Maple and Walnut Quick Bread

My Cooking Light magazines have a terrible habit of arriving in the mail right during my most hectic times at school when I should be studying instead of perusing magazines. This month was no exception, though it was an exceptional issue. I found myself flagging tons of recipes. All the food looked so seasonal and fresh and light. Plus a lot of it used ingredients I have on hand or know where to get.

I was up early Sunday morning before church with little to no appetite for anything in the house when I remembered this quick bread recipe in the Cooking Light issue so I whipped it up for later. I'm a sucker for quick breads but they often have quite a bit of oil and sugar in them. Without any walnut oil, I substituted applesauce, though I would definitely recommend the walnut oil.

The flavor in this loaf is very subtle, and I would say that the maple flavor develops better the next day. The crunchiness of the walnuts on top add a great textural balance to the chewy loaf. This was featured in a spread about healthy fats and noted that walnuts are a great source of poly-unsaturated fats. Plus they taste delicious!

Maple and Walnut Quick Bread
source: May 2009 issue

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup low-fat buttermik
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup walnut oil
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees and grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Combine buttermilk, syrup, oil, and egg in a separate bowl.
4. Making a well in the center of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the center of the dry mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in vanilla.
5. Spoon batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle with walnuts.
6. Bake at 350-degrees for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, serving size: 1 slice
Calories 178; Fat 6.5 g (sat 0.8g, mono 1.4g, poly 3.9g); Protein 3.6 g; Carb 27.5 g; Fiber 1.3 g; Chol 16 mg; Iron 1.1 mg; Sodium 224 mg; Calc 73 mg

Turbo-Charged Brownies with Praline Topping

Oh wow. Look at all that delicious praline topping. Do you say pray-leen or prAH-leen? Joe and I have an argument going on that. I'm from Texas, so I say pray-leen. He went to college in New Orleans, so he says prAH-leen. Anyway, I grew up on pecans (the state tree of Texas!), and we even had a pecan tree in our backyard, so I love anything that calls for pecans. They're even better all mixed in with butter and sugar on top of a delicious fudge-y brownie.

When I first saw this recipe, I knew it would be perfect for two things: 1) using up the pecans and heavy cream I had left and 2) Super Bowl dessert. We went over to our friends' the C's to watch the Super Bowl game and eat chili and drink beer. They have a killer sound system and TV, and Mrs. C and I definitely share foodie interests. I thought these brownies would go over quite well, which they did. They're also kind of addictive, so watch out.

Turbo-Charged Brownies with Praline Topping
as seen on Dinner and Dessert

Ingredients

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar.)
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Praline Topping
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 tablespon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking sheet with foil, leaving several inches hanging over the short ends of the pan. Grease the foil with butter or cooking spray.

In a large metal bowl set over a pan filled with 2 inches of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Stir in both sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla all at once and stir until the batter is smooth and shiny. In a small bowl, combine the espresso powder and the boiling water; stir into the brownie mixture. Stir in the flour and salt.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it evenly. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the brownies have just begun to shrink slightly away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake; the brownies should be slightly wet inside. Cool completely while making the praline topping, about 1 hour at room temp or 15 minutes in the freezer. Leave the oven at 350.

To make the topping: Arrange the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Break the nuts into large pieces.

Combine the cream, brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in a 2 1/2 quart saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until the mixture is smooth and the butter has melted. Bring to a slow boil; boil without stirring about 6 minutes. (If the mixture starts to boil over, you’ve set the heat too high. Turn the burner down a notch.) Remove the mixture from the heat and let cool about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour the topping over the cooled brownies, spreading it with a knife or spatula to cover evenly.

Let the topping cool at least 15 minutes at room temp. Lift the brownies, still in the foil, out of the pan and cut them into pieces.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies

I don't normally take things like cookies and cakes and look for healthier recipes. If I'm going to indulge, I'm going to indulge. But when I was flipping through back issues of Cooking Light, I found these cookies and just so happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry. I made some slight changes, recorded below, based on suggestions from the reviews on the Cooking Light website.

As a warning, these are not really drop cookies as the recipe advertised. The dough is pretty dry and crumbly, but it isn't difficult to roll into balls. The cookies came out perfectly with crisp outsides and chewy insides. These would be great cookies to leave out for Santa and his reindeer, especially if Santa (*ahem* Dad) really likes pecans.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies
adapted from Cooking Light, December 2007

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup regular oats
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk; set aside.

Place sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in pecans and minichips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies (My cookies were bigger and made about 2 dozen.)