While some muffins are little more than cupcakes without the frosting, these hearty, flavorful, and nutritious whole grain apple muffins will help you power through your morning.

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a fan of cake-like muffins, but I think they generally make a better dessert than breakfast.  Made with whole wheat flour and heart-healthy oat bran, these muffins offer a bit more staying power than something you might pick up at a cafe on your way to work.

I made these using King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, which I have found is great for quick breads.  But traditional whole wheat flour will work fine, and if you can find it, whole wheat pastry flour would be even better.  As always, you may substitute all-purpose flour for any portion of the whole wheat, although you’ll lose some of the nutritional value.

One of my favorite muffin tips is to use a mechanical ice cream scoop for portioning out the muffin batter, it’s quick, easy, and reduces the chance of dropping globs of batter all over the muffin tin and counter (although I still usually manage to do that).

I think these muffins make a great breakfast-on-the-go, but I also enjoy them as an afternoon snack.  They freeze well, and will defrost quickly at room temperature.  I hope you enjoy them!

Whole Grain Sour Cream Apple Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup sour cream, at room temp.
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1 granny smith apple (or your favorite type of baking apple), peeled and diced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

cinnamon and sugar mixture (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, oil, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.

4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in apples, raisins, and nuts (if using).

5. Divide batter between the twelve muffin cups (a regular-sized ice cream scoop works well). Sprinkle tops of muffins with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar if desired.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Around the Web:

• Whole Wheat Apple Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
• Gluten-Free Apple Pear Muffins from Karina’s Kitchen
• Maple-Drizzled Apple Muffins from Recipe Girl
• Apple Cinnamon Crunch Muffins from Andrea’s Recipes
• Apple Muffins from Cooking for Seven

Click any of the photos above to be taken to the recipe.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal.  It’s not the most glamorous subject, is it?

I grew up eating oatmeal for breakfast on a fairly regular basis.  My Dad would often make it for us on cold, winter mornings before school.  Sometimes it would be plain and I would eat it with butter and a bit of brown sugar.  That wasn’t so bad.  Some mornings, he would add chopped dried apricots, my favorite way to eat oatmeal.  But more often than not, he would cook it with raisins.  Plump, rehydrated raisins.  Yuck!  While I now look back on those mornings with a certain fondness, I certainly wasn’t in love with oatmeal at the time!

I preferred things like my Mom’s french toast with butter and powdered sugar or my Dad’s soft-boiled eggs served over buttered toast.  And as far as hot cereals went, I loved the smooth and creamy bowls of ‘mush’ that I would eat at my Nana’s house (which I later found out was just boiled cornmeal).  Lumpy oatmeal with rehydrated, squishy raisins just wasn’t my idea of a wonderful breakfast in those days.

But tastes change and now I enjoy eating oatmeal for breakfast.  Even with raisins.  And no, I’m not talking about the little packets of overly-sweetened, artificially-flavored instant oatmeal.  I like the texture of old-fashioned rolled oats and, even more, steel cut oats.  When I have children, they’ll be eating oatmeal for breakfast, just like I did, squishy raisins and all!  By the way, do you know that it only takes five minutes to cook rolled oats?  Five minutes!  With all the varieties of ‘instant’ and ‘quick-cooking’ oatmeal available, you’d think that cooking the regular kind must take forever!  Wrong.

So now let me tell you a little more about my latest oatmeal love:  steel cut oats!  I like to think of steel cut oatmeal as ‘oatmeal for adults.’  Why?  Because it has a wonderful, chewy texture that I think is more appealing to me now than it would have been when I was a kid.  Steel cut oatmeal does take longer to cook, usually about 25 minutes.  But the great thing about steel cut oatmeal is that it can be made in advance because it reheats so well!

I like to make a large batch of it once a week, then divide it between individual plastic containers.  In the mornings I can pull out my little container of oatmeal, pour a little milk on it, and pop it in the microwave.  It’s my own version of instant oatmeal!  The steel cut oatmeal retains it’s chewy texture and you’d never guess it wasn’t fresh off the stove.  Have you ever tried reheating oatmeal made from rolled oats?  It turns into a gummy, gluey mess!

You see, I never have an appetite in the morning so I really have to force myself to eat breakfast.  Yes, I know that I just got through telling you that old-fashioned oatmeal only takes five minutes to cook. But when I don’t feel like eating anyway, I generally won’t put any effort into breakfast at all.  This is where my pre-cooked steel cut oats come in.  If all I have to do is take the container out of the fridge and pop it in the microwave, I’m much more likely to eat breakfast.  It’s even easier than pouring a bowl of cold cereal.  It’s true that I don’t ever want to eat breakfast in the morning, but my day sure goes a lot smoother when I do!

I first tried steel cut oats several years ago.  At the time, the only brand I knew was McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal.  It comes in a pretty metal can, is imported from Ireland, and is rather expensive!  I’ll admit that the reason I first bought it was because I wanted that beautiful black, white and gold can (to this day, I still use the can to store spare change). But it turned out that I really enjoyed the oatmeal inside the can, too!  Due to the price, steel cut oatmeal was a luxury rather than a regular part of my diet for a few years.  But when we moved to San Diego, I had access to several stores that sell steel cut oats in bulk, for a much better price.  And now, thankfully, steel cut oats are gaining in popularity and are therefore much easier to find in regular grocery stores.

With it’s recent surge in popularity, you might think that steel cut oats are a new superfood or are somehow much healthier than other types of oatmeal.  The truth is that old-fashioned rolled oats and steel cut oats basically have the same nutritional value.  They are both made from whole grain oat groats, they are just processed differently.  And yes, they are both extremely good for you (but you knew that already)!

When rolled oats are made, the oat groats are steamed and rolled flat under heavy metal rollers.  This process results in the familiar-looking flat, flaky oats.  Quick-cooking and instant oatmeal are processed even further and in some cases, some of the bran may be removed.  If you want to make sure you’re getting all the good stuff, buy old-fashioned rolled oats, remember they cook up in only five minutes!

So if rolled oats are actually rolled, can you guess what happens when steel cut oats are made?  That’s right, the oat groats are cut into small pieces rather than rolled.  Common sense argues that since these steel cut oats are processed even less than the rolled oats, they are probably a tiny bit healthier for us.  But both types of oats retain the bran and germ, and both types are still considered to be whole grain.  I prefer steel cut oats for the texture, but if they happen to retain a bit more nutrition due to the minimal processing, then that’s even better!

Steel cut oats may also be called Irish oats, Scotch oats or pinhead oats.  Keep an eye out for them in the cereal section of your supermarket or the bulk bins of your local health food store.  If you decide to buy it in bulk, here are some general cooking guidelines:

Steel Cut Oatmeal

For one serving:  1 1/2 cups water  and 1/4 cup oats
For four servings or more: Use 1 cup of water per 1/4 cup oats for each serving  (i.e. 4 cups water/1 cup oats for four servings)

Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan (or large saucepan if making several servings at once).  Stir in oats and immediately reduce heat to low.  Watch carefully, because the water might foam up and boil over!  (If using an electric stove, and the water foams up before the burner cools down enough, briefly lift the pan off the heat and the foam will subside).  Simmer uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes or until oats are of desired texture.

Notes: If making ahead with plans to reheat, I cook the oats for only 20-25 minutes. I like to add a tiny pinch of salt when I add the oats to the water, but this is entirely optional.  If you want to add dried fruit while the oatmeal is cooking, add a bit of extra water.  I like to cook 8 servings at a time:  I let the oatmeal cool slightly then divide into 8 small plastic containers, which can be refrigerated for up to one week.  To reheat, add a splash of milk or water, then microwave until heated through.  Stir and serve plain or with desired toppings.  I’m sure the oatmeal can also be frozen and reheated, but I haven’t tried that myself!

So what do you like to eat on your oatmeal?  My standard used to be a bit of milk, butter, and brown sugar.  But now I like to eat it with fresh berries or dried fruit and a small handful of chopped nuts.  Sometimes I cook the dried fruit with the oatmeal, sometimes I throw it in as I’m reheating it, or sometimes I just add it at the very end.  My favorite dried fruits are apricots, cherries, or cranberries. But this morning, I ate my oatmeal with nothing but a handful of plump, squishy raisins!

Whether you prefer steel cut or rolled oats, a bowl of warm oatmeal is a delicious, healthy and easy way to start the day.  Give it a try, your body will thank you!

You can learn more about the health benefits of eating oats at The World’s Healthiest Foods.

Around the Web:

• Steel Cut Oatmeal at Slashfood
• Steel Cut Oats at The Slow Cook
• Apple Spice and Cherry Pie Oats at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
• Steel Cut Oatmeal with Caramelized Apples at Baking Bites

I love brown rice, but I have to tell you that more times than not, I am unhappy with the texture when I cook it at home.  I have no problem turning out batches of perfectly steamed white rice, whether it’s on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the rice cooker.  But up until yesterday, every method of cooking brown rice seemed to come up short.

After searching the Web for ‘Perfect Brown Rice,’ I found a wonderful little article at Saveur.com with a rice-making method that sounded like the perfect solution to my brown rice dilemma.  I tried it immediately with some Brown Basmati and turned out my very first batch of perfect brown rice! The rice was tender but certainly not mushy. And the grains were separate rather than being stuck together.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Saveur told me to use 12 cups of water for one cup of rice.  It just seemed wasteful.

So, I tried again, this time with short grain brown rice.  On my second attempt, I reduced the amount of water to four cups per cup of brown rice and the results were once again perfect!  So if you’ve ever had problems cooking brown rice or if you’re curious about switching to whole grain rice but aren’t sure the best way to prepare it, I really suggest giving this method a try!

And don’t forget to read the short article about cooking brown rice at Saveur!

Perfect Brown Rice

(adapted from Saveur)

brown rice (whichever type you prefer)
water – use at least four cups of water for every one cup of rice
salt – to taste

Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds, swirling the rice around with your hand.  Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large pot over high heat.  When water boils, add the rice, stir it once.  Turn heat to medium and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After 30 minutes, pour the rice into a strainer over the sink.  Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat.  Immediately cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes (if your pot lid isn’t extremely tight, place a piece of aluminum foil over pot then place the lid on top of foil for a tighter seal). After ten minutes, uncover rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt to taste.

notes: *the original Saveur recipe instructs you to use 12 cups of water for one cup of rice. This seemed wasteful to me and after trying a few times, I decided that four cups of water for each cup of rice works perfectly fine. You can cook as much rice as you want, just try to stick to that general ratio.

This is what we ate for dinner tonight and it’s so good, I just had to share a photo and point you over to Elise’s wonderful Beef Stroganoff recipe at Simply Recipes. I’ve also been meaning to tell you how much my husband and I have been enjoying whole wheat egg noodles, and this is the perfect excuse to do so!

So far, the only brand I’ve tried is Ronzoni Healthy Harvest, but they are so good I haven’t wanted to try any other kind.  While this Beef Stroganoff recipe is far from healthy, at least we’re getting some extra fiber and protein from the egg noodles (twisted logic, I know). Each serving of the pasta contains 6 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein.  Not bad, huh?

Of course there are probably healthier ways to enjoy whole wheat egg noodles, but lately I just can’t stop craving comfort foods!  If you’re in the same boat, you can at least make small changes (like using whole grain pasta) to increase the nutritional value of these not-so-healthy meals.  I think I’ll use these whole wheat egg noodles the next time I make Tuna Noodle Casserole, too!  They really are good.

Now back to the Beef Stroganoff.  I followed Elise’s recipe to a T and it is absolutely delicious!  The fresh tarragon and fresh-grated nutmeg sets this Stroganoff apart from anything I’ve had before.  And I suggest using a nice cut of beef just like she suggests.  I found some tenderloin in the freezer (how on earth did I forget about that?) and it turned this into a special occasion-worthy dish.  What’s the special occasion?  Well, is it wrong to still be celebrating my birthday?

I’m kidding, I grudgingly gave up the birthday celebrating early Monday morning when Justin woke me up asking if I could help him get out the door on time by making him some coffee.  Oh well, the party can’t last forever!

But tonight, with this meal, it kind of feels like a party all over again.  I hope you get a chance to try the Stroganoff at least once this season, it’s the perfect thing to warm you up on these cool winter nights!

Get it here:  Beef Stroganoff Recipe at Simply Recipes.

I’ll be back with my own recipes soon.  Expect many more fattening recipes throughout December!

Is it really November already?  That means it’s almost been an entire year since we left Sicily!  And it has been an entire year since I participated in NaBloPoMo, or, National Blog Posting Month for those of you not in the know.

That’s right, November is when a large group of crazy bloggers decide to torture challenge themselves by writing a new blog post every single day of the month.

Last year I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo despite the fact we were packing up and moving across the world.  And somehow, I managed to do it!  This year, to challenge myself even further, I’ve decided to post a new recipe every single day of this month.

How am I going to manage this?  I’m not sure yet.  But it will give me an excuse to dig through my piles of notebooks and find all those recipes I always meant to write about, but never did!  And it will also force me to get back behind the camera that I’ve been neglecting too much lately!

So to kick things off I’m pulling out this thumbprint cookie recipe from last October that I posted on Flickr but never shared with the rest of you!  Who doesn’t love jam thumbprint cookies?  I’ve always adored this type of cookie but for some reason had never tried making them myself.

When we were getting ready to leave Sicily, I had an abundance of nut flours in my freezer that needed to be used up.  You see, on a whim, I had purchased a variety pack of nut flours from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Catalog, but never got around to using some of them.

I had a bag of toasted almond flour and a bag of toasted hazelnut flour sitting in the freezer making me feel guilty. And that’s when I just happened to run across Cafe Fernando’s Thumbprint Cookies! His recipe uses ground hazelnuts so it was exactly what I needed!  Don’t you just love it when that happens?

First, I made Cafe Fernando’s recipe using the toasted hazelnuts.  The only change I made was to use whole wheat flour and I think I added a touch of vanilla extract to the dough.  I filled that first batch with apricot jam and they were delicious!  I highly recommend Cafe Fernando’s hazelnut version!

But I still had that toasted almond flour, remember?  Well, it was easy enough to adapt the original recipe by switching out the ground hazelnuts for ground almonds.  And to give the cookies even more almond flavor, I added a bit of almond extract.  Again, I used whole wheat flour rather than all-purpose and this time I filled the cookies with raspberry jam since almonds and raspberries make perfect companions.

These cookies were amazing!

And I really am kicking myself now because I never shared them with you. These cookies are so easy to make and perfect if you have little helpers to do the thumbprints!

Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 C. butter
1/3 C. lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. toasted almond meal or flour (toasted ground almonds)
Raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk together flour and almond meal then add to butter mixture and blend well.
4. Put cookie dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on baking sheet; make an indentation with your fingertip in the center of each ball.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are just slightly brown.  Let cool on wire rack.
7. Fill cookies with raspberry jam.

Yield: approximately 2 dozen cookies

This recipe is based on the Thumbprint Cookies found at Cafe Fernando

Related Recipes:

• Chai Snickerdoodles
• My Favorite Sugar Cookies
• Giant Lemon Sugar Cookies

Around the Web:

• Thumbprint Cookies from Andrea’s Recipes
• Lime Curd Thumbprint Cookies from Baking Bites
• Vegan Thumbprint Cookies from Fun & Food Cafe
• Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies from Everybody Likes Sandwiches
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies from Taste and Tell
• Gluten-Free Thumprint Cookies from Aprovechar

There was a time when I thought of whole wheat pasta as something that only a health food nut would eat. But I’m talking years ago. Back then, you really couldn’t find something like whole wheat pasta unless you went to an actual ‘health food store’ to buy it. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those tiny, poorly lit places that smell like old vitamins.

But this was back before the wonderful blurring of the line between “health food” and “regular food” that we’re experiencing today.

Nowadays, eating what used to be known as ‘health food’ is hip and trendy because we call it ‘whole food’ and can buy it in beautiful stores that are brightly lit and smell really good. And even though it’s frustrating that we often have to pay premium prices for these newly discovered whole foods, I find the whole thing very exciting because there are so many new and wonderful food choices out there now!

I’ll admit that I still prefer traditional pasta over the whole wheat variety in many cases. But it’s also true that whole wheat pasta has come a long way over the years. Thanks to consumer interest in fiber and whole grains, we now have a huge variety of whole wheat products to choose from–even at the big chain grocery stores!

Now I haven’t done a side-by-side taste comparison between different whole wheat pastas but I do know that the latest package I picked up at Vons is one of the best I’ve tried.

It’s called Heartland and each 2 oz. serving packs a whopping 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein! Of course the nutritional value means nothing to me if it’s not something I enjoy eating. But I’ve used this Angel Hair pasta for two different dishes and I absolutely loved it!

First I used it for a cold pasta salad that featured a sweet and spicy and sesame-peanut dressing. It was really good and I’m kicking myself for not writing down the dressing ingredients! I really felt that the whole wheat pasta contributed a lot to the flavor of the salad.

The second thing I made with this pasta was my lunch this afternoon that can be seen in the first photo. I tossed the cooked angel hair with browned butter and grated mizithra cheese ala The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was really good and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything by using whole wheat pasta. And don’t lecture me on ruining the health benefits of whole wheat pasta by smothering it in butter and cheese–sometimes you have to splurge!

I don’t have a real recipe for the pasta dish as it’s something that you just throw together according to your own taste. But I’ll share what I did for today’s lunch and you can go from there:

Whole Wheat Angel Hair with Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese

1) Grate 1 1/2 ounces mizithra cheese; set aside
2) Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil
3) Add about 6 oz. of whole wheat angel hair pasta and let the water return to a boil
4) Boil for 5 – 6 minutes (don’t overcook the pasta, check by tasting after five minutes)
5) Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a small heavy skillet over medium heat. After the foam starts to subside, gently swirl the pan and watch carefully. When the butter turns a caramel color and has a nutty aroma, remove the pan from the heat.
6) When pasta is done, drain well then toss with browned butter and grated cheese. Serve immediately

Yield: 2 meal-sized portions

Notes: The pasta was fairly dry with this amount of butter but the taste was very good. If you can stand the calories, by all means add more butter! I used unsalted butter because mizithra cheese is extremely salty. Aside from salting the pasta water, you don’t need to add any extra salt to this dish at all.

Now that the recipe is out of the way, let’s get to the main reason I am writing this post. I have some questions for you! What are your favorite brands/types of whole wheat pasta? Do you have any favorite recipes for using whole wheat pasta?

I think many of you may have had the same bad experience with whole wheat pasta as I did years ago. That is, you tried whole wheat pasta once and found it to be so terrible that you refused to eat any more of it! But trust me, the pastas are so much better these days and if you use it in the right dish, you will be more than pleasantly surprised!

I’m hoping that several of you have found brands and recipes that you enjoy and you won’t mind sharing with the rest of us. Just leave your links to recipes and/or pasta brands in the comments section.

Thanks, and happy eating!

I’m back, and this time I really mean it!

I won’t bother apologizing for another extended absence. If you’ve been following my adventures at all, you know that I recently located back to the United States after four years in Sicily. If that’s not a reason to take a month off, I don’t know what is!

So, first things first. Happy new year to all of you! I spent the holidays with my family in central California and decided not to bother coming back down to San Diego until our furniture arrived from overseas. Aside from hanging out with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, I did quite a bit of baking while I was there. Lots of muffins (some of which you’ll read about today), a couple pies, and several batches of sourdough bread were baked. Although I did sporadically scribble recipes down and even snapped a few photos here and there, I never managed to pull it all together for a blog post while I was there. And I have to admit that the break has been nice.

Well, the furniture finally arrived, along with my car! So I dragged myself back down here to beautiful, sunny San Diego and we’ve been unpacking, arranging and rearranging furniture ever since. Oh, and eating out a lot, too! You know the drill. But thanks to some extra help from my husband over the holiday weekend, I finally have a kitchen I can work with. And as much as I’ve enjoyed eating my way through our neighborhood restaurants, I’m definitely ready to start cooking and baking in my own kitchen again.

Now about those muffins…

I’ve made different versions of these muffins several different times over the last month or so. My aunt and uncle have an orange tree in their front yard and I took full advantage of it while I was staying there. Besides the occasional glass of fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast, we had orange muffins, green salad with orange vinaigrette, orange salad with fresh garlic and crushed red pepper, and even some caramelized brussels sprouts with bacon and an orange glaze. It’s so much fun to create dishes around things that can be picked in your own front yard!

As I was leaving Madera to head back down south, the last thing I did was pick a large bag of oranges to take with me and I’ve been enjoying them ever since. This morning I was down to my last two oranges and decided to bake one more batch of muffins to make sure I had the recipe exactly right before sharing it with you. This was definitely the best batch yet!

The thing that’s so great about these muffins is that besides tasting great, they are actually pretty healthy too. They are made with 100% whole wheat flour and have the added nutritional benefit of ground flax seeds and walnuts. Each muffin provides you with 5 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein so they will keep you feeling satisfied much longer than a traditional store-bought muffin. I think they are perfect for breakfast on the go or as a mid-afternoon snack (sometimes, both).

The key to a great batch of muffins is preparation and organization. Once you get started, the process needs to move quickly so it’s best to have your tools and ingredients laid out and ready. But first, you must read carefully through the recipe and make sure that you have all the tools and ingredients required. This is an important rule for any recipe, not just muffins!

For this recipe you’ll need these tools: two separate mixing bowls, a few small bowls for holding ingredients, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a wire whisk, a wooden spoon (or any long handled spoon for stirring), a standard 12 cup muffin tin (or two six cup muffin tins), a citrus zester, some type of citrus juicer (or very strong hands for squeezing), and a wire cooling rack. None of these things are too expensive and they are all fairly useful in the kitchen so if you are missing a piece, it might be a good idea to head to the store or even a yard sale or thrift store.

Once you’ve located all of your baking tools, you need to read through the recipe and pull out all of your ingredients to make sure you aren’t missing anything. It’s much better to run to the store before you start baking! This recipe calls for flax seed meal and although it’s easy to find at most grocery stores now, it might not be sitting in your pantry yet! I also suggest using King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour. It’s really worth seeking out if you plan on doing much whole wheat baking.

Once you’ve located all of your ingredients, it’s time to prepare them! Some ingredients might need special treatment or preparation and it’s best to take care of this in the beginning. In this recipe you will first be zesting the oranges and then juicing them. Also, the recipe calls for chopped nuts so if you don’t buy them pre-chopped, you’ll want to chop and measure the nuts at the beginning. Once you’ve done any special preparations, go ahead and measure out your ingredients. For this recipe, all the dry ingredients can be measured into one bowl and the wet ingredients into another. For other recipes you may want to measure ingredients out into separate small bowls. Once your ingredients are measured, read through the recipe again and place your tools and ingredients in order.

Now you’re ready to bake!

It took me a really long time to get organized in the kitchen. Actually, I’m still not very organized and I always make a huge mess, but I’m much better than I used to be! It might seem time consuming to measure out everything ahead of time but believe me, it has made me a better baker.

Ready for some step-by-step photos?

Here I have measured out all of my dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. You can see that I have my chopped nuts ready to go and my muffin tin and scoop are ready and waiting. The wire whisk is used to ’sift’ the dry ingredients rather than a sieve because the whole wheat flour and flax seed meal are not fine enough to be sifted in the traditional way. I also use the whisk for the wet ingredients to make sure everything is well incorporated. You don’t want to overmix the muffin batter so it is important to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately before combining them for a quick final mix.

The wet ingredients get poured into the dry ingredients at the end because the leavening agents (baking powder and soda) become activated by the liquid. Once they are combined, you want to move quickly so that the muffins get into the oven before the initial reaction subsides. You will notice the batter getting puffy as you scoop it into the tins. Once they are in the oven, a second reaction occurs with the heat and the muffins continue to rise further (not a very technical explanation but I’m not a scientist!).

You want to stir the ingredients together quickly but you don’t want to overmix them or beat the batter too hard.

As you can see, this batter is coming together. There are still some bits of flour visible so I will mix it just a bit more until the flour is completely incorporated.

This batter has been mixed enough. I am now checking the bottom of the bowl to make sure that there are no flour pockets hiding out down there. It is important to scrape up the flour from the bottom of the bowl as you are mixing because pockets of flour often get stuck down there.

After the batter is thoroughly mixed, the nuts can be added and stirred in. They don’t get added with the flour because the nuts end up holding on to bits of the flour mixture, making it difficult to thoroughly combine the ingredients.

I prefer to use an ice cream scoop for my muffins because it hold the right amount of batter and the lever makes it easy to scoop the batter into the muffin cups.

You want the cups to be filled almost to the top. The batter doesn’t have to be smoothed over.

The muffin cups should be divided as evenly as possible. Any extra batter can be added to cups that don’t look as full as others.

Once the muffins are done baking, they should be cooled in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Then remove them and let the muffins cool completely on a wire rack.

And here’s the recipe!

Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal (ground flax seeds)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange zest
1/3 cup neutral flavored oil such as canola, vegetable or grapeseed
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees; grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. Zest and juice 2 or 3 medium oranges, measure out juice and zest; set aside. Chop and measure walnuts; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Using a wire whisk, blend ingredients together very well. This is your dry mixture. Set it aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine beaten eggs, buttermilk, orange juice and zest, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. This is your wet mixture.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until all the flour has been incorporated. Make sure to scrape up all the flour from the bottom of the bowl as you are mixing. Once you no longer see any pockets of flour remaining, gently fold in the walnuts.

5. Using a large spoon or an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup almost to the top. Divide any remaining batter between the cups so that they are somewhat equal. Put the muffins in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are done. If not, let the muffins bake an additional 2 minutes and check again. When muffins are done, let cool on a wire rack for five minutes then remove muffins from pan and let cool completely on the wire rack.

recipe notes: I suggest using King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour if you can find it. For best zesting results, use a microplane grater. I used two oranges to get the correct amount of juice and zest but you may use more or less depending on the type of oranges. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can make your own: 1 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. ground ginger, 1/4 t. ground nutmeg and 1/4 t. ground cloves. Mix it together then scoop out one heaping teaspoon to use in the recipe. Mandarins, tangerines, or other sweet citrus may be used in place of standard oranges. Melted butter may be used in place of oil if desired.

Approximate nutritional value for one muffin: 286 calories; 8g protein; 5g fiber; 14g total fat; 1g saturated fat; 36mg cholesterol; 308mg sodium; 36g total carb; 15g sugars

Aren’t these the cutest little tarts you’ve ever seen? Believe me, they tasted even better than they look! I ended up making three things this morning to take to Thanksgiving dinner: cranberry and goat cheese tartlets (pictured above), three cheese tartlets with bacon and fresh thyme (pictured below), and a butternut squash casserole (forgot to take photo). All three were terrific but my sister and I both agree that the flower-shaped cranberry tartlets were both the tastiest and prettiest of the three.

But if you ask my brother-in-law, the three cheese tartlets with bacon and thyme were the best! I used the same tart pastry for both. The pastry is made from whole wheat pastry flour, butter, shredded Gruyere cheese, cracked black pepper and salt. I basically just made a basic pie crust dough but used whole wheat flour and added the cheese and black pepper. It was absolutely amazing! I don’t have an exact recipe because I made the tarts up as I went but they were so good that I will be making them again and writing down an actual recipe to give you before Christmas.

I used a mini muffin pan for baking both sets of tartlets. For the flower shaped ones, I used a flower shaped cookie cutter. I rolled the dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness then cut the flower shapes. I then fit the flowers into the mini muffin cups with the petals sticking up a bit so that they didn’t crowd each other.

For the cranberry filling, I mixed a mini log of goat cheese, a handful of chopped sweetened dried cranberries (Craisins), a teaspoon of fresh chopped thyme, salt and fresh ground pepper, and one egg. This made exactly enough filling for twelve tarts.

For the bacon cheese tartlets I just used a drinking glass to cut the pastry dough into rounds and then fit them into the mini muffin cups. It just so happened that the glass I chose was the perfect size!

For the bacon and cheese filling, I mixed one small log of goat cheese, some shredded sharp cheddar cheese, some shredded jarlsberg cheese, three slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled, a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, sea salt, coarsley ground black pepper, and one egg. This made more than enough filling for 12 tarts.

Next time I make these, I’ll be sure to take photos of the assembly process. They were fairly easy to make but a little time consuming since I had to roll out and cut the dough. I only made 12 of each because this whole thing was an experiment and I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I definitely should have made at least twice as many! They disappeared as soon as I put the plates down (half of them went in my brother-in-law’s mouth).

The butternut squash casserole was also really good but I completely forgot to take photos of it! It was a savory casserole made with butternut squash, onions, buttermilk, cheese, and fresh thyme. The recipe is from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook and can be found online at StarTribune.com

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I really had no intention of writing about muffins today. But thanks to jet lag I was awake at 2:30 a.m. again and by 6:00 I was fully caffeinated with lots of new recipes brewing in my head. It was nice and cool and foggy this morning, perfect weather for a warm and spicy batch of muffins.

Luckily, my sister had taken me out shopping yesterday for my baking basics so I had everything necessary for these pumpkin muffins. Although some of my muffin recipes use a combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flours, these are 100% whole wheat. They also have very little fat compared to traditional muffins. But believe me, they don’t taste like health food!

I took a chance using sweetened dried cranberries in place of the raisins I would normally put in a recipe like this. And I really wasn’t sure I would like it. But the combination of cranberries and walnuts was really great!

Although this recipe only calls for two tablespoons of oil, they are far from dry. I really think that the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and honey all help contribute to the texture of these muffins. These three ingredients keep the muffins moist and tender without being heavy and oily like many traditional muffins.

I absolutely love using King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour. The name of the flour is slightly misleading. It’s not a whole wheat flour that has been bleached, just a new strain of wheat that makes a flour lighter in color and texture than traditional red wheat. It has all the nutritional benefits of traditional whole wheat flour and can be used exactly the same way.

I love King Arthur’s traditional whole wheat flour in yeast breads but this white whole wheat flour is really great in quick breads or anywhere you would like a lighter texture. I’ve even used this flour in pie crusts! If you are new to baking with whole wheat flour or think that you don’t like whole wheat baked goods, give this flour a try. I really think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

While living in Sicily, I would actually buy King Arthur flour online and have it shipped to me, it’s that good! But, I ran out of my supply a while back and didn’t want to have any more shipped because of the impending move. It was so nice to be able to buy my favorite flour in the grocery store yesterday!

Actually, it was really nice to buy a lot of things in the store yesterday that would have normally been hard for me to find overseas. We went to a new (to me) store called Sprouts and I got way too excited about the selection of grains in the bulk bins. And then there were the cheap avocados! And cheap limes! And cheap mangoes! And jicama! And cilantro! Last night my sister and I split a yummy mango and jicama salad with lime and cilantro. So simple, so good, and so not Sicilian!

I do miss Sicily, I really do. But I’m getting very excited to start experimenting with a whole new range of ingredients that haven’t been readily available to me for the last few years.

I’ll write about that jicama salad soon but for now, let’s get back to these muffins! The thing about using 100% whole wheat flour in muffins is they might not rise as high as muffins made with an all-purpose flour or cake flour. Since I like my muffins to have a fully formed “muffin top,” I try to create recipes with enough batter to completely fill up those muffin cups. I’m not talking about 2/3 full or 3/4 full, I fill those babies up to the top!

This recipe give you enough batter to completely fill 12 standard sized muffin cups. When they bake, the batter should rise up and over the cups, resulting in some big and beautiful muffins.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Cranberries and Walnuts

2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 C. pumpkin puree (I use canned)
2 T. oil
3/4 C. honey
2 eggs
2/3 C. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
1/2 C. sweetened dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1/2 C. chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a standard size 12 cup muffin tin (I use cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
5. Divide batter evenly between 12 standard sized muffin cups. Bake 20-23 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Muffins are done when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Related Recipes:

• Applesauce Spice Muffins
• Best Banana Muffins
• Cinnamon Swirl Loaf
• Peachy Banana Muffins
• Pumpkin Maple Muffins
• Pumpkin Roll
• Pumpkin Spice Scones
• Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Around the Web:

• Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins from Simply Recipes
• Pumpkin Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
• Pumpkin Muffins from Gluten Free Bay
• Spicy Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins from Farmgirl Fare
• Pumpkin Corn Muffins from Karina’s Kitchen
• Pumpkin Streusel Muffins from Baking Bites