Honey Oatmeal Bread

I have been making this bread for almost two years now and though it takes several hours to make the outcome is well worth the effort. The kids love it and it's great with soups or just as a quick pick me up. I think it's most delicious. So delicious I couldn't stop myself from eating an entire loaf this afternoon.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons butter

2 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 c warm water

1 -1 1/2 cup bread flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine boiling water, oats, 1/2 cup honey, butter and salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oat mixture. Add 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour; mix well. Stir in the remaining whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
4. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface (I use bread flour). Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
5. Preheat an oven to 375.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Nutty Pancakes

In January, probably when we were snowed in, I made a Nut and Grain Pancake reminiscent of the delicious ones the folks at IHOP make.  Since then I have made these pancakes no less than six times.  I prefer them to any box pancake I’ve ever had but I’ve also been testing out buttermilk pancakes and I keep coming back to these.  They don’t seem to keep as well in the fridge as your run of the mill buttermilk batter but my kids love them so much that we never have any leftovers.

I have altered them a tad since first making them to include three types of nuts and Canola Oil in lieu of vegetable oil.  I also have designated several two-cup Ziploc containers for storing the different ground up nuts and oatmeal so that these are an even quicker breakfast to throw together for the kids.  Don’t let the list of ingredients deter you, these really do go together quickly and make for a hearty and delicious breakfast. 

Nutty pancakes

ingredients

3/4 cup ground Oatmeal

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups fat free buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ground almonds

2 tablespoons ground pecans

2 tablespoons ground walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat griddle to medium (roughly 350*) and spray with a cooking spray such as Pam or Baker’s Joy.  Spray between each batch of pancakes.
2. Grind outs in food processor thoroughly.
3. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl.
4. With an electric mixer combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla, egg and sugar. Stir in dry ingredients followed by ground nuts.
5. Ladle 1/4 cup batter onto griddle and cook approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Note: You can use any combination of nuts but I wouldn’t add more than 6 tablespoons as it will dry out the batter too much making these pancakes dry and crumbly.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

When it comes to baking chocolate chips, nuts and zucchini are three of the things I love to see on a list of ingredients. My favorite quick bread is zucchini and my favorite cookies are chocolate chip and I will take both with nuts, especially walnuts or pecans. This muffin incorporates all three as well and is a wonderful afternoon snack or morning pick me up.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt). Combine egg, oil, applesauce, buttermilk and vanilla. Combine with flour mixture and fold in zucchini, chips and nuts.
3. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. I like to use a cookie scoop, about two good size scoops fills the tins 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated oven. These freeze well.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Sometimes I have an item I want to bake in my head but no recipe that meets that something. Does this ever happen to you? I decided that I would really like a coffee cake like muffin, heavy on the cinnamon and with a yummy streusel topping. So I glanced through cookbooks and searched the internet and just didn't find what I was truly after. Finally, I decided to use a sour cream coffee cake recipe as a base and work from there. The result was quite delicious. My two year old son put it quite simply after his first muffin, "More, more, more." That's exactly the way I was feeling.

I have frozen these and defrosted them overnight to wonderful results. I have also, because I am the Queen of Impatience, taken them straight from the freezer and just heated them wrapped in a paper towel with equally pleasing results. I have made another batch and just frozen them to have on hand when I am too lazy to make breakfast but want something more than cereal of a Fiber One bar.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

(muffins)

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup eggbeaters (or 2 large eggs)

1/2 cup light sour cream

1/2 cup fat free buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(topping)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup pecans (fine pieces)

1/4 cup ground oatmeal

2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line cups with baking liners.

2.) Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla; mix well.

3.) Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl; flours, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to cream mixture.

4.) Combine streusel topping in separate bowl, using pastry blender to cut butter into other ingredients.

5.) Put small dollop into each muffin tin, top with some of the streusel topping. Finish filling muffin tins with muffin batter.

6.) Bake in oven 18-20 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

To start off muffin week I felt as though I had to go with blueberry, the archetypal muffin, the tried and true, model muffin. Who doesn’t like a blueberry muffin? I mean, really, is there anyone alive and well whom doesn’t enjoy this moist and delicious palm sized bread?

If there is, I surely don’t want to know them.

I am only kidding. I would never judge a person for what they wouldn’t eat.

But I think it is safe to say, overall, that most people like a good blueberry muffin, right?

And this, this is more than a good blueberry muffin. It’s a great one. So there’ll be no problems then.

I went searching for a good blueberry muffin recipe last summer after I had myself an Elaine from Seinfeld moment and bought a muffin top pan. Of course the muffin top pan search was started the spring before that, after a winter long pregnancy induced obsession with Panera Bread Pumpkin Muffin Tops.

This muffin is very forgiving and flexible. I have made it as a mini muffin, as a large jumbo muffin, as regular muffins and thanks to my muffin top pan, as muffin tops. I have made it with applesauce, with canola oil, with vegetable oil. I have tried eggs and eggbeaters. I have added spices sometimes and taken away spices other times. And yet this muffin always turns out great.

Blueberry Muffins

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 to 25 min.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup applesauce (or Canola oil)

1 egg

1/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk if out)

1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

2.) Combine flours, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place applesauce (or vegetable oil) into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.

Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3.) To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4.) Bake for 18-20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Note

Sift blueberries in flour so they don’t sink.

Good For You Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I realize that I have sort of gone off tangent, I mean originally this blog was to be all things cookie but I realized too late and yet all too quickly after undergoing this project that I just like more things than cookies. For example, this week I had gotten it in my head to do all things muffins but then I went and caught a bug someplace and have been like a zombie for half the week. I am on my way to recovering but alas this week is half way over so maybe next week.

But I did manage to make these cookies. I started with a recipe out of the Taste of Home Cookbook and decided to add a few spices and make it a 'good for you' cookie. The result was 4 dozen cookies that adults and kids alike could enjoy without worrying about the waistline. Not too much anyways.

These cookies were definitely more of the cake-like variety than the chewy variety but if you're looking for flavorful and healthy dare I recommend you look no further.

Good For You Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup applesauce (I use Mott's unsweetened)

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup eggbeaters (or 2 large eggs)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 mashed bananas (the riper, the better)

2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 *F. Grease cookie sheets with Baker's Joy or your choice of cooking spray.

2.) Cream applesauce, butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggbeaters and vanilla. In separate bowl combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Slowly add to creamed mixture. Stir in bananas, oats, chips, and walnuts.

3.) Bake on greased cookie sheets 10 minutes. Remove immediately to wire racks to cool.

Yields 4 dozen cookies approximately.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chip Cookies

I have been perusing cookbook after cookbook here lately looking for ideas and considering new recipes to try out. In addition to salivating over Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies I have picked up a few tricks of the baking trade. My idol, Alton Brown, for example recommends that you measure everything out ahead of time and have all of your ingredients ready to go before mixing anything. This technique, Mise en place, is very popular among professional chefs. I decided I would give it a try even though it seems to dirty up a few more dishes and it was a very handy technique. For one, you will not find yourself halfway through making a Black Forest Torte before realizing that you don’t have any Heavy Whipping Cream. And even though set up takes a few minutes more the actual mixing stage goes a lot faster and easier. Having kids up and running around I have found that I can slowly get all my ingredients together and then begin the mixing phase when the kids are immersed in an activity or down for a nap. I don’t see myself proclaiming Mise en place as my religion like Anthony Bourdain does, but I can definitely understand its appeal.

In addition to perusing many books about cooking I have also been checking my pantry for recipes on the backs of such staples as Craisins, chocolate chips and rolled oats. I figure these recipes must have been baked in test kitchens and must be worthy enough if gracing the back labels of such fine products. So Monday after putting all the ingredients in place I whipped up Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies, a recipe taken right off the back of the Ocean Spray Craisin package. Having Oatmeal and craisins in them, I thought they were bound to be a big hit with my tastebuds.

These cookies called for flour, rolled oats, baking soda and salt. I swapped some (1/2 cup) of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour and added a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon. Like I said, I do love cinnamon.
These cookies also called for two large eggs, brown sugar and 2/3 cup butter softened. To soften butter quickly I cut it into tablespoon or smaller slices and set it out for about 10 minutes or so. I am very impatient when ready to get baking.

These cookies call for white chocolate chips. Unfortunately, I have failed all winter to find real chocolate chips in the grocery stores around here. I have found ‘Premier’ white chips by Hersheys and ‘white candy coating’ by Baker’s but a white chip with real cocoa butter in it has failed to reach the shelves of my local grocers. So the cookies I made this past Monday were not in fact White Chocolate cookies but white chip cookies. The difference I fear was far too great.

This cookie was fine. Not bad, moist, slight aroma and taste of cinnamon, but the white chips were just too sweet without any real flavor other than that of straight sugar. These cookies were moist and soft for several days, but they just won't ever make my favorites list as they were. I may try them again if and when I ever finally locate some honest white chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Cranberry Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cups flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
2/3 cup white chips (should be white chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Round up and measure out all ingredients ahead of time.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flours, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Pineapple Banana Birthday Loaf

Tuesday morning I got up with every intention of celebrating my children’s second birthday with pancakes or waffles or something else that falls in the extravagant category when compared to a handful of cereal and a cup of milk. Unfortunately, they woke up too early to let me get a head start and were ready for cereal before I was ready to sift flour so I decided then and there that I would create a recipe just for them incorporating things I know they love, bananas, pineapple and bread.

I make, shall I dare to say, too much quick bread around here, and I have a basic knowledge of what goes in them so I sat down and jotted down some ideas for a tropical themed bread and worked out a recipe to try. As I was putting the bread together I made a few changes as I saw the batter form and having now tried it I think I would make one more change but overall I thought this bread was a huge success. The children, who got to try it following their lunch, loved it. They each had two slices for lunch and then again for breakfast the next morning. By Thursday the two loaves the batter had made were all gone.

Pineapple Banana Birthday Loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup Fat Free Buttermilk

3 eggs

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup applesauce

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1 cup coconut

4 bananas (very, very ripe and mashed)

1 overflowing cup of walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans generously.

2. Combine flours, soda, salt, cinnamon. Set aside.

3. Combine sugars, applesauce and oil using an electric mixer. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, bananas, pineapple and juice.

4. Combine flour mixture with wet ingredients by hand. Add coconut and walnuts.

5. Pour into prepared loaf pans and bake 55-60 minutes rotating halfway through.

One thing I decided in making this bread was to mix applesauce and oil. Since having a baby four months ago I have been making small changes to my baking. Applesauce has been the biggest change and I implore you to give it a try in your next quick bread recipe. Sometimes I substitute all the oil for applesauce and other times just some of the oil. With this recipe I decided to add applesauce and oil to equal 1 1/3 cup. First I added this:

My applesauce of choice, Mott's No Sugar Added All Natural applesauce. I have this stuff stashed throughout my pantry. I added a little more than 2/3 applesauce and then poured oil in to equal 1 1/3 cups.
I then creamed the wet ingredients; Buttermilk, eggs, sugars, applesauce, oil, vanilla and my secret ingredient, pineapple juice and bananas with my electric mixer. In a separate bowl I combined the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Not wanting to over mix I combined the wet and dry ingredients by hand. I have learned that a dense quick bread is the result of overmixing so I try and be very gentle with my breads.

Ah, yum, coconut. To think there was once a day when I refused the stuff.
This bread was made with a half a cup of crushed pinapple and a half a cup of pineapple juice. I think the next time I make this bread I will reduce the juice to a quarter of a cup. The flavor wasn't that strong and I think it would make for a little less moist of a bread.
I like to heavily grease my pans. I hate when things stick.
So with the oven preheated, the pans greased and the wet and dry ingredients combined I added the coconut and a lot (1 overflowing cup) of walnuts to the batter.I baked the loaves for 25 minutes and then rotated them and baked them for another 30 minutes. I cut into one of them right away (it was after lunch and wanted the children to be able to try it before nap) and I think this was a mistake. The second loaf wasn't cut until the next morning and it tasted not so moist and quite delicious. Needless to say both loaves were gone in two days.

Nut and Grain Pancakes

I know this is a cookie blog but occasionally I want to try something new and it isn't going to fall into the cookie or bar genre but I am still going to want to share. Especially when that something new is absolutely delicious.

I don't do pancakes...usually. I am a waffle person. I can do waffles and I have them down to a science. But pancakes seem to baffle me. I am always making them too runny or too thick. They are either too done or runny or soft in the middle which makes me want to gag just a little. So I let my husband do pancakes and I do waffles.

That was until today. A few weeks ago after a 5k our family went to iHop and I choose pancakes when I usually go French Toast. The pancakes were Nut and Grain pancakes and they were so nutty and just wonderful. They had me wanting to go back to IHOP. Unfortunately, the service at the local IHOP is so bad that the pancakes weren't good enough to actually bring us back. But they did have me searching the internet for a recipe I could attempt here at home. I am proud to say that I found a few recipes I melded together and tried out this morning. They were possibly better than the IHOP because I got to eat them in my snowflake pajama pants and not even have to worry about how much to tip the waitress who we haven't seen since we ordered. I wasn't planning on posting them so I didn't take any photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it...they were pretty awesome.

So for tomorrow morning...

Nutty Pancakes.

3/4 cup Quaker oats (ground in food processor)

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup fat free buttermilk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tablespoons of ground walnuts and pecans

1. Heat griddle to medium high heat.

2. Combine ground oats, flour, soda, powder and salt.

3. In separate bowl combine buttermilk, oil, egg, cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar. Add flour mixture and nuts.

4. Pour 1/4 cup mix onto griddle and heat through on both sides.

5. Enjoy.

This made about 12 pancakes for me but depending on the size it could make more or less.