Pear and Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Here is another way to incorporate whole grain in your family's diet. Who doesn't like cookies?

True confessions...I love oatmeal cookies. This recipe has some crunchy coconut on top of a wholesome chewy spiced pear oatmeal cookie. It's a big white fluffy toasted crunch hat...like Broadway meets my cooling rack...minus the sequin. Great as a quick breakfast on the run or in a lunchbox with a sprouted wheat bread sandwich, these will really add energy to your life!
Just before baking I top with coconut. That's the top hat secret.

See that pile of love? I then flatten the pile a little, but dough doesn't stick to my hand if there is coconut there. See the genius in that..can someone tell my husband?

This is the recipe:

Pear and Coconut Oatmeal Cookies (of joy and happiness)

3 cups oats, rolled

1 cup whole wheat cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, or "Smart Beat" heart smart stuff...for baking MELTED.

1 cup brown sugar (or 1/2 cup honey)

2T molasses

1 egg, or 1/4 cup egg replacement

1/2 cup buttermilk or milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped dry pears

1/2 cup coconut, shredded

coconut for top hats.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the melted butter, sugar, molasses, egg, buttermilk, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined along with the pears and 1/2 cup coconut. Scoop by rounded Tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with coconut. Bake 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.

EAT, FAINT, REPEAT.

Candied Ginger and Honey Sprouted Wheat Bread

Wow! Holidays are over, and yet this little beauty turned up in my baking session.

At the end of the sprouted bread session I got a little ZANY.

I tend to do that...and giggle a lot when I'm tired.

Sparkle, sparkle. I'm mesmerized.

To add alot of flavor and color to an otherwise normal loaf of bread

I decided to top the loaf with a drizzle of honey...

and then some chopped candied ginger just before baking.

Wouldn't you just love a taste of this?! Now I am not being prideful here, just saying that this little loaf looks like gold. BLINGage for bread. Who knew it would look this great?! You go girl!

Sprouted wheat bread day 3 in a food processor

Day Three

Sprouted bread in a food processor

Previous to this entry we have spent 2 days soaking and sprouting the wheat. For more information see :Sprouted Wheat bread tutorial

I learned this recipe from:

The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, 1984, by Laurel Robertson...
Laurel is my hero in whole grain bread baking!

I usually only do a single loaf recipe in the food processor:

6 cups sprouted wheat berries (if you started with 1 1/4 lb or 575 g hard wheat)

1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g)[You can use up to 2tsp per loaf]

2 T warm water (30 ml)

2 tsp salt (11g)

3 T,scant, honey (40ml)

1 8 by 4 inch loaf pan

1 clean towel

1 gallon size bag

Gather your ingredients.

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water (no hotter than 110 degrees)

Put 3 cups of your sprouts in a food processor, add half of the yeast, salt and honey.

Process about 30 seconds.

Turn off machine and scrap unchopped grains off the sides of the processor.

Process until a dough ball forms and it cleans the side of the processor, about 3 minutes.

Put dough in a bowl, and repeat this process with your second 3 cups of sprouts and remaining ingredients.

Once all your dough is formed, roll into a ball and place in a covered bowl. Allowing it to raise for about 2 hours or until your wet finger comes out clean when inserted and leaves a hole without much effort. For best results, do not allow dough to raise so long that when you poke it, it collapse. It helps to measure the temperature of the dough. If it is between 85 and 90 degrees, it will raise in about 2 hours. If your dough is around 75 degrees it will be closer to 3 hours for this first raise.

This is how the dough will look...

Proceed to loaf formation (for full picture tutorial see: sprouted wheat bread with a meat grinder ):

Divide the dough into two pieces. I use a little WATER on my counter top.

Make a rectangle with the dough... then fold into thirds.

Roll the dough into a tight log...

Place in a loaf pan, this one is stoneware for better baking. This recipe will make 4 of these 5 by 2 1/2 inch loaves.

Repeat the loaf making until you have made as many loaves as you have dough. Lightly coat the top of the bread with oil and cover with a loose piece of plastic wrap. Raise bread about 1 hour (1 and 1/2 hours if the dough is less than 75 degrees).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake 40-45 minutes for standard size loaves (8 by 4 inch), or 3o-35 minutes in smaller loaves like these ones.

Once baked, remove from oven.I test mine for doneness with a meat thermometer. When it registers over 175 degrees, the bread is cooked through.

The final step is to put the warm loaves in a clean dishcloth and place them in gallon size freezer bags. This allows any wheat that is on the surface of the loaf to steam a bit so it isn't rock hard. Remove from bags after about 45 minutes

The finished loaves will look like this:

Sprouted Wheat bread...day 3 with a meat grinder

Today we will make the sprouted wheat bread dough and bake it.
This is how it is done in a meat grinder. If you have an electric food processor, check the next posting.

I learned this recipe from:
The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, 1984, by Laurel Robertson...

Laurel is my hero in whole grain bread baking!

Get your ingredients together. You will need:

Your Sprouts...these sprouts should weigh about 4 lb (2 k)--for 2 loaves. You started with 2 1/2 lb wheat, or 1135g) which will be a little more than 3 quarts sprouted.

You will also need for 2 loaves:
Your meat grinder or electric food processor
2 tsp yeast (1/4 oz, or 7 g) [you can double this]
1/4 cup warm water (60 ml)
1/3 cup honey (80 ml)
4 tsp salt (22 g)
non-stick cooking spray for coating the pan ( I mix a little oil with a little flour--bit more natural)
2 , 8 by 4 inch loaf pans
1 clean towel
2 gallon size bags

If you are making a single loaf, you will need:
6 cups sprouted wheat berries (if you started with 1 1/4 lb or 575 g hard wheat)
1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g) [you can double this amount]
2 T warm water (30 ml)
2 tsp salt (11g)
3 T, scant, honey (40ml)
1 8 by 4 inch loaf pan
1 clean towel
1 gallon size bag

Your little sprout babies should look something like this, with maybe a little tiny hair of a root sticking out. The starches have not been turned to sugar at this point and it is still good for bread

These babies will start to show their little white toe heads. That is all the sprouting you want to happen. The rule is that the sprout root should not be any longer than the length of the grain of wheat itself.



For an electric meat grinder attachment on a Kitchen Aid, remove the front cover plate and put on the grinder attachment (I have a hand meat grinder...this one is we did at Evil Genius Tara's house because she had all the cool gizmos, bells and whistles)

Feed your little sprouts through the meat grinder as you would meat.


This is how it will look. I had to repeat this grinding process one more time, but found it to be much faster than my hand grinder.


To this add your yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup water,


Add the honey, and salt.

Blend with your dough hook for 5-7 minutes on speed 2, until a smooth dough forms. If you do this by hand (per chance you don't have a kitchen aid, or power and need to use the hand grinder...you will need to knead by hand 5 minutes or more for a good texture and proper gluten developement.)


Form the dough into a ball and place in a covered bowl until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
Punch down the dough, and allow to raise again, about 1 hour, until wet finger inserted leaves an indent without much effort on your part.
Remove from bowl and place on a counter lightly covered with WATER.

Divide the dough into two pieces.

Make a rectangle with the dough... then fold into thirds.

Roll the dough into a tight log...

Place in a loaf pan, this one is stoneware for better baking. This recipe will make 4 of these 5 by 2 1/2 inch loaves.

Repeat the loaf making until you have made as many loaves as you have dough. Lightly coat the top of the bread with oil and cover with a loose piece of plastic wrap. Raise bread about 1 hour until it raises like this...

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake 40-45 minutes for standard size loaves (8 by 4 inch), or 3o-35 minutes in smaller loaves like these ones.

Once baked, remove from oven.

I test mine for doneness with a meat thermometer. When it registers over 175 degrees, the bread is cooked through.

The final step is to put the warm loaves in a clean dishcloth and place them in gallon size freezer bags. This allows any wheat that is on the surface of the loaf to steam a bit so it isn't rock hard. Remove from bags after about 45 minutes

If you only have a hand held meat grinder,

here are the instructions for that...

In a hand meat grinder it will look something like this...

Because it is done by hand, you will need to re-grind a second time to really make a good dough.

Re-grind the dough...

Once ground, proceed as above as far as dough mixing and loaf formation. By the way, don't forget that if you do have a hand held grinder, to be sure to clean it right away, as this dough tends to have a glue like effect on the grinder if left alone too long.

Sprouted Wheat Bread...Day 2

Sprouted Wheat, Day 2
This is the draining, rinsing, and sprouting day.

There is also a list of things for tomorrow...
For those just joining us, day one was yesterday. Drain the wheat and rinse. I do mine in a colander with holes just a little smaller than the wheat.

Make sure you get the fresh water all the way through the wheat. Rinsing is an important step. If not done enough, your wheat will start to ferment and smell like my son's socks after school. You want the wheat to smell fresh and clean. Think of it as giving the little wheat babies a change. You don't want them sitting in water either, just moist.

Once drained and rinsed, cover with a clean towel and tuck them in. Moisten the towel. Repeat this rinsing step about 3 times throughout the day. Just leave them in the colander, rinse getting all the wheat clean by digging you hand in and rinsing it. Cover back up with the towel. This will help the wheat to start sprouting.

These babies will start to show their little white toe heads. I'm repeating myself from day one: The spouting time is pivotal. If you let the sprouts get too far developed, what you will have is a gooey mess, instead of bread it will be like a glue log. So, be sure to look at the pictures I do so you can gauge when your wheat needs to be made into bread. This may be shorter than 3 days if your wheat is especially fresh or your home or sprouting area is warm. The biggest test beside the picture is the TASTE test. If the wheat tastes starchy, it is still good for bread. That is all the sprouting you want to happen. The rule is that the sprout root should not be any longer than the length of the grain of wheat itself. Any farther in the sprouting stage and it will go into a diastatic stage and the starch will be turned into sugars. At this point it will be too late for making bread. Great for salad, but not for dough. Incidentally, if over sprouted, you can still use them in regular whole what bread, but no more than 1/4 cup chopped to a loaf. These little power pellets will actually contribute to great yeast activity! It is called a diastatic malt if these sprouts are dried in a low temperature and then ground. This malt is the sugar young plants thrive on...no wonder yeast loves it! Very sweet, and great for bread in small amounts--once ground use only about 1/4 tsp per loaf.

Tomorrow on dough making day these sprouts should weigh about 4 lb (2 k)--for 2 loaves. You started with 2 1/2 lb wheat, or 1135g) which will be a little more than 3 quarts sprouted. This recipe is from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, 1984, by Laurel Robertson... one of my heroes in whole grain bread baking!

You will also need for 2 loaves:

Your meat grinder or electric food processor

2 tsp yeast (1/4 oz, or 7 g) [You can double this amount]

1/4 cup warm water (60 ml)

1/3 cup honey (80 ml)

4 tsp salt (22 g)

non-stick cooking spray for coating the pan ( I mix a little oil with a little flour--bit more natural)

2 , 8 by 4 inch loaf pans

1 clean towel

2 gallon size bags

If you are making a single loaf, you will need:

6 cups sprouted wheat berries (if you started with 1 1/4 lb or 575 g hard wheat)

1 tsp active dry yeast (1/8 oz or 3.5 g)[you can double this amount]

2 T warm water (30 ml)

2 tsp salt (11g)

3 T,scant, honey (40ml)

1 8 by 4 inch loaf pan

1 clean towel

1 gallon size bag

One final note:

The grain needs to be chilled overnight. So at the end of the day, put the wheat in a bowl and transfer it to the fridge. It can remain in the fridge 1-2 days before it needs to be made into bread so don't panic if something comes up and you can't use it right away. Just be sure again, not to let the roots get much longer than the grain of wheat.

Overnight Miracle Wheat Pancakes... whole grains, in your blender!!

Soaked wheat goes from this...

to these!

With your blender

...and some goodies.


The batter cooks up just amazing!

So another crazy thing I do...among other things, is make pancakes from the whole grains of wheat, without flour. You read that right too. We started soaking wheat for bread, but it takes 3-4 days before the bread is ready. Pancakes however are just around the corner. This one uses soft wheat, so that you get fluffy pancakes. It's worth trying at least once, but I think you will be pleased with how easily they come together.

Chef Tess
Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes

You will need:

1 cup soft wheat (red or white)

1 cup milk or soy milk

2 eggs, or 1/2 cup egg replacements

2 T cold pressed oil--or the oil of your choice

1T honey (or 2 T sugar)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest

1. Soak 1 cup soft red or white wheat in 3-4 cups warm water overnight, about 8 hours.

Soft wheat has a lower protein content and will make light pancakes,while hard red works, but it is a little tricky to get a fluffy end result. I love these with soft white wheat if you can find it.

2. Drain wheat well. Don't soak longer than 18 hours, or it will be funky!

3. Put drained wheat and 1 cup organic vanilla soy milk (or regular milk works too!)

4. Blend 3 minutes on Liquefy setting Leave blender on, just open the little top thing (sorry this is so technical).

5. Add 2 eggs,2 T oil ,2tsp baking powder.1/2 tsp salt, 1T honey, 1/2 tsp vanilla, dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and fresh orange zest (micro plane)Continue to blend about 2 minutes. Total 5 minutes blending. If you don't blend long enough, the wheat will be chunky instead of a smooth batter.Pour right from blender onto a hot griddle. Yields about 12 4 inch pancakes.

Sprouted Wheat Bread Day One

To kick off the new year, I thought I would start with day one. This is the 3 day tutorial for making home made bread just using the whole grains of wheat. No flour. You read that right. So if you want to start with me, grab yourself some hard white or red wheat. 6 cups for 2 loaves or 3 cups for 1 loaf and put it in a large bowl. Cover it with water and start it soaking. That is all we'll do today. See you tomorrow...for day two's tutorial. The bread is like regular wheat bread but with a gorgeous texture and a lot of character. So, let's get cracking!

You will need a sturdy food processor or meat grinder for the final step of bread making...so make sure you have one of the two in the next couple days. Also, the spouting time is pivotal. If you let the sprouts get too far developed, what you will have is a gooey mess, instead of bread it will be like a glue log. So, be sure to look at the pictures I do so you can gauge when your wheat needs to be made into bread. This may be shorter than 3 days if your wheat is especially fresh or your home or sprouting area is warm. The biggest test beside the picture is the TASTE test. If the wheat tastes starchy, it is still good for bread. If however it has a sweetness to it, then you know that the sprouts have gone too long. These sprouts are good in small amount (1/4 cup chopped) in regular bread to add to the yeast activity, but in larger quantity will, again, give you a gummy gooey log. Taste the sprouts. Watch them. If in doubt, make the dough at the end of day 2, even if you don't see any sprouts coming out the end. Or, at the end of day 2, put them right in the fridge and grind first thing in the morning.

Don't know where to get whole grain online? These guys are awesome...and they ship for a "song". I don't work for them.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/