Sunday, July 25, 2010

Apple Oat Bran Muffins - Perfect for Sunday Brunch!

Apple Oat-Bran Muffins
12 Servings
Oat bran binds cholesterol in the gut and blocks its absorption. These muffins can help you move toward a healthy daily goal of 40 grams of fiber, which is about twice what most Americans consume.

Ingredients:
Expeller-pressed canola oil for oiling the muffin pan
2 large green cooking apples
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/4 cups oat bran
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 12-ounce can apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 cup water

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 325°F. Lightly oil muffin pan. Peel and core apples; chop them coarsely. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, stir together pastry flour, white flour, oat bran, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. Add thawed apple-juice concentrate, chopped apples, and enough water to make a light batter.

4. Mix just enough to moisten all ingredients. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake till lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.

5. Remove muffins from cups while hot.

Nutritional Information:

Per serving:
Calories: 208.4
Protein: 5.6 grams
Fat: 1.4 grams
Saturated Fat: 0.3 grams
Monounsat Fat: 0.3 grams
Polyunsat Fat: 0.5 grams
Carbohydrate: 48.7 grams
Fiber: 5.3 grams
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Vitamin A: 19.5 IU
Vitamin E: 0.7 mg/IU
Vitamin C: 3.1 mg
Calcium: 25.1 mg
Magnesium: 58.3 mg

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Lion Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for  Stephanie's babyshower and then again for Aiden's 3rd Birthday because they were so cute.  I had so many people ask about them, I thought I'd post how easy they were here!  They look much more difficult than they were ... so I wanted to help out those of you who think you'd never have time to do this!




Here are the cupcake tops.  I made them a few days before the party so I wouldn't have so much to do that day.  The key is to make sure they are getting enough air so they don't get too soft or condensate or melt and not too much air so they don't turn rock hard and are still edible.  I used a pyrex container with a sealed top but left two corners of the tops slightly open to accomodate the air flow. 

 The faces were pretty simple and I got some advice from the many sources online!
I used Wilton's Fondant to make them and since it comes in white, used food coloring to color them.  Make sure you wear latex gloves as the food coloring will surely die your hands!  Knead the coloring in for each piece to enough fondant for the part you are working on and work fast the fondant gets hard quickly.  Pick up the Wilton's cookie cutters in the Flower and Circle 3-pack shapes. 

For the Mane I used the Wilton 3" flower cookie cutter
For the Face I used the 2.25" circle cutter
For the ears and mouth and dots on the other cupcakes I used the .5" Wilton's circle
For the eyes and nose I used the small tube of colored Wilton's frosting tips

The finished product ...




Enjoy!