Oat Bran and Flax Muffins

There are two recipe versions here, for your baking pleasure! If you are the type to experiment you can certainly combine the two and come up with your own preferred recipe. Either version is high in fiber and very low in sugar. I often make some of the batter into "mini muffins" which the grandsons love for snacks.

Oat Bran and Flax Muffins I 

Yield 12 muffins

2 c. oat bran cereal
1/4 c. whole wheat or graham flour (hold out 2 T. to combine with the baking powder and soda)
1/4 c. ground flax seed
1/2 c. chopped nuts
3/4 c. dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, or other)
2 T. brown sugar
1 c. skim milk (warm)   
1/4 c. applesauce
   (or use 1 1/4 c. milk, or 3 T. dry buttermilk and 1-1/4 c. warm water)
2 egg whites or egg substitute equal to two eggs
2 T. vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla
spices - 2 t. cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice or others of preference. Add more if you like lots of flavor.

1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda  (mix both with the 2 T. of flour)

Instructions
Coat muffin pans with baking spray.
Preheat oven to 420°F

Combine the oat bran and all the other dry ingredients - holding out the 2 T. flour and leavening.
Combine all the liquid ingredients, including oil and eggs. Be sure the mixture is warm, a little above room temperature but not enough to cook the egg.

Mix well, then allow to rest, giving the oat bran a little time to begin to absorb the liquid.

Then sprinkle the flour/baking powder mixture over the top and beat to combine thoroughly.

Fill muffin tins nearly to the top.

Bake 13-16 minutes at 420°F. 

Test for doneness with a skewer or toothpick. These muffins will rise only about 1/4 of their volume. Do not over bake!

Tip out of muffin pans to cool.  These will keep a day or two at room temperature, but should be frozen or refrigerated if keeping longer.

NOTE: small amounts of other ingredients can be added without changing the recipe too much. 3 T. of peanut butter powder is a nice change, and doesn't seem to change the texture of the final product.
Other options include 1/4 c. almond meal, sunflower seeds, raisins, or coconut. A gluten free version is easy to make. Just substitute a gluten free baking mix (like Bisquick) for the 1/4 c. flour. The leavening ingredients in the mix will make up for the absence of gluten in the recipe. If you are strictly gluten free, be sure your bran is from a gluten free packaging facility.



Oat Bran and Flax Muffins II   -    Yield 15-18 muffins
     These muffins are a bit like carrot cake

1-1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c.  flax seed meal (ground flax)
3/4 c.  oat bran cereal
1/2 c. brown sugar (or less, depending on taste)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. allspice
1-1/2 c. finely shredded carrots (about 3 medium size carrots)
2 medium apples, peeled and shredded
1/2 c. raisins (golden raisins work really well with the fruit flavors)
1 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. milk
1 T. vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten (or equal egg substitute)
1 t. vanilla

Instructions
Coat muffin pans with baking spray.
Preheat oven to 350°F

Mix together the flour, flax meal, oat bran, brown sugar, soda, baking powder and spices in a large bowl.

Stir in the carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts.

Combine all the liquid ingredients (milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla), then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until ingredients are moistened. DO NOT OVER-MIX.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full . Bake 15-20 minutes at 350°F.  These muffins are very soft and moist right out of the oven, but firm up a bit when cool. They will keep a day or two at room temperature, but should be frozen or refrigerated if keeping longer.

*** The products of both of these recipes are fairly dense, as there is little regular flour included, so don't expect the rise you see with a more cake-like recipe.

Slow-cooker Banana Bread

Whether you call it a slow-cooker or a Crock-Pot, these little appliances are the answer to cooking in hot weather. You do have to plan ahead a bit, but it's amazing what you can cook in one. When we're out traveling in our RV in hot weather I really hesitate to start up the oven as it puts a lot of heat out into the living area, and it can be really hard to get it cooled off again. Consequently, I don't bake much in the summer, and I start missing some of my favorite things. The craving for baked goodies and a hand full of overripe bananas resulted in a brain storm recently - slow-cooker banana bread! I didn't have a cook book along except for the Dutch oven cookbook we'd purchased recently at a state park visitor's center, so I started with that, adjusted the amounts a bit, and this is the result. It does take 3 hours to bake, but it doesn't heat up the house, and you can plug the pot in anywhere there's electricity. It was 104 outside the day I baked this (that's why I wasn't excited about cooking over hot coals!), so I plugged it in to the outlet on the side of the RV and let 'er bake!

Before you start mixing the batter, plug in a small (2 qt.) slow cooker, set to HIGH and spray with no-stick cooking spray. 

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. Smart Balance
2 eggs
1 c. mashed very ripe banana (about 2 large bananas)
1/2 t. each cinnamon and Bitters
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Cream together the sugar and Smart Balance, blend in and then beat each of the eggs. Stir in the banana and the salt and the spices. Sprinkle 3/4 c. flout over the mixture and stir it in. Sprinkle the remaining 1 c. flour and all the baking soda and baking powder over the mixture, then beat until thoroughly blended. Stir in the nuts, then pour the batter into the heated pot.

Cover with the lid and bake for 3 hours. Test with a knife or toothpick to be sure it's done in the middle before turning it out of the pot. This obviously does not yield the typical loaf shape. Slice it in half from top to bottom, the with the cut side down, make half circle slices. The resulting shape is pretty similar to a loaf slice that way. The top won't be brown as it does if cooked in the oven,  but the sides brown up pretty well, so you don't have the damp effect you get with a microwave baked product.

Eggnog Poundcake

This a nice fine grained pound cake that isn't too sweet and goes nicely with coffee or tea. It's also a nice way to use up any eggnog leftover from the holiday season. The only caution is, follow the directions carefully. If you under-mix when creaming the butter, sugar and eggs, or over-mix the flour, the result will be coarse textured and heavy or tough.

• 1/2 c. butter (1 stick) softened
• 1 c. sugar

Start by beating the butter, adding the sugar in small amounts until thoroughly creamed together. Keep beating until smooth and looking like frosting.
3 large eggs
Beat each egg in separately, beating until the mixture again resembles smooth frosting, with enough body to hold little ridges. When all 3 eggs have been incorporated add the remaining ingredients.

Distribute over the butter mixture:

• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder

Then, mixing by hand or on the slow speed of the mixer, alternate flour and eggnog. Do not over-mix or the cake will be tough.

• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 3/4 c. eggnog (may need to add another 2 T. depending on how dry the mixture is in the final stage)

Pour batter into one large or two small loaf pans (spray bottoms with no-stick spray)
If desired, decorate top with sliced almonds. Place them near the center line, as the loaf will split on top as it bakes and they will move toward the sides of the pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F about 1 hour (for small loaves) or 1:15 min - 1:30 for a large loaf.

Texas Jack Muffins

This recipe is an adaptation of the Sailor Jack muffins, which seem to be native to the Pacific Northwest. These moist, spicy muffins are turned upside down and then while still slight warm drizzled with a light glaze. I first encountered Sailor Jacks in the bakery inside Sherm's Thunderbird market in Klamath Falls, Oregon. I didn't see them again for years until I found them in a market bakery in Eugene, Oregon. I've never seen an "official" recipe, though many others have tried to recreate it just as I have. My version has a few ingredients I'm quite sure aren't in the original Sailor Jack recipe, so in recognition of the southern fondness for pecans and coconut, I've named these in honor of Texas Jack Omohundro - famous cowboy and western scout.

Preheat the oven to 375° F
Prepare a 12 cup muffin pan with no-stick cooking spray.

Place in a blender:
1 c. uncooked oats
2 T. molasses
½ c. golden raisins
1¼ c. boiling coffee (or water if the chuck wagon’s out of coffee)
Allow mixture to stand 20 minutes, then process at a medium speed just until the oatmeal and raisins are chopped up. You don’t want to lose the texture totally.

With a mixer beat together:
½ c. softened Smart Balance
½ c. dark brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 t. aromatic bitters*
1 egg
Pour the oatmeal mixture into the bowl and stir gently.

Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the moist mixture and stir in – don’t beat or the muffins will become tough.
1/2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
¼ c. oat bran
1 t. soda
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. allspice
1 t. nutmeg
½ t. ground cloves
¼ t. ground ginger

When the dry ingredients have been well blended fold in
½ c. chopped pecans
½ c. shredded coconut
Have an additional half cup of each available for garnishing the tops after glazing.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan. This recipe makes 12 full muffin cups.
Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 23 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack upside down to prepare for glazing. Glaze doesn’t soak in well on the top surface, but if you prefer your muffins “right side up” the glaze will still be decorative and add a little flavor. Sprinkle a little coconut and chopped pecans on each muffin while the glaze is still moist.

Glaze
1/2 cup (2 ounces) confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice (optional - some have only a plain sugar glaze with no flavor)
1 teaspoon milk
Mix all the ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over the partially cooled muffins. The glaze should soak in about 50%, with some remaining on the surface.

*The bitters is optional, but does add a special tang that no other spice can match! Increase the amount to suit your taste.


This recipe was updated 3/23/2012 to reduce the sugar.

Green Chile Cornbread Recipe

From my favorite cooking blog Simply Recipes
this recipe is rich and moist and full of interesting textures. Great on a cold day with a big bowl of chili!

If you use canned chiles and want the heat, make sure you look for the cans that say "hot", not "mild" on them.
Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs [or egg substitute if you're watching the cholesterol]
2 cups milk
2 cups of chopped, roasted green chiles (Anaheim or Hatch) (2 7-ounce cans of whole green chiles, drained, chopped)
1 cup corn (frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (6 ounces)
[pepper jack is good if you want a little more heat]

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 8x12 inch baking dish.

In a large bowl mix the cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and baking soda. Add the softened, unsalted butter, sour cream, eggs, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon just until the lumps are mostly gone. Mix in the green chiles, corn, and shredded cheese. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.

Bake for 35 minutes, until top is browned, the center springs back when pressed down, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool almost completely before serving.

Makes about 12 serving pieces.