Just a Mom, HA!

Wheat Rolls

This recipe is seriously worth bragging about.

Wheat rolls that are smooth and soft, but are actually a combo of wheat and regular flours so no added gluten or softeners are required.  My average pantry has made these twice already because we just can’t get enough!

Wheat Rolls

• 1 c. warm water
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 Tbs milk
• 2 Tbs canola oil
• 2 Tbs honey
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, then turn off once it has preheated.  Combine warm water and yeast is a small dish, let stand until yeast gets frothy.  Meanwhile, combine milk, oil, honey, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  When yeast mixture is ready, add it to the large mixing bowl, then add the whole wheat flour, stirring until combined.  Next add the all purpose flour (I find that this smoother flour works in better as the dough begins to stiffen compared to the whole wheat). Knead the dough in the bowl by hand until all flour is incorporated and the dough becomes mostly smooth.

Remove dough, lightly spray the mixing bowl, then return the dough and give it a quick shot of cooking spray as well. Cover bowl with a cloth and put dough in the preheated oven for an hour to rise.  After an hour, punch the dough down and divide it into 12 equal pieces.*  Work the pieces into smooth balls and place in a lightly greased baking dish, cover and put back in the warm oven for about 30 minutes.

Once the rolls have doubled in size, remove from warm oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake the rolls for around **13 minutes and serve warm or store in an airtight container.

*Having a hard time getting equal sized rolls? Start by cutting the dough ball in half, then in half again.  Break each quarter piece down into 3rds and you’ll have a dozen equal rolls.

**I noticed that my rolls cooked faster (11 minutes) when in a metal pan.  When I made them in glass, they weren’t ready that fast and I had to put them back in for an additional 2 minutes.  Watch your rolls and feel their sides, not the tops, to know when they’re done.

Mini Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

I’m about to show you a cookie that is flour-less, butter-less, and that boasts only 4 ingredients in its batter. Brace yourself:

Huh. I was a little surprised myself.  This is a normal looking little cookie – not what I’ve come to expect from gluten-free baking.  Sadly I made these when I was so sick that I lost my sense of taste completely, so I can’t tell you how they are straight out of the oven, but I will say that their texture improves with time and their taste on day 2 is very scrumptious.

Mini Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
(Slightly Modified from Spark Recipes)

• 1 c Peanut Butter* (works best with natural PB, reduced-fat, low sodium, that kind)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Milk chocolate chips, if desired

Combine first 4 ingredients and stir until well combined.  Use a rounded teaspoon to scoop dough onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper for easy removal).  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, remove from oven, stick one or two chips into the cookie tops, then return cookies to oven one final minute of baking.  Let cookie sit on baking sheet to cool then remove them to a rack.

*Kim’s notes: I’d love to try this recipe again with natural Almond Butter.  Also, if you aren’t a fan of chocolate, skip the chips and criss-cross the dough balls with fork tongs for a more classic PB cookie look.

Banana Oat Cookies

This is actually another semi-healthy cookie recipe.  The banana flavor pounds your taste buds, the oats give it substance, and with only 3 Tbs of butter (I used a light spread) there isn’t too much to be guilty about…

UNLESS (dun dun duuuuhhhh)….

You take them to the next level by adding chocolate chips and crushed up Reese’s pieces (in Easter colors).

These cookies are pretty ugly, but that’s their only negative – they’re soft, moist, and flavorful. At the end of the day, there was only 4 left which I think says plenty about their flavor.

Banana Oat Cookies
(adapted from Spark Recipes)

• 3 Tbs butter, softened (I used light spread)
• 1 mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1 c. quick oats
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 c. mix in’s (in the pictured cookies I used mini chocolate chips and crushed Reese’s pieces, but to be healthy you could use some raisins, chopped nuts, blueberries, whatever suits your tastes)

Combine all wet ingredients and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Add dry ingredients and stir well. Add mix in’s and blend until evenly distributed.  Spoon cookies out onto cookie sheets (I baked mine on parchment paper) in about tablespoon sizes, not too big.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft, cool on baking sheet and then on wire racks.  Makes close to 2 dozen.

Happy Cooking!

Brioche Rolls

Just in time for Easter, here’s the perfect roll:

Brioche (according to my bread maker company, from whom I’m tweaking this recipe) is a rich, white, egg bread.  Its texture is soft and smooth, especially straight out of the oven, and it’s no-salt flavor can be paired with just about anything from gravy to honey.

Do try them with honey. No joke, I could cry it was so good.  Just crack it open like this:

And drizzle the honey on.  No butter necessary, these stand alone.

Brioche Rolls

• 2/3 c. warm milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. yeast
• 1 1/2 Tbs light butter/margarine, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 3 c. flour

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, then turn off once it has preheated.  Combine warm milk and yeast is a small dish, let stand until yeast gets frothy.  Meanwhile, melt butter in a large mixing bowl, then add the eggs and sugar.  When yeast mixture is ready, add it to the large mixing bowl, then add flour by cups, stirring between each addition.  Knead the dough in the bowl by hand until all flour is incorporated and the dough becomes mostly smooth (mine was a little cracked in places).

Remove dough, lightly spray the mixing bowl, then return the dough and cover with a slightly moist cloth and put dough in the preheated oven for an hour to rise.  After an hour, punch the dough down and divide it into 8 equal pieces.*  Work the pieces into smooth balls and place on a lightly greased baking dish, cover and put back in the warm oven for about 30 minutes.

Once the rolls have doubled in size, remove from warm oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake the rolls for 10 minutes and serve warm or store in an airtight container.

* Kim’s notes:  I made 8 rolls, but they were HUGE!  I could have easily cut them again and made 16.  If you chose to make smaller rolls, adjust the cooking time so that they don’t come out too tough.

Before baking, I spritzed my rolls with a little I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray. You could do this, smear a little melted butter on, or leave them plain.

Happy Cooking!

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Surprise Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are healthy.  That means a somewhat odd texture, but a taste that’s just about normal.

If that doesn’t weird you out then keep reading.

Did you spot the surprise ingredient?  That would be a chickpea.  A garbanzo.  Otherwise known as a bean.

I got this recipe from my friend the Trainer Mama.  I didn’t do much to her recipe, just used regular flour since that’s all I had, and added a few of my own touches to the dough-making process.

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies

• 1 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. sugar free applesauce
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 c. flour (she uses whole wheat, I used all-purpose)
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt (I would only add this if you’re using no-salt beans, canned beans have TONS of sodium)

I found that the cookies tasted most like cookies when the beans were mashed – if you don’t mash them then the occasional bite just tastes like a bean.  To mash I warm the beans up a little first then mash with my hands and a potato masher.  They will be flaky, but that’s normal.

Add all wet ingredients and sugars to the mashed beans and blend together.  Next add the dry ingredients and stir well to form the dough.  Lastly stir in the chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper or a lightly sprayed cooking sheet at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.  Store in an air tight container and can be frozen to make them last longer.

*Since these are a low-cal sweet treat, I have a small bag that I keep in the freezer for when I need an emergency dessert that won’t ruin my healthy day.  I even like them cold and straight from the freezer since that makes the odd/chewy texture less noticeable.

I was worried my boys wouldn’t like these and I’d have to end up eating them all by myself, but they really surprised me.  Jay and Cee both gobbled them up like regular cookies…

Sometimes it can be a little hard to get the shot I want when cookies are involved.

Happy Cooking!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Confession time:  When I was pregnant with Cee all I wanted to eat were soft Pretzel Bites from the mall.  I drove by a mall on my commute and had to force myself with all my pregnant-lady rationality (which wasn’t much) not to go there everyday and blow my paycheck.

So, when I saw this recipe over at My Kitchen Cafe (a favorite food blog that I stalk), I got so excited.  Just think of all the money I’ll save if those same cravings come back in my next pregnancy? Woo!

Now, as a connoisseur of soft pretzels, let me say just a couple of things.  First, these pretzels were not like Pretzel Time in the mall – more like soft pretzels at sporting events, which made them a little too pretzely for my liking.  I think that I will lessen the amount of baking soda in the wash next time to see if I can soften them up a touch.

Second – since these pretzels cook very hot (500 degrees!) this recipe has a HIGH SMOKE WARNING! The pretzels were perfect, but the cooking spray that I greased the pan with set my fire alarm off when I opened the oven for the first batch.  I’d suggest making these on parchment paper to save yourself the smokey headache.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Dough:
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or regular yeast
7/8 c. warm water (can use up to a cup in needed)

Topping:
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
salt, you can just use plain table salt, or get some coarser salt for a fun look
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl and beat until well combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it is soft, smooth, and quite slack. Lightly flour the dough and cover it.  Let dough rest for 30 minutes or longer if not using instant yeast (dough should almost double).

Preheat your oven to 500°F. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray, or lining them with parchment paper (I’d say paper over spray – note my high smoke warning).

Divide dough into eight equal pieces. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, combine the 1/2 cup warm water and the baking soda, and place it in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved; if it isn’t, it will make your pretzels splotchy.

Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28 to 30 inches long), and twist each rope into a pretzel. Dip each pretzel in the baking soda wash (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 7 to 8 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. I only baked one baking sheet at a time and let the other rest while the first is in the oven.

Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them with the melted butter. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Happy Cooking!

Half-the-Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I love cookies. LOVE them!  Growing up with my parents, how could I not?  My mom is a cookie artist and my Dad is a Cookie Monster.  What I don’t love are the cookies that are SO buttered that they leave grease behind on your fingers or napkin.

Here’s a little secret – you can half the butter on LOTS of cookie recipes.

I even used low-cal butter.

That being said, the flavor was perfect.  Not too sweet, smooth inside and slightly crisp on the outside.  Fierce.

Half-the-Butter Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/4 c. butter/margarine, softened (I used light Blue Bonnet)
• 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c. white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used the mini-chips and they were great)

Cream together the soft butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients all at once, then stir until well blended.  Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake at 325 for 13 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet, then transfer for racks.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Happy Cooking!

Naan Revisited – “Healthy” Pizza & Cinnamon Rolls

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post for naan, Indian flat bread.  I fell in LOVE with this recipe and was inspired by a friend’s comment to try it in new ways.

#1 Pizza:

Naan pizza was fantastic and is a great way to “healthify” a favorite comfort food of mine.  Naan is oil free, I used turkey pepperoni, and went light on the cheese, giving me ALL of the glorious taste without grease puddles to mop up.  Heaven!

To try this: Make naan as directed, but break it up only into 3 sections.  Roll them out, place on a sprayed cookie sheet for the second rising.  After the second rising, top dough with your favorite pizza ingredients, and bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes (or as long as it takes to cook through and lightly brown the edges).

#2 Cinnamon Rolls.  Again, heaven (and easier than I thought)!

To try this: Make naan as directed, but break it only into three pieces. Roll pieces out into as even a rectangle as possible.  Cover dough with melted butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Roll the dough until you have formed a long ‘log’ and pinch the edges to seal it up.  It’s okay if some of the cinnamon slime squeezes out, I spooned the extra over the tops when they were all placed.

Slide a thread (or dental floss could work) just under one end of the log until you reach about an inch and a half, then cross the thread over the log and pull ends until you make a slice through the dough.  Remove the now cut roll and place cut side down in a lightly sprayed cake pan.  Repeat this for the entire log.  Allow rolls to rise the second time.  Bake rolls at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tops are lightly browned like in the picture.  Top with a simple glaze and serve warm.

Simple glazes can be made with powdered sugar, a little melted butter, a little vanilla and a little milk. Happy Cooking!

Yogurt Berry Muffins

These muffins are intended to be a healthier muffin.  If you’re looking for the super sweet, leaves-grease-on-your-fingers type muffins then you shouldn’t read on.  However if you want a muffin that’s warm, not too sweet, and not going to kill you on calories, then this is a great option.

I did want a little more sweet, so I tore mine open and drizzled honey on it.

Then I died because it was so good.

Try the honey, I’m telling ya.

Yogurt Muffins

• 2 c. flour
• 3 Tbs. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 6 oz light lemon yogurt*
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 Tbs canola oil
• 1 Tbs natural applesauce
• 1 cup frozen blueberries and dried cranberries (I used about 2/3 blueberries then topped off the measuring cup with cranberries)

Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.  Mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, making a well at the center.  In a smaller mixing bowl combine all wet ingredients (save berries for later) and mix until well blended.  Add wet ingredients to dry, mixing until everything is moistened – this batter is VERY thick; it’s okay if it’s a little lumpy.  Next fold in the berries, until just dispersed, don’t over mix.  Drop batter into the greased muffin tin dispersing the batter evenly between all 12 cups (each cup should be about 2/3 full).  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

*Kim’s note:  the lemon yogurt doesn’t add a strong lemon taste.  If you want even more lemon in your batter, add about a tsp. of fresh lemon zest.  Is amazing with honey!

Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip [Cake Batter] Cookies

It’s the season for pumpkin cooking!  I’ve got two pumpkin recipes for you this week, but since it’s getting late I’m just going to start with the easier of the two.

I get a lot of traffic to this site because of my recipe for Cake Batter Cookies – they’re easy, they’re delicious, you can really cut a lot of the fat, and they lend very well to add-ins.  One of my favorite variations of this recipe is to take spice cake mix and change it into pumpkin cookies!  This is a big fav for Jay too, so when I had some spare pumpkin lying around after a dinner I hosted last week, I knew that the time had come for this:

Hold me back from the cooling racks, I seriously have little restraint around these bad boys.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip [Cake Batter] Cookies

• 1 box spice cake mix
• 1 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, they are typically sold side by side)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. canola oil, applesauce, or a combo of both (I’ll fill my measuring cup most of the way up with natural applesauce, then just top it off with the oil – you can cut the oil completely, but I find that it adds a little extra weight and moisture to the cookies.)
• 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a big bowl – I find that a hand mixer works well for this, but by hand gets the job done too.  Once blended and lumps are out of batter, fold in chocolate chips.  If not using oil, spray your cookie sheets before scooping dough to prevent sticking.  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Happy Cooking!