Hot and Spicy! Mayan chocolate chip whole wheat cookies aren't right!

Mr. Maven was walking through the house, munching on cookie in hand, muttering “this isn’t right.”

“What did you say, dear?”

“This just isn’t right. These are spicy cookies”

“What? You don’t like them?”

“That isn’t what I said.”

I threatened to toss them into the garbage. “No! Don’t you dare! I’m just saying that a hot and spicy cookie isn’t right.”

You decide, dear reader.

Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter( one stick), softened

1/2 tbsp. finely minced orange  peel

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 tsp. vanilla 

1 egg

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup barley flour

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tablespoon (or less?) of red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup bittersweet (60% cocoa if you can get them) chocolate chips

Technique

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine brown and granulated sugars, egg, orange juice, orange peel, chili powder, red pepper flakes and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add white whole wheat and barley flours, baking soda, cream of tarter and salt and beat until well combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix in by hand with spoon.

2.  Form the cookies into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes and remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Serve with orange or mango sorbet and strawberries? You decide. I think they go dandy with espresso. These cookies spread out and are chewy, crispy. The dough freezes very well indeed.

-maven  

Whole grain goodness: Pizza dough

I’m going to tempt you with a photo.

Pizza dough - and pizza - that you can feel good about. And even better than that, it’s really, really tasty.

Simple ingredients. Straightforward. Rustic. Fairly easy. Incredibly healthy. What’s not to love here?

Regular readers will know that I love all things whole grain, and I’m on a mission of sorts to perfect the foods we know and love in the whole grain mode. To this end, I’ve begun a project to try and create a really tasty, good textured pizza dough that highlights the rich nuances of a variety of whole and heritage grains - something that can be stored in the refrigerator, and frozen. It irks me that I can’t go to the grocery store and buy a frozen or fresh container with multi whole grain pizza dough. That just seems so obvious to me.

Out came the many cannisters of whole grain flours, yeast, olive oil and the big, BIG Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

First I had to devise the recipe, then I decided to make three batches. Measure, measure, measure, and then make notes. I figured I’d drop some over at the neighbor’s house and ask them to give it a try. That’s called product testing. I mean, what are neighbors for?

Above in the photo, I’ve got three larger pans with the bulk of my flour mixture, then in the three glass bowls, I’ve got my percolating yeast ‘sponge’. The yeast - combined with water, olive oil and a half cup of the flour mixture - went into the kitchen aid mixer to be thoroughly combined. Then it sits for about 30 minutes to go poof. Bubble. Get happy.

This gives me a chance to put flours away and regroup.

When you look at the recipe, below, you’ll probably nag me about putting in the ultra fine, highly milled  ‘00’ Italian bread flour. “Whoa! That’s not whole grain!” Yup. I’m after the best balance of flavor, texture and healthy whole grain goodness. The whole grains comprise about 75% of the flours in this dough. I thinks that’s pretty damn good. I added vital wheat gluten, too. That’s to improve the elasticity and compensate for the lack of gluten in the whole grains.

When they’re ready, one at a time, each sponge will go into the mixer, with it’s accompanying flour added incrementally with the dough hook on the 2 setting. Stop and scrape occasionally. I found that - Nevada being dry - I had to add about two tablespoons of water, here and there, to get the dough to have that nice elastic shiny quality. You know the dough is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl and starts to wrap tighter around the dough hook. The sides of the bowl should be quite clean looking.

As I finished each dough batch, it would go into another glass bowl that had been oiled. Cover each with a tea towel and set in a draft free place for about an hour.

Now, it’s time to gather, mince, slice and otherwise prepare the toppings. I wanted to keep it simple so that we could better evaluate the finished crust. So I opted for sliced grape tomatoes, halved balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced garlic and a melange of minced fresh basil, sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I had some sliced pancetta, so decided to use that for the meat.

Oh, time to preheat the oven - with a pizza stone if you have one. My oven will go 500 degrees. Just use the highest heat you have, which with many ovens is 450 or 475.

 

The first one cooked for about 12 minutes, and was perfectly great. The second cooked for about 14 minutes, since I was after a crisper crust. Yes. It worked very well indeed.

Well, here are the ingredients as I see them:

4 cups of flour, total. My combo came out like this - 1-1/2 cups of ‘OO’ Italian bread flour. 1 cup whole wheat bread flour. 1/2 cup each whole spelt and kamut flour. 1/4 cup each whole millet and barley flour.

2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1 (.25 ounce) packet of dry active yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/2 cup lukewarm water (about 105 to 115 degrees)

1/4 cup olive oil, plus a couple tablespoons more to grease the bowls for rising, and a similar amount to oil the rolled out pizzas prior to topping them.

3/4 cold water

Technique

In a large bowl, mix together your flours and  the salt, so they add up to 4 cups total.

In the big bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together 1/2 cup of the flour(s), the 1/2 cup lukewarm water, and the packet of yeast. Let it set for about 30 minutes, til it’s all bubbly and poofy.

When the yeast mixture is ready, add the rest of the water and olive oil. Turn your mixer on, using the dough hook, to the 2 setting. Start adding the rest of the flour(s) in quarter cup increments.

Mix/knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, leaving ‘clean’ sides, and start to ball up around the dough hook. Remove the dough from the bowl, and set it in the greased bowl, and cover with a kitchen towel. Set it in a draft free place until it doubles in size - about 1-1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees or as close as you can get to that.

When the dough is doubled, punch it down. Give it a couple kneads and divide it into four disks … or two … or don’t. Make one big huge pizza pie if you want.

Working on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin and your hands. Stretch it out till it’s about 1/4 inch thick. It doesn’t have to be perfectly round or perfectly anything. I call this rustic. Rustic makes up for any number of sins of omission or lack of technique.

Repeat with remaining dough discs.

Wipe each rolled out dough disc with some good olive oil, put some tomato paste or pesto on - or don’t, hell it’s your pizza. Don’t look at me to hold your hand.

Here are some other things you can put on it, put please do it in the true Italian style - Less is More. Keep it to about 3 or 4 ingredients max. Use really good quality stuff.

Slices of fresh mozzarella, anchovies, kalamata olives, pine nuts, slices of artichoke hearts, minced herbs, julienned basil, dried tomatoes, thin slices of fresh tomato, goat cheese, pesto Genovese, simple goddamn tomato paste, parmesan cheese, salmon lox, tomato pesto, chunks of roasted chicken or turkey, spinach (blanched, drained and chopped), crumbled Italian sausage, fresh sage leaves, pancetta, paper thin slices of salami or prosciutto, caper berries, very thin slices of duck confit or smoked duck breast,  thin ribbons of zucchini … sliced apples, blue cheese, smoky bacon.

Knock yourself out.

I think this dough will freeze just fine. And it will keep fresh in the fridge, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for a few days, too. In other words, there’s no reason not to have a bit of this dough around when you get the urge for a little slice of pizza pie.

Hey, if you try this, let me know how it works out for you. I’m really interested.

-maven

P.S. - A reader and neighbor keeps telling me that I should offer informal classes in some of this stuff … like the pizza making. What do you think? Would you be interested in spending a few hours on a Saturday, so that you have the confidence to do this on your own?

Chewy, crispy Ginger Snaps with healthy whole grain goodness

You might have noticed the other day, when I posted the recipe of the luscious applesauce/apple compote, that I made mention of how good it would be with some ginger cookies. That comment has stayed with me all week, so that by this afternoon, I couldn’t stand the strain.

Out came the big ol’ Kitchen Aid stand mixer and the various containers of whole grain flours from my dedicated ‘baking cabinet’. A place of many wonders.

This is so damn good. I was talking to my beautiful step-daughter ( she calls while on her commute homeward to Marin County from the South Bay - hands free, of course) on the speaker phone, as I whipped these up. Yes, our conversations can go on and on and on.

By the time I had them out of the oven and onto the cooling racks, she was starting to sound a little sad, hungry and whiney …. “You’ll probably need some cold milk to go with those…” Sniff. I was picking at the crispy parts that fell off of one and making ooh-y, goo-goo-y, lovey sounds.

“Oh, jeeze, Ronda! That’s right!”

Yup. Cold milk and warm ginger snaps. Chewy. Yet crispy. With just that sweet intersection between the perfect notes of coffee, chocolate and sweet ginger. These ‘snaps’ are almost on the savory side, not too sweet. They would make the perfect finish to a meal.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Now start your engines!

Makes about 30 cookies

You will need a total of 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons of *’flour’. In Maven’s World that meant:

1/4 cup each of spelt, kamut, barley and millet flour

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of finely ground cornmeal

1-1/2 cups of whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Maven happened to have some Dominican Republic drinking chocolate in the cupboard, so guess what she used.

2-1/2 teaspoons of ground ginger. Make sure it isn’t ground ginger that’s been in the cupboard for the last year and is stale.

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of salt, preferably sea salt

1/3 cup of dark raisins - pulsed in a food processor to a paste

1 cup butter. I used one stick of regular butter (since that was handy in the fridge) plus 1/2 cup of Land O’Lakes spreadable butter with canola oil. Don’t use a butter spread with water in it.

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup blackstrap molasses

2 teaspoons of baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiling water

1/3 cup granulated sugar (you’ll roll the balls of cookie dough in this before baking)

Sift the flour(s), cocoa powder, salt and spices together in the bowl of an electric mixer. A stand mixer is great for this, since you will have a stiff dough. Put the butter, brown sugar, and raisin paste in and mix using the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in the molasses.

Add the baking soda mixture and beat thoroughly. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, shape it into two rounds, which you’ll wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Prepare at least two baking sheets with parchment paper. I have a European convection oven which will take up to five cookie sheets. Shape the dough into 1/2 inch balls, roll them in the granulated sugar, and place them about two inches apart on the baking sheets. These cookies spread. I use a small ice cream scoop - the kind with the thumb lever to release the ball - to portion the dough.

Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, about 10 to 12 minutes. If you want a crisper cookie, bake a minute or so longer. When you remove them from the oven, they’ll be really soft so don’t try and put them directly onto the cooling racks. Let them sit for about five minutes, then take a spatula or fish turner to slip them onto the wire cooling racks. Let them really cool to firm up and become crispy.

Enjoy with cold milk.

They will keep, stored in an airtight container, up to 3 days.

You might think that you’d just gobble these things down, but because they are so packed with whole grains, I find that a couple ‘do it for me’. That’s the beauty of whole grains. They fill you up and keep you full (without the blood sugar spikes) - which is one reason they’re so great for controlling your weight. Plus, in using so many of these different grains, I think the whole is greater than the sum of the parts - so to speak. You’re getting the benefit of the micro-nutrients from all these different grains.

*Obviously, I hope, you realize that you can simply use all-purpose flour. You can also use just whole wheat flour, too. I keep canisters - large and small - of these flours in my baking cupboard. I love millet, corn meal and barley in things like these cookies - since they add a subtle savory sweetness. The barley flour adds a neat texture and loads of protein. You could also use oat flour, brown rice flour, sweet potato flour (hey, that might be really neat!) … experiment!

-maven

Whole Grain Sourcream Banana Bread - With Pistachios.

Those banana’s were getting too soft for me, and I hate to waste anything. My duty was clear, make banana bread.

In my continuing effort to educate my readers on the benefits and ease of baking with whole grains, I offer you a pretty tasty banana bread recipe. I think you’ll like this one for the light balanced flavor, and the tender, well formed crumb. This loaf slices very cleanly, and is even good toasted.

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Make a whole wheat angel food cake to die for

Figuratively speaking, that is.

Really, making an angel food cake isn’t terribly hard, nor does it take an inordinate amount of time to whip - literally - up. All you need is a bunch of egg whites, some whole wheat pastry flour and an angel food cake pan.

I blogged about my first whole grain angel food cake a couple weeks ago, and what a success it was. So much so, that Mr. Maven returned from the grocery store with a couple containers of egg whites - I think that was my first clue to get with it.

I was a bit spare on the side of technique, just having given you - my readers - the basic recipe. I’ve since had requests for the lowdown on how-to.

Here it goes ( and the recipe will be repeated at the end ):

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Best loaf for the price: Winco Foods

Here in Reno, I buy almost all of our daily bread at Winco Foods - also known as Cub Foods in other parts of the country. I’ve tried all the big commerical brands and found them to either be lacking - as in whole grains and flavor - or giving me what I didn’t want - higher costs, added artificial ingredients and such.

The bakery at my local Winco is a pretty big operation, and although it’s not putting out the fancy artisan stuff that I sometimes want, for every day bread it can’t be beat.

They offer a full line from Old Fashioned White to Whole Wheat, and the prices are about a buck a loaf less than the acceptable national brands - yes, you can buy cheaper but after a look at the ingredients list on those packages, why?

I get the Multigrain, Whole Wheat and occasionally, the Light Rye. We go through a lot of bread around this house in a weeks time, and each time I’ve tried to substitute another brand, I hear the howls of grief.

The Winco bread is consistently good. The texture is perfect, and it’s moist enough to eat untoasted, yet makes great toast. The flavor is mild enough for my husband, yet just gutsy enough in the true whole grain flavor to suit me - although that’s one reason I will occasionally pop for an expensive loaf of some artisan whole grain baguette.

They even will give you the nutrition facts on a hand out sheet if you ask, since their labeling is pretty bare bones. Last time I picked one up, the calories, fat, sodium and such were well within acceptable levels. There isn’t anything in the ingredients list that doesn’t absolutely need to be there to make a loaf of bread - in other words, nothing that my grandmother wouldn’t have recognized, which is my criterion.

Winco is located throughout the west in Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.