From Le Pain with Love...

I stopped in at a Pain Quotidien about two weeks ago whilst in Rye New York. Wow, it was arguably the most perfect restaurant I can imagine - well when I'm looking for a bistro breakfast at least. Stopping at the Red Lentil last night, I was reminded why It's the best purveyor of vegetarian I imagine to exist.

Anyways, besides the perfectly prepared Steel Cut Oats with berries and Tea I enjoyed (two relatively simple dishes I know, but a step above nonetheless) I sampled a terrific Chia Seed muffin. I've had a bag of Chia Seeds in my cupboard for months, unopened, but I was waiting for a good excuse to use them. Lo and behold, this muffin of whole wheat flour, yogurt, chia seeds, and banana was tremendous.

So here's my attempt at the Chia Seed Muffin but with a carrot cake twist.

Carrot Cake Chia Muffins

• 1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour (Whole Grain)
• 1 tsp Arrowroot Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 very ripe Banana, diced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt, sans-lipide si vous plait!
• 2 eggs (feel free to omit one of the yolks)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 1 cup water
• about one cup grated, dried carrots
• 1-2 tsp diced (grated fresh!) ginger (I used pickled; it's what I have...)
• 1-2 tsp chopped fresh sage

Grate the carrots in a large bowl, combine with sage and fresh ginger. Press with a paper towel and remove liquid. Set Aside.

Combine Flours, Baking Soda and Powder, Arrowroot, Salt, Cinnamon, and Garam Masala as well as some of the ginger powder in a bowl. Whisk to combine briefly and set aside.

Combine Sugar, Eggs, Oil, and Yogurt, vigorously whisking for a minute or two until the mixture is relatively frothy. Add in vanilla and Chia seeds (these should have been mixed with the cup of water prior to adding), whisking again, briefly.

That's some good batter...

Preheat your oven to 350 and get a muffin tin (or loaf pan I suppose) ready for baking.

Add the carrot mixture to the wet mixture, mixing lightly. Now's the hard part of all muffins - mixing. Add the wet carrot mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing to as to just combine - aim for 10 mixes.

Add the mixture to your bakeware of choice, about 16 minutes, or until toothpicks come out slightly moist, but not gooey.

Set aside to cool.

Not the best pic, but they taste so good...

The were not nearly as dense and chewy as those from Le Pain but they certainly got the carrot cake-y flavor I was looking for. I'd try more ginger - Fresh Ginger - and more sage next time.

Enjoi!

Blueberry Bran(ness)...

Buying a small flat of delicious blueberries and the thought to make a batch of bran muffins from my mother led to the baking of a small batch of truly wholesome Blueberry Bran Muffins this afternoon.

I bake when I'm stressed and at the moment I am, so not only did the muffins taste terrific they also brought down my tenseness a notch or ten.

The muffins were a bit dense for my taste, so in the recipe below I scaled up the baking soda content. They tasted great though - moist, slightly sweet, and hearty.

Look at that texture...

Blueberry Bran Muffins (Adapted from Hodgson's Mills)

2 cups Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

3 cups Unprocessed Wheat Bran
2 cups Buttermilk
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Canola oil +1/4 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flower + 3 or so tbsp Wheat Gluten
1/2 c Brown Sugar + 2 tbsp Blackstrap Molasses (Mmmm...)
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1 cup of Boiling water, brewed into a spicy (chai) tea

Don't over-mix it!

Combine hot tea, being sure to save extra to sip as you bake, with 1 cup of wheat bran; set aside to soak.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt in a small bowl. Combine Butter, oil, sugar, and molasses. 

Combine all ingredients: moistened bran and flour mixture with sugar-butter mix followed by the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries and walnuts last.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, check with a toothpick - when its just barely moist, they're done! 

Beware the over-baked bran muffin - ruined will your meal be!

Bon appetite, Now you may eat...

Baking in the Storm...

New England has been rainy for the past few days (the first real rainy days of this long summer, finally an excuse!) and so I've found myself indoors with relatively little to do. As my mother was asking me to bake more of the peach muffins I made a week or so ago, I decided last night (at about 9pm for whatever reason) to whip up a batch of muffins. Sadly, I find myself without the delicious peaches I had had for my last batch. Skimming through my beloved "The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes" I found a tantalizing recipe for French Toast muffins. Dense, sweet, and aromatic they came out terrifically. I did make some additions, however, to the recipe (largely because I couldn't run to the store at 9 to buy the maple extract called for and maple syrup itself wont work in place). So here it is, late-night French toast in a muffin cup.

Mmmm... French Toast but in a muffin shape

French Toast Muffins (with Maple crumble)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flower

3/4 cup Graham (or other whole) flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten

1/4 cup Wheat bran

9/16 (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) agave nectar

1 1/4 cups milk (soy etc, otherwise if you prefer)

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp plain fat-free yogurt (6 oz - a small container's worth)

1 1/2 tsp maple extract**

1/2 tsp vanilla*

1/2 cup baking raisins (the soft sort - golden or red)

__

Topping:

1/2 cup oats

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp brown sugar

Cinnamon to taste

*/**If you don't have maple extract, don't use maple syrup - it doesn't work that way. Add more vanilla extract (maybe 2-3 tsp vanilla? More was good).

Preheat oven to 350, and either lightly oil or preset with baking cups, a muffin tin (6 extra large muffins, or 12 more normal ones).

Combine flour(s), baking powder, salt, cinnamon, bran, and gluten in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together agave, milk, oil, yogurt, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Add dry (although I did this backwards) to wet ingredients and mix very lightly. Add raisins and finish folding. Remember to mix as little as necessary or the muffins will be flat, overly dense, etc...

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups so that they are nearly full. Combine topping ingredients and spread over filled muffin cups, evenly coating the muffin-caps.

Bake for 18-20 minutes (longer for extra-large muffins) testing with a toothpick (careful not to over bake - they seemed to bake more quickly than I anticipated in my beloved, old, non-convection oven).

Store covered in a dry place, room temperature. They're dense and sweet but very moist, so watch out for spoiling in rainy (like it is here...) weather.

Peachy, Muffins...

What began as a hope for peach cobbler cookies became peach muffins (I'll get you evetually, cobbler cookies...). I just added an extra egg last minute - It worked out well (and probably would have been too cake-like anyways had I kept them as cookies. Because I cannot help myself when it comes to boosting nutritional content of foods, these muffins pack 100% whole grain goodness between wheat bran, oatmeal, and whole wheat flower. Delicious and, well, peachy.

The trial (top left) was quite good...

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Scant 1/4 cup wheat bran

1 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup chopped (broken-by-hand) walnuts

1 1/2 tsp pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves...)

4 medium-large peaches, ripe

A bit more than 1/2 cup agavae nectar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 eggs

A light 1/2 cup canola oil (I prefer blends myself, but at the least use canola)*

*And as a thought, feel free to substitute about 1/2 cup of low/no-fat plain yogurt for all but 1 tbsp oil. It brings lowfat muffins to the oven, without harming the consistency - infact, I generally like its baking properties more.

Mix flour, oats, bran, salt, and baking soad in a large bowl (a whisk is nice). Seperately, combine the eggs, oil, agave nectar, and extracts. Chop (or use pre-chopped) walnuts and cut the peaches into small, cubes/rectangular prisms; add to dry mixture. Finally, add the wet ingredients to the fruit, nut, dry mixture and mix, lightly enough so that the air isn't beaten out (remember, never mix muffins or breakfas breads too much - you want to keep the air pockets).

Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin pan with cups (medium sized work well) and fill (about 2-3 tbsp each, give or take). Bake for 13-16 minutes.

Enjoy for breakfast, that snack attack, or warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt, or better yet soy cream!)