Toaster Pastry Recipe

These homemade toaster pastries (we call them "Toaster Pops" at home) are made with minimal wholesome ingredients, so you don't feel bad when your child wants one.  I've found that jam works better than jelly for the filling (it's less runny when heated).  These toaster pastries are flaky and delicious and are a good complement to any breakfast or afternoon snack.

Toaster Pastry Recipe

1/2 recipe of Flaky Pie Crust (I use 1 cup of just unbleached flour for it, not both types of flour)
Your favorite jam
Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Make the pie crust recipe.  Lay a piece of wax paper on your work surface, put a chunk of the dough in the middle, and lay another large piece of wax paper over the top. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a flat, thin piece.  Use a knife to cut out a long rectangle the width of a store-bought toaster pastry, but twice as long.  Spoon out some jam into the middle of one side of the rectangle.  Be sure to keep the jam about 1/4 inches away from the edges.  Fold the other half of the pastry over the jam side and use a fork to press the 4 edges together.  The dough should be enough to make 4 toaster pastries.

Lay the toaster pastries in a single layer on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.   Use a knife to cut a couple of slits in the tops of each pastry, and sprinkle Sugar in the Raw on them.  Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes.  Eat them right away, or let them cool completely before laying them in a single layer in a large Ziplock freezer bag.  When you want to have one, take it out of the freezer, microwave it for 20 seconds on High, then put it in the toaster.  I use two knives (one on either side of the pastry) like tongs to remove it from the toaster when done since they are so flaky.

Banana Muffin Recipe (Vegan)

Sam can eat bananas on a limited basis now, so I've started making my banana muffins again.  These muffins are egg-free, dairy-free, and are very moist and delicious.  They are great for breakfast, snack, or any time of day.

Banana Muffin Recipe

2 cups unbleached flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 extra ripe bananas
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.  Peel the bananas and put them in a separate bowl.  Use a fork and mash them until they become a puree, as smooth as you can get (some small chunks are OK).  Add the wet ingredients and mix throroughly. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and pour the batter in. Top with a sprinkling of Sugar in the Raw. Bake for 20 minutes.  Makes 12+ muffins. 

If you want to make Banana Bread instead of muffins, pour the batter into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, sprinkle on some Sugar in the Raw, and bake it at 375 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool thoroughly before slicing. This bread and these muffins freeze well. 

Apple Muffin Recipe (Vegan)

Our little apple tree gave us quite the harvest of apples this year.  I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples and froze them into three-cup servings to make pies and muffins with.  You can use fresh or frozen apples or unsweetened applesauce in this recipe.  The muffins pictured above were made with my frozen apples.  These  muffins are so delicious and moist!  They are perfect for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Apple Muffin Recipe

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1-1/2 cups of apple puree or unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup water (if using applesauce, put in 1/2 cup water instead)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

If using frozen apples, you'll need about 3 cups of frozen, peeled, apple slices.  Let them thaw out in the fridge, then add them to a food processor or blender and "Liquify" them into puree.  If using fresh apples, it will take about 4 to 6 apples to get the 1-1/2 cups of puree.  Peel the slices, then run the apple slices over a grater and grate the apples.  Then add the grated apples to a food processor or blender and "Liquify" them.  In the end, you want 1-1/2 cups of apple puree. 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spray your muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray and pour the batter in. Top with a sprinkling of Sugar in the Raw. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes 16 muffins. 

If you want to make Apple Bread instead of muffins, pour the batter into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, sprinkle on some Sugar in the Raw, and bake it at 375 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let cool thoroughly before slicing.  This bread and these muffins freeze well. 

Pumpkin Bread Recipe (Vegan)

Fall always reminds me that I need to start baking with pumpkin again.  I created a fantastic pumpkin bread recipe a few years ago that is a favorite in our house, and somehow I neglected to publish it here until now.  This recipe doesn't use cinnamon, just allspice and nutmeg to spice it and bring out the great pumpkin flavor.  This bread is moist and delicious, and it is also egg-free, which means you can lick the batter from the spoon and mixing bowl (Sam's favorite thing to do).  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz. can)
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.  Add the wet ingredients and mix throroughly.  Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour the batter in.  Top with a sprinkling of Sugar in the Raw.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let cool thoroughly before slicing.  Makes 1 loaf.

If you want to make muffins instead, bake the muffins for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Makes 16 muffins. This bread and these muffins freeze well.

 

Corn Muffin Recipe (Vegan)

One of my favorite breakfasts growing up was when my Mom made "Johnny Cake." My Dad introduced Johnny Cake to us - his Mom used to make it for his family. Johnny Cake is cornbread, served with butter, and topped with maple syrup. I created my own recipe for cornbread so Sam can enjoy Dad's Johnny Cake, too. I make muffins so I can freeze them easily, and they are the right portion size for her. We eat these muffins with a little olive oil and salt on them (to replace the butter), and then drizzled with pure maple syrup. These muffins are also great served with chili, or whenever cornbread is called for. On a side note, I used white corn meal to make these muffins, so they aren't as yellow as the muffins would be if using regular corn meal.

Corn Muffin Recipe

1 cup corn meal
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water -OR- vegan milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix together thoroughly. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Use a large spoon to spoon batter into pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. Either serve plain, or "Johnny Cake" style, with a butter substitute and pure maple syrup.

Mini Freezer Pancakes Recipe (Vegan)

I created this recipe for Sam to eat with breakfast a few times a week with maple syrup. It took me a long time to get this recipe just right (notice the odd sugar measurement and the addition of vanilla). I make mini pancakes so she can just pick them up and eat them (finger food) and I freeze them so they last a while, although she especially loves them fresh off the skillet. I also regularly make these with rice flour. You can make normal-sized pancakes with this recipe, too.

Mini Freezer Pancakes Recipe

1 cup unbleached flour
2 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water or vegan milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat a skillet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to Med High heat. Use a tablespoon to spoon 4 or 5 mini pancakes onto the skillet at a time. Pancakes will bubble, rise, and lose their shine after about 1 minute 10 sec. Flip them and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from heat and let cool on a sheet of wax paper. Makes 24 mini pancakes or 6 regular sized pancakes.

When they are cool you can lay 9 at a time out on a paper size sheet of wax paper, stack the sheets, then put in a large Ziploc bag for freezing.


If using rice flour to make these pancakes, use the following instead of the unbleached flour above, and grease your skillet really well:
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup white rice flour
2 tbsp binder (potato starch, tapioca flour, arrowroot powder, etc.)

Vanilla Muffin Recipe (Vegan)

I created this recipe for Sam to have with her breakfast a few times a week. I make this recipe regularly with wheat flour and also with rice flour. Using a jar of squash baby food in the wet ingredients makes the muffins moist and adds a small amount of protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin C which is nice since they do not have milk or eggs in them. Also, the squash is mild enough it doesn't add a particular flavor to the muffins so the vanilla and anything you "add in" still stands out. These muffins freeze well.

Vanilla Muffin Recipe

1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 (4 oz) jar squash baby food + 1 jar water -OR- 1 cup water or vegan milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add ins:
1/2 cup blueberries, dried fruit, or nuts
1/2 tsp pure orange or lemon extract
For donut muffins add 1/2 tsp nutmeg and omit the vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and your "add in" and mix together thoroughly. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Use a tablespoon to spoon batter into pan. Makes 12 muffins. Bake for 13 minutes.

If using rice flour to make these muffins use the following instead of the unbleached flour above:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
2 tbsp binder (potato starch, tapioca flour, arrowroot powder, etc.)

Also, with rice flour, use 2 jars of water with the squash baby food instead of 1 jar.