I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages. I was just waiting for pumpkin to go on sale so I could make it. Now I'm working my way through all the pumpkin-y recipes that I'd been eyeing up all year.

These muffins are pretty good, but I feel like there's room for improvement. I only made one small adjustment this time -- swapping out some of the white flour for whole wheat -- but I think I'd make even more changes next time. The recipe that follows reflects my suggested changes, not what I actually did. Approach with caution as it is, as yet, untested.

Pumpkin-Marmalade Muffins

Adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 2/3 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1/2 Tbsp. stevia
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 1/2 c. marmalade
• 6 Tbsp. (90mL) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 Tbsp. applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a muffin tin. This recipe should make 15-18 regular (2"/5cm diameter) muffins.
2. Combine the flours, oats, stevia, salt, mixed spice, and cinnamon.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the pumpkin, marmalade, orange juice concentrate, egg, oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
6. Stir in the walnuts.
7. Spoon the batter into the wells of the muffin tin(s), filling each well 2/3-3/4 full.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in tin for 5-10 minutes.
10. Turn muffins out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
11. If there's any batter left, regrease tin and repeat baking process.

This was a really nice breakfast. The apples and cottage cheese make it a bit more substantial than pancakes on their own would be.

Photo goes here.

Buckwheat Pancakes with Apples and Cottage Cheese

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 4 apples, sliced
• 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. buckwehat flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. cottage cheese
• 1-2 Tbsp. raisins, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. stevia
• 3-4 Tbsp. maple syrup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Place the apples in a baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes.
3. Combine flours and sift in baking powder.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, buttermilk, and egg and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk to combine.
6. Heat a pan or tawa over medium heat and grease lightly.
7. Use ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake and cook until browned on both sides and heated through.
8. Mix the raisins, cinnamon, and stevia into the cottage cheese.
9. Top each pancake with apples, cottage cheese, and maple syrup.

I appreciate that these pumpkin pancakes actually had an appreciable amount of pumpkin in them. Everyone really enjoyed them. And they're not too ruinous nutrition-wise. (Relative to regular buttermilk pancakes at least.)

The original recipe was made with all-purpose flour, but I opted for a mix of white and whole wheat flour. I think next time I'd just make them 100% whole wheat. I think the bran is nice with the spices. And, I didn't do it this time, but I might try swapping out the butter for applesauce next time.

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. hard whole wheat flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking soda
• 1/2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 c. pumpkin purée
• 2 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted²
• maple syrup and/or whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Combine the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
2. In a large measuring cup, beat the buttermilk with the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, and butter (or applesauce).
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. If the batter seems too thick, stir in 1-2 Tbsp. of water to thin it to the desired consistency.
4. Cook the pancakes over medium-low heat, using ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake. Flip when bubbles form and the top starts to look dry and cook until nicely browned on both sides and heated through.
5. Serve topped with maple syrup, whipped cream, or both!

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¹ I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice ready to hand, so I just used an equal amount of mixed spice instead. The flavour is slightly different, but similar enough that I felt comfortable using them interchangeably in this recipe. ^Back
2 As mentioned above, I might consider experimenting with substituting unsweetened applesauce for the butter here. ^Back

Blueberry-Bran Panakes

I ended up making a fair few changes to this recipe, so I just want to write down what I did before I forget.

The original recipe called for 3/4 c. of bran flakes cereal, but I only had OG all bran -- the one that comes as little bran sticks -- so I swapped that in, but used a bit less since I figured it probably had a higher packing fraction than the flakes did.

The original also called for two eggs whites and 2 tsp. of canola oil. I decided to just use one whole large egg instead. I figured that the original was probably written that way because 2 tsp. of oil came out to less points than an egg yolk did under the old points system. But now eggs (not just egg whites) are "free" and I liked the idea of egg in the batter better than oil. So I just rolled with that and left out the oil.

For the sugar, I decided to toss in 1/2 Tbsp. of the Splenda brown sugar blend that I got a while back rather than the 1 Tbsp. of granulated sugar called for.

And I opted to use a mix of different berries rather than just blueberries. Mostly because I had a bag of mixed berries in the freezer and I didn't particularly feel like trying to pick through it to get enough blueberries to make my pancakes. So most of them actually ended up being blackberry-bran pancakes. But I did end up doing a few blueberry- and mixed-berry-bran ones as well.

I also greased my pan with butter rather than using cooking spray. I didn't use much. I figure there was probably only ~1/2-3/4 of a tsp. used for the whole batch of pancakes.

Oh, and I guess the last little change I made was to top them with a "no sugar added" syrup in place of the icing sugar-- And, as I type that, I am reminded that I acutally meant to top them with fat-free cottage cheese and no sugar added syrup! Whoops! That probably would've solved the these-are-tasty-but-not-really-very-filling issue. Because I just ended up eating half a banana afterward to try to fill myself up a bit more since I was still pretty hungry even after 3 pancakes. Maybe next time I should top them with banana slices and cottage cheese and syrup...

Blueberry-Bran Pancakes

Adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. All-Bran cereal
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 Tbsp. Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1 Tbsp. brown sugar)
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• ~1/2 tsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2-3/4 c. frozen berries (preferably blueberries)
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1/2 c. (fat-free) cottage cheese
• 2-3 Tbsp. "no sugar added" syrup (or maple syrup)

Directions

1. Combine the cereal, buttermilk, egg, and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, then whisk to combine.
3. Heat a pan over medium-low heat.
4. Very lightly grease the pan with some of the butter.
5. Scoop a scant 1/4 c. of batter into the pan and press a few berries into it. Repeat to form as many pancakes as will comfortably fit in the pan.
6. Cook until the undersides are golden-brown and the top starts to look less wet.
7. Flip and cook on the other side until golden-brown.
8. Transfer cooked pancakes to a plate and repeat cooking process until you run out of batter. (Should make 10-12 pancakes.)
9. Top pancakes with banana slices, cottage cheese, and syrup and serve.

This was published as an apple-cinnamon "soft oven cake". Which, honestly, seemed a little strange to me as most of the cake recipes I'm familiar with are baked in the oven. Upon reading the recipe, I discovered that it was basically just a Dutch baby with most of the butter omitted, so I decided to just revert to calling it that.

This lower-cal Dutch baby is definitely noticeably leaner and a bit eggier than the traditional recipe but, overall, it actually still works pretty well. Although, I do feel like saying it serves six is a bit of a stretch. I feel like cutting it in quarters is more reasonable (although that does, of course, increase the Points cost). To offset this a bit, I swapped out the sugar for monk fruit sweetener. It's still a bit higher in Points than I normally like my breakfasts to be, but I figure it's alright as a treat once in a while.

Apple-Cinnamon Dutch Baby

Slightly adapted from Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 2 sweet apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 c. milk
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. 1:1 monk fruit sweetener
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and lightly spray a 23cm (9") deep-dish pie plate with cooking spray.
2. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
3. Add apples and cook, tossing occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine milk, flour, eggs, sweetener, and vanilla and whisk to combine and make a smooth batter. Set aside.
5. Add cinnamon to apples, stir to combine, and remove from heat.
6. Dump apples into prepared pie plate.
7. Return pan to heat and melt remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter.
8. Drizzle melted butter over apples, then pour batter over.
9. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 25-30 minutes. Batter should be puffed up and only just set (and still fairly jiggly) in the centre.
10. Cut into quarters and serve with syrup, icing sugar, fresh fruit, and/or whipped cream.

This is another Weight Watchers recipe. But, unlike some of the previous ones that I've tried, I actually quite like this one. I think my main issue with it is that it's still pretty high in Points. Although it is at least very quick and easy to make.

Pineapple Fluff

From Simple Nourished Living

Ingredients

• 1 (590mL) can crushed pineapple
• 1 (4-serving) package sugar-free vanilla pudding
• 1 c. light whipped cream

Directions

1. Mix the crushed pinapple with the dry pudding mix, then fold in the whipped cream.
2. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

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Variations

There are a lot of possible variations on this theme (none of which I've tried yet).

1. Different fruit: peaches, pears, fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, etc.
2. Different pudding: chocolate or white chocolate... or cheesecake, pistachio, coconut cream, or banana cream if you can find them.¹
3. Different toppings/mix-ins: toasted coconut, marshmallows, cherries, chopped nuts, etc.
4. Different extracts: vanilla extract, coconut extract, orange extract, rum extract, etc.
5. Whipped cream substitutes: light Cool Whip, plain Greek yogurt, fat-free cottage cheese, vanilla yogurt, etc.

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¹ If you're not worried about Points/calories/sugar, then you can get the regular (non-sugar-free) pudding mixes and have a lot more flavour options. ^Back

I was in the mood for crêpes the other day and found a low-Points WW recipe online. The original recipe didn't use sourdough, but I figured I'd swap out the flour and some of the milk for starter and give it a try. It worked beautifully! And now I have another easy (and delicious) use for sourdough discard.

Also, my tawa is amazing and I love it! It does such a nice job of crêpes and pancakes and those sorts of things. So much easier than using a regular skillet.

Sourdough Crêpes

Adapted from Simple Nourished Living

Ingredients

• 225g sourdough starter @ 100% hydration (active or discard)
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. stevia granules (optional)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Omit the stevia and vanilla if the crêpes will be use for a savoury dish.
2. Preheat a griddle or tawa over medium heat.
3. Lightly oil if necessary.
4. Pour in a scant 1/4 c. of batter and quickly spread it out to form a thin, smooth circle.
5. Cook until crêpe looks dry on top and underside is well-browned.
6. Flip and cook until the other side has some browning too. (It will likely not brown as much and be more spotty brown.)
7. Transfer to a plate and repeat process with remaining batter.
8. Top and/or fill crêpes as you see fit.