Cranberry Applesauce Muffins

So I was looking for a good recipe to make treats for book club tonight, and I realized I also needed to use up the applesauce I made awhile ago.  It was cranberry applesauce, so I figured I would go with a cran apple muffin recipe.  I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and tweaked it to my liking to fit the ingredients I wanted to use and what I had, and here is the recipe I came up with.  The recipe makes 12 muffins, but I decided to double it and get more use out of my applesauce and maybe have something for my husband to eat before running off to work in the morning, too.

Cranberry Applesauce Muffins

1 c cranberry applesauce, recipe here
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c sugar (or half and half splenda/sugar)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c milk
1 c craisins, or other dried cranberries

Blend applesauce, oil, and egg together and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  Mix lightly with a fork to incorporate some air.  Add the dry mixture to the wet, and mix til combined.  Add milk, and then mix again til combined, and then fold in the dried cranberries.  Spoon into a greased muffin pan, til each cup is 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Zucchini Bread

Consider this Part 2 of the "what do I do with ALL of that ZUCCHINI?" section.  I got this recipe from Lion House, but I altered it to my liking.  Mostly I just lowered the fat and sugar content by substituting Splenda and applesauce.  Hope you like my version.

Zucchini Bread

1 c applesauce
1 c sugar
1 c Splenda
2 c shredded zucchini
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix applesauce, sugar, splenda, zucchini, eggs, and vanilla in stand mixer or large mixing bowl with hand mixer.  Add flour, and combine on low speed til completely mixed.   Add baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder and mix again.  Spoon evenly into two small greased loaf pans, and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

I doubled this recipe twice because we had a lot of zucchini, but this makes a healthy family dose of zucchini bread.   Great toasted and buttered, or just eaten plain.  You can also spoon the batter into muffin pans and make them into 24 muffins.  Cut the cooking time in half, but at same temperature.

New Pizza Dough recipe

Right so we really like this Whole Wheat pizza dough that we've done in the past.  But Carmel makes it.  Pizza dough seems to take for ever to make and have endless complications to recipes.  So this my new recipe, I got it from these guys.  What I like about this recipe is that it is simple enough that I can memorize.

Step 1
1 1/2 C luke warm water
stir in 1 T yeast
wait 5 minutes

While waiting
Step 2
3 1/2 C flour
pinch of salt

Put them together using a spatula
Mix some flour in it with your bare hands


See seriously how hard is that.  That's all there is to it.  I think I'll make a movie.  Then I thought no my main man Alton probably already has a movie somewhere around here and I saw THIS:


So I've decided it's time I go capture some of my own yeast, so if this works out I'll make a video.

For Chili night, the best Cornbread ever!

I always make my own chili, but its mostly canned ingredients, nothing special. I do have this fantastic cornbread recipe that we got from my great grandma Clara, and I make it every time we have chili. Great stuff, and you can modify it by adding corn or cheese or whatever else. I can honestly say its award winning, because my mom has won first and second place at chili cook offs.

Cornbread

1 c corn meal
1 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c sugar or splenda
1 tsp salt
1/4 c melted butter (1/2 stick)
1 c milk
1 egg

Mix dry ingredients into large bowl. Add milk and eggs, stirring with spatula. Add melted butter and stir to combine. Pour into greased 8 inch square baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut and serve with butter, honey, or over chili.

And just in case you really want it...

Chili

1 lb ground beef
1 can corn, undrained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 tbsp chili or taco seasoning (or one package)

Brown meat and break up into small pieces, transfer to large pot if using skillet to brown. In large pot, add tomatoes, corn, beans, and taco seasoning to the meat, stir to combine, if too thick, add 1/2 c to 1 c of water. Simmer 20 minutes on medium heat. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, and cornbread (see recipe above).

Gingerbread--two ways.

So my mom made this fantastic gingerbread last night, and I had to ask where she got the recipe. She told me JOY of Cooking! I love that book! They have simple stuff, all the way up to totally complicated things no one would ever know you could pull off! Grandma has a copy, Mom does, and now the tradition goes on with me and my sister having it in our homes too. Now that I have pitched a commercial for their book... thanks to them, I have a couple of gingerbread recipes. Because we're in Utah, Mom made the high altitude version, but I also have some readers in California so I am including the regular version too.

This is not like gingerbread cookies, it's more like a cake, and sooooo good. you can glaze it or frost it if you like, but its perfectly fine with a sprinkling of powdered sugar

Source: Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker. (go buy it, its worth the cost!)

Gingerbread, pg 724

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 c hot water
1/2 c light molasses
1/2 c honey
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1/2 c sugar (or 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c splenda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch square baking pan, or line with wax paper or parchment. Whisk together dry ingredients. In separate bowl, whisk together water, molasses, and honey. In another large bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, and sugar. Alternately, add dry ingredients and molasses honey mixture to the butter egg and sugar, whisking after each addition. If desired, you can add 3 tablespoons of crystallized ginger after everything is combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or til a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

High Altitude Gingerbread, pg 752
for 5000 feet

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp black or white pepper
1/2 c (1 stick) butter
1/2 c plus 2 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c unsulphured molasses
1 c very hot water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare 9 inch baking pan with waxed paper, or grease and flour. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. Dissolve molasses in hot water in a separate bowl. In separate large bowl, beat together butter and sugar and then eggs, one at a time; and then add sour cream. Add dry ingredients in 4 parts, alternating with the mixture of hot water and molasses mixture, beating well to combine, and scraping bowl each time you add water or flour mixture. The batter will be runny. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 38 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Courtesy of Food Network, and I love this recipe. We found it online when I was just looking for a recipe for pizza dough and I wanted something a bit healthier than the normal run-of-the-mill pizza dough. Whole wheat has higher fiber content, and higher protein, and I just feel better eating it. This recipe is fantastic and I use it every time we have pizza now. Also makes great whole wheat scones (or fry bread if you don't live in Utah) for breakfast the next morning.

This recipe is the pizza dough, every pizza recipe ever posted will probably start here.

NOTE: This recipe uses yeast, but still pretty simple that anyone can make it. Make sure when you buy yeast you keep it in the fridge or freezer. Freezing it extends its shelf life if you bought it in bulk, but the fridge is just fine. You have to "proof" your yeast in WARM water, not HOT. Cold water won't bloom the yeast properly, and Hot water will kill it and you wont end up with soft dough.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 1/4 c warm water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt

Proof yeast in the warm water.


to proof your yeast: mix warm water (in any measurement the recipe calls for, in this case 1 1/4 cups) and yeast together with whisk or fork. Let stand 5 minutes.

In mixer using bread hook, add water to both kinds of flour, oil, honey, and salt. Let rise til double in size, about 45 minutes to an hour. Stretch to fit pizza stone or pan, and prebake dough at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Top with whatever toppings you like, and then bake again for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.