Chewy Molasses Cookies with Einkorn and Teff

Your basic molasses cookie, but tweaked to include a blend of einkorn and teff flours for fewer allergens and far more nutrition. Healthy enough to be a post- or pre-workout snack! And DELICIOUS, too, with a perfect texture: tender and moist inside, delicately crispy outside. Not too sweet. See explanation below for more info about the ingredients.

Ingredients:

5 ounces einkorn flour
3 ounces teff flour
1/4 cup Stevia, the fluffy kind that is designed to measure 1:1 with sugar, or equivalent sweetener
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/3 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp softened butter
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses

 Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and stir.

 Put the butter and the egg in a food processor and process until slightly fluffed. Add the molasses and process until combined.

 Add the dry ingredients to the food processor in three batches (one third of the dry mixture at a time). Each time, process until just smooth. Note that, due to the low gluten content of these cookies, you don't have to fear overmixing them. They will not get tough.

Scoop out into a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.

 Preheat oven to 350.

 Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece into a snake about as long as your hand. Cut each snake into 6 pieces. This will give you 24 cookies of equal size with no need to bother measuring them--neat, huh?

 Roll each piece into a ball. Now, you have a choice. You can place them on the cookie sheet as-is, OR, you can roll them in sugar first. Believe me when I say they are delicious even without the sugar. I am chowing down on a plate full of them right now. However, many people feel that the texture of the sugar is a vital part of this kind of cookie, and far be it from me to deny you this pleasure if you want it!

Whether you've rolled them in sugar or not, either way, you will now bake them for 11 minutes or until set. DO NOT OVERBAKE or they won't be chewy anymore!

 Enjoy :)

Ingredient explanations:

Einkorn: Einkorn is a primitive wheat. It is grown mainly in Italy, where it was used for some traditional foods, and thank God for that or we might have lost it!

 Einkorn has been selectively bred to increase its yield and so on, but it has never been hybridized (cross-bred with other species). As a result, it has a less complicated genetic structure and a different gluten protein. Many people who cannot tolerate modern gluten have no trouble with einkorn. Now, if you have a wheat allergy, I do not recommend you go overboard on einkorn, even if you think you can tolerate it! Reason being, allergies are flexible things and you could easily develop an intolerance to this gluten, too. Instead, I suggest you preserve it for special occasions, like pies, birthday cake, and Christmas baking.

 Einkorn flour also happens to have a delightful silky texture, lovely soft-gold color, and a richer, almost tangier flavor than modern wheat. The only tricky thing about using it is, it doesn't absorb as much water as modern flour, so you will need to reduce the amount of liquids you use. With cookies, however, this is not an issue as there is no added liquid.

 I use Jovial brand of einkorn flour, but that's because I haven't found any others, not because I specifically prefer that brand.

Teff: Teff means "lost" and refers to its tiny size. It is the world's smallest grain. This is significant because it means the ratio of starch to "good stuff" is better.

Teff has more protein and more minerals than any other grain, and a lot of fiber, too. It's especially important for its magnesium content. Considering more than half of Americans get way less magnesium in their diet than they need, and considering what a deleterious effect low magnesium can have on mood and mental functioning, it's pretty awesome that one serving of teff contains 45% of your entire day's magnesium requirement!

Teff also happens to be incredibly flavorful, with a lightly sweet and fruity aspect that reminds me of cider and makes it perfect for this kind of cookie. I also love to add it to pancakes.

I use Bob's Red Mill brand of teff flour, and that is important because milling teff is not easy. I have tried other brands and they are gritty, as though sand or dirt got in with the tiny teff grains. So, not all teff flours are created equal. Bob's is worth the slightly higher price.

Fluffiest Oatmeal

I am a huge fan of Scottish oatmeal, which has a texture halfway between grits and rice cereal but ten times as much flavor. But it takes ten minutes to cook, whereas quick oats take only 5, and some mornings that really makes a difference. Also, the texture, being soft, is less interesting than rolled oats, and sometimes I have trouble eating when all my food is the same soft texture (I know, I'm fussy).

Problem with regular quick oatmeal is, it's gooey and gross. I have been known to describe it as a "bowl of grayish sludge". It's also less flavorful than steel-cut or Scottish oatmeal.

So, if you want the speed and textural contrast of quick oats WITHOUT the gooiness, WITHOUT too much compromising on flavor... I have the recipe for you.

Two servings:
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cup water or milk
Cinnamon, butter or margarine, and brown sugar to taste

Place the oats in a small saucepan, all by themselves. Turn the heat to medium-high and toast, stirring often, until the tiny broken oat fragments or oat dust on the bottom of the pan begin to turn golden and the oats smell toasty. This only takes a minute or two.

Add the water and stir quickly. It will steam and boil hotly for a few seconds, then subside.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and put a lid on the pan. Let sit 3 minutes.

Turn off the burner. Add the cinnamon and sugar and butter if you are using them. Stir once, gently, and replace the lid for 2 more minutes.

You will see that the oats have steamed like rice and have held their shape without getting mooshy. Fluff up and serve.

To store for later, fluff up first so they don't get too compacted, then store in a container with a tight lid.

I'm going to get a rice cooker and try using it to make oatmeal next!

Basic Italian Sausage Soup: A Template

So here's a new idea: a recipe template. I'm going to list ingredients as categories and give acceptable ranges of volume. Then you can freely adapt the template to work with whatever you have on hand, and vary it to make it interesting.

Ingredients:

1 package hot or sweet Italian chicken sausage

1 or 2 onions, white or yellow (red doesn't always work unless you add olives)

Garlic. Use ONE of the following:

- If fresh, 4 or more cloves. 

- If powdered, 2 or more teaspoons. 

- If paste, 1 or more teaspoons.

(OPTIONAL) 1/4 cup cooking wine or sherry

Dried Herbs. Use any or all of the following:

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 1 tsp parsley

- 1/4 tsp powdered rosemary OR 1/2 tsp whole rosemary

- 1/2 tsp thyme leaves

Tomatoes. Use ONE of the following:

- 1 can diced

- 4 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped and seeded

- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste

(OPTIONAL) Additional Vegetables. Use any or all of the following:

- 1 cup chopped zucchini

- 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

- 1/4 cup black olives, or to taste

- 1 summer squash, chopped

- 3 carrots, sliced

- 2 celery stalks, sliced 

8 ounces greens: spinach, chard, kale, etc. Frozen works well. Avoid delicate greens like arugula.

1 or 2 cans of beans, rinsed and drained. Use any of the following, or a combination:

- kidney beans

- cannellini beans

- navy beans

- lima beans (frozen, not canned, the canned ones are gross)

- butterbeans

(OPTIONAL) Squeeze of lemon, recommended only if you omitted the wine

(OPTIONAL) Cooked pasta

Preparation:

Slice the sausage and sautee in a large soup pot with a little olive oil until browned. Remove to a plate.

Sautee the onion and, if you're using fresh garlic, the garlic too until beginning to soften. Add the wine, if you're using it, and scrape the pot to get any browned bits. 

Add any other chopped vegetables you're using EXCEPT greens. Add the broth, tomatoes, and the herbs.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until the vegetables are almost done. 3 or 4 minutes for delicate vegetables, 8 minutes if you've got carrots. Stir often to check progress.

Add the greens. Return to a boil and cook until greens are tender, about 2 minutes, but maybe a little longer for kale.

Add the beans. If you're using pasta, add that too. If you're using lemon, now's the time--don't go overboard though!

Serve. If you can eat cheese, this is great topped with parmesan, romano, provelone, manchego, or most Greek cheeses.

This soup stores well. Freeze leftovers or keep in the fridge. It gets better the next day.

Grain Hipster Pizza Dough

I've arrived at an AWESOME PIZZA CRUST. It is flavorful, soft and tender, but with a nice texture. Start making it an hour before you want to eat it.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 1/2 tsp yeast (1 packet yeast)
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup oat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vital wheat gluten
Bread flour

Stir the sugar and yeast into the water and set aside for 5 minutes while it foams.

Combine the oat flour, wheat germ, salt, gluten, and 1 cup bread flour in a bowl. Add the olive oil and stir in the water mixture.

Beat with a spoon for 2 minutes, vigorously. You can use a machine for this if you have one.

Turn out onto an amply floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Add plenty of bread flour as needed to keep it from sticking. You'll end up adding maybe another cup of flour. The final dough will be soft and stretchy.

Roll the dough out and stretch with your hands until it's the right size.

Sprinkle cornmeal on a cookie sheet that is heat-safe to 450 degrees - odds are, this is NOT a non-stick sheet! Non-stick sheets aren't safe at high heat. Use a double thickness of tinfoil if you don't have a non-non-stick cookie sheet.

Place the rolled-out dough onto the cookie sheet and let sit in a nice warm place for half an hour, or until it is fluffy enough.

Preheat the oven to 450. Move the oven shelf to the lowest level, if you have an adjustable oven shelf. Bake the dough naked for 3 minutes, THEN add the toppings and bake for another 6 minutes, or until done.

Grain Hipster Muffins - high protein, gluten-free

This is mostly lifted off the back of the Bob's Red Mill soy flour bag, where it is called "Outrageous Muffins", for very good reason. I made some changes:
1. Left out the wheat flour (entirely by accident)
2. Substituted half the sugar with stevia
3. Used diced prunes instead of raisins, since I hate raisins, and used less of them
4. Reduced the salt
5. Used orange oil instead of orange zest, because I didn't have any oranges and anyway zesting is annoying.

They are amazing. I'm eating one THIS VERY MINUTE.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup soy flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup wheat germ (leave this out, or substitute oat flour, if you need gluten-free)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar OR 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda OR equivalent sweeteners
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 orange OR equivalent orange flavoring OR orange oil
3/4 cup diced prunes OR your favorite dried fruit OR blueberries

Oven 350

Combine dry ingredients and whisk. Add wet ingredients and mix with a big spoon; the batter will be thick. Stir in the fruit.

Spoon into 12 muffin cups. I firmly advocate aluminum muffin cup liners, instead of paper, because they never stick. I hate peeling soggy paper off of my muffin or cupcake!

Bake for 22 - 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

Notes:

- These are far lower in carbs than regular muffins, but much higher in fat, due to the almond flour. Therefore they are higher in calories. While the fiber and nutrients make these muffins still a MUCH healthier choice than conventional muffins, don't go crazy and eat ten of them.

- The recipe also called for baking soda; I used baking powder by accident. I just realized that. Oops? Apparently I still have my brain wrapped up in my book. However, I recommend the baking powder. It came out great and baking soda is very salty.

- You could probably substitute all the sugar for non-nutritive sweetener with no ill effect, since the almond flour will keep it moist. But you might want to add a spoonful of molasses for flavor.

Black Bean Burgers with Eggs

An enhanced version of the recipe found in September 2012 edition of Cooking Light.

Ingredients:
To make the patties:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp peanut oil or canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup panko

Finishing the patties:
4 eggs
1/4 cup panko
Peanut or canola oil
Cheddar cheese with chipotle (optional but delicious)

Combine the ingredients for the patties in a food processor and process until combined but still pretty chunky.

Pour enough oil into a nonstick pan to cover the bottom. Preheat over medium heat.

Divide the mixture into quarters. Place remaining panko on a plate. Scoop up a quarter of the bean mixture, plop it into the panko, and press it gently flat. Then scoop up the patty and carefully lay it on the hot pan. Repeat with remaining bean mixture to form 4 patties.

You will note that panko is applied to only one side. If the patty sticks to the spoon when you press it flat in the panko, DO NOT PANIC. This is actually quite convenient. Let it stay stuck to the spoon and use that as an easy way to transfer the patty to the frying pan. Use a soft spatula to scrape it off the spoon and directly onto the hot pan.

Fry for 4 minutes, turn, and fry for 3 more minutes, or until golden and crisp. Remove to drain on paper towels.

Pour excess oil and any burnt bits of panko out of the pan, and return to stove. Crack four eggs into the pan and cook until firm.

Top each patty with an egg. If you're using the cheese, put as much cheese as you like atop the egg - the hot egg melts it. Serve immediately.