#bakethebag

I took a little break for vacation but excited to finish the final recipes from KAF’s Bake the Bag baking challenge!

For this week, it’s muffins!

I always love a warm yummy muffin right out of the oven, especially if they are blueberry muffins. These muffins definitely pass the test.

I have a recipe that I have used for years but now I am happy to have an alternate recipe that uses wheat flour. I’ve tried to use wheat flour with my usual recipe but it doesn’t work as well as this one. The buttermilk seems to give it that moist texture that I love while minimizing the wheat grainy texture you usually find with wheat flour recipes.

The original recipe calls for cinnamon as the spice but I used KAF Chai spice as a substitute with delish results.

I hope you give this recipe a try, I think you’d enjoy it as much as I did.

This makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground chai tea spice (or cinnamon)

1 cup blueberries frozen

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

coarse white sparkling sugar for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Line and grease muffin pans with paper baking cups.

Scoop out and measure flour into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients; stir in the blueberries last.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, vegetable oil and buttermilk.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring just to combine.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them full. A slightly heaped scoop of the batter is the right amount.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse sparkling sugar.

Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven, and after 5 minutes transfer them to a rack to cool.

Serve warm, or at room temperature. Store leftovers loosely wrapped at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Try the original KAF recipe here: 100% Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Cinnamon Whole Wheat Scones

  Its week 7 of KAF’s Bake the Bag featuring a Cinnamon Whole Wheat Scone recipe. 

I am pretty picky about my scones. I really enjoy the fluffy ones with the texture like a buttermilk biscuit.

Usually what I see are the crumbly dry things that I can’t for the life of me understand how these things sell. I have tried it multiple times at various places and I did not like them. In my opinion,…

First thing I need to say up front is that I do not like carrot cakes aside from the frosting.

I will generally eat the cream cheese frosting off and leave the cake if it is served to me. I think it is a texture thing. I prefer to eat the cake and not have to chew/bite anything other than cake, usually.

However, I am not sure wtf magic is in this recipe because I actually ate both the cake and frosting with no crumb left behind. After I stared between at the empty plate and back at the cake itself, I kept wondering how and why I liked this version. Was it because I made it and knew what went into the recipe? Was it the wheat flour? Naww, the wheat flour couldn’t have that huge effect on the recipe, could it? In the end, I decided that a combination-of-ingredients and great recipe were the winning combos for this recipe.

I did alter the recipe slightly based on my preference but they were tiny changes.

Changes:

Spice ratio: I added apple pie spice for half of the cinnamon. Carrots: I opted to cheat and buy shredded/matchstick carrots in a bag. I did chop them up a little bit, not too fine but medium. Vanilla: Used my homemade vanilla (made with rum).

All I know, as of this moment is that I do in fact enjoy eating carrot cake, specifically this recipe. Kudos to KAF for showing me the light that I thought would never shine down on any carrot cake EVER!

Ingredients

Cake

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon of apple pie spice

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

3 cups shredded carrots

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Frosting

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

one 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon milk if necessary to thin frosting

Directions

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9″ round layer pans, or one 9″ x 13″ pan.

Beat together the oil, sugar, salt, eggs, spices, and baking soda.

Measure flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Add the flour, stirring until well blended.

Add the carrots and nuts, and mix until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

Add the salt and vanilla. Beat in the sugar.

Add a teaspoon of milk if the frosting is too stiff to spread; add additional powdered sugar if it’s too thin.

Frost the cake as desired.

You can check out the original recipe here: King Arthur’s Carrot Cake.

Week #5 of KAF’s Bake the Bag: Whole Grain Flatbread was easy and yummy.

I was familiar with this recipe as it is similar to our traditional Roti recipe.

I couldn’t imagine wheat flour as a substitute for white in a flatbread/roti recipe but I was pleasantly surprised.

This dough could be served for little burritos or tacos. I used it as quesadillas with sauteed potatoes and onions in it cooked…

Whole Grain Sticky Buns

For the baking challenge this week we have sticky buns! Okay, so I begrudgingly tackled Whole Grain Sticky Buns for Week 4 in the series. Have to say initially I haven’t been a fan of sticky buns and this may be mostly due to the nuts and dryness in the buns that I have encountered in the past. Had I made them before? No, not real interested to be honest. When the recipe arrived in my inbox I…

Super Chocolatey Goodness. It is Week 3 in the KAF Bake the Bag series: Whole Grain Brownies. The brownies are fudgy, cake-like and moist. If you love chocolate, this is your treat.

Even with the wheat flour I found those super decadent and it’s not a complaint!

I also used mini chocolate chips versus the standard size chips for my preference. I tend to use the mini’s in place of the regular…

Next up for the baking challenge…COOKIES!

I am loving the recipes so far for the King Arthur Flour’s Bake the Bag.

This weekend I completed Week 2 in the series: Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I was a little skeptical using wheat flour as it makes the texture of things grainy but I have to tell you that these are the softest cookies I have ever made. AND they stayed soft 2 weeks later (in a zip lock bag)!

I think I am doing to do a taste test at work to see which cookie wins out. The wheat flour recipe or the white flour recipe. You really can’t taste much of a difference but there is a definitely texture difference. This cookie is crispy on the outside but super chewy on the inside.

I actually like this recipe compared to the toll house recipe and it’s made with wheat flour. Delish!

I will definitely make this recipe again, with the wheat flour and all.

RECIPE

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

1/4 teaspoon butter-rum extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 large egg

2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 2/3 cups of mini chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a Silpat or line with parchment, two baking sheets.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, honey, vanilla, espresso powder, butter-rum flavor, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until smooth.

Beat in the vinegar and egg.

Measure flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.

Stir the flour into the cookie dough, then the chocolate chips, mixing just until combined.

Use desired cookie scoop to drop onto the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes (9 to 10 minutes for smaller cookies), until their bottoms are barely starting to brown. 

Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Store cookies, well wrapped in plastic, at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Cookie Dough

Cookies cooling

Here is a link to the original recipe: KAF Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies that has lots of baking tips to help make it perfect!

I can’t wait to find out what next week’s recipe brings!

One of my favorite cooking blogs/store/source is running a baking challenge! WOOT!

I eagerly signed up for King Arthur Flour’s Bake the Bag. It is 9 weeks of baking through 1 bag of flour. White Whole Wheat Flour, that is.

This weekend I completed Week 1 in the series: Whole Grain Banana Bread.

It came together so easy and was perfect out of the pan. It’s absolutely delicious for using the wheat flour.

My go to recipe is by the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) but I may have a new favorite now! I will definitely be baking this again.

RECIPE

Ingredients

2 cups thoroughly mashed banana; about 4 or 5 medium bananas

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly spray a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with baking spray. 

In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon into the banana mixture. Thoroughly combine the ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter.

Bake the bread for about 60 to 75 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a knife, baking tester or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs . If you have a digital thermometer, the bread’s temperature at the center should register about 205°F.

Remove the bread from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

Store leftover bread, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients and sugar

Mixing it up!

Into the pan

Here is a link to the original recipe: KAF Whole Grain Banana Bread Recipe that has lots of baking tips to help make it perfect!

I can’t wait to find out what next week’s recipe brings!