Honey Whole Wheat Muffins

This month we have been enjoying fresh raw honey and also as a special treat honey in the comb from Abbi's honey bees. It has been a special treat that we have enjoyed on our bread with butter, in tea and even by the spoonful (the honey comb). It has certainly been a sweet and sticky treat! This morning however we branched out and had it in baked goods. Chocolate chip muffins were requested for breakfast so that is what we had, or the children had. Travis and I had chocolate chip muffins minus the chips and they were delicious. These are plenty sweet enough to be used like a cupcake and served with a little frosting to dress them up. The original recipe prior my modifications came from my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It is my regular go-to cook book that my Grandma Cleone gave me for Christmas in 1991. It is getting very dog-eared and worn but I continue to use it regularly. It has all the basics in it.

Honey Whole Wheat Muffins

The orange zest adds a just-right touch to the honey flavor!

3 cups Whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 beaten eggs

1/2 cup kefir

1 cup milk

3/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cup honey

Zest of one orange

optional: mini chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl stir all of the dry ingredients together.

All at once add the liquid ingredients, mix together well.

Line or grease 30 muffin cups. Fill with batter 2/3 or so full. If you wish to have chocolate chips in yours add about a tablespoon to each batter filled cup.

Bake at 385○ for 18 - 20 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

~Anna

♥ If your family is smaller that mine you can easily half this recipe or 1/3 it as I have tripled the original recipe for our family's needs. They should keep well for a few days, too, in your refrigerator, I wouldn't know since we finish them to quickly.

Rice Pancakes from Kenya

If you are looking for a gluten free recipe this is a pretty good one. We weren't needing gluten free but when we study a country we try to find recipes from there and this one is from Kenya. I didn't follow the recipe perfectly but I am sure it was fairly authentic:) This recipe came from the book, Cooking the African Way. One thing I was surprised about as we found recipe's for this study they often used more than twice the amount of oil that I would for a similar dish. It wasn't just this book either, although we mainly just tried this books recipes. They turned out a very pretty pancake :) Here is the recipe: 1 Tablespoon yeast 1 cup warm water 1 cup sugar (decreased it by just over half and they were still quite sweet) 2 3/4 cups rice flour 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon 1/4 cup canned coconut milk (I used whole milk, since I didn't have this. I also increased this to make up for the decrease in oil ) 1/2 cup vegetable oil ( used 1/4 cup or less of canola) 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, sugar, cardamon and a dash of salt. Add warm water, oil and coconut milk and mix well. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. If you need more water add just a little at a time, until batter runs slowly from the spoon. 2. Cover bowl with a towel and set in a warm place for about an hour or until mixture nearly doubles in size. 3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat for 1 minute. 4. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into pan and spread with a spoon to form a pancake the size of a saucer. Cover pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. Flip over with spatula and cook on the other side another minute or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter adding more oil to pan as necessary. 5. Serve hot with a bit of jam. This makes about 10 pancakes. Happy frying, ~Anna

Raisin Scones

This a favorite scone recipe of mine that we had for breakfast today. It is light and flaky and just has a perfect crustyness to it that I really enjoy. They are best fresh but do reheat nicely as well.

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cup all pupose flour

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

4 1/2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3 Tbsp oil

1 cup raisins, I have used craisins here as well

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk the egg and milk in a bowl. Mix the flour, sugar, B powder and salt in another.

2. Drop the butter and oil into the flour mix and using your fingers or mixer, mix together until pebbly appearing, like sand. Pour in milk and eggs. Mix together until the dough is evenly moist. Add the raisins and give the very sticky dough a few more stirs.

3. Spoon 24 mounds of dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown and feel light when you try to lift them off the pan.

Cool for a few mintues.

4. Serve warm with a little butter or jam or a bit of both. A dollup of whip cream is quite fantabulous on it as well. But, you really don't need anything on them when they are fresh.

Enjoy!