Whole Pear, Dried Cherry Blender Muffin Recipe

I feel like muffins are often either a) like sugary cupcakes that are missing frosting (thank you, Costco!), or b) grainy, bran-filled cardboard missiles that need to be soaked in apple juice just to be digestible.

Yet muffins are the perfect on-the-go food.

My favorite muffins of all time are my mom’s ridiculously delicious orange muffins that use a whole orange (plus peel!) in the recipe. Why aren’t there more recipes like this, with real fruit as the base, not the sideshow?

I wanted to do something about it.

So here’s a recipe for whole pear and dried cherry muffins. There are three key elements:

1. You use a blender to purée the pears as part of the wet ingredients.
2. You soak the cherries in hot water to plump them up so they are nice and juicy in the muffins.
3. Instead of sugar, the muffins are sweetened with the cherry water from the plumped-up cherries.

If you need more fat or sugar in the muffins, just slather them with butter and honey when you eat them. But I find them quite moist and delightful on their own.

Vegan note: To make this recipe vegan, substitute each egg with 3 tablespoons hot water mixed with 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal. Let the water & flax mixture sit for five minutes before incorporating into the recipe.

Whole Pear, Dried Cherry Blender Muffins

Makes 24 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized whole pears, or apples, cored and cut into eighths
• 1 cup water
• 1 generous cup dried cherries
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (you can substitute with butter, I imagine)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 3.5 cups whole wheat flour (or 2.5 cups flour, 1 cup almond flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Now Do This

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat one cup water in the microwave or stovetop until steaming. Add in dried cherries.

Let cherries soak in hot water for about 5 minutes, or until water turns reddish when stirred, and cherries are visibly plumper.

Combine the wet ingredients (including whole pear or apple, and water from cherries) in a blender.

Blend on high until there are no chunks.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. When well mixed, pour in the wet ingredients and stir until combined. You may need a bit more flour. Add in cherries, and stir. Batter will have the consistency of thick pancake batter.

Scoop into muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, rotating and changing the position of the muffin pans halfway through cooking. Stick a toothpick in to check for doneness (when the toothpick comes out clean, they are ready).

Let me know how these go for you! I probably should have tested this recipe about 600 more times before sharing it, but I got excited…

Very Green Smoothie Recipe

I get a LOT of my fruit and vegetable servings from smoothies. I make three batches at a time and fill up a bunch of glass jars to keep in the fridge.

Then I drink two a day–because let’s face it, the gremlins and I are always on the move and if I carry around whole pieces of fruit in my car or purse, they just roll around, forgotten, until we smell them weeks later.

The most awesome thing about smoothies is they are 100% real: You see everything going in, and you know it’s good. Unlike packaged protein shakes and other fruit drinks. Plus you don’t need added vitamins because leafy greens and whole fruit have so many already.

There are a million ways to make smoothies. I’m vegan with mine, because I feel like moderation with animal products is a good idea, and since I will never stop buying butter by the case to fuel my baked goods, or eating bacon, I better look for other ways to get off the sauce.

Very Green Vegan Smoothie

Throw in a blender:

• 1-2 cups loosely packed leafy greens (kale, spinach, chard…go for it! Just take the sinewy stalks off the heartier greens, because they’re hard to grind up.)
• 1 banana
• 6-10 frozen strawberries
• 1/3 can coconut milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger–good for digestion and adds punch
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal–great for Omega 3s
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• honey and/or frozen orange juice concentrate–for sweetness, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional for those who want even more kick)
• Approx. 1.5-2 cups water

Blend on low, and gradually move to your blender’s highest speed. Because of the greens, you’ll need to blend for a long time to get this smoothie really smooth. You Vitamix and Blendtec people will be done blending in about 3 seconds, but for the rest of us peons, it’ll be awhile.

Each month I try to increase the amount of greens I put in, and to lower the amount of honey and/or orange juice concentrate so that there’s less sugar. That’s why I add the vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne to boost flavor (plus the spices have digestive and other helpful properties).

Gratuitous picture of flaxseed meal.

Other choose-your-own-adventure smoothie add-ins: a whole, peeled orange; sliced apple or pear (unpeeled); and frozen raspberries or mango. Just watch out for blueberries–they tend to build up an agar-like jelly at the top of my smoothies after sitting for a bit.

FEEDBACK FROM READERS:

• Be careful with the cayenne (especially if your family doesn’t do much spice).
• Pineapple and pear are GREAT add-ins for natural sweetness.
• Check out the comment below from Jamie for a great recipe for a vegan “chocolate milkshake” using banana, cocoa powder, and peanut butter.

I want to keep my smoothie recipe fresh, so please tell me what your favorite smoothie add-ins are. Any tricks to get your kids to love smoothies (mine are not into them right now)?

Recipe: Chocolate, Peanut Butter, White Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

My three favorite cookie recipes are from Barefoot Contessa: chocolate white-chocolate-chip cookies; peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies; and classic chocolate chip cookies. So why not combine them all into one super cookie??

Nothing was stopping me, so I did it.

This recipe is double what a run-of-the-mill cookie recipe will make. But why would you want 36 cookies when you could have 72? That is a rhetorical question.

Just take the dough for your extra 60 cookies, roll it into balls, place the balls very close together on a cookie sheet so that you can fit them all onto one sheet, then stick them in the fridge for a few hours. If you’re not going to bake them in the next day-ish, then pop them off the sheet and put them in Tupperware in the freezer.

They’ll be ready to bake when unexpected guests arrive, or when a friend has a bad day, or when you have a bad day. You could also half the recipe. But why would you do that, you cookie hater?

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, White Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Wet

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1.5 cups white sugar
• 1 lb unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 cups smooth, salted peanut butter
• 1.5 cups cocoa powder
• 1 tbs ground coffee or espresso powder

Dry

• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 5 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt

Mix-ins

• 1.5 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Now Do This:

• Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer.
• Add the eggs and vanilla and mix.
• Add in peanut butter and mix.
• Add in cocoa powder and espresso powder and mix.
• In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together, then add to wet and mix.
• Stir in white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips or chunks.
• Roll cookies into balls and bake at 350 for approximately 9-11 min (my current oven runs hot so you may need a bit longer, but I really like these chewy in the center).

Note: Don’t flatten these cookies before baking. The dough can be a little cakey, so when I flattened them, they came out too dry. They work much better when they are a little more tender in the center, and if you leave them in ball form, that seems to happen nicely.

Let me know how this recipe works for you and if you have any tweaks! I often make mistakes…

Simple, No-cook Red Pepper & Walnut Pasta Sauce Recipe

I’ve been playing around with vegetarian and vegan recipes lately. The keys to success in our house are simple and flavorful.

This is my favorite new pasta sauce. All you need is a blender. Let me know what you think.

READER FEEDBACK:

• This sauce has the consistency of a thick basil pesto. If you would like it thinner, simply half the olive oil and add in all the water from the jarred red peppers. You can also save some of your pasta water and add it in to your desired consistency. This is a good solution if you prefer less oil, as well. 

Simple, No-cook Red Pepper & Walnut Pasta Sauce

Combine in a blender:

• 1 jar roasted red peppers, strained
• 1 cup toasted walnuts (other nuts work as well, including pecans and pine nuts)*
• 1-2 cloves raw garlic
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Blend on high, adding more olive oil if needed.

Pour over whole wheat pasta. Add parmesan cheese (if you’re not vegan!).

I’ve actually convinced K-Pants that this sauce over pasta is mac-n-cheese. We’ll see how long I can get away with it.

*NOTE about toasted nuts: You can use raw nuts as well–it makes the recipe even easier. The toasted nuts give the sauce a richer, meatier taste. I toast mine in the toaster oven at 150 degrees for about 5-8 minutes.