A Healthy Muffin: Whole Grain Almond Poppyseed Muffin

I felt like baking something healthy for a change, or at least try to. I usually sub a little whole wheat flour for all purpose flour when I bake - it may not make a big difference, but it makes me feel better. This time, I wanted to bake something that went a step beyond adding a few scoops of whole wheat flour. I wanted to use healthier fats and sugars too, which sounds a little oxymoronic now that I think about it.

This is the first time I baked without butter and sugar, two ingredients I can’t live without. I’ve never been a fan of butter and sugar substitutes so I used olive oil and agave nectar instead. Olive oil is still oil so the calories are still there but it's high in polyphenols and monounsaturated fats, both of which have heart healthy benefits. Choose a light, fruity olive oil so the flavor will not dominate. In the end, I couldn’t even taste the olive oil flavor in my muffins. I went to my local TJ's and picked up some agave syrup because I've heard how it’s natural and low glycemic. But I dug a little deeper and found some alarming information; while it’s true that agave syrup is low in glucose, which is responsible for it’s low glycemic properties, it is unusually high in fructose and overconsumption of fructose causes even more health problems than glucose. Hmm... maybe this stuff isn’t as good as I thought. The whole wheat flour and ground flax are probably the least controversial healthy ingredients. I think everyone can agree that whole grains and the omega-3s from the flax are good for you.

I’m still looking for a healthy sweetener so this is still a work in progress. Good news is that the muffins taste great, considering how much good-for-you stuff is in them, you’d think they would taste, you know... “healthy.” Granted, it’s hard to beat a Costco almond poppyseed muffin, one of my favorite guilty pleasures, but these muffins didn’t make me feel dirty after I ate one.

Disclaimer: this is the first time I tried to calculate the nutritional info for something homemade and it took way more time than I thought it would. Hopefully I didn’t fudge up my math... No guarantees. ;)
Each muffin has approximately 200 calories, 8 grams of good fat, 12 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber (from whole grain sources).

Healthy Whole Grain Almond Poppyseed Muffin
1 C unbleached all purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C ground flax (store this in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer after opening)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C low fat buttermilk
1 large egg
6 Tbsp agave nectar or honey *work in progress
6 Tbsp olive oil *choose something light and fruity
2 tsp almond extract

Optional garnish:
Raw sugar
Sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Line a muffin tin with paper baking cups or spray the tin with nonstick spray.

Whisk all purpose flour, wheat flour, ground flax, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg and nectar until the egg is thoroughly beaten, then add the buttermilk, olive oil, and almond extract until combined.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and fold to combine. There should be no large pockets of flour, a few small streaks are okay. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin, a 1/4 cup ice cream/cookie scoop is best. Optional: top the muffins with a light sprinkling of raw sugar and almond slices. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 350 degrees F on the middle rack or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcake with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

jump to the new blog and guinness cupcake recipe

Oatmeal Power Bars

The snow is all fun and games until you realize there's 8 inches of it to shovel out of the driveway. While Steven painstakingly cleared the driveway, I made myself useful by building a snowman. Standing at a majestic 4 foot something tall, he's the greatest snowman I've ever made.


My favorite part is his nose, which is a giant icicle instead of the usual carrot. Gives him the same sort of look, except 10x cooler (wow that was sooo unintended... gotta love crappy cold weather puns).

After the last few days of playing in the snow, I realized I've fallen ridiculously behind on making all of my holiday food items. I was supposed to get my 12 days of cookies done by tomorrow but right now, it's not looking good (6 cookies posted and 2 days to go?). But a friend said Christmas isn't just a day, it's a whole season that goes until January. I guess it's true, it's not like the holiday baking stops after Christmas. In the spirit of holiday baking I'll keep these cookies coming at my unreliable sporadic pace.

I just finished making my last official present last night (which I will post about later because the recipient reads this blog). Now I have a crapton of other things to make for Christmas, that is, if the car can make it out of the driveway. On the list: hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, aebleskiver mix, stollen with candied orange peel and rum raisins (soaking in rum right now), and chocolate chip cookies for the neighbors that lent us their snow shovel.

These oatmeal power bars are supposed to be a homemade imitation of these Costco oatmeal bars that Steven's dad likes so much. Last time I was at their house, I briefly glanced at the mile-long ingredient list for the bars - butter, oil, oats, brown sugar, coconut, nuts, dried fruit, and flax are the few I could remember. I bought a bag of ground flax seed from Trader Joe's for the sole purpose of trying to recreate the bars. Although I knew the majority of the correct ingredients, without the right amounts, I ended up just tossing stuff together. I obviously haven't mastered the skill of remaking food items because my bars were not like the Costco bars, still tasty in their own right, but not the same. Mine were so crumbly, a quarter of the bars disintegrated while I was cutting them and turned into trail mix.

To make them healthier, I could try cutting down on the butter and oil, maybe replacing some of it with applesauce, replace the brown sugar with honey or agave nectar, and up the flax and nuts.

Oatmeal Power Bar
makes 24 bars

1/2 C almonds, toasted
1/2 C pecans, toasted
1 C dried cranberries
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C ground flax seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 C rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick cooking both work)
1 C sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 C (or 1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 C canola or vegetable oil
1/2 C dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

If your almonds and pecans are not toasted, spread them on a baking sheet and toast for 10 - 15 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the skin has darkened slightly and the nuts smell fragrant. Set aside to cool. After they are cool, chop roughly by hand or pulse them in a food processor.

Pour 1 cup of hot water over the dried cranberries and let them rehydrate for 5 minutes and drain.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the flour, ground flax, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda together. In another bowl, whisk the rolled oats, coconut, and chopped nuts.

With a stand mixer and paddle attachment or hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy and fluffy. Add the sugar, oil, and vanilla and beat again until creamy and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until the mixture is smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat until evenly combined. Then add the oat mixture and dried cranberries and mix until the dough is evenly incorporated.

Scrape the dough into the lined jelly roll pan and press the dough onto the pan with your fingers. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment and using a small rolling pin or empty wine bottle, roll over the parchment until the dough is evenly packed in the pan. Remove the top piece of parchment. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes or until the edges are browned, the entire top is golden, and the center of pan is baked. You can use a toothpick to poke the middle to make sure it's not still gooey.

Run a knife along the edge of the pan to loosen the cookie from the pan. When the pan has cooled with room temperature, transfer the entire sheet of cookie to a cutting board (the easiest way to do this is to place the cutting board right next to the pan then use the parchment paper overhang as handles and slide the whole thing onto the board). Cut the sheet in half width-wise, then each half into quarters, and then cut each quarter into 6 bars. You should get 24 bars, give or take a few that will fall apart.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

When it snowed last Thursday, Steven thought it was a better idea to stay home instead of going to work.

We debated whether to use the trash can lid or CSA box to go sledding down the hill. Eventually, we decided both were a bad idea. Seattle pretty much falls apart when it snows-schools close at the mere prediction of snow, the bus system goes down the pooper, cars start sliding everywhere-it's a mess. Probably because we have insane hills and maybe 1 or 2 snow plows.


Replace the power lines with ski lifts and you have yourself a nice slope for skiing (except that you can be blindsided by cars coming down the cross streets... that would be a problem).


We stopped to smell the rosemary, which grows like crazy around here. Our neighbors have a huuuge bush of it.


I never realized that snowflakes actually look like... snowflakes! I always thought those 6 pointed paper cutouts you see taped on windows around this time of year were idealized versions of what snowflakes could look like. Snowflakes don't actually look like that right? Kinda like how a heart shape doesn't quite look like a real heart. We usually get the amorphous clumps of snow crystals here so this was the first time I've seen these large, beautiful snowflakes.


I could have stood there all day taking pictures of the snowflakes that fell on Steven because as cliche as it sounds, each one was unique and absolutely perfect. But eventually I could no longer feel my toes so it was time to go home and have some hot chocolate and biscotti.

Since my last biscottis turned out so well, I decided to try another biscotti recipe from Dorie's book and as expected, they were just as good.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Biscotti
Adapted from Baking by Dorie Greenspan

3/4 C hazelnuts
2 C all purpose flour
1/3 C cocoa powder
2 tsp espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the hazelnuts in a baking pan and toast for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the nuts are golden and smell fragrant and the skin has darkened and blistered. Pour the nuts onto a towel and wrap them up in the towel so they can steam. After 2ish minutes, rub the nuts together in the towel to remove any loose skins. Transfer the nuts to a bowl and cool completely. Chop them roughly with a knife or pulse them briefly in a food processor.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil, sugar, and extracts until smooth. Add one egg, whisk until smooth, then add the second egg and whisk until smooth. Then add the flour mixture and chopped nuts and mix until no streaks of flour remain.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Scrape half of the batter onto the baking sheet and shape it into a rectangle 3 inches wide, 10ish inches long, and about 3/4 inch tall. Do the same with the remaining batter, spacing the loaves 4 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the loaves are baked in the middle but still somewhat soft and springy.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool the loaves until they can be handled. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, slice the loaves on a slight diagonal into roughly 1/2 inch slices (as thick or thin as you want). Stand the sliced biscotti up on the baking sheet like dominos and bake at 300 degrees F for another 20 - 30 minutes, or until they are dry and firm throughout.

Cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container.

Brown Butter Gingersnaps

This cookie is a cross between last year's brown sugar cookie and gingerbread. The brown butter gives what would be a traditional gingersnap a wonderful lingering caramely aftertaste. I kept them on the chewy side so gingersnap is a bit of a misnomer but gingerchew doesn't quite have the same ring. And as with all chewy cookies, keep them a little underbaked so the cookies retain their chewiness after they cool. If you like crisp cookies, a true gingersnap, bake these cookies longer. The spices are adjustable so play around with them to suit your tastes.

Brown Butter Gingersnaps
makes approximately 18 cookies

1/2 C unsalted butter (1 stick)
3/4 C dark brown sugar
1/4 C unsulphured molasses
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice (optional)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg *Spices are adjustable to suit your tastes
1/4 C granulated sugar for coating

Put 6 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook the butter until the foaming and bubbling subsides and the solids start to brown, stirring occasionally. The butter will start to smell really, really good. Take the butter off heat and continue to stir until the solids are an even brown (not too dark). If you're afraid of burning the butter, err on the side of caution. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to stop the cooking. Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.

When the butter is cool, stir in the brown sugar, molasses, egg, and vanilla. Whisk to evenly combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until no streaks of flour remain.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Chill the dough for 15 - 30ish minutes, or until you can handle it without the dough sticking too much to your hands.

In a shallow bowl, add roughly 1/4 C of granulated sugar.

Take roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball. Then roll it in the bowl of sugar to cover. Place on baking sheet. Space the cookies 2 inches apart. You should get around 18 cookies. Flatten them with the bottom of a drinking glass until they are between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick. For chewy cookies, bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the edges are cooked but the center is still soft. *Bake them longer if you want crispy cookies.

Transfer to a rack to cool.

Almond Biscotti

Toooo many cookiesss... I'm forced to eat cookies for breakfast. It's a tough situation to be in.

I kid, I kid! Cookies (currently, four different kinds to choose from) with my morning coffee is a welcomed side effect of massive holiday baking. The biscottis I made this year are better than the ones I made last year. While not as festive looking, they are much easier to bite through and require no dunking in liquid. The difference is the addition of butter and oil and more baking powder. Biscotti with butter/oil won't keep as long as biscotti without the extra fat but they are more flavorful and the cookies will be gone so quickly, storage won't be an issue.

Almond Biscotti
Adapted from Baking by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp (half stick) butter, at room temperature
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C almond slivers or chopped almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Toast the chopped almonds or almond slivers in the oven or stove top. If you are using whole raw almonds, toast them first before chopping. If using the oven: toast them on a tray at 350 degrees for 5 - 10 minutes, shake occasionally until fragrant and golden. On the stovetop: place the almonds in a skillet over medium heat, shake frequently until the almonds are fragrant and golden. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In another large bowl, add the butter, oil, and sugar and whisk until smooth. Add the extracts and one egg, whisk until smooth before adding the second egg.

Add in the dry ingredients and almonds and mix until no streaks of flour remain.

Scrape half of the dough onto one side of the prepared baking sheet. Shape the dough into a rectangle about 2.5 inches wide, roughly 10 - 12 inches long, and 3/4 inch high. Do the same with the other remaining half of dough. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, until the logs are golden brown on top but still soft to the touch. Remove the pan from the oven and cool the logs until they are cool enough to handle.

Turn the oven down to 300 degrees F. Slice the logs at a slight angle into slices about 1/2 - 3/4 inches thick. Stand the cookie up like dominoes on the baking sheet. Bake for another 20 - 30 minutes or until the cookies are firm and dry. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.