Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

I've been searching the internet high and low for good apple recipes since Keith and I went apple picking two weeks ago.  So far, I have baked an apple tart and made cinnamon spiced applesauce, in addition to eating an unnatural amount of fresh apples.  Next up, we have whole wheat apple muffins using both fresh apples and homemade applesauce.  I found a great recipe from smitten kitchen and made a few adjustment to make my low(er) fat version.  I won't lie to you, these were definitely not the butteriest muffins ever, but they still tasted really good, moist and very apple-y.  If you would like the full-indulgence version, checkout the the original recipe.

This is how the muffins looked in the oven after 10 minutes.  I couldn't help it, I had to turn on the oven lights to look inside.  I fought every urge to keep the oven door closed while I looked!

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
From smitten kitchen, slightly adapted to make the low-fat version

Yield: 12 Muffins

1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup homemade applesauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed and divided into 1/4 cup portions
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) non-fat yogurt
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 450°F.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper muffin cups and set aside.

Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  In a separate medium bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy.  Mix in applesauce.  Add the beaten egg and mix well.  Blend in the yogurt.  Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on top.  Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes (mine were done after about 8 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack (or any flat surface) to cool completely.

Enjoy!

This post is linked to Greenish Thumb.

Homemade Spaetzle Recipe

While I was in college, I lived in Germany for six months and developed a great fondness for all sorts of things German, including Spätzle.  In the U.S., "Spätzle" is often written as "spaetzle." My best interpretation of the proper German pronunciation of this word is sch-PEHTZ-luh, although in some areas like Bavaria or German-speaking Switzerland, it may be pronounced sch-PEHTZ-lay or sch-PEHTZ-lee.

Spaetzle is German egg noodles that can be served as either a main dish or a side dish.  Within Germany, this dish is considered to be a Swabian speciality.  As a main dish, spaetzle is often served mixed with melted cheese and caramelized onions and called Käsespätzle (Käse means cheese in German).  As a side dish, the noodles are simply served as is or with a light coating of butter.

The word Spätzle is the diminutive form of Spatz, and it's literally translated as "little sparrow."  This name apparently comes from the fact that manually cut (and cooked) spaetzle batter resembles little sparrows (at least the old Germans must have thought so), hence the cutesy name.  The first time I made this dish, Keith thought that the individual noodles resembled cartoonish little sperms, and said that we were eating "Little Spermies."

(Click on any picture for a larger view and click once more for an even more detailed view.)

Homemade Spaetzle

Makes about 4-6 Keith-sized servings

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I use fat-free milk)

Beat eggs well in a medium bowl.  Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl.  To the egg bowl, alternately mix in dry ingredients and milk until the batter is smooth and just slightly thicker than typical pancake batter.  Set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes (this relaxes the gluten in the batter).

Bring lightly salted water to a boil in a large pot.  Load about 1/2 cup of batter into your Spätzle Maker* and press/drop the batter into boiling water (be careful, the boiling water steam is hot!).  The noodles will first sink and then float to the surface when they are done (10-15 seconds).  Fish out the finished noodles with a slotted spoon into a colander placed inside a separate bowl (I use the small bowl that initially held the dry ingredients) to drain.  Repeat until all batter is used up.

Finished spaetzle can be served with a quick toss of butter in a skillet as a side dish.

*Some industrious Germans make Spätzle by placing the batter on a special wooden board (Spätzlebrett) and rapidly cutting/scraping it into tiny pieces with a wide knife (Schaber).  For those of us a bit more mechanically challenged in the kitchen, there are many devices created just for spaetzle making, including some pasta makers with special spaetzle attachments.  But if you don't have one, no worries.  You can still make this delicious dish with just a regular kitchen colander (as long as the holes are big enough to push the batter through) or a large slotted spoon (again, with decent-sized holes).

To make Käsespätzle:

3 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 cups shredded good swiss cheese (I use half Emmentaler and half Gruyère)

Caramelize onions by cooking thinly sliced onions and butter in a large skillet over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes, stirring as necessary to avoid burning (I do this at the same time while I'm making the spaetzle noodles).  Mix in finished spaetzle and shredded cheese. Stir to blend everything together and allow the cheese to melt (1-2 minutes). Remove from heat and serve immediately.

It take a bit more effort, but I promise that there's a world of difference between homemade spaetzle and pre-made spaetzle from a box.  It's really delicious!

Note:  I fully intended to make käsespätzle this year with homegrown onions from my garden, but my onions didn't size up properly so I don't have any garden onions.  But if I had garden onions, this would definitely qualify as a garden dinner recipe. :-)

This post is linked to It's a Blog Party and Food on Fridays.

Cinnamon Spiced Applesauce

With my first attempt at homemade applesauce, I have now joined the ranks of "people who process and preserve their produce."  Well, maybe I should say semi-joined, or joined as a junior member, since I neither grew the apples myself nor properly canned the applesauce (I opted for the refridgerator version in recycled glass jars).

To make applesauce, I used Cortland apples that Keith and I picked ourselves last weekend from a local orchard.

I can't remember if this is a picture of a Cortland apple, or a Jonathan apple, which I used to make an apple tart/pie.  If you'd like, check out my yesterday's post about apple picking and tart baking.

Since I had never made applesauce before, I looked up a few recipes on the internet and realized that making applesauce is less science (like baking) and more art (like cooking).  So my own improvised version went something like this:

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Cinnamon Spiced Applesauce

5 lbs of apples - peeled, quartered and cored
1 1/4 cups water (or 1/4 cup water per pound of apples)
5 Tablespoons brown sugar (or 1T per pound of apples)
*1 1/4 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used a few generous shakes)

*In retrospect, about 1-2 teaspoon cinnamon would probably suit most people's tastes.

Add all ingredients into a large pot.  Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until apples are very soft.  Remove the pot from heat and mash apples with a potato masher.

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Aside from the slightly tedious chore of peeling and coring apples, which I did by hand with a small knife, making applesauce was surprisingly simple and intuitive.  I only used 1 tablespoon of brown sugar per pound of apples because I wanted very lightly sweetened applesauce.  Sugar can be left out altogether or increased up to four times this amount (probably grocery store level of sweetness at that point) depending on your taste.

The resulting applesauce had a slightly orange/brown tint to it, even more so in this picture due to poor light quality in the kitchen at the time.  I think it's from the brown sugar and/or the amount of cinnamon, because peeled apples are supposed to give you light golden/yellow applesauce.  Next time, I will probably reduce the amount of cinnamon by half and use only about 1-2 teaspoons.  The reason we used so much this time was because Keith was in charge of adding the spices and he LOVES cinnamon.  He thought this batch of applesauce tasted great, but I would prefer somewhat less cinnamon.  I might also try sprinkling in a little bit of ground cloves and allspice to add another depth to the spice flavor.

This applesauce was served warm right after I made it and also cold the next day for after-dinner dessert.  Both times, it was delicious.