Sourdough Muffins

A friend of mine gave me a sourdough starter back in April and I have loved it.  I probably make these muffins at least twice a week.

Ingredients:

• 1 C “discarded” sourdough starter
• 1 C whole wheat flour (sift flour prior to measuring)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional) and/or other spices
• 1/4 C melted coconut oil or melted butter 
• 1/2 C honey 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ~1/2 C blueberries (or pumpkin puree or whatever add-in you like!)

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer, combine sourdough starter and whole wheat flour. Once the two are thoroughly combined, cover the dough with plastic wrap ensuring that none of it is exposed to the air. Let sit at room temperature for at least seven hours.
2. The dough will rise some while it sits. If any of it has gotten exposed to the air and gotten dry, just remove those bits so you don’t have little dough nuggets in your final product.
3. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with papers or grease the cups.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together all other ingredients except for blueberries and baking soda. Add those ingredients to the dough in the mixer’s bowl and mix together. Once all the ingredients are mixed and have come together as a batter, sprinkle the baking soda in the bowl and mix batter again briefly to incorporate. Fold in blueberries and scoop batter into prepared muffin pan.
5. Bake for 20 min. Makes 8-12 muffins.

You can also make this recipe as pumpkin muffins. Instead of blueberries, mix in 1/2 C pumpkin puree (I add it to the same bowl in which I’m mixing the egg, honey, oil etc.). In addition to the cinnamon, add about 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp ground coriander and 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg or just add 1tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread

This is such an easy recipe that can be used on everything from pumpkin bread to bagels to cinnamon rolls. This stuff is addicting.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese; softened to room temperature
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• a couple drops of vanilla
• 3 Tablespoons real maple syrup (or more to your liking)

Directions:

1. Whip cream cheese with mixer until smooth.
   
2. Mix in cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup.
   
3. Refrigerate until set and the best part is it’s always spreadable even straight from the fridge.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

This recipe is SO good! It's moist, not too sweet and absolutely wonderful when topped with maple cinnamon cream cheese spread.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used 365 brand from Whole Foods)
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used raw can sugar which makes this recipe much healthier)
  
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can pumpkin (15 oz) (Walter and I pureed a pumpkin we bought at the Farmer's Market about a month ago, so we have a freezer full of pumpkin puree to be used)
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup coconut oil; melted (coconut oil is a very healthy fat that is a great substitution for canola, vegetable or other not so great oils)
  
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients well. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix wet ingredients.
3. Pour wet ingredients in the center of dry and mix together until well incorporated.
4. Pour into 3 bread pans that have been greased & floured.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45min-1 hr, until a knife comes out clean.

*You can freeze the other two loaves until you're ready to eat them.

Pumpkin Scones

I had been seeing tons of pumpkin recipes pop up on Pinterest for weeks, so I finally decided I needed to try one out. This recipe almost got me a stand mixer...that's how much Walter loved it. I told him it would have been a lot easier to make, if I had a stand mixer which is why he is now determined to buy me one. In his mind, stand mixer=more scones. I'm not going to argue with that logic.

Courtesy of: The Shoebox Kitchen via sweetpeaskitchen.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (I used white/wheat from Trader Joe's)
  
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (I used turbinado)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

• cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Spiced Glaze:

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half, and egg. Set aside.
3. Stir together into a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Add the cubed butter on top.
4. Now, either using a pastry blender or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and dry ingredients until you reach the consistency of coarse cornmeal (pieces of butter should be no larger than a small pea). Alternatively, you could probably do this step in your food processor, much like you would do for making pie crust. OR you can cut the butter with a fork and proceed to mix by hand
5. Now gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. We used a spatula for this step, but had to use our hands in the end to get that last bit of flour to incorporate into a well formed dough ball. As you can see above, the dough is pretty ragged, but that’s just fine. The important thing is to make sure all the dry ingredients have been moistened well.
6. On a well-floured surface, flatten and form the dough into a 12″ x 4″ x 1″ thick rectangle.
7. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, divide the rectangle into three equal pieces, then slice each piece into four triangular pieces by making an “X” through them.
8. Place the triangle of dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for just 15 minutes, or until light brown. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before icing.
9. Make up the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the milk and sugar until smooth, then paint the tops of the scones with the glaze using a pastry brush.
10. While the first glaze is drying (10 minutes or so), make up the spiced glaze by combining all ingredients and mixing until smooth. Drizzle onto the scones using your favorite drizzling method (I put the glaze in my nifty Pampered Chef icing container).

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

I found this recipe over at 100 Days of Real Food. It's super easy and tastes much better than most whole wheat recipes out there. Even my extremely picky sister-in-law loved it. I've made two versions of this, banana and blueberry/banana. Both are delicious!

For a lighter, easier to digest version of this recipe; I highly recommend soaking your flour overnight.

To Soak Flour:

• 2 cups of whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup water per cup flour
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  
• Cover with a cloth and secure with a rubber band. To learn more about the benefits of soaking your flour, I highly recommend clicking on the following link .
  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed (optional)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 ¾ cups milk (I tend to use 1 cup of half and half and 3/4 cup water because we don't keep milk in our house)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + butter for frying
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 100% pure maple syrup for serving
• I also like to add a splash of cinnamon for added flavor

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground flaxseed. Stir until well mixed and then make a well (hole) in the center of the bowl by spreading the flour mixture to the sides of the bowl.
   
2. Pour the honey, eggs, milk, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter into the well, then gradually whisk from the center outward until the ingredients are well combined but still a little lumpy. Do not over mix the batter.
   
3. Very gently fold in the mashed bananas (and/or other berries).
4. Preheat a non-stick or cast iron griddle (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat. Set electric griddles at 370 degrees F. Your cooking surface will be ready when a drop of water flicked onto the surface dances and evaporates instantly. Allow some butter to melt then ladle the pancake batter forming circles on the griddle or pan.
5. When the pancakes have begun to bubble in the center and the underside is golden brown, use your spatula to flip them. Cook until the 2nd side is golden brown, and then keep on a platter in a warm oven (200 degrees F) while you cook the remaining pancakes. Serve with warm maple syrup and a side of fruit. And freeze the leftovers for another day!