Whole Wheat Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins

This week is AP testing and since my teachers are therefore not giving any work and I don't really plan on studying, I have more time when I get home to cook and bake. I literally sat in the testing room for an hour after I took one of my exams waiting for the time to be up that I could leave. The people around me probably thought I was impressively fast, but I actually just ran out o things to say on the free response section. (That's not too good of a sign now is it...)

Spiced sweet potato muffin with a brown sugar, oat, and almond topping.

Anyways, I had some sweet potato puree left from the brownie recipe, so I needed to come up with another recipe so I wouldn't waste it. I decided to make muffins. You can make them in any size you want, but I love to make mini muffins since you can easily take one to go  and pop in your mouth.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

All the topping ingredients before being mixed.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sweet potato puree

½ cup milk

2 eggs

Topping-

¼ cup oatmeal

3 tablespoons brown sugar

¼ cup almonds

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a muffin pan well.

In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potato, milk, brown sugar, and eggs. Add in the vanilla and other spices and the baking soda and baking powder. Gradually add in the whole wheat pastry flower. Once all the ingredients are well combined, pour the batter into the greased muffin tins until each is about ¾ full.

In a separate bowl, combine the ¼ cup oatmeal, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, ¼ cup almonds, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. You can either chop the almonds and then just stir all the ingredients together, or put all the ingredients into a food processor to create a more homogenous mixture.

Sprinkle this “topping” on top of the unbaked muffins.

Now, place the muffins in the oven for 11-13 minutes.

Remove the oven and wait until cooled before removing from tin.

My sweet potato creations, all from one can of puree.

Apricot Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic for a good reason. The combination of oats and dried fruit is tasty, but it can be even better when you se an unexpected fruit combo such as dried apricots.

For this recipe you can use whatever type of dried apricot is your favorite, and any nut you like. I thought almonds worked best with the taste of apricots.

Ingredients:

Almonds and apricots chopped
& ready on the cutting board.

½  cups rolled oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup  softened butter

½ cup packed light-brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup roughly chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup chopped almonds

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Toast the oats in the oven for 10 minutes. After the oats have cooled, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars and then afterwards beat in the egg and vanilla. Once this is all well mixed, slowly mix in the oat mixture. Afterwards fold in the apricots and almonds (may do this by hand).

Roll the dough into 2 dozen balls on greased baking sheets. Using your fingers, flatten balls to about a 3/4-inch thickness.

Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, or until the edges begin to golden.

Give the cookies 5 minutes to cook on baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Bread

Mmmmmmmmm.

For Lent my friend decided that she would give up sweets which is a problem for me because about the quarter of the time I bake for her and make her try the concoctions I come up with. However, I realized that I could still make her some baked goods, as long as they weren't cookies or brownies or anything too sugary. She was thrilled when I told her that I had made her whole wheat blueberry bread and aid it was one of the best things I have ever baked!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Lemon zest adds a little flavor punch
that compliments the blueberries.


¼ cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon


¾ cups sugar

1 ¼ cup white whole wheat flour


¾ cup oats

1-2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

1 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda


1 teaspoon lemon zest

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup room temperature butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla


½ cup Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup blueberries

Fold in blueberries to prevent them from being squished.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a larger bowl, mix together the butter and sugar. Once mixed, add in the eggs, vanilla, and oil. Next, add in the Greek yogurt and lemon zest, and once this is all well combined, slowly add in the dry flour mixture.

Stir in the walnuts and finally fold in the blueberries, being careful not to crush them.

Pour the batter into your already greased loaf pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, remove form the oven and let cool before slicing.


I put in some flaxseed for extra nutrient benefits, but you couldn't even taste it. The bread is kind of hard to cut though in nice clean slices, but whatever, it all tastes good anyways.

Monster Cookies

I always make baked goods for the girl’s track team and the boys get mad if I don’t have enough for them too. My one friend in particular has on multiple occasions tried to steal them away, though I have never failed to find them stashed near his stuff. This time though, I’m making him his own bucket of cookies so I don’t have to listen to any more complaining from him.

I thought it would only be appropriate to make “Monster Cookies” for him. The original recipe came from Paula Deen, but I changed it around just a bit.

Ingredients:

1 egg

½ cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon corn syrup

¾ teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons butter

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ sweetened coconut flakes

1 ½ cups rolled oats

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup M&M's

I give you permission to
taste the batter.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease cookie sheets. In a bowl, combine the eggs and sugars and mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter, and then finally the unsweetened coconut and baking soda. Stir in the M&M's, chocolate chips, and oats.

Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, and do not over bake. Let the cookies cool for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. 

A bucket of cookies he can hoard for himself.

Doggie Treats

Lucy is usually not this obedient.

Treats in an air tight container will last for much longer.

Now we always focus on making treats for ourselves, but what about our pets? For a while now I have been giving my two small dogs cookies I bake at home, and that way I know exactly what they’re eating (no fake ingredients here). I found this recipe for small dog ankle biter peanut butter drops courtesy of Robin’s FYI:

Ingredients:

3/4  cup flour 

1 egg 

1 tablespoon honey 

1 teaspoon  peanut butter 

1/4  cup  butter 

1  teaspoon  baking soda 

1/4  cup rolled oats 

1/2  teaspoon vanilla 

Directions: 

Heat honey and peanut butter in microwave until peanut butter is melted (about 20 seconds) 

Mix add remaining ingredients  

Drop by 1/2 teaspoonful onto cookie sheet  

Bake at 350 F for 8 to 10 minutes

Fenway enjoying her treat.

I can't really comment how these taste but I can tell you for sure that my dogs definitely enjoy them.