Maple Syrup Bread

This is an expensive recipe since Maple Syrup is the most expensive thing I ever buy. I modified Mark Bitmman's "Quick Whole Wheat and Mollasaes Bread" to get this recipe because I really, really can't stand molasses and it turned out great!

I'll pretend I made it in honor of Maple Sunday here in Maine (a couple of weeks ago now). This year's been a bad year for the maple syrup makers. The farmers tap the tress but they need cold nights and warm days in order for the sap to flow in the trees. It's been so cold during the day that the sap isn't flowing so there was hardly any maple syrup from this year for Maple Sunday.

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. milk warmed (microwaved for a minute) (or if you have it, butter milk)
2 T vinegar, white (apple cider vinegar or lemon juice would likely work as well)
1/2 c. maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 t salt
1 t baking soda (box)

Instructions: Make "buttermilk" by mixing 1 1/2 c. warm milk with 2 T white vinegar. Let the "buttermilk" rest, it will curdle a bit and that is okay. Combine the dry ingredients. Add 1/2 c. maple syrup and the butter milk. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 325º for one hour. (I always turn my baked goods around in the oven when they're halfway done.)

Hubs loved this. It was a very hearty bread and it was more like regular bread with yeast than like other quick breads. FYI Hubs thinks its snobby to say and prefer maple syrup over pancake syrup. But I think that's just being accurate since Maple syrup is made from tree sap and pancake syrup is maple flavored corn syrup. I can notice a real difference between the texture of two and I assume maple syrup is better for me because its less processed than pancake syrup.

I've been getting nutrition facts for my recipes from Calorie Counts' Recipe Analyzer. You copy and past a recipe in to the text field and it generates nutrition facts like the above for you! I also use MyFitnessPal to count calories and they have changed their Recipes section to make it easier to use! If you found a recipe on a website, it lets you import it by just copying and paying the URL. With both you'll likely have to clean up the recipe before it's finalized but both of these make it so much easier to keep track of calories and other nutrients when you cook from scratch.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Muffins

I borrowed this recipe from the Southern Fried Bride and it's too delicious not to share. I changed the recipe up a bit  because I don't like marshmallows and because Mr. Handsome doesn't like pecans in his food (he's nuts). I also made muffins instead of a loaf because they're easier to grab and eat.

Breakfast is Served

Sweet Potato Muffins

(Makes 12 to 16 muffins)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ^*
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup sweet potato (about 1/2 of an average sized sweet potato), mashed ^†

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. Combine dry ingredients, the first group of ingredients, and mix. Add wet ingredients, the second group, and mix.^** Spoon into muffin pans. Bake for 25 minutes.

Options:
Top with the Southern Fried Bride's Marshmallow Glaze
Add up to 3/4 cup Pecan Pieces

^* The original recipe calls for a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour. I used all whole wheat flour and increased the amount of baking soda used.

^† I cooked a sweet potato in the microwave, let it cool, and then mashed it with a fork in a bowl. I used about half of the mashed sweet potato this time. I put the rest in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for next time.

^** Ideally you would mix the dry and wet ingredients separately in two bowls and then combine the two mixtures. I do not like to do dishes so I try to do everything in one bowl. It works out okay.

Lowering Calories in Baked Goods with Applesauce

This recipe uses unsweetened applesauce in place of oil. (So if you don't have any unsweetened applesauce, you can use melted butter or vegetable oil instead in this recipe.) You can make this substitution in most recipes that call for a liquid fat like vegetable oil or melted butter.

Supposedly, the reason using applesauce instead of fat works is because the pectin in the applesauce works like fat in that it helps to prevent the formation of gluten in quick breads and cakes. While you want gluten in regular bread you don't want it to form in quick breads because that makes the quick bread or cake too chewy.

If you're experimenting on your own you'll want to take it slow and not necessarily replace all the fat in the recipe with applesauce. For example, this recipe still has fat in it from the egg yolk. You'll also want to be careful not to over cook your delicious baked good! Start checking for doneness with a toothpick or knife five to ten minutes earlier than suggested in the original recipe.

This guide from Musselman's Apple Sauce looks like it would be useful if you want to substitute applesauce for fat in boxed mixes.

P.S. Would you like to see more step by step photos? I don't particularly care for them when other bloggers post step by step photos for all the steps in a recipe. But I can see how it would be useful to demonstrate a complicated technique.

"Healthier" Downeast Pumpkin Bread

Unfortunately it's fall now (or at least it was until is was 90º yesterday). So it's cold and I can't wear most of my Lilly shifts but every cloud has a silver lining. Now, it's time for pumpkin everything. My favorite thing to make this time of year (and any time when I have a can of pumpkin) is Downeast Pumpkin Bread. This is the reduced fat, reduced sugar version, more whole wheat version. The original recipe can be found at allrecipies.com.

Downeast Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 36 muffins

Ingredients

1-15 oz can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 c. unsweetened applesauce (instead of vegetable oil or melted butter)
2/3 & 1 oz water
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar*

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 T baking soda
3/4 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t grond cloves
1/4 t ground ginger

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease three muffin pans. Mix the first group of ingredients (the wet ingredients and the sugar) in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into the muffin tins. Bake for 30 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This recipe can also be used to make loafs. Bake loafs for 55 min.

*I prefer dark brown sugar since it has more molasses in it and molasses makes me think of New England

Details of the Changes to the Recipe

This recipe had more of what I want and less of what I usually don't want. I usually want less fat and less sugar (for fewer calories over all) and I want more protein and fiber. Here I got fewer calories from sugar and fat and more fiber.

Nutrient	Original Recipe	This Recipe
Calories	175	95
fat (g)	6.9	1
protein (g)	2	2
fiber (g)	0.7	2
sugar (g)	17.1	12

I accomplished this improved nutrient profile by reducing the sugar by a third, replacing half the flour with whole wheat flour (more fiber), and by using apple sauce instead of the liquid fat. When you're baking quick breads, these are always things you can do reduce the calorie count. Whole wheat flour is heavier that white flour so you may want to add in extra baking soda or powder to ensure that the bread rises.