Caramel Apple Mini Cakes for King Arthur Flour

(this picture is just for my buddy, Tom)
Hello, everyone! Okay, it has take me a little while to get to this recipe, but I assure you, it is worth the wait! For my review of King Arthur Flour's White Whole Wheat Flour (if you haven't seen my other posts, this is part of my membership in View & Review, with Bloggeraid Changing the Face of Famine - check it out!), I was determined to test recipes across the board. One sweet, one savory, and the litmus test of flours....bread. For my first try, I chose savory (you know, that IS my comfort zone!) and made Spicy Cheddar Muffins. Next, I got brave and baked bread! It turned out really well, too. I found out after the fact that I had used the wrong kind of yeast, which explains why it didn't rise like it should have, so I'm going to be trying that recipe again, just for the sake of making it right. Now, that only leaves "sweet".
After looking around and considering my options, I decided to pick a recipe from King Arthur's site that is not yet rated, so that I would have to start from scratch, so to speak. This recipe for Caramel Apple Mini Cakes just practically called my name. I mean, caramel is an obvious draw, but its getting to be that time of year....the time when the orchards start filling up, and cider begins arriving in stores. Apples.....Mmmmm!
Keep in mind that I picked this recipe based on the fact that it uses the whole wheat flour. Now, I have two things to say about that:
1. You would never in a million years guess that these are whole wheat.
2. I really don't think that being made of whole wheat flour even remotely makes up for all the sugar and butter that is in them.
That being said...I so don't care. These little babies are fantastic. I have a number of cook's notes related to the recipe that I will post at the end.....make sure you read them if you plan to make this!!! Now, let's get on to the goods. Another fabulous recipe from King Arthur WHOLE WHEAT Flour!Caramel Apple Mini-Cakes
Cake
2 cups (8 ounces) King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour, traditional or white whole wheat
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces )brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) boiled cider or frozen apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup (4 ounces) applesauce
3 cups peeled, chopped apples (about 3 apples, 3/4 pound before peeling)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) walnuts, chopped

Frosting
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup firmly (3 1/4 ounces) packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons (1 3/8 ounces) corn syrup
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the wells of a Pop-Up Pan, or 12 muffin cups.
(don't you just love my pretty new muffin pan?)
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices; set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, stopping once or twice to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, then mix in the dry ingredients, vanilla, boiled cider and applesauce, stirring until evenly moistened. Fold in the apples and walnuts.Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 15 minutes before turning out of the pan; cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting: Melt the butter, stir in the salt, brown sugar, and corn syrup and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts. Add the milk, bring to a rolling boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.
Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. Spread on the cakes while the frosting is still warm.
Yield: 12 servings.

Cook's notes:
1. the recipe says to use a 12 cup muffin pan. I did that, and still had batter to spare, so I made a little mini loaf also.
2. make sure you only fill the cups about 2/3 full or they will pop-over like mine did. Still taste great - just not so pretty.3. These took WAY longer to bake than the recipe states.
4. Don't start working on the frosting until the cakes are out of the oven. It needs to be put on while the frosting itself is still warm, but it won't be if you do like I did and start the frosting right after you put the cakes in the oven.
5. I didn't add quite all of the powdered sugar to my frosting. I really wanted it to be more pourable.
6. That worked against me when I tried serving these the next day. The frosting had softened the cakes and made them quite messy. Again, still tasted great, not so pretty.
7. I didn't add the walnuts....just not a big fan of nuts in bakes goods. Sorry!

The Litmus Test

When I received a package of White Whole Wheat flour from the King Arthur Flour company last week, I wanted to be sure I gave the product a good, thorough test. If you missed the first installment of this test, it is part of my participation in BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine's View and Review program. My first recipe was a savory one from the King Arthur website and was definitely a winner in my book. I also plan to do a "sweet" recipe (maybe pancakes or cinnamon rolls or something), but in my mind, if you're going to truly rate a flour on any scale, the best way to do it is in the raw (or as close to raw as you can get) to catch the flavor, texture, and quality at its most blatant....and in my book, that is by baking bread. I call that, the Litmus Test.

Now, I am not a baker. Not even close. I commonly equate cooking and baking to the subjects in which I excelled or was dismally poor at during my school years. To me, cooking is like an art....a little of this, a little of that, add some color for flair, and give it a personality. I was good at the arts. Baking, on the other hand, reminds me of science and math. Measurements, quantity, temperature, time, and you need to be accurate. Science and Math were not my strong suits (and that's putting it mildly).

On that note, I want to send a big thanks out to PJH from the King Arthur Flour company for leaving a comment on my last post, suggesting their No Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe for my first effort in yeast breads. This recipe could not have been easier. Still, I was nervous. Serious baking has always intimidated me. I don't even get along very well with bread machines, and that's cheating.

So, let me start with the recipe, and then I'll tell you how it went.

No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread

1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons molasses, maple syrup, dark corn syrup, or brown sugar corn syrup (I used maple syrup)
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour, white whole wheat preferred
Directions
1) Heavily grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. This loaf tends to stick, so be sure to grease the pan thoroughly with non-stick vegetable oil spray.
2) Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat the mixture vigorously for about 3 minutes; an electric mixer set on high speed works well here. You should have a very sticky dough. It won't be pourable, but neither will it be kneadable. Scoop it into the prepared pan.
3) Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes; it should just about rise to the rim of the pan, perhaps just barely cresting over the rim. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.
4) Uncover the bread, and bake it for about 40 to 45 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. The bread is done when it's golden brown on top, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers between 190°F and 195°F. Remove it from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter, if desired; this will keep the crust soft. Cool the bread completely before cutting it.Notes: Since I am new to baking, I made sure to follow the recipe to the letter. I timed and measured everything carefully, tented the loaf after exactly 20 minutes, and used my instant read thermometer to make sure it also hit the right internal temperature (don't mind the probe sticking out of the loaf in the pictures!).

Who can argue with a recipe that just says, "Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl"? That prospect won me over from step one. My only thought is that I should have let the yeast bloom a bit in the lukewarm water before adding the other ingredients, as my bread didn't really rise much. I even made sure I bought fresh yeast for the project.

Now, that being said, this bread was great.

My main curiosity with the White Whole Wheat flour was whether or not it would be dramatically different from traditional whole wheat flours. So many of them produce doughs that are either dry or gritty (in my opinion), not that I mind some texture in my breads, but the whole point here is that it should be smoother and milder (in theory, to pass a healthier version on to my picky eaters).

And it worked.

Now, granted, I did not blind fold anyone (come on, like I'm going to take the time to do that when the house smells like freshly baked bread? Please, you're lucky I held off on inhaling the lovely golden stuff long enough to take pictures), but I don't think you could pass this off as white bread. On the other hand, its absolutely nothing like any whole wheat breads I've ever had, either. It had a lovely, somewhat dense consistency, without being heavy, and a texture that was neither airy nor tough. The loaf was moist, but strong. It held up to buttering, and manhandling by my son, who, as you can see, gobbled it up like it was a chocolate chip muffin.

(yeah, I know, there's a lot of butter on that piece of bread, I got a little carried away)The hubs even tried it willingly and enthused that it was really good. Not that I needed any extra positive reinforcement after that, but the girls at work really enjoyed it this morning, as well.
So, how would I rate King Arthur Flour's White Whole Wheat Flour? And, I will be baking bread again. My loaf is gone and I want more.
Don't change that station, folks! I've got one more recipe up my sleeve - I hope to have it out to you later this week!

On a side note, we are also the proud owners of a pretty spiffy new charcoal grill. The hubs has been wanting to start smoking his own meats, and we were looking at something a little fancier, but we ended up going with a basic, but heavy duty model. Here's the proud papa grillin' away after 3 measly hours of assembly time.

King Arthur Flour - Spicy Cheddar Muffins

Good Morning, everyone! I have some very exciting news to share with you today. I recently became involved with a group called BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine, which is a group of bloggers who are dedicated to making a difference in the face of world famine. You can read more about the group and how to become a member here.

Through BloggerAid, I have also become part of a group of their members who takes on the challenge of receiving products from various companies to test and review on our own blogs. I am thrilled to say that I was recently contacted by the King Arthur Flour company (who, if you are a baker, you know provides us with absolutely the highest quality flours and baking ingredients around!) and asked to try one of their products, their Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour.

Now, you all know the struggles I have at home with providing my family with healthier options (you know, that they will actually EAT) and it is something I struggle with. The white whole wheat flour is reputed to be a lighter whole wheat, that makes lighter-colored, milder-tasting baked goods. Hmmmm....so, what that says to me is heart healthy, whole wheat flour that I might be able to sneak by my picky eaters! Now THAT calls for a celebration! IF it works. And this is my challenge. In the next ten days, I'll be testing a minimum of three recipes using the whole wheat flour and feeding it to my guys (and probably all my ladies at work, too!) to get feedback on how it rates.

For my first experiment, I decided to use a recipe that I found on the King Arthur site, in the form of a savory (you know I'll take savory over sweet any day) Spicy Cheddar muffin.

On the site, King Arthur recommends: "Be sure to use an assertive sharp cheddar. The flavor of mild cheddar doesn’t shine through like extra-sharp does." And I have to say, they are so right. I used the only extra sharp cheddar that I could find locally, and it was good, but I will be making this again when I can find some really nice, pungent cheddar. I also couldn't resist amping up the spices just a bit, and after baking and tasting, the hubs and I bot agree that I could add even a bit more next time.

Next time? Did I say "next time"? Yes, there will indeed be a next time. These muffins were so easy to put together, and baked up in about 16 minutes. Fresh and hot from the oven, we scarfed down several while they were still steaming.

Watching my husband tearing into his first muffin (and yes, he had more than one), I could tell he was trying to do his best to be helpful and was considering the flavor and texture carefully. He was a real sport about it, which surprised me since he has a natural aversion to anything remotely healthy. When he started in on the second muffin, I couldn't stay silent any more, I had to know what he thought. "Mikey likes it!!!" Yep, he sure did. Now, he DID know that these had whole wheat in them, so I am not certain I could have slipped it by him secretly, but he really enjoyed the muffin. He described the texture as being a cross between cornbread and banana bread. I my words, they had a nice texture without tasting gritty, like I find with so many whole wheat products. They were dense without being heavy, and flavorful.

So, I'm calling experiment number one a success - one that I look forward to repeating soon! The next test will be passing something off to my picky little boy. (no, we didn't give him a muffin, he's still fairly sensitive to spicy foods)

So, I'm thinking that for the rest of the experiment, I want to do something sweet, like pancakes or cinnamon rolls, and the true litmus test...I'm going to bake bread. Which should be interesting, you now, since I don't bake bread....ever. But I'm going to give it a try! I expect to still have a little flour leftover after these three tests....anyone have any suggestions for a recipe I should try?

Stay tuned! The next episode of the King Arthur Flour experiment will be coming soon!

**note: I bought this great fluted muffin pan from Wolfgang Puck a while back and hadn't had an opportunity to try it until now.I don't know whether it was the recipe, the cooking spray, or the non-stick pan, but these little guys literally just fell out of the pan. And just look at the gorgeous little fluted pattern on the sides of the muffins! I just love a recipe that works and a cool new kitchen gadget/dish to prepare it in! You know I have a fetish for fun dishes.)

**note: The original recipe calls for All-Purpose Flour, but offers a healthier substitution for 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat. This is what I used for my test.Spicy Cheddar Muffins

2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) extra-sharp grated cheddar cheese, divided

1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter

1 cup (8 ounces) milk

1 large egg

*To add fiber to your diet in delicious fashion, substitute 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour + 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) King Arthur All Natural White Whole Wheat Flour (or 100% Organic White Whole Wheat Flour All-Purpose Flour) for the 2 cups all-purpose flour.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease the wells of a 12-cup muffin pan, or grease muffin papers and place them in the wells.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, peppers, and 1 cup of the grated cheese. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat together the butter and milk, stirring until the butter melts.

Cool to comfortably warm (e.g., it doesn’t burn your finger when you test it), whisk in the egg, and pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Stir just till everything is thoroughly moistened. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them nearly full. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese, then very lightly with paprika, if desired, for added color.

Bake the muffins for 16 to 18 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool them in the pan for 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy warm; or transfer from the pan to a rack to cool completely. Store muffins wrapped, at room temperature. They’re best enjoyed warm, so when you’re ready to serve, reheat briefly in the microwave (15 seconds or less), or in a preheated 350°F oven, lightly wrapped in foil, for about 10 minutes.Yield: 12 muffins.