My 9 Grain All Purpose Baking Mix for Muffins, Pancakes and Cornbread

In anticipation of my upcoming class on April 28th called "Grain Mixology" and how to use pre-blended grains from Honeyville Grain. I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite things. One of which is this  9 grain mix. In the past, I've shared my recipe for a homemade baking mix that I call "All Purpose Baking Mix" here . As delicious as that mix has been to use, I'm going to have to say good -bye to it for a long time. Not that there's anything wrong with baking with white flour or even soft white wheat flour in that recipe, I just have found a new love with my new whole grain version of the mix that has given me light muffins, fluffy pancakes and hearty homemade corn bread that I can honesty call a light tasting, whole grain, no sugar added, almost fat free delight to eat. You control the ingredients. I use soymilk powder in mine that is non-gmo and delicious. You can also use almond milk in place of the liquid if you would like. All I know, is that I've been eating these sugar free, low fat muffins most of this last week. I've made variations on the recipe and used the base mix. They're moist. I'm hooked. 

Chef Tess 9 Grain All Purpose Baking Mix
 for Muffins, Pancakes and Cornbread

9 cup  9 grain flour (9 grain mix milled into flour in my grain mill)

1 cup instant non-fat dry milk or soymilk powder

1 cup  egg powder

1 cup granulated erythritol  (zero calorie natural sweetener)

1/3 cup baking powder

2T salt

Basic 9 Grain Muffins: One dozen large muffins: pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Combine 4 cups 9 grain baking mix with 1 ¾ cup water. Mix until a smooth batter is created.  Line a standard size muffin pan with 12 muffin liners and lightly mist the pan with a non-stick spray. Scoop muffin batter into muffin pan divided evenly between twelve muffins.  Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and muffins spring slightly when touched.

9 Grain Apple-Pecan Spice Muffins with Crumb topping:

Pre-heat oven to 350  degrees. Combine 4 cups 9 grain muffin mix with 1 ¾ cup water, 1 1/2 cup shredded apples, ½ cup chopped pecans,  1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East spice blend. Batter will be thick. Divide between 24 well oiled muffin cups. Top with crumb topping*. Bake 22-25 minutes.

*Crumb topping: ½ cup 9 grain baking mix, ½ cup 4 grain rolled mix (or quick oats), ½ cup granulated erythritol, 3T melted butter, 1T water. Combine until chunky.  Sprinkle generously on top of muffins.

Peanut Butter and Jelly 9 grain Muffins 

Combine 4 cups of the 9 grain baking mix with 3/4 cup peanut butter powder. Add 2 cups water. Stir until well combined and let batter sit about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a muffin pan. Scoop pan to almost full with batter and then lightly mist the top of the batter with oil. Make an indent in the top with your thumb. Fill with your favorite jam.

Crumble topping is optional...but it's just yummy. Combine 1/3 cup 9 grain mix, 1/4 cup Erythritol and 2T melted butter or flavored olive oil.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Basic 10 grain Pancakes:

Combine 1 cup 9 grain mix, 1 Tablespoon whole grain Teff and ¾ cups water. Cook on a hot griddle that has been lightly oiled. I love them with a devilish drizzle of Choke Cherry infused Honey. It's just evil. 

Basic Sweet 9 grain Cornbread Muffins (with Peach Mango Jalapeno filling)

Combine 1 ½ cup 9 grain baking mix, ½ cup yellow cornmeal and ½ cup granulated erythritol in a quart size bowl. Add ¾ cup cold water and combine well.  
Filling (optional): Make a small  well in the top of the muffin and add a tsp of homemade Peach Mango Jalapeno jam or jam of your choice. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide between 12 well greased muffin cups. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown.

Basic Savory Bacon, Cheese Corny  Cornbread Muffins:
Combine 1 ½ cup 9 grain baking mix, ½ cup yellow cornmeal and 1 tsp Chef Tess all purpose seasoning in a quart size mixing bowl.  Add ½ cup of your favorite cheese, ¼ cup real bacon bits, minced onion ½ cup Freeze dried corn.

 Add 1 ½ cup cool water to the dry ingredients and allow to sit for 10 minutes (to hydrate the corn). 

  Divide between 12 well oiled muffin tins. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown. Optional delightful touch...paint the tops of these little gems with a little melted butter or olive oil and then sprinkle generously with BBQ rub of your choice. I prefer D-dog's.

I made a few other variations on the muffins...but I think this is enough for one post. Yes there will be more to follow. 

Get the printable version Here.

There you go. Make more muffins!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Whole Wheat Spiced Muffin Mix

What was Mr. Putt Putt thinking? Look at this bottle from 1959. It was labeled "Dad's Wheat Test March 3 1959". I'm not sure what he was testing it for, but it still looked okay. I didn't open the jar though. I may be crazy, but if that wheat was put in that jar in 1959, who am I to open it. What if it just turns to dust from exposure to our air. It mystified me. Really. I'm easily entertained. We did end up making muffins from some other wheat though.

Despite myself, we didn't grind Putt Putt's treasure. However, we also found some that was in some number ten cans dated 1989. That, my friends, is some twenty-one year old wheat. I'm rocket scientific and can do simple math like that. Be impressed. I've been told that wheat is one of those grains that can be stored for a very long time and still be edible. My goodness, I've heard of some wheat that was found in an Egyptian tomb and sprouted to grow grain several hundred years later. Don't quote me on that. It may be one of those urban legends made up to appease us crazy house wives. On that note, I've been a bit of a wheat nut for a long time. So I thought to myself, "Self...let's grind this up and see if it's still good". So we did. The aluminum can was old looking but not rusted, The wheat inside smelled fine and didn't have any mold growing on it. Carefully inspected I didn't see any reason why we couldn't try it out. Ace's parent's had stored it with an oxygen eating "packet" in there so it was vacuum tight. Ask me why we have wheat laying around that is this old. Why? Yeah, I don't know. I was feeling adventurous though. An interesting note is that wheat can in fact go rancid if stored improperly. So, the fact that the wheat smelled fine to me and hadn't a hint of "musty" funky smell to it, was amazing. Especially amazing in the desert of Arizona for wheat to not be rancid.

My kids don't have school on Fridays so that is our science day. My six year old son Face ran the 1989 wheat through the hand mill. It took him about an hour to grind five pounds by hand and he wanted to do it. Sweet! Child labor laws don't apply when they don't get paid, right? At any rate, it made some nice fine flour. If you don't have a grain mill, you can buy wheat pastry flour for the mix. I'm not judging you for not grinding your own wheat. We do because we're crazy.

Face was so excited to make his flour into something. I let him. If he was the little red hen, I'd be the...what? What animal would I be? The duck? Squawking...Goosing people. Don't answer that question.

Homemade whole wheat baking mix

9 cups whole wheat flour (fresh ground is best...for muffins use soft wheat)

1 cup organic shortening or butter (keep mix in fridge if you use butter)

1/3 cup baking powder

1T plus 1 tsp salt

2 cup nonfat dry milk powder (or soy milk powder)

Combine all ingredients in a Kitchen Aid type blender with paddle attachment until fat is well combined (or follow directions for homemade cake mix from last Monday).

Spiced nut muffin Mix

In medium bowl combine:

3 cups homemade whole wheat baking mix

1/3 cup sugar or granulated fructose

2/3 cup chopped almonds or walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp clove

In separate bowl whisk:

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

2/3 cup water or milk

1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients and pour whisked wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Scoop batter into prepared muffin pan lined with cupcake papers or greased well. Bake 425 degrees 14-17 minutes until just firm. Yields 12 muffins.

You can fold in 1 cup of fruit into the batter like peeled chopped apple, pitted cherries, blueberries or cranberries.

• Add 1T orange or lemon zest to the mix for orange or lemon muffins.
• Add 1 cup shredded carrot to the mix for carrot muffins.
• Add 1 mashed banana to the wet ingredients for banana muffins.
• Add 1/2 cup mashed pumpkin to the wet ingredients for pumpkin muffins.

We put 3 cups of mix in separate bags and ended up with 4 bags of mix. That is enough for 4 dozen muffins. Give or take. More if you add fruit. How did they taste you ask? Thank you for asking. They where awesome. I'm really picky about rancid wheat taste...and there wasn't even the slightest hint of that this wheat was so old. Creepy isn't it. Creepy still is the fact that I may live an extra twenty one years if I eat this whole grain junk all the time. Yikes. That is creepy. Goose. Goose.

There you go.