Buckwheat Bran Muffins

These muffins are like those sensuous big women with the low, smoky voices and a wink for you if you're lucky.

I have really developed a taste for buckwheat! I have buckwheat hot cereal for breakfast on my coffee days, I keep experimenting with buckwheat pancakes and waffles, and I've been making these muffins... they're quite tasty, really.

Originally I was going for a maple-flavored muffin, so I used maple syrup for sweetener. The maple didn't really stand out in the finished muffin, but I liked it anyway. I didn't want to bother adding something like maple extract that not many people have just lying around or are likely to ever use again. But I kept the maple syrup, because it adds a certain sultry va-va-voom. I also wanted a breakfast-type muffin (you know, fiber and protein and all that), hence the rice bran and buckwheat flour and brown rice flour, nuts and kasha and the like. Voila... it worked out.

These muffins, like most muffins, are pretty versatile. By that, I mean you can add things if you want. Nuts and chopped fruit (diced apple or pear might be good), seeds and such... go for it. Let me know how it is.

BUCKWHEAT BRAN MUFFINS
2/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tbsp tapioca starch
2 tbsp soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp salt
Grated zest from 1 medium orange
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup maple syrup, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup rice bran
3/4 cup kasha
3/4 cup sliced almonds, crushed lightly



1. Preheat oven to 375°F and prepare sixteen muffin cups by lining or greasing. In a medium bowl, sift together flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add zest and whisk to combine. Set aside.

2. Beat eggs until frothy in a large bowl. Drizzle in melted butter, mixing well to emulsify. Add maple syrup and vanilla and stir to combine.



3. In a smaller bowl or liquid measure, whisk the buttermilk and sour cream together until no longer lumpy. Add to the bowl with the maple syrup and mix well.

4. Add flour mixture, folding gently until barely mixed but still lumpy. Fold in rice bran, kasha, and almonds until no streaks of flour remain and ingredients are moistened, but do not overmix.



5. Fill cups 3/4 full with batter, and smooth the tops with a spatula as best you can. Taste some.



6. Bake on the lower-middle rack for 23-25 minutes, or until they turn deliciously brown around the edges and just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan (if you're using liners, just use the toothpick method). Cool in pan 5 minutes, then remove to eat warm or cool or whatever. Toast them later, whatever.





PROS: warm and husky, exotically spiced yet delicate earthy flavor, delicious crunchy bits, not overly sweet
CONS: a little dense (is that a con?), flavor is mild

Banana Bread

I never expected this to be successful. After my cookie experiences, I was on the verge of being convinced that baking without gluten would never yield a product as tasty as one with. Boy, did this prove me wrong! I love banana bread. You should too.

So I did some research on different flours - Gluten Free, Not Gluten-Freaky has a great rundown of different flour properties and ratios and things. Very helpful. So I just fiddled with my normal banana bread recipe - one used by Cook's Illustrated - and voila! Tender, moist, melt-in-your-mouth (which, OK, is weird for something that doesn't typically melt at all) banana bread. Here goes...

(don't be weirded out by the lengthy ingredient list... you could probably use just butter and the traditional 3-flour blend instead of 5)

BANANA BREAD
1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup soy flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large extra-ripe, spotty bananas, mashed well
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup shortening, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Liberally grease and flour (with rice flour) the inside of a 9"x5" loaf pan (or similar - it's actually pretty flexible). Cover the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Toast the walnuts on a baking sheet in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until you start to smell them. They should smell good. Not burnt.

3. Whisk together the rice flour through salt in a large bowl, then add walnuts and mix to evenly distribute.

4. Mix together the bananas through vanilla in another bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon. This is fun. Oh, trust me. And it works way better when all your ingredients are at room temperature, so there is nothing to clump the butter and shortening. Because you don't want little pieces of butter and shortening wandering around, do you?



5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together to incorporate. It should look a little chunky. This is normal. This is good.



6. Transfer batter ASAP to your loaf pan. Stick it on the lower-middle shelf in the oven and bake for 55 minutes - or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - and it looks ready.



7. Remove bread from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Serve whenever you want to eat it - it is divine when warm and a wonderful breakfast. I didn't try toasting it, but I'm sure it would be great. And oh yeah. It's great with honey.



PROS: melt-in-your-mouth, soft, banana-y, sweet but in a good way
CONS: are you kidding me? There's nothing wrong with it...

So there you go. I've only made it once, so I'm sure some improvements/simplifications can be made to the recipe, so feel free to try it out with your own variations... no recipe is final, you know?

Black Bean Chili and Cornbread

I had a hankerin'. From the moment my mind slogged out of the murky recesses of my well-earned slumber on Saturday morning, I was in the mood for chili. Chili and cornbread.

I had to work in the evening and certainly wouldn't have time to slave over a stove and oven. Normally, this would pose a problem, as my cravings are not easily subdued. But fortune smiled down on me on this particularly Septembery day. Robert cooked.

What he created was a delicious vegetarian chili with no tomatoes, kidney beans, or anything else I really associate with chili from my childhood. It's light and healthful, yet hearty and flavorful enough to fill your stomach and please the palate.

BLACK BEAN CHILI
cooking oil
1 cup diced onion, 1/2-inch dice
1 cup diced carrot, 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup diced celery, 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ground ancho chili
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried crumbled Mexican oregano (or 1 tsp ground)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cans black beans with juice
1/2 cup water, as needed

1. In a stockpot or large saucepan, sweat onions, carrots, and celery in a little cooking oil.

2. When soft, add garlic and seasonings. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Add beans, along with their juice. Pour just enough water over chili to barely cover. Simmer gently, covered, for 30 minutes.

4. Serve hot with cornbread. Season to taste with salt and pepper.



PROS: healthy, hearty, vegetarian, tasty
CONS: simplistic, needs seasoning

This here is gonna be a two-recipe post! I just can't help myself. Chili and cornbread were made for each other.

The beauty about this cornbread is that it's gluten-free and tastes like corn. Not falsely fluffy and wheaty, but dense and mildly sweet and just plain corntastic. It makes a golden crunchy, crusty addition to a meal. It can be made sweet or savory by adding blueberries or jalapeño peppers to the batter.

CORNBREAD
1 cup medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup coarse-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup corn flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Warm 2 9"x5" cast-iron loaf pans, a 12" cast-iron skillet, or 12-cup cast-iron muffin pan in oven for 10-15 minutes.

2. As your bakeware warms, combine dry ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add oil, blending well. Whisk egg together with milk, and fold into other ingredients until barely incorporated. Let sit for 5 minutes.

4. Butter preheated pan liberally. Pan is hot enough if butter sizzles and browns lightly. Immediately scrape batter into pan (or pans) and return to oven.

5. Reduce oven temperature to 375º and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and edges begin to pull away from pan.



6. Cool in pans 5 minutes, then remove to wire cooling rack and serve warm or at room-temperature.



PROS: corntastic, versatile, gluten-free
CONS: ...