2 The 2 and 1/2 cups of oats when powdered measured to 2 cups. So I think we could also use 2 cups of oat flour instead.

This blueberry cornmeal coffee cake was as good as the one which I had baked earlier with all purpose flour. This time I did have the almond extract and it definitely gave a nice flavor to the cake. As I have mentioned in my earlier post, this cake is very light, so handle with care while removing it from the pan. I thought that using cornmeal would give a harder texture than using all purpose flour alone, but it was light only. The sweetness was just right. So if you have a sweet tooth you can add another 2-3 tablespoons of sugar. We liked it just the way it was.

2 I used Bob’s Red Mill brand of medium grind whole corn meal. I test baked something with the cornmeal just like that and saw that the corn did not cook completely. It was gritty. So either find fine grind whole cornmeal or process in a food processor/blender thoroughly if using the medium grind. I see that even coarse grind is available, I would suggest not to get that unless you have a food mill or a very efficient food processor, because the medium one itself took a lot of time for me to get a fine texture.

2 Sift the barley flour and stir together rest of the dry ingredients (sugar to cocoa powder) and create a well in the center.

3 To the well add all the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until just combined. Don’t over mix. It’s OK to have some lumps.

4 Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done by 27 minutes. If baking cupcakes, check around 13-15th minute.

5 Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper on the sides of the pan and slowly invert the pan on a plate and the cake comes out perfect without sticking to the pan.

6 Cool completely before frosting.

I couldn’t wait to taste the cake. Once I tasted the cake I was literally jumping in joy because it was very good. It didn’t smell raw or it did not taste bitter or it did not have the grittiness of whole wheat flour. Of course it did not replicate the taste of all purpose flour but it was definitely good and way better than using whole wheat flour. So I think those who don’t like the taste of whole wheat flour in baked goods can start experimenting with whole barley flour instead. I felt the cake was not sweet enough when I tasted it a couple of hours after baking but from the next day onwards I did not feel that. The sweetness was just right.

2 Whisk together the flours, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.

3 Cream together the margarine, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

4 Add 1/4 cup of applesauce at a time, beating well after each addition and scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl once or twice. It curdles but don’t worry.

5 Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated.

6 Measure 1 cup of yogurt in a liquid measuring mug. To that add the vanilla and vinegar and whisk together well.

7 Add half of this mixture to the large bowl, again beating until the mixture is very fluffy. Meanwhile scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl also.

8 Then add another 1/3rd of the flour and beat well. Next add the remaining yogurt mixture, then the remaining 1/3rd cup of flour, mixing well after each addition. Stop once or twice to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

9 Pour the batter into the prepared pans. (It was not watery but more in a semi solid state). Bake the cake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in about 32 minutes. The cake was in golden brown color and started to pull from the sides of the pan. If you are baking a 9×13 inch cake the baking time will vary, so do the toothpick test to find if the cake is done.

10 Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Then pull out the parchment paper from the side of the pan and invert the pan and the cake falls without sticking to the pan. Remove the parchment paper sticking to the bottom of the cake and transfer it to a cooling rack. The cake has to cool completely before frosting.

2 If you don’t find whole wheat pastry flour then use equal portion of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. If you are using traditional whole wheat flour add 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice to reduce the bitterness and raw smell/taste. This is the tip given in the book, which I have not tried so far.

2 In a large mixing bowl add peanut butter, margarine and sugars. Beat together well until smooth and creamy.

3 In a blender (I used the small jar of my Magic Bullet), blend together the egg replacer and warm water until it’s frothy.

4 To the creamed sugar mixture add the egg replacer liquid and vanilla. Beat once again until it’s combined well.

5 To this add the barley flour, baking soda and salt and stir well.

6 Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

7 Spoon the batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. I took mine out after 11 minutes.

8 Leave the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer it to a cooling rack for the cookies to cool completely. Transfer the cooled cookies to an airtight container.

I’m not a peanut butter fan, but I used it to just finish it off. So I was very happy because the presence of peanut butter was not at all felt from the 2nd day onwards.

I bought very little amount of carob chips and used it in this recipe instead of chocolate chips to make it completely vegan. When tasted it by itself, I found that there was a slight difference in taste when compared to chocolate chips. I didn’t like it that much. But I literally couldn’t feel any difference (maybe a little or it was just psychological) when I tasted the cookies and my son didn’t find it. The original recipe had called for 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, since I was using carob chips I used only 1/4 cup of it and I used 1/4 cup of dried cranberries. However I’m not sure if I would substitute carob chips for chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Maybe it would be too much. I think the better bet is to try other dairy free vegan chocolate chips instead.

2 The original recipe mentions to use cornflakes. I used Rice Krispies because I had only that in hand.

3 Similarly you could use all nuts, or all chocolate chips or any dried fruits etc. Just be sure to keep the measurements same though.

4 At first I thought the quantity of sugar was more in the recipe with 1/3 cup each of brown sugar and granulated sugar, but it was perfect when we tasted the cookies. Maybe it would have been even sweeter, had I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and raisins instead of cranberries.

5 The cookies don’t spread like the usual chocolate chip cookies. So I think if you flatten it with a fork you may get crispier cookies but you would have to adjust the baking time. Also I overlooked the 1 teaspoon of water in the recipe. Maybe if I had added that the cookies would have spread a little bit.

6 I have mentioned this a couple of times, but writing it once again. If using a dark coated non stick pan, stay alert and take the sheet out of the oven 2-3 minutes earlier because the bottoms burn quite quickly. The same thing happened in this recipe too. Even after being careful and lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper the bottom of the cookies went black. Maybe double lining the sheet would help. I’m going to try it the next time.

1 Pulse the oats in a food processor until it resembles coarse flour. To this also add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer this mix to a large mixing bowl.

2 Put the drained and rinsed beans in the food processor and pulse until smoothly pureed. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier. Add the butter/margarine and process until well blended.

3 Now add the brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4 Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir using a spatula. Add the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips, raisins/dried cranberries, nuts and flax seed meal and stir until blended.

5 Drop by large spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one a little with your hand. Have a bowl of water nearby to dampen your palms, so that flattening the cookies will be easy.

6 Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies baked in a dark coated cookie sheet started browning after 14 minutes itself but the pale coated cookie sheet was done after 16 minutes.

7 Place the the cookie sheets on individual wire racks. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack after that.

2 For chocolate flavored cookies use 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the flour.

3 Updated: I stored these cookies in a cookie jar over the counter and it became very soft. This is okay if you are going to consume it within 2-3 days. The longer it stays on the counter the softer it gets. Recently I borrowed Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites from the library and found a tip for storing low-fat cookies. It says that the best way to store low-fat cookies is in layers separated by wax paper or plastic wrap in an airtight container in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. But I think storing in the refrigerator should be fine because it gives instant gratification

2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the coconut and oats.

3 Melt the butter with the sugar and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove it from the stove and let it cool for 2 minutes.

4 Pour the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.

5 Roll into balls the size of walnuts and place 1 inch apart on the baking sheet and flatten it slightly with a fork.

6 Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. If using 2 cookie sheets, shift racks halfway through the baking to ensure even browning. Mine turned golden brown after 13 minutes itself. I think it’s because of the dark coated cookie sheet.

7 Let the cookies cool on the sheets until they firm slightly. Then using a spatula carefully lift the cookies and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.

2 Light corn syrup was mentioned in the recipe. I had that in hand, but I anticipated that some of you might ask what can be substituted for it. So I used honey. I think either omitting this or reducing the quantity of sugar to 1/2 cup will also work if you want less sweeter cookies.

3 These coconut cookies spread a lot, so be sure to leave enough space while placing the dough on the baking sheets.

2 In a large bowl combine together all the dry ingredients (from whole wheat flour to grated pear).

3 In a measuring mug, measure the buttermilk. Add 1/4 cup water, vinegar, vanilla extract and oil. Whisk together. Dissolve the brown sugar in this liquid mixture and blend it well with a fork.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Do not over mix.

5 Fill the batter in each muffin cup to the top. Sprinkle a teaspoon of oatmeal on each cup.

6 Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean. Mine was done in 16 minutes.

7 Leave it in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Then transfer it to a cooling rack.

These muffins were very filling too. Unlike the empty calories-sugary muffins, I did not feel like reaching for another one. So these muffins don’t disappear fast and I stored it in the fridge. It becomes little hard if stored in the fridge. So heat it in the microwave oven for 30-35 seconds before eating it and it’s moist again like freshly baked.

2 The original recipe used 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. So if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour go with this blend.

3 If you are a cinnamon fan use 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and omit the vanilla extract (as per the original recipe).

4 The recipe clearly asked to fill the batter to the top of the cup. I was not sure about this because usually muffin recipes mention 2/3rds full. I thought that it would overflow while baking and the muffins will get stuck to each other. Except for 4 muffins I did not fill it to the top. So I got 12 regular size muffins and had some batter left which was enough for 6 mini muffins. The 4 muffins which I had filled to the top rose beautifully and it did not stick to the other muffins. So if you fill the entire cup there should not be any batter left and the given measurement should yield exactly 12 regular size muffins.

If baking as mini muffins 8-10 minutes should be enough. I baked mine for 10 minutes and it was already very dark in the bottom.

2 In a large mixing bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until creamy using a hand held electric mixer. Stir in the buttermilk. The mixture appears to be curdled but don’t worry. Also add the prune puree. Add the 1 tablespoon water to the baby food jar and shake it well and then pour it to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in the applesauce and vanilla extract too.

3 Add the rest of the dry ingredients (flour to salt) except the wheat germ to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined; do not over-mix. Lumps in the batter is fine.

4 Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with wheat germ (around 1 teaspoon for each muffin). I usually fill 3 tablespoons of batter for each muffin. Even though the measurement is for 12 muffins, I was able to fill only 11 cups. So fill the 12th cup with water (3/4th of the tin should be enough), to ensure even baking of the muffins.

5 Bake around 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I baked mine for 23 minutes.

6 Remove the muffin tin from the oven and cool it on a wire rack for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes take the muffins out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Another interesting thing, these muffins tasted so good on the day I baked them itself. Usually whole wheat baked goods don’t taste good the same day, it gets better the next day. I know that I cannot resist my temptation to taste it immediately, so I baked these after dinner assuming that it can cool overnight and we can have it for breakfast the following day. But I was able to be patient only for 3 hours. I skeptically took piece of the muffin and was really blown away by the texture and taste and ended up eating the entire muffin. Initially you will be able to smell the baking powder (very mild) but not after the second day.

The muffins are brown in color because of the prune puree but that does not affect the taste at all. I think using dates will leave it’s taste in the muffins.

2 The original recipe required one egg white, which can be substituted with 2 tablespoons of any egg substitute. I think the egg white acts as a binder in this recipe. So I used a tablespoon of water (to wash the prune puree jar) and 1 tablespoon applesauce. If you have extra prune/date puree you can use 2 tablespoons of the same.