Whole wheat banana wheat germ muffins with chocolate chips

A month or two ago, I bought a fresh bag of wheat germ to make these blueberry-banana muffins for my husband.  He really enjoys a good breakfast muffin every so often!  I won't say I was left holding the bag but I did wonder what else I could do with all the leftover wheat germ since I hate to waste and always have this burning desire to make use of everything (at least, before their expiration date). I got lucky and spotted this whole wheat banana wheat germ muffin recipe that really caught my eye.

These muffins are made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, sweetened with honey.  Chocolate chips (somewhat) optional.

It helped that the muffins I spotted were beautiful (with puffy domed tops that I was not able to achieve likely due to my over-zealousness when it comes to adding bananas) and had a Nutella swirl on top to boot (as you can see, I opted for miniature chocolate chips).  The other major selling point was how wholesome these muffins are...dare I say these actually qualify as healthy muffins?

When I say "healthy", I mean they are made with whole wheat flour (I like to use white whole wheat) and wheat germ.  That's it - no other flours.  Aside from the bananas, they are simply sweetened with honey.  There's a bit of canola oil involved, and I opted to include some chocolate chips just to make sure I wasn't being too virtuous.

I can be a little too generous with my banana measurement...my muffins were super moist

I was a little skeptical about the whole wheat flour-wheat germ combo going in but I couldn't resist such a potentially great use of my bag of wheat germ.  And you know what?  These are some good muffins!  They turned out flavorful and very moist - all the more so since I was a little heavy-handed with the mashed bananas.  Though that meant I ended up with rather sunken muffin tops, you won't find us complaining about too much moisture in a muffin!

My husband enjoyed these and even the picky 8-year old was a fan, and he can be rather picky about his banana muffins!  I'm glad he liked these because they are far less sweet and much healthier than his favorite banana muffins.  I would be happy to make these often and feel good about having them for a quick breakfast.  I hope you give it a try if you're a fan of muffins or if, like me, you find yourself with some wheat germ on hand that you need a good use for!

Homemade bread at last

I finally made bread!  It's been on my list of things-to-try for quite a while now after being inspired by many posts I've seen of wonderful homemade loaves.  After making pizza dough and the brioche pretzels, working with yeast became much less mysterious and intimidating.  So much so that I finally felt ready to tackle homemade bread myself...

So, please...meet my first attempt at actual bread-making - my, shall we say rather "rustic" looking, loaves of semi whole wheat bread!

Despite my love of white bread, I decided to go with a whole wheat combination because it's what my family and I generally eat these days.  I used a recipe from The Kitchn, which calls for an equal mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  I opted to use white whole wheat flour, which is what I have on hand and like to use for recipes calling for whole wheat.  I like that it's less assertive, milder, than typical whole wheat but offers all the same nutritional benefits.

This is just my third experience working with yeast and I have to say I'm in awe with the process...watching the dough come alive, expand, and ultimately transform into something nourishing. I have a ton to learn but I've been surprised that working with yeast is a whole lot less "scary" than I thought it would be.  I suppose I've always assumed it would be extremely difficult, with little room for error.  I know my first loaves certainly need work but it was a rewarding experience.

I'd go so far as to say the entire process was fairly smooth-sailing, right up until I got to the stage where I placed the dough into my loaf pans.  One mistake I made was not covering the pans with plastic wrap the whole time; that meant the tops dried so that when it came time to slash the loaves before baking, I ended up with a crinkly Frankenstein-scar on the surface.

The loaf pans themselves were another issue.  The pans I used are old - as in late 1990's old - and I think they're slightly larger than "regular" 9x5 loaf pans.  I used them since I happen to have two, which is what I needed for this recipe (for once, I did not divide the recipe in half!) and the only other loaf pan I have is an 8x4 one that I feared would be too small anyway.

I think it might be time to invest in more loaf pans.  Given the pans were a bit roomy, the loaves didn't rise or fill up as much as they should have in the pans and I ended up with rather squat loaves. That's my theory anyway.  It could very well be that I needed a warmer place to let the dough rise in the pans but whatever the case, this is what I got and I'll gladly accept it.

My homemade bread likely came out denser than they were suppose to but they sure made great little pieces of crunchy toast (and that makes me happy because I like my toast very crunchy).  We had fun spreading all kinds of toppings - butter, peanut butter, strawberry jam, Nutella - on them.  Making your own bread is a great excuse to just eat more bread!  I mean, you have to experiment and taste them in all different ways, don't you?

Now that Fall is almost here, I'm starting to crave breads and heartier foods. I might be in the minority but I'm ready for Fall in many ways.  We had a little breakfast gathering over Labor Day weekend to bid an unofficial farewell to summer.  I love a breakfast buffet at home, and cooking breakfast or brunch for a group is far easier and more relaxed than other meals.  I skipped the pancakes this time and went for savory items.  It was an excellent opportunity for me to press some of this homemade bread on my peeps. 

 

Orange muffins with bittersweet chocolate chunks

Hello, there!  I'm here with a muffin recipe today.  These are orange chocolate muffins.  They are flavored with fresh orange juice and zest, and studded with bits of bittersweet chocolate chunks.

A few months ago, I noticed that Serious Eats runs a weekly series called, "Share Your Sweets," where they ask home bakers to submit a picture and description of something they've baked.  The topic changes each week and I've sent in a few things; it's neat to see something you cooked and a picture you took on a website other than your own!  A while back, the topic was muffins and I saw these orange and chocolate muffins submitted by Sara at her blog, Cupcake Muffin that appealed to me.  I bookmarked the recipe and I've been meaning to try it for a long time.  I mean, orange and chocolate is one of my all-time favorite classic combinations.

I like this recipe for several reasons.  First, a good amount of orange juice and zest infuse the muffins with flavor but the effect is on the lighter side as opposed to a somewhat heftier, sweeter product you'd get from, say, most banana muffins.  You can keep things light by mixing in fruit like cranberries and some nuts (which is what the origin of this recipe - from Cooking Light - calls for) but I love the bittersweet chocolate Sara used because, frankly, I just love chocolate and that's what drew me to the recipe in the first place.  With the bittersweet chocolate, the overall effect is a little more richness but it's not overly sweet.  It's a great way to consume your daily intake of dark chocolate!  These muffin are made up of a mixture of all-purpose and white whole wheat flour.  And as an added bonus, they're also very easy to put together. 

I think if you're not already a home baker but want to be, muffins are a great place to start.  For most muffin recipes, putting the batter together is a matter of basic mixing with a whisk or spatula, incorporating some dry and wet ingredients together.  The key is to not overmix, which can be hard to resist at first.  Afterall, the mixing and stirring is half the fun!

Believe it or not, I don't often eat sweets for breakfast.  I mean, I'll eat cereal that's sweetened but in general, I prefer something savory for my first meal.  I like to save my sweet treat for later in the day.  I guess I don't trust myself and I'm afraid I'll over-indulge or be "over my limit" too soon if I start early in the morning.  But for my on-the-run husband, a muffin in the morning can be quite convenient so I have an excuse to explore various muffin options.  I was a little naughty and sprinkled some sanding sugar on top of a couple of the muffins right before baking.  I'll just save those for my midday treat.

Honey-wheat cookies

I'd never used wheat germ before until last week when I bought a bag to make those tasty (and healthy) blueberry-banana muffins.  I still have quite a bit left and as luck would have it, I was indulging in one of my favorite pastimes - reading a cookbook - when I found another recipe to deploy the wheat germ for.  I was reading through Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and making a growing list of things I might like to make when I saw this recipe for honey-wheat cookies, which calls for lemon zest, honey, and wheat germ.  It sounded like something worth trying during this post-holiday January when you (by that, I mean me or I) still want a sweet treat but prefer to stay on the lighter, healthier side.

Like its name suggests, the flavor and texture of these cookies come from the combination of lemon zest, honey, and wheat germ.  To up the health factor a bit further, I substituted some of the all-purpose flour used in this recipe with white whole wheat flour.  There's wheat germ in the cookies themselves and they also get a coating of it on the outside before baking.  I really liked that, as it gave the cookies a bit more texture on the outside, similar to what you'd get if you rolled them in sugar and this is certainly a far healthier option.  These cookies just cry out for a cup of tea to go alongside.

When the cookies first came out of the oven, they were pretty nondescript and I worried about what the combination of wheat germ, honey, and lemon zest would taste like.  It was better than I thought it would be.  It's like biting into a soft cake - sweet, moist, and with a nice lemon perfume and flavor to it.

This cookie might lend more towards adult palates though.  Our six-year old was not into it.  Obviously, this is no chocolate cookie but it is a nice change up in the cookie rotation right now.

Blueberry-banana muffins

So here we are in the early days of January.  The merry-making of the holiday season is over.  I'm bummed about that; I just love Christmastime with all the lights, decorations, parties and, of course, all the delicious food and treats.  Now in January, it appears we're left with the aftermath and it just doesn't feel right to sit here and write about rich desserts.  Everyone's cutting back and as much as I dislike the idea of dieting and excessive restraint, I, too, can tell that I might have enjoyed the holidays a teeny bit too thoroughly.

I'm not taking sweets or desserts out of my life - oh no.  I'm just taking it slow and practicing a little more restraint for a few weeks.  But I still have a strong urge to bake something all the time so I'm trying to focus on some lighter, more healthful choices.  So today, I'm making blueberry-banana muffins.  Two fruits in the title means it has to be good for you, right?  Yes!

This muffin not only has blueberries and bananas in it, it has other good stuff we can boast about too.  Wheat germ, for one.  And instead of just all-purpose flour, these muffins are made with a combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour.  I use white whole wheat flour, which I think has a more subtle texture and flavor but still all the benefits of plain whole wheat.  Yes, there's still butter and sugar in this recipe.  Specifically, there's roughly 2/3 tablespoon of butter and less than one tablespoon of sugar per muffin.  And don't forget all the good stuff in there: blueberries, banana, wheat germ, whole wheat flour - and  we even use 2% low-fat milk!  So I think we can all have one of these on a January morning without any guilt.

The best part?  Other than they're better for you than the typical muffin, they taste really good!  The muffins are soft and moist, not heavy at all, and I love the little bit of grainy texture from the whole wheat flour and wheat germ.  I have to tell you I was tempted to sprinkle some sanding sugar on top of these just before they went into the oven but I restrained myself...and I think they are just sweet enough without it.  Now if you want to go ahead and do that though, I think it would be a good idea.

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies

I know it's hot out there and you may not want to turn on your oven but I crave a good homemade cookie all year round so I'm willing to do it.  And remember my search for a great chocolate chip cookie?  Well, I'm always interested when someone says they've found a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

I was introduced to this one a few months back via the great blog, Orangette.  These cookies really caught my eye.  Firstly, it's a whole wheat chocolate chip cookie.  Sounds a bit boring and may admittedly make you think of a dry, dense type of cookie but the potential for a great whole wheat, and dare I say, healthier, chocolate chip cookie was very alluring indeed.  Secondly, she (meaning, Molly, the author of the blog) mentioned they reminded her of digestive biscuits.  Well, coming from Hong Kong and with our exposure to British food, digestive biscuits conjure up a pleasant taste memory for me.

I'm so glad I tried making these cookies because they've staked a permanent place in my cookie-making repertoire.  Using white whole wheat flour is a great suggestion Molly made because it produces a milder whole wheat flavor but is still whole grain and gives you that nuttiness that balances out the sweetness.  The dough does taste like a digestive biscuit!  The cookies are crisp on the outside, soft in the center.  The dough is not too sweet and a terrific balance with the chocolate throughout.

So if you like digestive biscuits or a cookie dough that isn't too sweet, you might want to check these whole wheat chocolate chip cookies out.  They are very tasty.