Coffeecake Muffins (low carb, keto, yada yada)

It's been a long, long time since I've posted.  Life is still... life-ing.
It's been a tough past couple years.  Most of the time I don't even think of my old cooking and recipe blog!

This afternoon I was taking a break from convincing myself NOT to do all the things my brain is telling me should get done.  I had Coffee Cake Muffins on the counter so I stood there eating one when I suddenly thought about the cooking blog, "An American Housewife" Cooks. No idea why but it popped in my head.  I was SURE I had posted this recipe... probably at least 2 or 3 times, as I've made it at least 50 times in the past 10 years.  I snapped a picture with my cellphone as I was eating, and then later, came online to see if it was here.

Well, I have no idea... because I didn't find it within the first 8 seconds of searching so I just opted to post again.

Carb count depends on the products and brands you use.  Also, when I first started to make this recipe, there were VERY FEW products available... so my original hand written recipe card calls for things like Splenda and I think (?) Brown Sugar Twin or something like that.  Because back then the market had almost no sugar-free, low carb, keto products.  So things change over the years.  Use what you use.  Count your carbs and sugar using your products. 

 

Coffeecake Muffins

Topping:

1/2 c almond flour
3 T brown sugar style natural sweetener
2 T coconut flour
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 c melted butter

Mix the topping ingredients together to blend well and set aside.

 
Muffins:

2 c almond flour
1/3 c sweetener of choice
1/4 c whey protein powder (unflavored or vanilla - zero carb, zero sugar)
3 T coconut flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1/2 c melted butter
4 eggs
1/2 unsweetened almond milk

Preheat your oven to 325.
Whisk together the dry ingredients for your muffins.
Stir in the butter, eggs, almond milk and vanilla.  Mix well by hand or briefly with mixer.

Fill lined muffin tins (makes 1 pan of 12-ish or about 6 jumbo with some leftover).  Place some of the crumble topping on each muffin tin of batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until done.  Cool complete in pans.  

If you wish at this point you can add a simple sugar free drizzle on top:
1/4 c powdered natural sweetener
2 T water or almond milk
1/2 t vanilla

Or top with a sugar free frosting.  I used a cinnamon flavored frosting on the ones in the photo above. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Yogurt (... with starter culture and made in the oven)

 

 

I've posted my regular 'go to' homemade yogurt recipe here before (here is one from 2019) which I use dry milk powder (so I don't have to bother heating it) and a heating pad to incubate it. (Is that the right word?  ha ha.  Sounds weird.)

This time around I'm using half and half I wanted to use up - and most importantly, I gave my heating pad to a family member and don't have one right now.  I don't have a 'yogurt' maker nor do I have a yogurt button on my electric pressure cooker so I did it the old fashioned way... in the oven.

I also opted to sweeten it just a bit at the start instead of at the end.   This yogurt made with half and half is so incredibly thick and creamy - very very good.

Yogurt
With starter culture and made in the oven

 

1/2 gallon half and half
1 c unsweetened almond milk
1/3 - 1/2 c natural sweetener
dash of vanilla
2 T yogurt with live active cultures or a packet of yogurt culture starter

Mix the half and half and almond milk (if you are using almond milk in addition to half and half) with the natural sweetener in a large pot on the stove.  Over medium, heat slowly to 180 degrees.  Simmer at this temperature or as close to it (180-190) for about 10 minutes, stirring most of the time.

Cool the mixture to 110 either slowly letting it set or quickly with a cold water/ice bath.

Stir 1 cup of the warm mixture into the 2 T yogurt or the starter culture.

Add it all back into the big pot and stir.

Add some vanilla if you wish or leave it plain depending on what kind of yogurt you want.

Ladle it into jars at this point if you wish or you can leave it in one large container.

I added freeze dried fruit to the bottom of some of the cups and left some plain.

In a briefly warmed oven, set the tray of sealed jars, or the container of yogurt.

Leave the oven light on for warmth and leave alone for about 12 hours (all night works well).

Once set, chill the yogurt for at least 3 hours.

At this point you can add flavorings, fruit, etc. to the yogurt if you wish as well.    Keep refrigerated until using within 2 weeks.

 

Ciabattas

Although I am rarely posting on An American Housewife lately, I wanted to take the time to get this one saved as I want to continue to work with this and improve it a little more to my own personal liking of the exact texture I want.  It's so very close!  But I want just a tiny little bit more rise time I think to give it even more air bubbles inside.  However, it's so good even as it is!  

Such a chewy texture... oh I love it.

I did not plan to post so I wasn't taking any photos of the process.  My photos were just a couple I snapped on my cellphone to send to a friend as we were chatting. 

 

This recipe is using a starter.  This is what I did differently this time making ciabatta and I feel like it's made the difference in the chewy outside texture I was going for.  
It was fairly chilly in the kitchen this day and I really should have helped it along but I decided to let it do what it wanted as I was terribly busy and making ciabattas as a side project while my attention was elsewhere.   For the final rise it was late and I wanted to go to bed, so into the fridge it went.  With all these short-cuts and leave-outs it still turned out so good.

 I grind my own wheat to make the flour so it's not as fine as store bought and gives it even more of an artisan feel.

 

 

CIABATTA
From my sourdough starter

1 1/2 c water
2 t salt
1/2 c active sourdough starter
3 1/2 c bread flour

Mix the water and salt in a bowl. Add the starter and stir.  Add the flour, and stir until you have a wet, sticky dough ball. Knead briefly with your hands if necessary to incorporate the flour. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

With wet hands, grab one side of the dough, and pull up and to the center. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat.  Do this until you’ve made a full circle. Cover the bowl. Repeat this process three more times at 30-minute intervals for a total of 4 sets of stretches and folds over the course of two hours.

Transfer the dough to a straight-sided container. Cover the vessel with a towel. Let rise at room temperature until the dough nearly doubles in volume.  Cover with a lid to prevent it from drying out. Transfer to fridge for 12-24 hours.

Remove from fridge. Sprinkle top of dough liberally with flour. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Pat dough into a rectangle. Sprinkle top with flour. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 small rectangles.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. With floured hands, transfer each rectangle to the prepared pan, gently pulling outward. Cover the pan with a towel. Let stand for one hour.

Pre-heat oven to 475ºF. Transfer pan to oven and bake for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 450ºF, rotate pan, and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove pan from oven. Transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes before slicing.

 

Adapted from https://alexandracooks.com/2021/04/25/simple-sourdough-ciabatta-bread/

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Recipes: Custard Rhubarb Pie, Roast Turkey in a Paper Sack, Mexican Squash and Sunday Night Waffles

This cookbook from my pantry isn't especially old, I couldn't find the publication date inside the cover pages like usual but looking it up online, it is listed as published in 1971.  

Old enough, to be called vintage?  I consider my collected books from the early 1900's to about 1940's to be vintage.  But 1971 is old enough I suppose.

This one is called Americana Cookery; An illustrated cookbook of regional America's traditional recipes. 

I'll grab a couple recipes at random to share while I sip my coffee and wait for a delivery this afternoon....

 

 

Custard Rhubarb Pie

4 c diced rhubarb
2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
3 eggs, separated
1 unbaked pie shell
1 T butter
1/4 t cream of tartar
6 T brown sugar

Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour and egg yolks in a bowl.  Stir.  Let stand for several minutes until the juice begins to form; pour mixture into pie shell.  Dot top with butter.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 250 degrees; bake for 30 minutes longer.  Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl; beat until soft peaks form.  Add brown sugar gradually; beat until stiff glossy peaks form.  Add meringue to top of pie.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Mrs. Doris Patterson, Shelbyville Jr. High, Shelbyville, IN
Notation:  I did find a Doris Patterson who lived in Shelbyville and was a retired teacher.  If this is her, she passed away in June of 2016.

Sunday Night Waffles

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c oil
2 1/2 c milk
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar
3/4 t salt
4 t baking powder

Combine eggs, oil and milk in mixer bowl.  Blend flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together.  Add to egg mixture, stirring to mix.  Beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes.  Bake in hot waffle iron until golden brown and done.  

Marthanne Limehouse, St. Paul's HS, Yonges Island, SC

Mexican Squash

1 1/2 lb. yellow squash
1 med onion, chopped
2 T fat
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 c tomatoes
1 or 2 t cumin seed
salt to taste
2 or 3 hot peppers (optional)

Wash and remove seed from squash; do not peel.  Cut into 1 inch cubes.  Saute onion in fat until  crystal clear; add squash, garlic, tomatoes and seasonings with 1 cup water.  Simmer until done, adding water, if necessary.  Add the hot peppers the last 15 minutes of cooking. 

Mrs. Nan Dryer, Mission HS, Mission, TX

Roast Turkey in a Brown Paper Sack

1 16-20 lb. turkey
salt to taste
1 recipe poultry stuffing
fat or shortening

Rub inside of turkey with salt.  Fill neck cavity with stuffing; fasten neck skin with skewer or pin.  Fasten opening with skewers; lace shut.  Tie leg ends to tail.  Brush entire bird with fat.  Place in brown paper sack; seal.  Place in shallow baking pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 5 hours and 30 minutes.  Remove paper sack.

Frances Schneider, Menomonie HS, Menomonie, WI
I found what is possibly a match for Ms. Frances, if it is her, she passed away in April of 2023.

Muffins from a pancake mix (all different kinds/flavors - your choice)

 

   

This particular can of pancake mix from food storage is about 12 years old, I don't think the labels look like this any longer.

 

 

Continuing on 'things to do with a pancake mix' that aren't necessarily pancakes.
The cookies were a hit, now let's move on to muffins.  So QUICK and easy.  I whipped up a couple different versions today and thought I'd quickly share.

Pancake Mix Muffins

2 1/2 c pancake mix

2 eggs (egg powder to equal)
1 c milk (premixed from dry milk powder or fresh if you have it)
1/4 c sugar

1/2 c oil of choice

extract - vanilla, almond, lemon or orange - depends on the kind of muffins you want

Stir or whisk together the ingredients, add whatever flavorings and extras you wish.  Bake in muffin tins, lined with paper if you wish, at 400 for 15-17 minutes until done. 

 

 

 

 

The first batch was chocolate chip with vanilla extract

 

 

 

Second batch was almond and vanilla extract with poppy seeds, and topped with sliced almonds

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food Storage Breakfast: French Toast

 

 

Breakfast a couple days ago... French Toast.

Bread:  The homemade 'daily bread' I've posted about a hundred times already
Egg Powder
Powdered Milk
Vanilla
Syrup (can be homemade but I have bottles of it in the pantry storage)
Butter is home canned 2021

Our Daily Bread

 

 

 

We've had the chili and sloppy Joes (I posted about previously) for the last 2 days for dinner.  I also threw together a side dish pasta one night - tortellini, pesto and black olives.  We had the rest of that yesterday with lunch.  That brings us to today - which we still have chili (it was a really big pot full) so I'll vacuum seal it and put that in the freezer for some time next week again.

Today a quick post about our 'daily bread' I mention a lot.  

 

The mixture is 3 cups flour (whatever you have on hand), about 1/2 - 1 t dry yeast, 1-2 t sugar, 1 t salt and about 1 1/2 cups of hot water.  All amounts are a quick 'throw in' to a food safe bucket and quickly stirred until there is no dry flour and it's all mixed in.  Put a lid on it, and pop it into the refrigerator.  This can be made into any bread/bun/pizza/rolls/foccaccia, etc. as needed - either the next day or let it hang out in the fridge for up to a week.  It gets more like a sour dough the longer it sets (days 4+). 

You don't have to knead it, as it forms it's own gluten by the length of time it hangs out.  Just take it out and make it into whatever you need that day.  I usually do bread, as I make sure we always have fresh bread on hand for sandwiches and toast.   When I use the dough, I immediately throw in some fresh flour, water, salt, sugar and yeast and pop it into the fridge again. 

We always have a loaf on the counter and a bucket of new 'daily bread' in the refrigerator.

I primarily use my pullman loaf pan and when I take the time to let the dough warm and raise, I get a nice, full, squared off loaf.  Honestly, I rarely take the time (or HAVE the time) to let it raise.  I do a 'no work' daily bread.  I take it out of the fridge, pop it into the loaf pan and generally only let it set long enough to pre-heat the oven to 375.  It raises to a daily loaf with a rounded, regular top.  When I have the time to let it sit long enough to raise higher, it will fill the pan like this.....

 

The bulging #10 can of Pancake Mix

 

 

A bulging can in my long term storage!?  Oh no!  It's the end of the world!  It's poison!  Throw it out quickly! 

I'm joking of course.

It's pancake mix.

So, this is an opportunity to rotate some of these oldest cans out of storage and get them used up.  

I'm going to visit the spam topic a second.  I think it was around 2015 (?) Spam released some turkey and bacon versions but soon after, people reported the cans bulging and the containers going bad.  I had a couple cans in storage so I knew to keep a look out for them and toss them when they arose.  And they did.  And I did.  Regular Spam doesn't seem to have that problem but the fats in these other versions didn't can long term as well. 

As for the other products, it is pancake mixes and biscuits mixes the Utah companies were selling in the beginning that they added the leavening agents to.  They found out the baking powder was activating and not storing well.  They changed their formulas after that, but for the earlier cans, if you still have them in your food storage, they may be bulging.

Dry powders may go off in taste or texture, but they aren't harmful.  However, no one will want to drink the 'old' tasting milk powder, and the yucky tasting old flour no matter what you try to make with it.

Similar to this one from 2013.

I was so excited to buy this at the time because I have a strange love of those tiny little fake blueberry pieces you find in pre-made blueberry muffin and pancake mixes.  But knowing basic 3rd grade science, I also questioned how they could can something long term with oils, milk products and baking powder mixed together. Knowing they would probably bulge, I only bought a couple of the mixes they made (at the time) with baking powder or leavening agents added.

Opening the can, you can see it's perfect.   It's just literally, a pancake mix.  

Here are the ingredients (again, they changed their recipes after the baking powder bulges became a thing). 

 

My initial dry taste test was that it was fine.  The flour, whey and oil had a tiny little 'old' taste, but it's not strong.  It was there though. 

I made up a cup of the mix to do some test pancakes. 

I wasn't expecting them to raise much, considering the baking powder had been activated for some time, but they did.  I was making these quickly as I was in the middle of making our actual dinner when I tested them, but I was happily surprised that they were basically just regular pancakes made from a mix. 

Taste test of the final products were that if I knew to be 'trying' to taste anything off with the age of the whey and oils and flour, I could but it wasn't and isn't pronounced.  

 

I was testing/eating them plain, but once you add some syrup and butter, there would be no difference between these and the brand new bag of pancake mix in the pantry I bought at Sam's.  

I ended up eating 2 pancakes for dinner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The taste test continued with cereals.... and how I longer term store them in mylar

 

 
If you missed the first cereal taste test (one winner, one loser) it is the post just preceding this one.   Out of these cereal options above (one with a 2021 best by date and the other two with 2022 best by dates) they were... ALL WINNERS. 

Yes, they were all fresh and tasted great with good textures.

So it was time to longer-term store them.  I do this with mylar and an oxygen absorber.

 

Food quality mylar bags
An oxygen absorber

An old hair straightener to seal the bags

 

 

Since it would be rare for us to want cereal for breakfast, I sealed them all back up (I kept one from yesterday in the cupboard though for all of us to use this week/next week) and they are all back into the 2-3 year storage pantry.  Breakfast cereal or tasty dry snack... I'm good to go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cereal in Food Storage - two taste tests done last night

Important Notes:

We are not a 'cereal' eating family.  It's for two reasons really.  First, we aren't 'breakfast' people and second, we normally are a zero sugar family and have been for years.  

When it came to stocking for 'just in case' days, I knew if it were truly a situation that were eating from our pantry and storage, we would be happy to have breakfast items, and wouldn't care if they had sugar in them.  As a matter of fact, eating stored food items probably would mean we would be happy to have a 'special' item once in a while.

So while were not a breakfast family nor a sugar family, I was once-in-awhile picking up some cereals or other items I saw that looked new or fun or I thought we might use in the future.  

Now, I KNEW and I KNOW most cereals DO NOT STORE WELL.   Not in their original wrapping for sure, but even in other circumstances, the quality or taste might change (even if they are SAFE to eat... again, it's a taste or texture thing).

 

 _________________________________________

 

Remember this one?

 In 2020 (I think) The Elf on the Shelf Candy Cane Cookie Cereal was released.  It looked fun and I thought The Little Ones might like it as a special Christmas time cereal so I bought it as well as the Sugar Cookie version.  

Although we opened the Sugar Cooke Elf on a Shelf version, we never opened or used the Candy Cane Cookie version.

The best by date on this one was December 2021.  That means it's only just 2 years past 'best buy' and I was hopeful that the sugar in the cereal might have helped the grains in the cereal pieces keep their flavor.  It also has mini dried marshmallows, which I thought would still be firm and crunchy.

They weren't.  And the sugar didn't help the grains in the cereal.  Even though the cereal box was unopened and the inner bag was completely sealed tight, their bags and seals are not as air tight as say, a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber.  

The grains had started to change flavor to that old going-off taste.  The marshmallows were not crisp any longer and were squishy. 

 

The second taste test was the Kellogg's Special K 'Blueberry with Lemon Clusters'.   Same "best by" date of 2021.

I actually liked this one on the rare occasion I would eat cereal, and one of our daughters absolutely LOVES this one. I think I originally had 4 of these in the 2-3 year pantry but within the first year had given 2 of them to that particular daughter as they got really hard to find in the stores (Do they still make these?  I don't know since I don't buy or eat cereal).  

Opening this one, I thought for sure it would be terrible because it's primarily large flakes that would have gone 'off'.  But surprise... not bad!  It wasn't 100% but the change in taste was so slight that it was hardly noticeable. 

 

 

I started to read a book before bed, and found myself grabbing this box and snacking on the dry cereal by the handful while I was reading.  I'm going to keep this one 'out' and we'll be happy to eat it this next week or so.

Two more 'surprise' fun cereals from Dunkin Donuts to come next in the 'taste test' series. 

Food Storage Edition - Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Toast

 

Tonight we are having burgers for dinner - with homemade buns from my daily bread recipe I keep adding to each day I make a new loaf of some sort of bread.  This morning was scrambled eggs with cheese and toast made from homemade bread. 

The eggs are the first time I've used this product.  It's not 'whole egg powder' but a scrambled egg mix; the difference is this mix has milk and oil already added to the mix (according to the ingredients list I checked).  This can was one of those 'first cans I ever bought' items back in spring of 2012.  Generally speaking it is fine - I think the only thing worth mentioning is they may have been a little bit grainier than fresh scrambled eggs.

I think generally speaking I like making our scrambled eggs out of regular 'whole egg' powder - adding our own butter, cheese, etc. (whatever we want).  BUT in the circumstances where you don't have oil, butter or even any form of milk or cheese, this is a good choice.  Camping, hiking, etc. come to mind.   We will use it and add bacon, sausage, cheese, etc. as well as salt and pepper but I'll also be cooking with it.  Things that use egg, milk and oil like cakes, pancakes, bread, etc. will be great with this powdered egg option.

 

 

 

Homemade Rolls for Thanksgiving, Christmas or just Any Day! (Buns, Rolls, Bread, Pizza Dough, Cinnamon Rolls)

I've posted this recipe on An American Housewife soooo many times.  But I've made it a thousand more than I've posted.  This is the one classic bread dough recipe that always works.  Never fails. Is forgiving on if I want to use a mixture of wheat blends for the flour, want to make it into rolls, buns, cinnamon rolls, garlic bread... anything.

The last time I made bread with it (which was just last week for our houseguests) I was thinking to myself that I've never NOT had this dough turn out.  And I've been making this recipe since around 2000 so... 20+ years now.

I have two classic, wonderful bread dough recipes that I use, but the other one is a little more involved as it uses scalded milk, melted butter, eggs and time for cooling (and 2 risings).  This one is my 'go to' because it's so easy and yet so forgiving and so good.

I typically make this in my KitchenAid stand mixer because it's so easily available (and the bread machine is in a cupboard).  But it comes together even quicker if you make the whole thing in a bread machine start to finish.


Classic White Dough
Can be used for bread, buns, cinnamon rolls, garlic bread, etc.

12 oz. warm water
1 1/2 t salt
2 T butter
4 - 4 1/2 c unbleached bread flour (or use all purpose if that is what you already have)
2 T dry milk powder
2 T sugar
1 3/4 t yeast, dry

Either place this in a bread machine (in the order your machine requires) and run on the dough setting or place into a large KitchenAid style mixer with a bread dough hook and knead/mix for about 5 minutes or use an electric mixer and place the water, salt, sugar and yeast in first;  let it set and proof for about 2 minutes and then add the butter, dry milk and flour.  You can also do this all by hand (if you have really strong arm muscles for the 10 minutes of kneading it will take.)

Typically I make this in my large KitchenAid stand mixer or my old, reliable bread machine.

Let your dough set for about 6-10 minutes after kneading to rest.  

Remove the dough from the machine or the mixer bowl.  FOR BUNS:  Divide it in half.  Then each half into half.  Then each of those halves into half.  This is how you will get fairly equal sized balls.  If making rolls to go with a meal divide them until you have golf ball sized balls.  If using for hamburger buns, stop dividing the dough when they are double that size so they will be large enough for the hamburger patties.  Roll in your floured hands and place on greased or parchment lined baking sheets.

Letting them rise will give you a taller fluffier bun but you can also bake them right away if you are pressed for time and don't mind a dense roll, which works for soups, etc if you really, really need these right away. 

Bake at 375F for approximately 15 minutes but this can be up to 22 minutes depending on the size buns you make, the thickness of your baking sheet and your oven. Bread takes about 27-35 minutes.  When they are golden brown remove them, brush the tops with butter for a softer bun and let cool to warm to serve as rolls or cool completely and serve as hamburger buns.


Because I've made this recipe a thousand times, I've posted it many, many times.  No sense reinventing the wheel, so here are some photos from another post of when it was made into bread. I also had a mixture of home-ground white and red wheat in these, so you can see the little bits of different shades of wheat grain in these.

The first raising

This recipe makes two loaves.  Form and put in a greased pan.

Let raise and then bake until done - about 30-35 minutes.