Saturday, May 28, 2011

I Had Extra

After another Costco haul that overlapped our usual shopping day, we found ourselves with an inexplicable amount of apples. It was quite ridiculous, really – they couldn’t fit between the already bulging crispers in our two fridges, so we stashed a bag in the wine cellar and somewhat put it to the back of our minds.

Of course, the day came when those were no longer crispy and delicious for out of hand eating, and some of them were threatening to start growing appendages. So I broke out the casserole dish and made apple butter with the saddest looking ones. Problem solved, right?

Well, not quite. See, I’m the only one that really eats apple butter, and even I don’t use it that much. So the giant jar I made would have to get put to good use in short order. Being, well, me, the most logical thing that came to mind was bake it into something. Or more accurately, several somethings. The rest of the apples made their way into baked goods too, not only the ones with the apple butter base, but in another cake that I have yet to post (which also helped clean my freezer out of excess cranberries and some candied pineapple). But that is another day. For now, I’ll direct you to the two fruitiest concoctions of the apple butter batch – which disappeared a whole lot faster than those apples would have!

Ferociously Fruity Muffins
Makes 12
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup spelt flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tbsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened apple butter
¼ cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp fresh-grated ginger
1 apple, cored and diced
1/3 cup minced dried apricots
1/3 cup diced candied ginger
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F, grease or line 12 muffin cups.
  2. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice in a medium bowl, set aside.
  3. In a large bowl beat together sugar, apple butter, oil, water and ginger.
  4. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine, then fold in the apple, apricots and candied ginger.
  5. Bake for 22 - 24 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 182.5
Total Fat: 5.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 16.7 mg
Total Carbs: 38.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.9 g
Protein: 2.5 g

These loaves not only used some of the apple butter and worse-for-wear apples, but I was able to fortify them with protein rich soy milk powder and tofu too. They turned out decadently dense, with just that “hint” of something special from the mesquite flour. Since they freeze well too, they kept the office noshers sated for a few weeks (though each loaf disappeared in a few hours!).

Rich Apple Loaf Cakes
Makes 2 loaves, 20 slices
1 cup flour
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup mesquite flour (you can use a mix of cocoa and cinnamon if you don’t have this)
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp pie spice
¼ cup soy milk powder
¼ tsp salt
5 oz silken tofu
¼ cup oil
2 tbsp apple butter
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
2 large apples, grated
2 large apples, peeled and diced
½ cup raisins, soaked in hot water and drained
¼ cup dried cranberries, soaked in hot water and drained
¼ cup whole flaxseeds

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, grease 2 loaf pans.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, spice, soy milk powder and salt.
  3. In a food processor, puree tofu, oil, apple butter, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.
  4. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir to moisten, then stir in the apples, raisins, dried cranberries and flaxseeds.
  5. Scrape into the pans and bake at 350°F for 70 minutes, then turn the oven down to 300°F and bake 35 minutes longer.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 200.2
Total Fat: 4.3 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 24.7 mg
Total Carbs: 43.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.8 g
Protein: 3.6 g

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