ll use whichever is least expensive. 

All eaters of these crackers loved them including the little man they were made for. He gummed and gummed on one for about 15 minutes and was perfectly content and happy while doing so. YAY success!! Uninterrupted time to get started on dinner! Woopsie, spoke too soon…. After he gummed at his cracker long enough to “bite” off a chunk, he started to gag. The piece was still too big and too hard for him to get it safely into his tummy. Bummer.

Although meeting 2 out of the 3 criteria isn’t bad for the first experiment I'm determined I can find exactly what I'm looking for. Until then, just in case someone is looking for an alternative to store bought graham crackers (and doesn't have to worry about tiny ones choking)  then I’m posting this recipe for you.

Graham Crackers I

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Makes a dozen 3 x 3-inch crackers

Ingredients:

¼ cup all purpose flour


1 cups whole-wheat flour


2 tablespoons sugar


¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder


½ teaspoon cinnamon


¼  cup butter flavored palm shortening*, cut into small pieces and chilled

1 tablespoon honey


1 ½ teaspoons molasses


2 – 4 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Cut in the shortening/oil until the texture is dry and crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, mix the honey, molasses, and water. Mix with the dry ingredients until blended in the food processor. Pulse the dough until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. On a floured surface, roll the dough out thin (1/8” thickness or thinner) and cut with cookie cutters. Or you can do the traditional graham cracker shape. If you do this cut them into rectangles and poke each cracker with a fork. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. If desired sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon
5. If desired, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown and crisp. Once crackers are completely cooled, store them in an air tight container.

Notes:

*Equal measure of coconut oil or unsalted butter can be substituted for the butter flavored palm shortening. If using butter, your dough will be moister than the dough with palm shortening or oil and will therefore need less water. I used a full ¼ cup of water in the batches that contained coconut oil and palm shortening.

This recipe is for a small batch and can easily be doubled. I choose to make small batches to be sure that it all gets eaten before it goes bad.

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod via My Life and Good Times

Gwenevere

Blueberry Streusel Muffins (vegan & 100% whole-wheat)

We are not vegans around here. We rely on meat for protein because too many of us can’t eat, beans, nuts & soy.  However, due to the other allergies and dietary restrictions we juggle in this crazy house (eggs and dairy and who knows what else) sometimes it looks like we are [vegan]. So…when in Rome......we call ourselves vegan. (That makes absolutely no sense but I thought it was funny so I left it there.)

In short, we are not vegan, but sometimes our food is. This food, Blueberry Streusel Muffin(s), is (or are –I’m not an English major and I don’t want to google that grammar rule right now). 

What I'm really trying to say 
is that if all vegan food is this good, then 
SIGN ME UP!

I grabbed this recipe off Annie’s eats yesterday morning and threw caution to the wind. Usually when I make something I’ve never tried I cut the recipe in half (in case it’s yucky-which it never is when it’s from Annie) and I follow the recipe precisely.  Not this time. I wanted a whole-grain muffin right away and since her recipe said it only made 8 muffins, I just went with it. In my hour of wild abandon, I substituted ALL of the all-purpose white flour with fresh milled hard white AND red winter wheat. I wanted to be sure the muffin had a hearty, nutty flavor. I swapped Ener-G Brand Egg Replacer in for the egg, rice milk for regular milk and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and butter. 

When I read the part in Annie’s recipe that said “pour” the batter into the prepared muffin cups I got a little worried, my batter was no where NEAR pourable, at best I could call it a sticky, sticky cookie dough. It was stiff enough that if I could get it into a shape without sticking to my fingers it was going to stay in that shape. I thought about adding more milk, but I listened to my heart and just shaped the dough into large (1/4 – 1/3 cup) balls and plopped them into the muffin cups, generously sprinkled the tops with the streusel and tossed ‘em into the hot oven. My intuition paid off. The muffins “melted” into shape and in 20 short minutes I had my hearts desire….warm, nutty, 100% whole-grain muffins bursting with blueberry goodness. I loved them so much I ate… too many to admit to today. J

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

(vegan & 100% whole-wheat)

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Ingredients:

MUFFINS

1 ½ cup flour (I used 1 cup fresh milled, hard, red, winter wheat and ½ cup fresh milled hard white winter wheat.)

¾ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

2 “eggs” made from Ener-G egg replacers (or 1 whole egg)

~1/3 cup rice milk (or cows milk)

1 cup fresh blueberries

STREUSEL

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon red winter wheat flour

1 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons white winter wheat flour

¾ teaspoons cinnamon

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil (solid)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Grease or line 12 muffin wells with muffin liners.
2. Make streusel topping, combine sugar, flour & cinnamon. With a fork add, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to dry ingredients and mix until crumbly. You may need to add more coconut oil but mix as you add to ensure that your streusel does not get too wet that you will be unable to sprinkle it on top of the muffins. Once crumbly sprinkle over tops of muffins.
3. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place melted coconut oil into a 1-cup measuring cup; add the egg replacer and enough rice milk to fill to 1- cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Place ¼ - 1/3 cup of the dough/batter into the muffin cups (fill to the top if your batter is liquid or a little higher if dough is a solid)
4. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Source: Adapted from Annies-Eats “Blueberry Muffins” which was taken from Allrecipes “To Die For Blueberry Muffins”

Gwenevere

Orange Rolls

Birthdays are kind of a big deal in Boy’s family. His mother does all that she can to make her children feel like they are king or queen for a day. As part of the royal birthday treatment tradition, everyone gets orange rolls for breakfast. It sounds like a good idea right? That is unless you are the one who has to wake up before the crack of dawn to make aforementioned orange rolls.

Well lucky or unlucky for me (I’m never quite sure which) the term orange roll means something entirely different to me than it does to Boy. In the home I grew up in orange rolls were always made from scratch and were served at formal holiday dinners (a rare treat). In Boy’s family, orange rolls were served out of a refrigerated cardboard tube (see lucky me I don’t have to make fresh bread, unlucky for me I have to eat rolls out of cardboard tube).

Yes, I was not excited about replacing my beloved orange rolls with a store bought version, but since this was Boy’s tradition, we kept it “as-is” and I’ve been “making” refrigerated, canister orange rolls for every birthday breakfast since we’ve been married. This year that tradition ended.

Happy Birthday Boy!

(Belated blog post because blogger was down on your birthday and the day following)

For his birthday this year I made some homemade orange rolls to replace the ones the tradition was founded on (does this make me a progressive?) I hope he can forgive me for messing with a 35-year-old tradition but for the sake of flavor and quality, I hope he’ll appreciate the change.

Happy Birthday!

Orange Rolls

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Ingredients:

ROLLS

¼ cup warm water

2 ¼ teaspoon yeast (active dry)

1 cup warm milk

½ cup unsalted butter,

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups whole-wheat flour (I used fresh milled winter white wheat-AP flour can also be used)

2 eggs

zest of 1 orange (2 tablespoons)

juice of 1 orange (¼ cup)

3-3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

FILLING

Zest of 1 orange (2 tablespoons)

Juice of ½ an orange (2 tablespoons)

3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

¾ - 1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup of water and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attached, combine milk, butter, sugar and salt. Once combined mix in whole-wheat flour and beat well. Beat in eggs, softened yeast, and zest & juice from one orange.
3. Replace paddle attachment with the dough hook and add it 3-3 ½ cups of all purpose flour (dough should be soft and sticky). Knead dough for 8-10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
4. Shape dough into a round, place into an ungreased bowl. Cover; let rise in a warm draft-free place until double (about 2 hours)
5. If using whole-wheat flour; carefully deflate the dough after 1^st rise, reshape into a round, put back into bowl, cover with lid and allow to rise for another 45 minutes (until when a wet finger is poked ½ inch into the dough, the indentation stays without springing back or sagging). The second rise is not necessary however it will make for a more flavorful and lighter dough.
6. Deflate dough (again, if using whole-wheat), divide into 2 equal halves, shape each half into a  round then cover with a bread cloth for 10 minutes to allow for the dough to rest.
7. While dough is resting, make the filling by combining the orange zest and juice with 3 tablespoons melted butter. Add in the cinnamon (if using) and the sugar until you reach the desired consistency (if you like a lot of filling, you may need to add another tablespoon of melted butter and an additional ¼ cup sugar)
8. On a nonstick mat or floured board, roll one round of dough into a 19x13(ish) rectangle that is ¼-inch thick. Using ½ of the filling, schmear a thin layer over the dough leaving a 1” margin along one of the longer edges of the rectangle. Take the filling all the way to the edge  on the other three sides. Starting with the long side of the rectangle (that has the schmear taken all the way to the edge) start rolling the dough. Begin in the middle and work your way out to the edges. Continue to roll until the dough is in one long roll. Pinch the seam closed to prevent the rolls from unraveling during the final proof and baking.
9. With a string, dental floss or a sharp serrated knife, cut the long roll into 1-inch segments and place each segment 1” apart on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil or lined with parchment paper. Repeat steps 8 -10 for the second dough round. (If you would like to freeze your rolls for a later time (which I highly recommend – especially if you are planning on eating these for breakfast), place them on a greased cookie sheet so that the rolls are touching one another and then place them, uncovered, in the freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, transfer the dough to a freezer proof container or Ziploc bag.)
10. Cover rolls and allow to rise for 45 minutes (after 30 minutes preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.) Bake the rolls for 12-15 minutes until rolls are golden brown.
11. Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle or frost with orange ginger cream cheese glaze/frosting (Recipe follows)

ORANGE, GINGER, CREAM CHEESE GLAZE/FROSTING

     

1/3 cup (5.3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened but not melted

      5. 3 oz. (2/3 of an 8 oz. brick) cream cheese, softened

      1 tsp orange zest

      2 tbsp orange juice

      1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

      1 - 2 ½ cups powdered sugar

Combine the first 5 ingredients. Gradually add the powdered sugar until you achieve the desired consistency for glaze or frosting. (If you have leftover frosting from the Carrot Cupcakes-you can just use that.)

Notes: To prepare rolls from frozen, place frozen rolls in or on a prepared baking pan/sheet (greased or lined w/ parchment paper or silpat). Cover rolls with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking oil and allow to proof. This will take about 2 to 2 ½ hours.  Rolls can then be baked in  375 degree F oven for 12-15 minutes.

Source: adapted from my Aunt Gayle’s Thanksgiving Orange Roll recipe which was adapted from an Orange Rosette Recipe in a 1970’s edition of the Better Homes and Garden red checkered cookbook.

Gwenevere

3 Ways to Cook Brown Rice

So rice…you are still using Uncle Bens Instant rice because…..you haven’t had a positive experience cooking the good stuff? And by good stuff I mean regular white rice or BROWN RICE. You know what I’m talking about, the water won’t evaporate or it scorches on the bottom, sometimes the rice transforms to a gooey, mushy mess. Well, lets put those bad experiences behind us and start fresh. In this post you’ll find three different methods for cooking BROWN RICE. Why brown rice? Because it’s WAY better for you and it actually has a taste whereas white rice has no other redeeming value except that it looks good with Chinese food. But before we focus on the cooking methods I have some tips I’d like to share.

Tip 1             

Don’t rinse your white rice…any enrichment added to healthy it up would be washed away. 

White rice is ready to cook so just leave it as is.

Tip 2            

Don’t rinse your brown rice either. 
(unless it's grown and/or packaged OUTSIDE the US - See Sierra's notes in the comments-very helpful)

It doesn’t affect the end product enough to matter; it wastes time and water 

AND may dirty a dish that doesn’t need to be dirtied. Who needs more dishes – not me.

Tip 3             

The cooking methods I’m including can be used with short, medium, or long grain brown rice. 

They can also be used with white rice however cooking times and water ratios may need to be adjusted. 

(For the record I prefer method 3 for white rice.)

Tip 4           

There is a difference between short, medium and long grain rice in both flavor and texture however to cook them, you can still use any of the three methods included below WITHOUT having to adjust water or cook times. Alton Brown offers one difference between the lengths of the grain in his Good Eats episode, “Do The Rice Thing”. He explains that short or medium grain rice are better to use if you are planning on storing the cooked rice in the fridge and then eating later cold. The molecular structure of LONG grain rice turns hard when the rice is cooled and the short or medium grain stay soft. Never fear the hardness of the long grain, once heat is applied, softens it right back up again. If you are going to stir fry your rice, day old, refrigerated long grain is ideal. If you are going to eat your rice leftover in a cold salad, short and medium grain rice will work splendidly.

Now…to the cooking methods!

Method 1

I like method 1 because it’s consistent and IT’S THE QUICKEST WAY TO COOK BROWN RICE THAT I KNOW OF. I don’t like method 1 because it dirties 2 dishes and it makes the inside of my house really humid - not so bad in the winter, but horrible in the summer.

Boiled Brown Rice

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Ingredients:

2 ½ cups brown rice

water

Directions:

1. Fill an 8 qt stockpot with water until waterline is 2 inches below the top rim of the pot.
2. Bring water to a rolling boil, stir in rice and continue to boil, UNCOVERED, for 30 minutes. If water boils over, turn the heat down a tad.
3. Pour the rice into a strainer over the sink and let it drain for 10 seconds.
4. Return the rice to the pot, off the heat. Cover the pot with a lid and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes.
5. Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt if desired.

Source: adapted from Saveur.com 

Method 2

I like method 2 because it’s also consistent and it only dirties one dish. Also, if I needed to do a large batch I could double the amounts and put it in a 9x13 pan and really I could stuff my oven full of 9x13 pans if I needed that amount of rice. I don’t like method 2 because it takes a full hour before it’s ready and it makes me use a sheet of aluminum foil. I’m trying to cut back on my use of one-time-use items like aluminum foil and parchment paper. As much as I cook rice though, I could probably just save the aluminum and use it again each time I bake rice.

Baked Brown Rice

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Ingredients:

1 ½ cups brown rice

2 ½ cups water

1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional)

1 tsp salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish
3. Bring the water, butter, and salt (if using) to a boil. 
4. Once boiling, pour water over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with a heavy-duty aluminum foil.
5. Bake of the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour
6. After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff rice with a fork.

Notes: Alton adds 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and 1 teaspoon salt to the rice. I left it out because I like my rice plain, however the rice did stick a little to the glass dish. I pretty sure the addition of butter would prevent it from sticking.

Source: adapted from Alton Brown on the food network 

Method 3

I like method 3 for white rice and that’s about it. I have had anything but consistent results when it comes to steaming brown rice so I’m including this method just in case you want to try it. If you think you are better than me…I’m totally ok with that. Let me know your secrets.

Steamed Brown Rice

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Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice

2 ½ cups water

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Stir in rice, turn heat down to low (or off completely) and cover pot with lid. Allow rice to steep for 35-50 minutes until rice is tender, water has evaporated/absorbed and steam holes can be seen on the surface of the rice.

Source: adapted from Clean Program.com 

Gwenevere

Soft Peanut Butter Monster Cookies

Does the use of the word, "monster" in the title of a cookie mean that the cookie is REALLY BIG? For some reason, I always thought it meant the cookie had candy on top. It wasn’t until I started typing up this recipe that I realized it might be a reference to size rather than topping. Lucky for me, this recipe should satisfy both interpretations. It’s BIG (at least it can be) and it’s got candy loaded on top.

These cookies are great for many reasons; they are soft and chewy without being doughy yet still have a crisp "shell" that give the cookie a little crunch. The peanut butter shines through even when whole-wheat four is used.  They are sensational when eaten warm or at room temperature (they are even good after they have been stored in an airtight container for a few days-they stay moist). Finally, like many drop cookies, once shaped (and in this case, candied) they can be flash frozen and stored in a freezer bag in the freezer for a long time (internet says 3 months…I’m sure I’ve probably pushed that time recommendation to 4 or 6 months).

A peanut butter purist may not appreciate the peanut butter chips or candy on top and if you fall under that category, then just take out the peanut butter baking chips, replace it with the same measure of coarsely chopped peanuts and leave off the Reece’s Pieces. Unless you have a nut allergy, you are going to LOVE these cookies.

Soft Peanut Butter Monster Cookies

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Ingredients:

1 cup whole-wheat flour (I used fresh milled white winter wheat)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool

1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed

½ cup sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup peanut putter baking chips

1 cup Reese’s Pieces Candy

Directions:

1. Sift, four, salt, banking soda and baking powder together in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugars together with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add Peanut Butter and continue to beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated then beat in vanilla. Scrape bowl as necessary. Add flour mixture in 2 batches. Cover dough and refrigerate until stiffened, about 30 minutes
3. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour Reese’s Pieces into a shallow bowl and set aside. Remove dough from fridge, and mix in 1 cup of peanut butter baking chips into the chilled dough. Scoop dough into 1 ½ to 2-inch balls and dip the top of the shaped dough ball into the bowl of Reese’s Pieces. Depending on the size of your cookie, each ball should have 8-14 pieces of candy stuck to it. Place the dough, candy side up, onto the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bake until the cookies are puffed and slightly brown along the edges and bottom (If you leave in until totally browned, they will not be chewy) about 10-13 minutes for large cookies and 7-10 minutes for smaller cookies. Let cookies rest on pan for 2 minutes then promptly transfer hem to a wire rack to cool.

Notes:

The whole wheat flour can be substituted for the same measure of all-purpose flour bringing your total flour measurement to 2 ½ cups flour).

Freezing and baking cookies from frozen dough:

Crowd as many shaped and candied dough balls onto the cookie sheet as will fit. Flash freeze the dough in a freezer, uncovered for 30 minutes then once firm transfer cookies to a zip lock bag and keep frozen until ready to bake. To bake frozen cookies, preheat oven to 325 degrees, place dough on a prepared baking sheet and bake for 13-17 minutes. Cookies are ready to be removed from oven and transferred to a wire rack once they are slightly browned around the edges.

Source: Adapted from a recipe I found on cooks.com YEARS ago. Sorry I can no longer find the original reference.

 Gwenevere

Banana Crunch Whole-Wheat Muffins

What do you do with over ripe bananas?

Is there really a need to even ask that question?

You make banana bread of course!

It’s a great metaphor for life really - once we’ve become “spotted” or “spoiled” we can still be changed and made (in my opinion) into something better. (Better because I’d choose bananas baked into a carb over raw any day.)

As usually happens when I buy bananas, I had some that had not been eaten and had past their prime. When I saw this recipe from The Barefoot Contessa with the word CRUNCH in it, I knew exactly what my over ripe banana's would soon become. To healthy these up a bit I swapped out 1 2/3 cup of the all-purpose flour for fresh milled whole-wheat flour and replaced 1 cup of the refined sugar with 1 cup more of squished bananas (the recipe below reflects my changes. Oh! And due to allergies, I also left out the nuts). If you don’t have whole grain flour and/or don’t care about refined sugar then just change it back to The Barefoot Contessa’s original recipe of 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar and 1 cup mashed ripe banana.

I’m sure either way you mix it-they will be great, but I can only vouch for the whole-wheat version. I also think these muffins would accompany a smoothie of the pina colada or peanut butter variety quite well.

Banana Crunch Whole-Wheat Muffins

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Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour (I used fresh milled red winter wheat)

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 extra-large eggs

¾ cup whole milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4 bananas)

1 cup medium-diced bananas (1 banana)

1 ¾ cup granola (divided)

1 ¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut (divided)

½ cup banana chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the flat surface of the cupcake pan with oil to prevent muffin spillage from sticking to the pan.  Line 30 regular muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and alt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend well but do not over mix or you’ll end up with tough muffins. Then add in the eggs, milk and vanilla. Scrape the bowl. If you are making the day before the muffins will be served, cover the batter and put it in the fridge. When you are ready to finish the recipe add the mashed bananas to the batter. Again be careful not to over mix.
3. Fold in the diced bananas, 1 ½ cups granola and 1 ½ cups coconut into the batter. Scoop the batter into the prepared baking tins, filling each to the very top. Top each muffin the remaining granola, coconut and dried bananas (if desired). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan and serve warm.

Notes:

I used Back to Nature 100% Natural Chocolate Delight Granola. It is very crunchy and contains no refined sugar (other than what is included in the dark chocolate chunks).

Source: Adapted from Ina Garten Recipe on Food Network