Category: Desserts
Easy Everyday Eggless Muffins
| November 8, 2010 | Posted by Lauren under Breakfast, Desserts, HOTR Eats |
Good baking is all about precision. A good baker carefully measures out the right ingredients and mixes them in just so, causing an almost magical chemical reaction that results in something wonderfully delicious. Sometimes my Type A perfectionist self delights in this fact. I find joy in carefully following a recipe; meticulously scooping ingredients and mixing them together in just the right way to create a masterpiece.
But most of the time, I am not a good baker. I often get hit with a sudden urge to bake, yet a quick glance around my kitchen reveals that I don’t actually have all the ingredients. Not to be swayed, I find myself using my kitchen as my grounds for experimentation — throwing together whatever I can find, making substitutions where I shouldn’t and leaving out ingredients when I don’t have them, all in the hopes of creating something somewhat edible. As you can imagine for someone whose only “formal” training is a one-semester cooking class in high school, many times these experiments don’t turn out so well. But every once in awhile, I find something so delightfully simple that it just reinforces my crazy notion that someday I’ll be destined for baking greatness.
These muffins are one of those examples. A simple list of ingredients that doesn’t include one egg, ounce of butter, or drop of oil. They’re moist and dense, which is just the sort of thing that I love. Now don’t get me wrong — I enjoy a good old buttery dessert from time to time. But these are my everyday muffins — muffins you can eat without guilt for breakfast, after lunch, or as a bedtime snack.
I’ve made two different versions that were inspired by this recipe (although I used that recipe as a starting point, I made a bunch of substitutions, so have listed out my own ingredients below). Both use the same basic ingredients and are ready in 30 – 35 minutes. Even though there aren’t any eggs, dairy, or butter in the muffins, they aren’t technically vegan because I used brown sugar. However, I’m pretty sure you could substitute in sucanat for the brown sugar and it would work just fine.
Banana {Chocolate Chip} Oatbran Muffins
Makes 6 muffins
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup oatbran
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 flax “egg” (1 TBS ground flax + 3 TBS water)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 very ripe, mushy banana
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees & grease/line your muffin tin.
2.) Mix together the ground flax and water, set aside to thicken.
3.) In a separate small bowl, peel banana and mash up until it’s somewhat creamy.
4.) In a medium bowl, mix together flour, oatbran, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well-combined.
5.) If you’re a good baker, you could then get out a separate bowl to mix all your wet ingredients in the proper manner…or you could just add the banana, vanilla, and almond milk to the dry mix.
6.) By now, the flax + water mixture should have thickened to an egg-like consistency. Add to bowl and stir until well combined.
7.) Let the mixture sit for a few minutes. This will make the muffins rise more when you cook them.
8.) Give the batter one final stir, then scoop into muffin tins, filling them most of the way to the top.
9.) Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown
10.) Let cool and enjoy!
Apple Cinnamon Oatbran Muffins with Crunchy Granola Topping
(i.e. Apple Strudel Muffins – because that just sounds cooler)
Makes 6 muffins
For these muffins, I substituted oat flour for the whole wheat. Because, well, I like oats in just about everything. And I figured oat flour would be no exception.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup oat flour (I tried this as an experiment and loved it, but you could also use whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup oatbran
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, unpacked
- 1 flax “egg” (1 TBS ground flax + 3 TBS water)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 apple, grated
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Coconut (optional)
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease muffin tin.
2.) Grate your apple, skin and all. This is super easy to do with a normal cheese grater, and when all is said and done, it’s actually faster than peeling, coring, and chopping. But if you really don’t feel like doing the work, I suppose you could use a food processor instead.
3.) Combine apple with cinnamon, set aside.
4.) Follow same directions as above, adding the apple cinnamon mixture and flax “egg” last.
5.) Bake for about 10 minutes.
6.) Meanwhile, make the granola topping. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
7.) After 10 minutes, when muffins have started to rise but are still soft, remove from oven and press oat mixture on top.
8.) Return to oven and cook for another 15 – 20 minutes.
9.) Let cool and enjoy!
Who says you need eggs and oil to make a good muffin? These guys are oaty, delicious, and relatively healthy.
Blueberry Peach Crisp
| July 22, 2010 | Posted by Lauren under Desserts, HOTR Eats |
When it comes to things in life that I don’t want to do, I am a major procrastinator. Where the smart person would take those tasks she didn’t want to do and finish them early to get them out of the way, I consistently put them off until the absolute last minute, when I’m under the gun to finish.
I’ve tried to change over the years. Really, I have. But it’s just so against my nature that the changes never stick. And now that I‘m out of school, I’ve gotten worse. There really aren’t any consequences to me putting something off – besides me getting frazzled and stressed. And that, I can handle.
So, since I obviously can’t share some great tips about how to stop procrastinating, I figured I’d instead talk about some of my favorite activities to aid in my procrastination: baking and blogging.
Today, I did both. I’m supposed to be packing. I’m moving this weekend, and at the moment, I have all of one bin and one suitcase packed. The worst part is that EC told me last week that he could come over during the day on Friday (i.e. tomorrow) and move a bunch of stuff in his truck while I was at work. The only thing I’d have to do: pack things up beforehand. You’d think that would be enough motivation for me to start packing like a madwoman. And it almost was. The next day, I went through my closet, organized, put aside clothes to give away, and packed the rest. Unfortunately, that was about as long as my motivation lasted. All week long, things kept coming up, and packing got pushed further and further from my mind. I know I’ll get it done eventually. And in the meantime, I did make some pretty delicious desserts.
Like this perfect-for-summer Blueberry Peach Crisp.
5-Step Blueberry Peach Crisp
This super simple dessert is the perfect summer treat…even though it means you have to turn on your oven. I added a little flour to the fruit filling to give it more of a pie-like consistency. In the end, it actually tasted more like a pie than a fruit crisp, without all the extra work!
Total baking time: 30 min; serves 6 – 8
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 3 peaches
- 1 pint blueberries
- 1/4 cup pure cane sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup self-rising flour
For the crisp topping:
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
1.) Cut peaches into large chunks and mix with the blueberries. Try not to eat them all out of the bowl.
2.) Mix in the remaining filling ingredients until evenly coated. Pour into pie dish and bake for 10 minutes.
3.) Meanwhile, cut the butter up into small pieces and put in a medium sized bowl. Add the oats, brown sugar, flour, salt, and coconut. Mix with a fork or your fingers until a crumbly topping forms. I used my fingers for this – it was so much easier to get everything to combine.
4.) After the 10 minutes are up, take the fruit out of the oven and carefully stir. Then sprinkle the oat topping over the top.
Before
5.) Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown, about 15 – 20 more minutes.
After
This honestly came out even better than I had been hoping. Peaches and blueberries truly are a match made in heaven! This dessert was good cold, but even better when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Alright, enough procrastination. I’m off to throw some things in boxes and call it a night!
A Quick {Bread} Post
| June 8, 2010 | Posted by Lauren under Desserts, HOTR Eats |
One of my absolute favorite things to bake is quick bread. I love the idea (and smell!) of freshly baked bread, and the recipes are always extremely easy. No yeast, fancy ingredients, or complicated steps required. In fact, you don’t even need an electronic mixer — just a couple of bowls and a good old fashioned spoon.
I recently made two different types of quick breads that I wanted to share. The decision to make the first came when I unexpectedly uncovered a can of pumpkin in my pantry. Even though we’re officially out of pumpkin season, I was so excited by this find that I knew right away what I needed to do — bake bread.
However, a quick look in the fridge almost ruined those plans. I had no eggs, and as exciting as the challenge of baking a vegan version sounded, I’d never made quick bread without eggs before. Was it possible to make a delicious tasting treat without them — that even my carnivorous boyfriend would love?
Well my friends, I won’t leave you in suspense for very long. The answer (as I’m sure you can guess) is yes!! I found a recipe for vegan pumpkin bread on allrecipes.com that had gotten rave reviews. The original recipe calls for coconut milk, and claims that’s the secret ingredient to making it moist. I didn’t actually have that on hand, so I used almond milk instead. The bread still came out extremely moist and flavorful. Best of all – it easily passed the test. I didn’t tell EC it was vegan (in fact, I think I still haven’t told him), and he loved it…all the while never even suspecting a difference. You might call me a bad girlfriend…but I like to think that I’m a resourceful cook simply looking for an unbiased review. 
Vegan Pumpkin Bread
(Adapted from Super Moist Pumpkin Bread on allrecipes.com)
Ingredients
- 3 TBS ground flax
- 1/2 cup water
(Mix together until thick and set aside)
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or preferred combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, etc)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil (I ran out of canola so used 1/2 cup olive oil and it still came out great)
- 2/3 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 can pumpkin puree
- 2/3 cup flaked coconut (plus a little extra if you’re like me and love coconut)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare (grease and flour) two 8×4 inch loaf pans.
- Combine the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices). Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, oil, almond milk, vanilla, and pumpkin until well combined. Then stir in the flax + water mixture.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring just until combined. Finally, add in the coconut. Batter will be thick. (At the last minute, I decided to add a glug of maple syrup to the batter, just to give it a little extra sweetness).
- Pour evenly into the two pans and bake for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cooking times can vary depending on your oven.
- Allow to cool, slice, and enjoy!
Oh, and I also might have taken the other half of the batter and made it into chocolate pumpkin bread by adding 1/2 cup extra dark cocoa + 1 tbs oil + 4 tbs milk + maple syrup.
Apparently we only have one bread pan in the apartment – so I improvised
As much as I love all things chocolate, I have to admit that I thought the regular pumpkin bread was better. I put a lot of cocoa in this bread, which hid the pumpkin flavor too much. However, this was absolutely delicious all crumbled up and mixed with Greek yogurt (+ cereal + PB)
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The second recipe is for one of my all time favorite types of bread – banana. It’s so simple to make, and delicious as a mid-day snack, or even as part of breakfast. I made this for my family the other day and it was gone in less than 24 hours.
The recipe comes from Elise at Simply Recipes. I loved how simple (yet delicious) it looked. I made a few changes, so to see the original recipe, click here.
Coconut Banana Bread
(Are you noticing a theme here? I may or may not add coconut to just about everything bake. I’m convinced it’s the magic ingredient that makes every dessert taste amazing.)
Ingredients
- 3 extremely ripe on-the-verge-of-going-bad bananas
- 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup all-purpose four
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 rounded tbs ground flax seed
- Pinch of salt
- Generous sprinkle (more like a pour!) of cinnamon
- As much flaked coconut as your heart desires
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare (grease and flour) one 8×4 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas and then mix in the butter until well combined.
- Add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix until combined, but batter will be lumpy
- Next add the baking soda, a pinch of salt, a generous layer of cinnamon and the ground flax. Mix together.
- Lastly, add both types of flour to the bowl and mix until combined.
- Back for 50 – 60 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done closer to 50 minutes.
- Allow to cool, slice and enjoy!
Do you like quick bread? What’s your favorite kind? Another summertime favorite of mine is zucchini. So so delicious!
‘Sour Cream’ Fudge Cupcakes
| May 22, 2010 | Posted by Lauren under Desserts, HOTR Eats |
{First I just want to thank you all for the wonderful, supportive responses to my sister’s guest post about her experience in Haiti. I’m so very proud of all that she’s done. If you haven’t read it yet, I really encourage you to check it out!
Secondly, I was so happy to get enthusiastic responses to the Core Shape Up Summer Challenge! I’m going to give this a little thought, and then set an official start date for the challenge, as well as the less-than-official guidelines. I’ll keep you updated.}
Last week while I was at home, I was excited to find a new (to me) product in my Mom’s kitchen: Quinoa flour.
I love quinoa. I’ve talked before about it’s benefits as a complete protein, and since I’ve tried both quinoa as a grain and quinoa pasta, I figured it was about time to try out the flour.
And what better way to experiment with flour than to bake something delicious! When I saw the recipe on the back of the bag for Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes, I immediately knew what I’d be making.
The only major substitution I made to the recipe was to use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Mostly because we didn’t have any sour cream in the house. But did you know that plain Greek yogurt is actually a really good, healthy substitution for sour cream? Now, we also didn’t have any plain yogurt. The closest flavor we had to plain was honey – so that’s what I used.
I almost cut back on the amount of sugar the recipe called for since there’s sugar in the yogurt, but then I remembered my almost tasteless vegan brownies, and decided against it. In the end, I was really glad I did.
‘Sour Cream’ Fudge Cupcakes (Gluten-free)
[Slightly adapted from recipe on back of Bob’s Red Mill Quinoa Flour bag]
Makes 12 Cupcakes
- ¼ c unsalted butter
- ½ c water
- ¼ c cocoa powder
- 1 c sugar (I used Florida Crystals Pure Cane Sugar)
- 1 ¼ c Quinoa Flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs, separated
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ¼ c Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani Honey Flavored)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line your tray with cupcakes liners.
In a small saucepan, bring the butter and water to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, whisk in your cocoa powder and set aside to cool.
Next, whisk together the quinoa flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
A quick note about quinoa flour – it smells really quinoa-y. As in, as soon as you open the bag, you can smell the grain. I have to admit that this made me a little nervous. I know I said I love quinoa, but I also love when my cupcakes actually taste like cupcakes…and not like dinner.
But, I decided to trust the process, and soldiered on.
Separate the eggs, setting the whites aside. Add the yolks to a large bowl, along with the sugar, vanilla, and Greek yogurt. Mix well. Slowly stir in the flour and cocoa mixtures.
Beat your egg whites until stiff and then fold into batter. At this point, the smell of quinoa was less overwhelming, but this batter definitely smelled different than that of “normal” cupcakes.
Finally, spoon the batter into a cupcake tray and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when you stick a knife in the center and it comes out clean.
Now, I’m sure these are perfectly tasty on their own. But cupcakes without frosting are…well…muffins. And I wanted cupcakes.
So it was time to whip up a batch of simple chocolate butter cream frosting. This is where all semblance of this dessert actually being healthy went out the window.
To make the frosting, I used the leftover Greek yogurt, 1/2 a stick of butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, and a couple capfuls of half & half creamer. I beat this with an electric mixer until it was nice and fluffy, and then spread generously onto the cupcakes.
The Final Verdict: Fortunately, the end product did not taste like quinoa. The cupcakes were really light and fluffy. Even with the abundance of frosting, they didn’t taste heavy or overly rich.
However, you could definitely tell they weren’t made with good old all-purpose flour. I think I would have liked them to be a little denser, and just a little moister. They didn’t exactly deliver on the fudgey-ness that the name promised. (Maybe adding a little more Greek yogurt would fix this?) So if you’re looking for a rich, fudgey dessert, these are probably not the cupcakes for you.
That being said, I still thought they were a great treat, and (added bonus) the whole family liked them too. So I declared the quinoa flour experiment to be a success!
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