whole wheat biscuits

Before the flurry of holiday activity begins (or if you are just more organized than I am and have everything all sewn up), take a breather and relax. I made these whole wheat biscuits yesterday morning and they were perfect with coffee and a slather of butter and a dollop of cherry jam. However, they'd be equally wonderful served alongside soup or topped with sausage gravy and a poached egg.

Made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, they are wholesome and nutty, light even. The rise on these however is not high, but these are not leaden lumps of dough by any means. I found the recipe on The Oyster Evangelist and Joy calls for them to be made in a cast iron skillet. Most of the biscuits managed to fit into the pan, but the leftovers I just baked on a cookie sheet and I couldn't tell the difference between the two.

whole wheat biscuits
(recipe adapted from The Oyster Evangelist)
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c wheat germ
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt
6 T unsalted butter, cold
1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c milk

Preheat oven to 450F with a cast iron skillet inside the oven.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add in small cubes of cold butter and use your fingers to work through the mixture until you have pea-sized lumps of dough. In a measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt and milk and add it to the flour mixture, using a wooden spoon to stir it all up into a sticky mass of dough.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface, dusting additional flour over top and flatten with your hands until it's about an inch thick. Use biscuit cutters to cut out rounds, shaping out any leftover dough into discs and placing them on the hot cast iron skillet (or use a regular old cookie sheet). Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are dark.

fill'er up: cinnamon oatmeal waffles

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted a waffle recipe. Believe me, this is the perfect waffle recipe after a long waffle-absence because it will only take one to fill you up. Really. This waffle is hearty. I spied the recipe on the very lovely Shutterbean's site (who originally found the recipe in Sunset magazine) and knew that this would be the waffle recipe to get me back on the waffle train. Enjoy!

The Bloggies!! As I mentioned on my previous post, I've been nominated for a 2009 Bloggie Award as Best Canadian Weblog! I'm thrilled, flattered and oh so excited!! You can vote for me along with a fine group of other bloggers at 2009.Bloggies.com until Monday, February 2nd.

cinnamon oatmeal waffles
(adapted from Shutterbean)
1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/4 t salt
1 T baking powder
2 c rolled oats
3 T flaxmeal
2 T ground cinnamon
1 T brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c yogurt
3/4 c skim milk
1/4 c butter, melted
1 T vegetable oil (for waffle iron)

1. Preheat the waffle iron to medium-high. In a large bowl, mix together the first seven ingredients (flour to sugar). In a small bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt and milk and whisk to combine. Add in the melted butter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix gently.

2. Using a pastry brush, coat the griddle with oil. Pour 3/4 c or so of the batter into the middle of the waffle iron. Bake until golden brown and serve with maple syrup and thick yogurt.

very cherry whole wheat muffins

Cherries are in the local markets now and I'm super excited. I love cherries and usually just pop them into my mouth fresh, but sometimes I get a hankering for something a little different. Sometimes it works, like these cherry muffins below, and sometimes it doesn't.

As my bag of cherries began to dwindle and there only seemed to be the ugly testical-looking cherries left alongside the softer, darker ones that I don't like to eat. I figured muffins would be the way I could save these sweet babies from the compost heap. So I got to pitting and chopping them and threw them into a simple muffin batter. I went with a whole wheat pastry flour since I got a huge bag for cheap at my local Chinatown grocer. If you don't have access to ww pastry flour, try half white and half whole wheat to help cut through the heaviness of regular whole wheat. The resulting muffins were light, tasty and were an easy way to grab something quick for breakfast.


Other muffin recipes found on this blog:
Apple cheddar yogurt muffins
Berry smash (strawberry) muffins
Blackberry muffins with crumble topping
Chocolate zucchini muffins
Gingerbread muffins
Whole wheat & yogurt cranberry muffins

In other food news, this past weekend I attended the Eat! Vancouver festival and got to interview celebrity chef, Bob Blumer. Read my write-up about it on the Food Network Canada site.

whole wheat cherry muffins
2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1/4 c brown sugar
1 c fresh pitted cherries, chopped
1 egg
3/4 c skim milk
1/2 t almond extract
1 t vanilla
1/4 c melted butter

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a smaller bowl, mix together the egg, milk, vanilla, almond extract and melted butter.

2. Dump the cherries into the flour mixture and then add in the liquids. Mix until everything has blended together.

3. Grease 12 muffin tins and then spoon batter into cups. Bake at 375 until tops are golden, about 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.