Monthly Archives: September 2013

Upside-Down Pear Cake

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My grandpa gave us lots of pears last time we were back home for a visit. I have been trying my best to eat them all before they go bad. But it has been difficult with all the good produce in season.

We are having a fall dinner tomorrow and I think this will be the perfect finish to our menu. I have always wanted to make an upside- down cake with pears and since I have plenty on hand I thought there is no better time then now.

Ingredients:
1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 pears (peeled. sliced, and cored)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup egg whites or egg substitute
1/3 cup Maple syrup
1 Tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven 350.

2. Line a 9″ round cake pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

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2. Place flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger in a bowl and mix.

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3. In a separate bowl mix sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and egg whites.

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4. Add flour mix and buttermilk alternating the two and mixing after each addition.

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5. In small sauce pan over medium heat warm maple syrup until thick about 2 to 4 minutes.

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6. Spread the pears evenly on the parchment paper.

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7. Once the maple syrup has thickened pour over the sliced pears.

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8. Now pour batter over pears.

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9. Bake on 350 for 23-25 minutes.

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10. Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes and remove from pan

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Whole Wheat Avocado Brownies

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My sister has been trying to get me to make some avocado baked goods for a while. We are celebrating her birthday this weekend! I cannot think of a better time to try brownies with avocado instead butter.

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Ingredients:
One large avocado mashed
1 cup of sugar
2 farm fresh eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract or vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 baking powder
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa (use high quality cocoa; it’s worth it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place avocado, sugar, and almond extract in food processor.

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2. Pulse until cream like.

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3. Add one egg at a time.

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4. In a separate bowl sift flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

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5. Mix with spoon until dry ingredients blended well.

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6. Add dry mix into creamy avocado mixture.

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7. Pulse until combined.

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8. Pour batter into a cooking sprayed 9 inch baking dish.

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Spread evenly

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9. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes on 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean.

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Enjoy !

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

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I had to make biscuits to go with yesterday’s homemade apple butter! This recipe was adapted from a Taste of Home recipe

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Rolled-Buttermilk-Biscuits.  I of course made of few changes to incorporate some whole

grain goodness.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup AP Flour
3 Tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 TB cold butter (unsalted)
1 cup buttermilk
1 TB skim milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.

Place both flours, salt, soda, baking power in bowl.

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2. Cut butter into dry mixture.

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3. Until resembles course texture.

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4. Pour buttermilk into dry mixture.

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5. Mix with wooden spoon just until ingredients are combine.

6. Sprinkle flour onto a clean surface and knead dough 2 to 3 times.

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7. Roll dough with floured roller.

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Cut 12 cutouts with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.

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8. Roll second time and cut 12 more biscuits.

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9. Layer biscuits on top of each other in rows of two on parchment paper.

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10. Brush with the skim milk.

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11. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on 450 degrees.

Yields 12 biscuits!

Plus it goes well with Apple Butter

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Apple Butter

Apple Butter

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There is nothing better than the smell of apples and cinnamon cooking in the slow cooker all day! My grandpa gave me a basket of some of his homegrown apples this past weekend. I have always wanted to make my apple butter instead of buying it for 5-6.00$ a jar. Well today is the day. The longest part of the process is peeling the apples! But well worth the time.

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Ingredients:
16 Cups of peeled, corded, chopped apples
6 three inch cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 cups of packed brown sugar

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Directions:

1. Place all the chopped apple pieces in slow cooker.

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2. Add lemon juice, cinnamon sticks, salt and cloves.

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3. Top apples with brown sugar.

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4. Turn slow cooker on low and cover.

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5. Stir every few hours.

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6. Cook for 16 to 20 hours.

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7. Remove cinnamon sticks and if needed use hand held emulsion blender to purée.

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Makes Seven 8 oz jars.

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Rhubarb Almond Crisp

Whole Wheat Rhubarb Crisp

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Woo
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup AP Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 cup Brown Sugar (not packed)
1/2 Cup melted butter (no added salt)
3/4 cup quick oats
4 cups of Chopped Rhubarb
1 cup water
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup toasted slivered Almonds
2 TB corn starch
1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1. Place first three ingredients in medium bowl.

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2. Mix. Add in melted butter.

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Mix and set aside.

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3. In a sauce pan place water, sugar, and corn starch on medium heat.

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4. Whisk consistently until thickens and comes to a boil and sauce is translucent.

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5. Spray a 9 by 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 3/4 of the oat mixture on the bottom of the pan.

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6. Sprinkle chopped rhubarb on oat mixture.

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7. Once all the rhubarb is spread

Remove sugar sauce from heat add vanilla and mix. Pour syrup over rhubarb evenly.

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8. Take the toasted almonds and add to remaining oat mixture.

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Sprinkle evenly over rhubarb.

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Bake at 325 for an hour.

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Enjoy!