Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins (Sugar-free)

The Orange Yogurt muffins I made were such a hit with my husband that I wanted to modify the recipe to make a cinnamon version. This was slightly tricky because I didn't want to use yogurt and there would be no juice involved. To make up for the loss of these other liquids, I decided to use milk soured with vinegar (essentially, a buttermilk substitute). I was concerned that this might make the batter too moist, but here was the recipe I tried:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins (sugar-free):

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 medium egg
• 3/4 cup plus one tbsp. low-fat milk
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup granular Splenda (or use sugar)
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon (yes, lots!)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder

Add the vinegar to the milk and stir. Set aside and allow to rest for several minutes. Whisk the applesauce, egg, oil vanilla, cinnamon, Splenda, milk and vinegar mixture (or use buttermilk), and salt together. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and gently stir until all of the flour is moistened. Allow the batter to rest for 15-30 minutes. This allows the larger grains of whole wheat flour to absorb the moisture and creates a lighter muffin. 

Grease the bottoms and lower sides of 6 muffin tins while the batter rests. Just before you are ready to spoon the batter into the tins, add the baking powder and stir until well-blended (and no more). If you stir too much, you will overwork the gluten in the flour and have tough muffins. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C. Spoon the batter into the tins and sprinkle the tops with a little more cinnamon if desired. They should be about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the tins for about 15 minutes and then finish cooling them on a rack. If necessary, run a butter knife around the edges to loosen them.

These turned out quite well in terms of texture. Though they were a bit sweet for my tastes, my husband likes things sweeter than I and these were made with him in mind more so than me. I had mine plain, but I think they'd be super with butter as a substitute for a slice or two of whole wheat toast at breakfast.

I'm not sure what, if anything, I'd change on a repeat making. Even though I put a lot of cinnamon in them, I thought it could have been stronger, and I'm thinking perhaps a few pinches of other spices might add more depth to the flavor (nutmeg, allspice, or clove). I left the extras out this time because I wanted to give both the vanilla and cinnamon a chance to shine. They were fine, of course, but I think I'll at least add nutmeg next time. I think that probably the quantity of liquid is fine as is, but they may benefit a little from a bit less.

Each muffin is 167 calories.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Whole Wheat Orange Yogurt Muffins (sugar-free)

I picked up 9 oranges for a bargain price of 498 yen ($5.62)... well, a "bargain" by Tokyo standards and thought some orange muffins might hit the spot as well as use an orange up before some of them start to spoil. Since I'm still interested in "healthifying" or at least "decalorating" my baked goods, I figured I'd create the orange muffins based on the existing banana and blueberry bread recipes that I've been using. The result was surprisingly good. In fact, I'm thinking I may modify the banana bread recipe after my experience with these muffins.

Note that the texture of these muffins is not going to be like those made with white flour, lots of sugar or fat, but it really is quite good. They're a bit denser than a conventional muffin, but not in any way like the dense hockey pucks you sometimes get when using whole wheat flour and skimping on the oil. I did not sample one fresh but rather had one for breakfast the next morning. With whole wheat baked goods, the next day is often better because the moisture tends to settle, though I recommend tightly wrapping them so no air gets in and freezing any that you won't be eating soon immediately.

Whole Wheat Orange Yogurt Muffins:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt (low-fat is fine)
• the juice and finely grated zest of one medium orange (I used a Sunkist navel)
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
• 1 cup Splenda granular (or use white sugar)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 6 walnut halves for garnish (optional)

Whisk the applesauce, egg, yogurt, juice, zest, oil, vanilla, Splenda, and salt until well-blended. Add the flour and mix until just moistened. Allow the flour to rest in the wet ingredients for 15-30 minutes. This allows large grain whole wheat flour to absorb more moisture. If you're worried about the egg, put the bowl in the refrigerator. Grease the bottom and lower sides of 6 muffin cups or a 6-cup tin. After the batter has rested, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. They should be between 2/3 and 3/4 full. Gently push half a walnut into the batter so that it is half-submerged. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 


Each muffin is about 190 calories (not counting the walnuts).

I really liked these and will definitely be making them again. Originally, I planned to put dates in them, but the ones I had on hand were too old. I think they'd be great with some chocolate chips as well, though that would wreck the "sugar-free" angle. If you're a fan of nuts in your quick breads, some chopped walnuts would be a healthy add-in. Frankly though, I enjoyed mine as it was with some butter. (As an addendum: I had one a few days later wrapped in foil and warmed in the toaster oven and it was soft, fluffy and delicious - I recommend having them that way!)

As a point of comparison to my other quick breads, the batter for these was much wetter. I think that helped them to rise better, although that could also have been the fact that they were muffins. This time, I chose muffins over a loaf because of the summer heat. The breads take up to an hour to bake and the muffins take less than half that time. The only problem is that they are fussier and therefore there is more clean-up, but it was worth it.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Whole Wheat Peach Cobbler

This is a tiny, tiny cobbler - that's just a tablespoon (slightly heaped) of whipped cream nearly smothering the cobbler.

I've been busy doing English level tests by telephone over the past week. That means that I have more time than usual in which I am shackled to the computer. And during one 2-hour session, half of the students didn't feel they needed to trouble themselves to call. This not only resulted in my time being compensated at 1/5 the maximum possible rate (as I'm paid much less if they don't call and complete the test than if they do), but in a lot more time to surf the internet.

When I ran out of things to read, I turned to the usual suspects in the food porn areas to entertain my wandering mind. I don't recall where I found the picture which sent me to this recipe, but I was intrigued by the recipe and wanted to give it a try. Of course, peaches are not in season at present, but I had a can of peaches in heavy syrup aging under my cabinet so I decided to finally put it to use.

Because I used canned peaches in syrup, I didn't bother with the part of the recipe which involved cooking the peaches with cornstarch, sweetener, juice and cinnamon. Other than that, I stuck pretty closely to the original recipe.

Whole Wheat Peach Cobbler:

• 1 can peach halves (4 halves) in syrup
• 2-3 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• cinnamon (to taste)
• 2 packets Splenda sweetener (or 3-4 tsp. sugar)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp. 50% fat margarine (reduced calorie)
• 1/4 cup low-fat (or skim) milk
• *whipped cream (for serving)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C.

Drain and rinse the peach halves and dice them. Toss the peaches with the juice, cinnamon and sweetener (or sugar). Spray 4 muffin tins (I used aluminum) with cooking spray and divide the peach mixture evenly between the tins, gently pressing down with a spoon to even things out.

In a clean bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the margarine in with a fork until evenly crumbled. Add the milk and mix just until a dough forms. Divide the dough into four parts and gently form rough disks of dough with your hands and pat one on top of each cup with peaches. Bake for about 20-25 until the "cobbler" is lightly browned. Run a butter knife around the edges to loosen the cobbler and overturn onto plates to serve (mine came out very easily). Serve topped with a tablespoon of whipped cream.

This was good, but certainly would have been better with fresh peaches. The "cobbler" part turned out surprisingly well for something that was whole wheat and low-fat. It lent a good texture and hearty flavor and went well with the sweet peaches. I'm going to try this again with blueberries, though I'll have to use the method described in the original recipe to make a thicker sauce with the berries as they won't come with the same syrup as the canned peaches.

This was better fresh from the oven than the next day, but it was still good the next day. I recommend giving it 20 seconds in the microwave to warm it up a bit if you're having it the second day. I stored mine in the refrigerator and a few seconds in the microwave seemed to liven it up a bit. I ate this for breakfast, and I figure it's little different from having whole wheat toast with butter and jam from a nutritional standpoint.

*I make my own whipped cream by buying whipping cream or non-dairy "whip" (which is probably a liquid form of Cool Whip) and whipping it up with Splenda and vanilla using my hand mixer. This results in a sugar-free topping. If I lived in the U.S., I'd just buy a tub of sugar-free Cool Whip.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread (Sugar-free)

Update (April 17, 2010) and re-posting: this recipe was altered to use less oil and applesauce and I've added notes about how these changes affected the bread.

I've been trying to finish off the bag of frozen blueberries that we bought at Costco before we make our next trek there (at which point I will buy a new bag and start the process all over again). I also wanted to take my sugar-free whole wheat banana bread recipe and modify it for different fruits. What better place to start than with blueberries?

Since the basic components of the banana bread recipe like yogurt, oil, flour, and egg quantities, were sound, I mainly wanted to swap out the flavor components. That being said, bananas lend moisture and density to quick breads and blueberries do not. I decided to replace the bananas with unsweetened applesauce*. I also didn't include cinnamon or vanilla as flavorings because I didn't want to be able to taste the apple and I felt those seasonings would enhance it. I wanted the blueberries to shine through rather than for this to be an apple-berry mixture.

I don't mind being immodest and saying that this turned out fantastic. I sampled the batter and it was very "wheaty" (as raw batter can be with whole wheat flour), but very tasty. I was very keen to cut the bread and sample it right out of the oven, but waited for it to cool to just slightly warm first. I didn't want the structure to fall apart because I cut it while it was still too warm.

This is by far one of my best improvised recipes ever. One of my students made it with a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and hers turned out great as well.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce*
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp. Canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
  
• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat bread flour)
  
• 1 cup granular Splenda (or just use 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar)
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups frozen (unsweetened) blueberries

Mix the egg, yogurt, applesauce, Splenda (or sugar), salt, and oil in a large bowl. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and mix well. Add the whole wheat flour and stir until just moistened. Allow to rest 10-30 minutes. While the flour is resting, grease and flour a loaf pan and preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.). Stir in the baking powder until well incorporated, but do not overmix. You don't want to overwork the gluten in the flour as it will make the bread tough. Gently fold in the frozen blueberries. Pour into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Note that I used a glass pan which takes longer to heat up so my cooking time (1 hour) may be longer than that needed for a metal pan.

*Unsweetened Applesauce:

You can make your own unsweetened applesauce easily in the microwave oven. Peel and core two medium apples (green or red is okay, but green apples are softer and cook faster) or one very large apple. Cut the apple roughly into bite-size pieces. Put the apple pieces into a microwave-safe dish with a lid and add about a quarter cup of water. Microwave on high power (600 W.) for between 3-6 minutes. After three minutes, check with a fork to see if they are tender and add more cooking time as necessary. The timing it takes depends on the type of apples you use. Drain the water from the cooked apple and place in a food processor with a small bowl or use your blender. Puree, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Two medium apples yielded 1.25 cups of applesauce for me.

The calories for the whole loaf are about 1220.

Notes after modifications: I reduced the applesauce and oil because the bread was so moist before. This moistness wasn't bad at all. That being said, it did tend to keep the bread from rising as well as it might and cause it to sink down further after cooling. Cutting the applesauce to 3/4 cup and the oil to 1 tbsp. had no negative impact at all, and in fact made a more "quick-bread-like" result. I think it's pretty much as close to being perfect as possible (not that it was bad at all before!).

by Shari (Orchid64)

"Less Bad" Banana Bread

I thought of several names for this in order to try and shorten the name. One possibility was "healthy" banana bread, but it's got artificial sweetener in it. Another possibility was "low(er) calorie banana bread", but that doesn't really fit either. I don't think any baked good can really be low in calories because flour is rather calorie-dense. I also really wanted to get something in the title about "whole wheat", but gave up because adding that would have made this "Whole Wheat, Low-Fat, Sugar-free, Banana Bread." I settled for "less bad" because it's a completely useless name and I think throwing your hands up in futility should be reflected in the title.

At any rate, I wanted to make a quick bread that wasn't over 200 calories per slice and I found a recipe which looked ripe for modifying. The original recipe is here on myrecipes.com. The original called for flaxseed, which I don't have and is very high in calories. I used an egg to make up for the loss of flax. The original used a half and half white and whole wheat flour mixture which I converted to all whole wheat. I also didn't see the point in using baking soda and used only baking powder. I substituted granular Splenda for the sugar and omitted the nuts because I don't like nuts in quick breads. One of the good things about quick breads is that the ones which use fruit or vegetables in them have enough moisture that you can usually get away with sugar substitutes without a big hit to texture. Finally, I added vanilla and cinnamon to boost the flavors.

Here's the recipe I used:

• 3 small to medium bananas (mine were on the smaller side)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup plain (unsweetened) yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup Canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup granular Splenda (or just use sugar)
• 1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Put the bananas in a small bowl food processor and puree them to goo (or mash them well with a fork). Add the egg, oil, yogurt, and vanilla to the banana and process until well-mixed (or whisk into the mashed banana). Pour the wet ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir in the Splenda, salt, and cinnamon until thoroughly mixed. Sift the whole wheat flour into the bowl then gently push the flour around until most of it is moistened. Withhold the baking powder. You are not mixing it at this stage but just getting the flour to sit and soak up moisture. Allow this mixture to sit for between 15-30 minutes then add the baking powder and stir until it is mixed in. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C. (340 degrees F., or 350 if your oven doesn't have such increments).

Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Note that I used a glass baking dish and mine took 55 minutes. Using glass may have made the baking time longer. If you use metal, I'd recommend checking at the 45-minute mark.

This turned out very flavorful and had a good texture, though obviously it wasn't as fine as one would get from white flour. I think I didn't do the best job of mixing in the baking powder for fear of overworking the gluten in the whole wheat flour. Next time, I think I'll be a little bolder about how I mix it. Still, I was very pleased at how this turned out and I'd make it again without modification. That being said, I may have used more baking powder than necessary, but I have a vat of it from Costco and am not exactly in need of conserving it and the flavor didn't affect the banana bread.

This was fine plain, but really shined when toasted (like a normal piece of bread) and spread with butter or margarine.

Note that the entire loaf is about 1500 calories. This is rather substantially less than normal for a quick bread.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Low Fat "Brownies"

I tag these as "brownies" instead of brownies because I believe some things are sacred. The combination of butter, sugar and chocolate that creates the divine fudgey nature of the brownie cannot be faked. Using anything other than those magical three foodstuffs with a few extra ingredients to make it all come together is absolutely required if you're going to call your result a brownie.

Despite my propensity for using what Shawn calls "fake sugar", I do believe that dessert should, in general, be dessert and use the real thing. That being said, if the result is not appreciably degraded by using fakes, then I see nothing wrong with lowering the calories. For instance, making cheesecake with fake sugars rarely has much of an impact on the resulting product since its the fat which carries most of the load in making cheesecake the delight that it is. Also, sometimes people simply want to lower the poor nutritional profile of their sweets and making some modifications can help with that.

Brownies are one of those things which notoriously cannot be faked because both the butter and sugar are essential to the texture and richness. I have made a type of "Amish brownie" before which used applesauce instead of butter. It was good, but more of a dense cake than a fudge brownie. It was by far the best fake I've ever made, and I've made some pretty miserable fakes with Splenda granular. You can try and replace the butter, but you cannot reduce the sugar in cakes in my experience. The result will always be like rubber if you use fake sugar.

I was inspired to find this recipe while reading a food review blog called "Nutritious Junk". The writer of that blog included a recipe and a picture of what appeared to be completely normal-looking brownies. I have some confidence based on my experience with Splenda-based baked goods that the brownies in her picture were not the ones you'd see if you used the recipe she detailed. In fact, I'm pretty sure you'd get a piece of brown rain boot material if you followed that recipe.

I found this recipe on Recipe Zaar. It's supposed to be a clone of a box mix of low fat brownies called "No Pudge". I have no access to such treats since I'm living in Japan, but I had read positive reviews of this brand's "No Pudge Fudge" before. Getting back to the recipe though, it has a lot of variations listed by readers and the author. You can include egg whites, or not. You can include wheat gluten, or not. The egg white version is supposed to be more cake-like, so I opted to leave them out. Wheat gluten is supposed to make them rise a bit better. Here is the recipe that I tried:

• 1/2 tsp. vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup plain, low-fat yogurt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the yogurt and vanilla extract then stir until just blended. Don't mix it anymore than necessary. Spread in a greased 8" x 8" pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Centigrade) for 25 minutes. I used a glass dish, so your baking time may vary. Don't overbake it because it may kill the fudge-like texture.


These brownies look exactly like the picture of them on Recipe Zaar. They aren't, however, indistinguishable from normal brownies as many reviewers say in the comments on Recipe Zaar. They definitely are different from the real thing in terms of taste and texture. They are fudge-like and have a pretty good chocolate flavor. They're more like moist cake though than a brownie. The top does not get crispy or crackly like real brownies. Unsurprisingly, they also taste different. They don't taste bad, but have an unusual taste because of the yogurt.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these are lower calorie than normal brownies, but they aren't low calorie. If you cut these into 16 servings, each is a small portion for 80 calories each. You have to ask yourself if the pleasure you get from these is worth it when you can have other small treats for the same number of calories. I think these would be best used for someone who has dietary concerns related to fat and cholesterol consumption rather than as a lower calorie replacement for brownies or chocolate treats. Frankly, I get more pleasure out of a 100-calorie pack of York wafer bars than I get out of an 80-calorie brownie made with yogurt.

I tried these both alone and as part of a reduced calorie brownie sundae (with reduced calorie vanilla ice cream). They remind me a lot of a type of low-fat cookie that my husband I used to buy many years ago made by a company called "Heaven Scent". Those cookies are no longer made by that company. I'm guessing that they discontinued their low fat cookie options when that fad died off. I have a sense that one could make a cookie out of these by reducing the amount of yogurt or adding in an egg and more flour. They definitely taste fine, but are not really a brownie.

Update: I served 5 of these at a get-together with a few former coworkers and they both seemed to really enjoy them. I was told they didn't really taste low fat or "healthy". I ate one of them and my guests consumed the other four, so I think these are possibly even better if you serve them to people who don't know what sort of fakery is going on. I also felt they were better the next day than the first day.

by Shari (Orchid64)