Whole Grain Waffles

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups skim milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together wet ingredients; sift together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet, stir well. Bake in waffle iron. Serve with blueberry syrup. Source:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Grain-Waffles/Detail.aspx

Italian Pignoli Amaretti - Pine Nut Cookies

These holiday cookies are a legend in Beez's family. They are expensive to make, so will only be making another appearance at our house next Christmas. 

Thank you, DonnaSue, for this recipe. 

2 (8-ounce) cans almond paste (not marzipan), coarsely crumbled*
1 1/2 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons mild honey
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) pine nuts 

* It is important to use canned almond paste only (the type sold in tubes is too crumbly and will not give the cookies the right consistency).

Preheat oven to 350°F. Either line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat. 

In a food processor, pulse almond paste until broken up into small bits, then add powdered sugar and salt; continue to pulse until finely ground, about 1 minute. Add egg whites and and honey; process until well combined. 

NOTE: Have a bowl of water near to dip your fingers in before rolling each cookie. This will keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. 

Using a rounded teaspoon for each cookie, roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared cooking sheets. Lightly flatten each cookie and press some pine nuts into each cookie to cover. 

Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, approximately 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden brown and soft and springy. Remove from oven and and transfer to wire racks to cool completely before serving.

The cookies can by prepared up to 3 weeks ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

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Here are a couple more notes for you: Auntie Bucksnort and I found that the dough could be mixed in a KitchenAid stand mixer. Use care with whatever machine you use; the dough is heavy and Cousin DonnaSue broke her food processor mixing it, making the cookies even more expensive this year. 

We sprayed the cookie sheets with Pam, rather than using a Silpat, because we had no idea what that even was. Of course, we now know that it is a no-stick silicone baking mat, but we didn't know then. They are expensive, too.

Let the cookies cool just a minute--no longer--before removing them from the pan or they will stick. 

Cranberry Muffins

I was looking around for a way to use up bits of leftover cranberry sauce and orange-cranberry relish and came across this recipe on MomCentral. Since my homemade sauce had lots of orange in it, I let that be a substitute for the lemon zest. The recipe made 12 nice, big muffins--very delicious and grainy, as I used whole wheat flour.

• 2 ½ cups white whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup plain Greek-style yogurt (whole milk or low-fat milk)
• ¼ cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• ½ tsp. lemon zest
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray (or line with muffin liners).
2. Measure flour by spooning into a dry measuring cup, level with a straightedge or back of a knife, then pour into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
3. In a separate mixing bowl whisk eggs until slightly frothy. Add yogurt, milk and canola oil. Whisk well until smooth. Add lemon zest and brown sugar, mixing well. Add cranberry sauce and stir with a spoon until thoroughly combined.
4. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened. The batter should still be lumpy with a few little spots of dry flour. Do not over mix. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each to the rim.
5. Bake in center of oven 22 minutes, rotating muffin tin once halfway through, until muffins are a lovely golden color on top. Remove tin from oven, transfer muffins to a cooling rack. Serve warm or room temperature.