Tomato and Onion Tarts

I had good luck with yeasted tart dough in a gallette, so I thought I would try it in a pan.  I made some tomato tartlets with fresh tomatoes, red onion slices, garlic, thyme, and olive oil, plus a dab of ricotta on the bottom.

The crust is basically this one, with about 1/4 rye flour because I ran out(!) of whole wheat.  Definitely has a pizza-like quality to the crust rather than a French tart crunch, but it's tasty and a dream to roll out.  It didn't need any flour at all when rolling and I got it really thin without tearing it!

A surfeit of spotty bananas on the counter and some getting-on blueberries in the fridge yesterday led me to this Martha Stewart recipe for Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins, which I wanted to recommend.

I have an aversion to whole wheat pastry flour, but I used it here because it was all I had in the house (bought for another project) and I substituted it for about 1/4 cup of the white flour too, since I was out. The result was a lovely fine crumb that still tasted pleasantly wheaty, without that sour whole wheat pastry flour aftertaste. I also added the zest of one lemon, which I would highly recommend. Next time I'll try just plain whole wheat flour (it would give the muffins a bit more body), use the whole wheat pastry flour instead of any white, and halve the sugar: it calls for 1/3 cup of both white and brown, but I'd just stick with the brown. Martha's recipes tend to be pretty sweet. I think you could also substitute apple sauce for some of the butter if you had to, and maybe try raspberries. The recipe calls for frozen berries, which tend to hold their shape better, but fresh ones worked pretty well. The muffins are still being enjoyed by the entire household. Again, the recipe is here.

Spelt Focaccia

I had such good luck with yeasted tart dough recently that I thought I would try another yeasted bread.  The spelt focaccia from Kim Boyce's "Good to the Grain" looked easy, and it was.  I probably only spent about half an hour of active time on this bread, and it baked up delicious.  I split it into three pieces and baked the first one with chili salt (from my cousin Jamie in Boulder) and rosemary.  I plan to try the next one with roasted garlic and the last one with truffle oil.

The recipe is here.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are really terrific and they look beautiful.  I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.  The old family Kitchenaid beat these into submission nicely.  Next time I may try some of the tips from the Cook's Illustrated cookies or even a little corn syrup after learning that's how the Momofuku Milk Bar cookies get so chewy.  Recipe here.

Multigrain Buttermilk Pancakes

More pancakes, from a Good to the Grain recipe that I hadn't tried yet.  This one uses a mix of flours, all whole-grain.  I didn't have millet or barley flour so I used quinoa flour and spelt instead.  I also used powdered buttermilk.  These came out really tasty, and not heavy.  I would make them again!
The recipe is here.

Stay tuned for whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from the same book, later today!

Sweet-Potato Muffins

Another one from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain.

These muffins didn't rise that much.  They are not fluffy.  The flavor is good though.  They have roasted sweet potato and half traditional whole wheat flour, plus chopped dates and some pumpkin seeds I sprinkled on top.

I made two modifications to the recipe.  First, I used Earth Balance instead of butter, because I still have some and I need to use it up.  This probably accounts for the density, since it doesn't cream as well as butter.  Second, I used powdered buttermilk.  That should be fine though.

This recipe is close to what I used.  It seems like no one posts this one without changes.  I did not use any whole wheat pastry flour because that isn't in the original recipe.

We recently made our usual yeasted waffle recipe (below) using all white whole wheat flour instead of the usual half white / half whole wheat. We also used all canola oil and non-fat milk with no ill effects. I know the picture's not great but these are really delicious waffles. We all (including Max) often tear into these without even adding syrup, not to be "healthy," but just because they taste so good as they are.

From Mollie Katzen's "Sunlight Cafe"

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour [we usually do half whole wheat flour]
1 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
6 Tbsp melted unsalted butter, or canola oil if you want to be healthy
1 large egg
nonstick spray

Combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Add the milk, and whisk until blended. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let it stand overnight at room temperature. (If the room is warmer than 70 degrees F, put it in the refrigerator.)

In the morning, preheat the waffle iron and melt the butter. Beat the egg in a small separate bowl, then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. The batter will be quite thin.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron on both the top and bottom surfaces with nonstick spray, and rub on a little butter. Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface -- approximately 2/3 cup for each waffle.


Cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on your waffle iron. Don't overbake -- you want it crisp and brown but not too dark. Its OK to peek.

Serve hot with your chosen toppings.