Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round pans or line with parchment paper. Nowadays I prefer lining the pan with parchment paper in the bottom as well as on the sides. The cake comes out of the pan perfectly each and every time.

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.

Taste In our house we have got used to whole wheat pastry flour in baked goods so much that we hardly notice any difference in taste or texture. It takes quite sometime to get accustomed to that taste, especially if you are using traditional whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. Together with the frosting the cake was awesome and we did not miss the white flour at all. It was not only us but I gave the cake to a couple of people and all of them loved it.

My Notes1 I used Fleischman’s no salt added soft tub margarine instead of butter.

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.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

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.

Taste These cookies tasted very much like the Fiber One Cereal breakfast cookies I have baked earlier. These are very soft cookies, more like a muffin. The presence of whole grain flours like whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour did not affect the taste at all. You cannot detect the navy beans too. It’s not very sweet also. If “healthy” tastes so good, I’m ready to eat healthy always. My son takes it to school as a treat after having his lunch and he likes it so much.

My Notes1 You can use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, white beans instead of navy beans, butter or margarine, chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, raisins, pecans instead of walnuts.

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

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and use a non stick cooking spray to grease the liners. In a baking sheet toast the wheat germ while the oven is preheating. Have a close watch or else it might burn. Around 5 minutes should be enough.

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.

Taste If you think that healthy and tasty don’t go together, you have to taste these muffins to change your belief. It is unbelievably tasty for a muffin made with whole wheat pastry flour. No raw smell or bitter after taste, right amount of sugar and amazing texture! I don’t think I will like any other chocolate chip muffin more than this one or try any other recipe, because this is PERFECT. I did skimp on the wheat germ topping because I was not sure if I would like it, but what a surprise, it blended well with the muffin and did not affect the taste. My son loved these muffins.

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.

My Notes1 As per the original recipe you can use either prunes or dates. Blend 1/4 cup chopped prunes or dates with 1/4 cup hot water and puree until smooth. I had a jar of pureed prune, so I used it instead. The 2.5oz jar measures exactly 1/4 cup.

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.