Whole-Wheat Flax Seed Pancakes

The New York City Marathon is running past my bedroom window in waves. I feel guilty eating breakfast in bed as I watch them go by, so the least I could do was make it something healthful! These pancakes are high in fiber with whole-wheat pastry flour and ground flax seeds. The soy milk, bananas and walnuts give you a boost of healthy fat and a whole lot of protein. Dare I say, I feel like I could go for a run right now? Enjoy!



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Whole-Wheat Flax Seed Pancakes

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup ground flax seeds
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple sauce
1 banana, chopped , plus more for garnish
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Prepare the Batter: Whisk together the flour, flax seeds, baking soda, salt and sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, soy milk, vanilla, syrup and apple sauce. Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry, making sure not to over mix. (It's good to have lumps!) Stir in the banana and chopped walnuts.
3. Cook the Pancakes: Pour 1/4 cup batter onto a greased skillet over medium heat. When the batter begins to bubble, flip the pancake and cook the other side for about 1 minute more. Place finished pancakes on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven to keep warm, or serve immediately with syrup and extra banana.

Banana Bread Cookies

I really am trying not to turn into a pumpkin. I'm fully aware that a few non-gourd related baked goods need rotate into my October - November repertoire in order to keep my sanity, and my friend interested in snacking. Last week I could not decide between making banana bread or cookies, so I combined them into one treat you can hold in your hand. Freeze the cookies you're not going to eat right away. When you need a snack, just pop one in the microwave and you'll have a soft, warm, gooey cookie that's ready to be loved. It's kind of my guilty pleasure :) Enjoy!




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Banana Bread Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large bananas, mashed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the egg, bananas, and the vanilla and almond extracts.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pastry flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, with the mixer low speed. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
3. Using a small ice cream scoop, or tablespoon, heap rounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies puff up and turn golden brown. Cool on a baking rack. Enjoy!

Project Pumpkin Pie Bars: Batch 2

After switching in a graham cracker crust for last week's oat base, these bars are a bite in the right direction.

The updated "crunch!" is a combination of graham cracker crumbs, ground almonds, whole wheat flour and, of course, salt. The mixture is coated in a stream of melted butter and par-baked until golden brown.

Baking the crust before adding the custard filling helps you avoid soggy-bottom syndrome with your bars, and pies for that matter. If you're looking for additional sealant, try brushing the crust with beaten egg whites. They act like an edible lacquer. Just thin them with about a teaspoon of water.

With this version, cream cheese replaces sweeten condensed milk in the filling. The testers preferred the creaminess - the custard is dense and much more rich, just like the real deal.

Try this new version and tell me what you think! This is a team effort :) Project Perfect Pumpkin Pie Bars is well on its way. Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Pie Bars: Batch 2

FOR THE CRUST
1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 stick butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING
8 oz package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 egg
15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, ground almonds, whole wheat flour and salt in a large bowl. Add melted better and stir until evenly coated. Press the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixture, Beat together the cream cheese until smooth. Add the egg, followed by the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and the vanilla and almond extracts; beat until combined. Pour custard over the prepared crust. Bake in a 350 degree oven until custard is just set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the bars cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before cutting into bars. Enjoy!

Perfecting The Pumpkin Pie Bar

At some point over the next few weeks you might ask me, “Erin, why the pumpkin bars? What’s your deal with the pumpkin bars!?” And I’ll chuckle to myself and tell y’all to chill out. There is method to my madness.


Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for as long as I can remember. It’s all of my favorite things smushed into one afternoon. Typically I’d say that I wouldn’t miss it for the world, but this is the first year I will not be spending the holiday with my family, and strangely I have absolutely no regrets about it. Instead I will be jetting off to Prague to be with DF (finally!)What can I say, I may be a sucker for Turkey Day, but I'd pick him over apple pie and stuffing any time...

So the pumpkin bars. I'm on a mission to create THE PERFECT pumpkin bar recipe. Trust me, it's harder than you'd think. Each batch is put through a series of vigorous tests and must meet very specific criteria in order to claim victory. Carrie Goldberg, of Mes Petits Choux, is the leading test taster as usual, along with guest judge Lee and anyone else who'd like to come over for a snack :) Here's what I'm looking for. These bars must...

1. Have a Salty, Crunchy Base: What I love about pie is contrast. I want a sweet filling, or a creamy filling, with a crust that brings something different to each bite. Think about a gorgeous raspberry pie: the berry filling is fresh and light, while the buttery crust adds a welcomed mouthful of rich pastry. Chocolate pudding pie: you have creamy chocolate pudding and the sandy bite of an all-graham cracker crust. Pie thrives on contrast! In order to compliment that velvety pumpkin filling that I'm looking for, we need crunch! (The salt's for DF.)
2. Have a Spiced Velvet-Like Filling: Sounds kind of saucy right? It is! The best pumpkin pies have a sumptuous texture that's warmed with the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and a hint of clove. When a custard pie overbakes it becomes curdled or separated. The perfect pumpkin bars must be baked until the filling just gently solidified, yet firm enough to cut. (Quick Tip: Don't wait for your bars to set up completely. Once the middle stops jiggling like water when lightly shaked, remove the bars from the oven and let them rest. The custard will continue to cook as it cools in the baking pan.)
3. Withstand 11 Hours of Travel: These bars are destined to be an international treat, a small taste of Thanksgiving transplanted into the Czech Republic. They need to be able to sit patiently on a plane, transfer vessels in London and make it all the way to Prague without crumbling, melting or spoiling. This means that dairy products must be limited, and although taste is my main concern, durability is definitely a factor in this endeavor.
   
4. Be Reminiscent of the Real Deal: My Nanny's pumpkin pie made with cream cheese may be my favorite dessert of all-time, but I don't think American Airlines would be thrilled with me carrying a whole pie on board. The perfect pumpkin bars will be able to trick anyone into thinking their biting into a piece of real pie, but will take on the shape of a portable bar cookie. The goal is authenticity. These aren't just pumpkin bars, remember, they are pumpkin pie bars.

The first contestant was well received by Carrie and my office mates. They loved the salty crust and the flavor, but didn't enjoy the toasted walnuts that were folded into the filling. They were a little too unexpected in the end. The oats made the crust flaky but not in a pie way. Instead of having a crust-like base and a creamy filling, these bars were more similar to a pudding cake from top to bottom. They may not be exactly what I'm looking for, but they certainly are delicious.

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Pumpkin Pie Bars: Batch 1

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpous flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
16 oz can organic pumpkin puree
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the oats, flour, baking powder and saltn a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy; add flour, oats, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt; mix until crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking pan (reserving 1/2 cup of the mixture for a topping.)
2. Bake crust in a 350 degree oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Mix the pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and extracts together in a large bowl; add a pinch of salt if desired. Spread filling over the baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture and toasted walnuts. Bake until set, about 30 minutes. Remove baking dish and allow bars to cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Cut into squares using a shape knife and enjoy!

Sunday Morning Breakfast

Sunday morning breakfast is a beautiful thing. Friday afternoon is when I usually begin dreaming about it. This week, however, I only made it to Thursday before thoughts of eggs and muffins took over the FOOD section of my brain. I notified a few lady friends that brunch was on...



The page of my counter top cookbook had been turned to this baked egg recipe for a while. Of course in the book the eggs are prepared in a skillet, but a young girl has to compromise. Here's a tip: if you don't have a skillet, cook your eggs or chicken, whatever, in a saucepan on your stovetop and then finish 'em off in a greased casserole dish in the oven. You're browning on the stovetop for flavor, then finishing the cooking in the oven. No one will ever know that you're missing a skillet!


These herbed baked eggs are from one of the Food Network Test Kitchens cookbooks. Imagine taking crispy hash browns, smothered with onions, and then added gooey baked eggs to the middle. It's a stomach warming breakfasts that makes you feel like a gourmet lumberjack. (I over cooked my eggs because I was afraid they weren't setting up correctly. Don't do that. No one wants hard boiled eggs in their potatoes.)

BAKED EGGS WITH HERBS

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
8 large eggs
1 cup extra-sharp farmhouse cheddar, shredded (about 4 ounces)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper, and remove from the heat. Transfer mixture to a greased casserole dish.
3. Separate the potatoes to make 4 evenly spaced nests and break 2 eggs into each. Bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs and continue baking until it just melts, about 1 minute more. Serve immediately.

-From the Food Network Kitchens


Okay. To go with our cheesey-eggy hashbrowns: muffins. Not just any muffins, Cinnamon Sugar Muffins with butter and fig jam. These muffins form a crust that is crackled with sweet and spicy cinnamon sugar. Make these and your whole apartment will smell like a dream.(Ladies and Homeowners, this is for you. Somewhere in the universe scientists have proven that people are lured to the smell of something baking...the smell of cinnamon is an added bonus. Need I say more?) When I'm baking for myself I tend to replace all of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat pastry flour, buckwheat flour and/or ground flaxseed. No matter what, the whole grain flour changes the texture of your baked goods. But if that heartier texture is what you're used to, it really shouldn't make a difference (and it's better for you.) This recipe is from Epicurious.com. I swaped in the whole-wheat and added some almond extract for a little extra sweetness :) Enjoy!

CINNAMON SUGAR MUFFINGS

FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


FOR THE MUFFINS
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract


1. Make topping: In a small bowl stir together sugar and cinnamon. Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter six 1/3-cup muffin cups.

2. Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until combined well. Beat in flour mixture and add milk, beating until mixture is just combined. Stir in almond extract. Divide batter evenly among cups and sprinkle with topping. Bake muffins in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove muffins from cups and cool on a rack. Muffins keep in an airtight container 2 days.

Beer Rye & Olive Oil Granola

When I mentioned that I was thinking of making granola to a co-worker Friday afternoon, I didn't expect he'd be so persuasive. After describing a spiced granola that he served under a piece of salmon, (or was it pork?) he grabbed a bottle of beer rye from his shelf and encouraged me to give his secret-granola ingredient a try. Of course I had to follow through!

Yes, beer rye is used to make beer. Don't fret, throwing some of this granola into your yogurt wont turn it into a boozy breakfast and it tastes nothing like a Bud Light. Like barley, rye is a grain used to make beer - equal parts of rye malt are substituted for the barley malt. A malt is really nothing more than the grain soaked in water. The grain germinates and then is quickly dried, the malt eventually provides the sugar and some yeast needed for the fermentation-brewing process. That's the extent of my beer knowlegde...thank the interactive Guniess museum. Saranac Roggen Bock and Sixpoint Righteous Ale are two rye beers made right here in New York, give 'em a try if you're interested.


Moving on. My lovely co-worker suggested I check out Martha's website for one of her granola recipes. Here's a tip about making granola at home...peruse a recipe to get an idea of what to do, then explore. It's granola! You don't have to worry about something rising or solidifying. Pick some mix-ins that you like and give it a whirl. It couldn't be easier. The recipe that he recommended was fantastic actually - pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, olive oil, maple syrup...you just can't go wrong with it. I made a few little changes to fit my taste (and my pantry), and I hope you do the same.

In the end the granola was nutty and crispy, with a great combination of sweet and salty flavors from the dried cranberries, maple syrup, sea salt, and olive oil. This over Greek yogurt...forget about it :) Enjoy!

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Beer Rye & Olive Oil Granola

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup pepitas seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup beer rye
1 1/2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
1 cup cranraisins
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (if desired)
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Spread evenly over the baking sheet.
3. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until nuts and grains are golden brown and fragrant. Allow granola to cool before storing it in a jar or serving it as a snack!

Just Icing On The Cake

Dear Wishosaurus,

Why did I not know of your existence before this moment? And who is the person special enough for me to sit you on their birthday treat?

Warmly,
Erin Elizabeth