Did a Little Baking Today

First up, I made a second batch of some muffins that appeared in this month's Cooking Light. I had made them earlier this week, but Don and I ate them all before I could take a picture! These are hearty enough (and healthy enough) to eat for breakfast - I would take two each morning along with a piece of string cheese.

Tropical Muffins with Coconut-Macadamia Topping
from Cooking Light

Muffins:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple in juice, drained
1/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
3 tablespoons finely chopped macadamia nuts, toasted
Cooking spray

Topping:
2 tablespoons flaked sweetened coconut
1 tablespoon finely chopped macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon regular oats
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. To prepare muffins, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Combine banana and next 5 ingredients (through egg) in a medium bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in pineapple, 1/3 cup coconut, and 3 tablespoons nuts. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
3. To prepare topping, combine 2 tablespoons coconut and the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of topping over each muffin. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately; place on a wire rack.

Yield 18 muffins. (Cooking Lightsays this recipe will make 12, but even with almost-full muffin cups, it made 18. Also, since half of a small can of crushed pineapple is 1/2 cup, you might as well make two batches. What else can you do with half a can of crushed pineapple?

Next, I tried a new bread recipe in the bread machine - rye bread. I found a recipe that sounded more like pumpernickel, and thought I'd give it a try. The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of yeast, but keeping with my practice of cutting the yeast nearly in half, I used a teaspoon and an eighth. It worked! And this bread really does taste more like a pumpernickel. I didn't put in the caraway seed - don't really care for it - and so now the bread will be good for sandwiches or toasted with jam.

Rustic Black Rye Bread
high altitude recipe

1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons softened butter or margarine
2 tablespoons molasses
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 1/8 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients into the bread machine in order listed. Use the whole wheat, regular crust setting. Press start. After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on a cake rack, and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.


Note: In the top photo, the reason there's a dent in the top is because halfway during baking, I blew a fuse in the kitchen. When I reset the power, I couldn't finish the loaf in the bread machine (it automatically starts at the beginning), so I finished it in the big oven. My big oven mitt made the dent while I was moving it. In the photo at right, you can see a couple large air bubbles - I think perhaps I could use even less yeast next time - but the texture of the bread was perfect. Not bad for 6000 feet!