Maple/Apple/Banana Buckwheat Muffins

Got a bag of buckwheat flour from our CSA so I was searching for new-to-me recipes to use with it. This recipe is adapted from one of Martha Stewart's (with the boring name of "sugar-free muffins").
They came out really good! The maple flavor really shines through. The bananas helped to add sweetness. The eggs and apples made them moist and was a nice counterpoint to the pleasantly grainy buckwheat flour.

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 salt
4 eggs
2 mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup wheat germ

Heat oven to 350. Brush muffin tin with melted coconut oil. Whisk together dry ingredients in one bowl; combine wet ingredients in separate bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and then fold in apples and walnuts.

Pour batter into cups (it will be really liquid-y). Bake for 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Simple chocolate cake

The other night I had to use up some leftover buttermilk from Christmas, so was looking up recipes to use as much buttermilk as possible. This chocolate cake recipe from Ina Garten only uses up a cup of buttermilk, but ultimately I chose it because there is NO BUTTER in the cake (and after the buttery overload at Christmas I thought this would be a good option). Granted: there are two sticks of butter for the frosting of this cake, but I didn't frost it :)

Between the buttermilk, the oil, and the amount of coffee used in this recipe, it creates a super-airy and moist cake. It's like eating chocalate-y, coffee-scented clouds. Nice and light and good for non-indulgent snacking. I cooked mine in a 9 x 13 pan instead of two round cake pans and cut it into squares.

Christmas baking: a failure and a success

Probably almost 10 years ago, I got the Barefoot Contessa's "Parties!" book as a gift, and immediately earmarked her chocolate orange bundt cake to try. For whatever reason, I never made it. As I was flipping through my cookbooks for something fancy to make on Christmas, I came across it again. Every holiday season, I like to use certain ingredients - on Thanksgiving I always make something with fresh cranberries, and on Christmas, I love to have something with oranges. This cake would be perfect for my preference for oranges on Christmas.

As I mixed the batter, I was pleased how perfectly it was coming together. It smelled fantastic. I just knew it was going to be a homerun. I popped it in the oven, set the timer, and left to go on an errand, instructing Eric to take it out when the timer buzzed. He did, and I came home about 10 minutes later. I tested the cake with toothpicks and they came out clean. I tapped the top of the cake and it seemed cooked. I am always nervous unmolding a bundt cake and this day was no exception. It seemed kind of stuck in the pan, so I put it in the oven a bit longer. Took it out. Tried unmolding; same problem. Put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes. Again, same problem. Now I was getting really nervous.

When I finally got it unmolded it was completely cooked on the top and bottom edges and completely raw inside. I actually stuck in back in the oven as a last-ditch attempt to rescue it; but it didn't work. I had to throw the entire thing away. What a waste! (Google "barefoot contessa chocolate orange bundt" for the recipe.)

Anyway, I had used up almost all my butter, flour, and chocolate but I still wanted to make something for Christmas. Ina's bundt cake called for an orange glaze and a chocolate ganache - each of which I had already made - so I wanted to incorporate those somehow. I turned to Dorie Greenspan's "Baking Chez Moi" for help. Eureka - I found something. Her Double Chocolate Marble Cake. I altered it a little bit to accommodate the glaze and the ganache and I am pleased to say it came out wonderfully. A dense (but not dry) cake with a good mix of chocolate and interesting spices (I used cardamom as she suggested, plus the orange glaze, and topped with the chocolate-espresso ganache). Holiday was saved :)  THIS link is a good adaptation; I used vanilla extract and skipped the white chocolate portion - even Dorie says you can leave it out - and it was a hit. I will definitely make this again, leaving out the glaze and the ganache to make it more of an "everyday" cake instead of something decadent for the holidays.

Chocolate chip spelt cookies

We got a bag of spelt flour in the CSA this week, and this receipe was printed on the bag. I added one ripe mashed banana because I needed to use it up. The cookies were a perfect mix of salty and sweet, and the spelt and the banana was a nice healthy addition to offset the relatively large amount of butter. 

3 cups unbleached spelt flour   

1 teaspoon baking soda                   

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt                                    

1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract   

1 cup butter softened                         

2 large free range eggs

3/4 cup organic sugar                        

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips  

1 ripe mashed banana

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine spelt flour with baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat together butter, organic sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after adding each one.
5. Add flour mixture gradually. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Refrigerate dough for one half hour to firm dough.
7. Form dough into one inch balls on ungreased cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until golden brown.
9. Cool on cookie sheets for two minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.