One of my favorite mindfulness writers Rick Hanson (http://www.rickhanson.net/) writes about how we have a negativity bias. He says our brains are like velcro for negative experiences but positive experiences are quickly forgotten. This makes sense, he writes, as it protects us from harm. A negative experience can be dangerous or even deadly, but it can also lead us to unnecessarily ruminate or perseverate (my mother’s description of this habit I have) over non-dangerous negative experiences. Read his book Hardwiring Happiness to find out how you can take in your positive experiences more fully and learn to perseverate over your happy memories too. I highly recommend it!

So how does this relate to sensory? I’ll never forget the question I ‘missed’ during my first big interview for my job with Land O’Lakes. I had been doing okay most of the day, and then I got a real stumper.

My (now) friend Liz asked me ‘name a time that you were pressured to make a decision but decided defer until a later time instead.’

I racked my brain. Huh? That’s an option? People will let you do that? Thinking, thinking, thinking… ‘Wow. That’s a toughie. I’m having difficulty remembering a time.’

Liz- ‘It’s okay if you don’t have something. That is a really hard one.’

Oh thank god! ‘Yeah. It’s just that people don’t really accept that do they? When they want a decision, you usually have to give them one.’

Having the benefit of much more experience and perspective now, I actually think that is a really good question, and I think that I probably could come up with an answer now. I think it is important to consider that sometimes no decision is an option. Of course, you have to remember that no decision is still a decision with just as many consequences as any other option in front of you. Having said this, the fact still remains that there are certain people, who when they ask for a decision or switching gears back to sensory when they ask for data will absolutely not tolerate no for an answer, even if no is ultimately the best answer.

Okay how does this relate to the SSP conference? I’m getting there readers, I’m getting there. One of the themes of the conference was the emergence of a lot of really good rapid methods. Now I don’t know the motivation for the development of these methods, but I’m speculating a little here. One of the concepts that I followed in industry was the right tool for the job. We too developed some internal rapid methods. We used them for instances when we needed sensory data, but it didn’t make sense to use the tools that we already had.

People can only ask for what they have. So maybe someone requests what seems like an outlandish use of resources for a simple question. They need the data. If the only tool you have is an electron microscope, you’ve got to use it. Or maybe not. You’ve got Amazon Prime. You can order a magnifying glass and it will be here tomorrow. Win, win. Now someone else can use that electron microscope who really needs it, and your requestor will still get the level of data they need.

One of the new tools that I really liked was the development of rapid competitive assessment technique by Lauren Dooley and her colleagues at Kellogg’s. Rather than conducting a traditional drivers of liking study, they conducted 3 focus groups using check all that apply sensory descriptors. They didn’t get the same information as a true drivers, of course, but they were able to provide ‘clear product development direction and understanding of the general competitive category landscape.’ I can absolutely see instances where a technique like this would have been extremely helpful in my previous role. This is reminding me of Jeannine’s talk about when to break the rules and when not to. When is the rapid method okay, and under what business scenarios do you want the robust data? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I have a few more SSP related posts planned too, so I hope you are enjoying them. Then we’ll return to updates on the goings on here in the Hayes lab. Today I am preparing taste solutions that will be used as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm). It’s a very large study that seeks to understand the nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. One of the things I love about my new job is the wide variety of projects that I get to touch in a given month. It’s something new every week.

It always comes back to butter with me. My grandfather Elton was a champion butter maker, my own father was so happy when I took the job with Land O’Lakes. Grandpa Bakke passed away when I was very young, so I only have one clear memory of him- when he came to visit us in Buffalo at his last Thanksgiving. But I always knew that he was passionate about butter. The trophies were on our piano until Kyle went through his action figure stage and started breaking the tops off to play with them!

That passion for butter lives on in me, and when I tried a new butter from Wegmans, I was reminded of Suzanne Pecore’s SSP presentation on adding the 3 attributes of Balance, Harmony, and Blend to descriptive analysis panels (a quantitative sensory technique used to describe the sensory attributes of food products).

First off, a quick comment poll (ahem- lurkers too!)- who thinks they got the concept wrong? John Chilton (you need to specify when you are married to and work for a John) and I think this should be a spreading butter not a finishing butter. I wonder if they did any testing? Wider public- did you know that food companies spend a lot of time researching these things? When my job was product development, we would have spent the time to understand what the primary usage and secondary usages of this product would be? What other items you would use it with? What type of package you would want it packaged in? What the graphics should look like and on and on and on? All in conjunction with my primary work which would be- what texture should it have, what flavors, what aroma, what appearance…

And I will tell you- they got it all wrong. Sorry readers if you worked on this product. It might be because for me the primary application was spreading. Maybe it was wonderful on seafood or vegetables, but I am not going to use it that way.

So back to Harmony, Balance, and Blend:

I don’t have Suzanne’s definitions or incredibly useful graphics with me, but to define the concepts here are dictionary definitions:

Harmony- A arrangement of parts in agreement

Balance – A state of equilibrium

Blend – To mix smoothly and inseparably together

This butter had none of these. Harmony- The flavors were not arranged agreement. I think this can get at the character of the flavors. The developers had added a butter flavor. It was unnecessary. It covered up the delicious, subtle flavors of the actual butter. They also had added orange juice concentrate, but that made it too sour. Balance- There was way too much butter flavor and too much salt. They overpowered the other flavors. Blend- As I was picking up all the individual notes, it was clear the flavors had not mixed inseparably together.

I thought that maybe it was just an overall intensity issue, as this was intended as a finishing butter, and I was using it as a spread. So I mixed it with unsalted butter and low flavor olive oil. No dice, there was still way too much of that unpleasant, added butter flavor. I was going to need to start from scratch.

So here is Alyssa’s Orange Vanilla Butter Spread:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (Land O’Lakes actually sells half sticks 🙂 )
• 2 teaspoons low flavor oil (Extra light tasting olive oil or canola oil for example)
• 1 teaspoon orange peel
• 1/12 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (yes 1/12 not 1/2)

I tried the doctored Wegmans version and my version on Pumpkin Spice English Muffin halves for breakfast in a side by side comparison. I gave Wegmans the advantage by trying it first, and it was no comparison. Mine had that elusive Harmony, Balance, and Blend if I can toot my own horn, but then again, I had an extreme advantage. Working at Land O’Lakes, this is what I did day in and day out every day for almost 7 years. Yes, it was kind of limiting to have a small portfolio, but you can really become an expert at it. Also I was developing for a consumer panel of 1. The 1 being me. And I am a real expert at my own food preferences. 🙂

Having said that, I will put a plug in for my former employer and food scientists in general. 🙂 My ‘benchtop’ butter would not have a long shelf life. Flavor chemists correct me if I get this wrong, but I believe the terpenes in the orange peel will oxidize making those delicious fresh orange notes taste like pine trees after awhile. When you refrigerate my version, it’s still not very spreadable, but my good friends Ravin and Joe know just how to formulate and process butter and olive or canola oil to make it spreadable right from the refrigerator. So you can make it yourself, or you can use the wisdom of the experts. Your choice and either one is great! What a world we live in!

A note about this recipe. It is not quite as healthy as other recipes you find on my site. It is, however, high is something that John Chilton and I invented that shall heretofore be called the ‘Chilton ratio’. Chilton ratio = Deliciousness / Calories. High Chilton ratio foods can be paired with lower calorie foods to make them more palatable. This butter would pair nicely with a rye bread for example. Interesting fact- bacon is the highest Chilton ratio food known to man. Pair it with any food, and it is instantly delicious. Brussels sprouts = poster child of unpalatable food. Brussels sprouts + bacon = overnight food sensation.

Late breaking controversy to be addressed in the comments section- is there a higher Chilton ratio food? John Chilton points out that strawberries, while not quite as delicious as bacon, have a much lower calorie count. He fears maybe we got the equation wrong?!

Is it any surprise that food inspires me? While eating lunch, I was pondering another presentation that stuck with me. Lisa B. Marshall (http://www.lisabmarshall.com/) spoke about the 6 principles of influence. The one I was thinking about was reciprocity. I was enjoying the delicious leftovers from my dinner last night (http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/4174/slow-cooker-korean-bbq-beef-tacos) developed by my friend Amber Hanson. They were even better today, and I was marveling how companies like Land O’Lakes employ amazing people like Amber to develop free recipes for their products for you to enjoy. This demonstrated one of the principles Lisa talked about- reciprocity. She encouraged us to be givers. She said that research showed that givers rose to the top. But these givers set things up smartly. They tended to naturally frame their giving in partnerships. Land O’Lakes doesn’t hire Amber to develop recipes willy nilly. The recipes must use their products.

Other principles of influence include: similarity- we like those who are like us, authority- a tendency to defer to experts, consensus- going with the group opinion, consistency- we like to remain true to what we’ve said we will do, and scarcity- we place a high value on things that are rare. The first three remind me of advice that my mother gave me that has stuck with me for life.

When I was a very little girl, I was auditioning for a play and my mother said: Smile, Talk Loud, and Listen. I repeated it over and over, and it has become like a mantra. Lisa said an authentic smile was the #1 way to get people to like you. I have always been known for my cheerful disposition. Whether it was natural, and I would have this smile no matter what, or whether it was from this advice, I may never know.

Talk Loud. I don’t have the data to back it up, but I would bet that people grant more authority to those with louder voices, and I was going to say- now you may not need to talk as loud as a Bakke, but then I remembered that the loudest Bakke was voted Homecoming King, so who knows?

Listen. Lisa said that listening can be a great way to find out areas of similarity in order to persuade and influence people. I definitely know that to be true in my life. When you truly listen to someone, you understand their motivation and uncover common ground. You may shift your tactics and strategies, or they may even convince you to change your mind. But even if no one changes, often just listening is enough. People are sometimes starved for someone to slow down and hear them. I have been very fortunate to have twice heard Elizabeth Dickinson (http://pursueyourpath.com/contact/) speak about the power of active listening and strategies to improve your listening skills. I would encourage you to contact her, if you think your workplace could benefit from an environment where people are more open to hearing each other’s ideas (Hint- it can). She also, coincidentally, just custom developed a course on what else- the 6 principles of influence to present for us at Land O’Lakes. This was a helpful infographic that she shared with us.

Lisa offered us another bit of advice that would have been too much for my shy Norwegian American mother, and that was to give sincere compliments. As a highly enthusiastic person (I get that from my father), I am always noticing things that I don’t just like but that I LOVE. I used to be afraid that if I noted my enthusiasm aloud I would seem strange or insincere, but I decided to set those fears aside. Well, Lisa said insincere compliments work just as well as sincere ones, so I guess I didn’t need to be afraid in the first place. Not that either of us are advocating insincere compliments!

Giving compliments has another benefit besides just making people like you, it has opened up so many interesting conversations for me. I tend to notice people’s jewelry and handmade items, since those are items I also love. Recently I complimented a new coworkers necklace only to find out it was a gift picked out days before her son was tragically killed in a car accident. I could tell the compliment deeply touched her. I also found out all about a woman’s ‘dream to be a carnie’ (yes, really!) all because of a compliment. A ‘very fine mug’ just mentioned in passing had been made by a man’s daughter. An SSP attendee’s beautiful handbag had been made by her neighbor. And outside of my normal sphere of compliments but, sincere nonetheless, Barbara Booth was so delighted to hear that I absolutely love McDonald’s and all that they get SO right. So put that positive energy out into the world. A compliment shared brings a smile to two faces.

I was eating breakfast this morning, and it illustrated a concept that really resonated with me at the conference I just attended. Pam Henderson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Henderson) gave a great talk about maximizing your impact as a sensory scientist. First off- I loved her. Someone commented that she could do stand up, and they were right. I will definitely read her book. She said that you must have a point of view, and you must advocate for it.

How does this relate to breakfast, you may be wondering? Well, I conducted a little taste test this morning. I was trying out a new product- Thomas’ Pumpkin Spice English Muffins. Yes, I am firmly aboard the Pumpkin Spice bandwagon. I was an early adopter. If you see Pumpkin Spice Oreos, please give me a holler.

Anyway, first I tried half with LOL butter. It was okay. Then I tried half with LOL Cinnamon Butter, and it was amazing- like eating an ooey gooey cinnamon roll. I was reminded of when I was developing this product. The buzzwords at the time were enhancer and transformer. Everyone in marketing thought than Cinnamon Butter was only an enhancer- meaning it complimented the flavors of your food. Our next product Saute Express was going to be a transformer- meaning it would elevate your ingredients into an even better dish. I, on the other hand, thought that we already had a transformer with our current product. The way Cinnamon Butter melts into a warm bread item, I believe truly transforms the eating experience. I even wrote that in one of my reports. But I didn’t advocate for that belief, so it never went anywhere. If I had the confidence and conviction in my findings, I might have been able to change the course of marketing of the item. Who knows maybe it would be a bigger seller today.

So go out and have a point of view and advocate for it, and try LOL Cinnamon Butter on a Pumpkin Spice English Muffin!

I set out to turn my whole wheat high protein pancakes (https://sensoryandsensibility.net/2014/09/13/whole-wheat-high-protein-pancakes-for-picky-eaters/) into muffins, but really just succeeded in turning them into oven pancakes. It did solve that pesky problem of standing over the stove top babying them on low heat. These would be great to make on a weekend and freeze for quick week day morning breakfasts. I made them in mini muffin tins, which made them very kid friendly. Axes declared them super good, so I would call that a success. I thought they were slightly mushy in the center, so I may need to tweak the recipe. But here is the unedited version.

• 12 oz sweetened, flavored nonfat Greek yogurt (I used 6 oz strawberry, 6 oz blueberry)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup hot water (next time I would probably go down to 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

I mixed the yogurt in with the dry ingredients and then added the water, mixing well with a whisk. The hot water will help hydrate the bran. Preheat oven to 325F. I let it sit for 15 minutes then added the eggs. I made these in a well oiled mini muffin tin and baked for 11-13 minutes. They were very resistant to overbaking, which again was much easier than standing at the stove making pancakes one by one. You could eat them plain, but they were better with syrup drizzled over.

Axes the kid and Axes the lizard (look closely) enjoying breakfast.

I’ve also included some fun activities that you can use with your kids to teach them about sensory science.

How would you describe the pancake muffins? Circle one

Super good                                            Super Bad

How would you describe the pancake muffins? Circle all that apply.

Dry

Mushy

Rough

Smooth

Vanilla

Strawberry

Blueberry

Sweet

Salty

Is there anything else you would like to say about these pancake muffins? Maybe draw a picture.

I’m breaking a sensory rule by having the kids evaluate synthetic (holistic) and analytic (descriptive) attributes at the same, but I recently saw a talk at the conference I just attended by the great rule breaking Dr. Jeannine Delwiche about when you can and cannot break the rules, and I would say this is an example of when you can. 🙂

I just returned from the Society for Sensory Professionals Conference in Tucson, Arizona. I hope to do a full recap of the conference, which was amazing, but tonight I have fall on the brain. The weather was definitely cooler here in State College, and I heard the Nittany Lions had no trouble defeating their opponent today. So it was the perfect day to try out a recipe that had been bouncing around in my brain for awhile- a slimmed down pumpkin spice latte.

I’ll introduce it with a story. One day back at Land O’Lakes, we had given the panel a milk reference and they all were noting that it was very sweet. I went to the refrigerator to check out the container that it had come from, and I notice that our shopper had inadvertently purchased milk that had been treated with the enzyme lactase. This milk is generally marketed for people that are lactose intolerant, but going back to my Introduction to Food Science days, I knew just why the panel was sensing a sweeter sensation. Different sugars actually elicit different sweetness intensities at a given concentration. Lactose is one of the least sweet. When it is treated with lactase it is broken down into glucose and galactose. Glucose is much sweeter than lactose and galactose is a little sweeter than lactose. I was once again fascinated by food science in action, and actually filed that little tidbit away to remember that you could use lactose treated milk like Lactaid if you wanted to make a beverage like say hot chocolate sweeter while using less sugar.

So the goal for this recipe was to use the least sweetner possible to make a slimmed down pumpkin spice latte. I used the Lactaid trick. I also used agave as a sweetner, as it is mainly fructose, which is another sugar that is very sweet at a low concentration. I also used aromas including cooked milk and vanilla, which should compliment the sweetness. And finally I used a visual trick. People actually find colored beverages sweeter than non-colored beverages, so I added an orange color. For my drink, I also only added just the minimal level of sweetener to make it acceptable. At only 140 calories for 14 oz, feel free to keep adding a tsp of agave syrup (15 calories/ tsp) or any other sweetener until you find the level you like. You will still likely be below the 240 calories in a 12 oz Starbucks version.

• 8 oz 1% lactose treated milk
• 1/8 tsp vanilla
• 1/12 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 6 oz coffee (I used medium roast)
• 2 tsp raw agave syrup (raw had nice maple notes that complimented other flavors, regular would also work, any sweetener would too but benefits of agave noted above)
• 3 drops yellow food coloring
• 1 drop red food coloring

Add vanilla and pumpkin pie spice to milk. Cook milk on the stove top until 165F for about 3-5 minutes until cooked milk flavors develop. This was our standard procedure at Land O’Lakes. I actually just went by aroma. When the lovely aroma developed, I knew I was done. Add syrup and food coloring. Mix with aerolatte milk frother. Seriously, buy one. (Link below) Totally worth it. Pour on top of 6 oz brewed coffee. If you have a Keurig, 6 oz is the smallest cup. A more bitter coffee will likely need more sweetener, so I went with a medium roast.

Enjoy!

I’ve been thinking about shame lately. Feel free to squirm in your seat. I flew today and was reminded of one of the activities I hated most when I was heavier. You see all those comments about how much you hated sitting next to the heavy person during the flight- I felt like you we talking about me in particular. In fact all your comments, or if you laughed at a fat joke, or if you said it was just up to personal responsibility. You were talking about me, and it meant that I was a failure. And I felt ashamed. Ashamed for who I was. That’s something I learned. Pretty early on.

Shame is a very powerful and destructive force. You can read more about that at Brene Brown’s website or in one of her excellent books.

http://brenebrown.com/my-blog/

Shame makes you feel so bad that you will do anything to get rid of those feelings. I developed a coping mechanism. I ate. It released lots of chemicals in my body that made me feel better for awhile. Eventually it got to the point that I just ate a lot all the time, so that I pretty much  was never aware of the bad feelings. I cut them off before I even realized I was having them. BTW, I didn’t realize all this until after I lost weight. I would have sworn I was not an emotional eater. That’s because you have to be aware of your emotions to know you are an emotional eater.

Another reason this has been on my mind is this article came out this week.

‘Fat Shaming’ Linked To Weight Gain

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/11/fat-shaming-weight-gain_n_5806278.html

Now the researchers themselves admit this is not a cause and effect link. I haven’t read the actual research to critique, and I am sure that there are flaws with the study. But having lived through it, I think the kernel is most likely right. Shame is no way to help people who are suffering from obesity. Because at least for me, shame was probably a root cause of my issue. And the vicious cycle of more shame as a result of my chosen coping strategy of overeating likely kept me sick longer.

So please be kind. You never know what drove people to make the choices they are making. Maybe their journey had a few more twists than yours.

It’s been such a big job getting the new house set up. I really started to make progress a couple of weeks ago when I hired a mother’s helper to come for 3 hours once a week. Highly recommended! All work and no play is never recommended, though, so Saturday Axes and I headed to PollenNation. What an amazing event. An entire arena filled with bug centered activities. My favorite was of course the honey tasting. I think Axes liked the butterfly tent best.

John and I also had a lovely dinner out for my birthday at a delightful restaurant called Gamble Mill that everyone had been recommending. Dessert was my new favorite- Rita’s. Pumpkin Pie gelati. Oh Yeah- as my friend Angela said. It was definitely birthday worthy.

Sunday, I amazed myself by completing 3 projects that did not suck. Whenever I make something not terrible, I am reminded of the truly awful birthday invitation I made for my ‘soulmate’ for my birthday party sophomore year of college. Kristin and Lexi, I am sure you also never forget that glitter bomb. I started with the simplest, which was spray painting a frame that didn’t go with our decor.

Before:

After:

I’m glad I did the frame first, because I learned a little bit for my next projec- updating a dresser, which also didn’t match our new bedroom theme. It was also super easy. I just used Rustoleum Primer + Paint. Once I got the hang of spray painting- multiple light coats, maintain a 10 inch distance, frequent shaking, sweeping motion, I think I did okay. I forgot a before, but here is the finished piece.

Finally, I spray painted a plant stand that I wasn’t using and added a tray to make a little side table.

You can’t really see it in the photo, but the stand is glittery! It was a busy weekend, but it definitely had a lot of fun in it!

It was another busy week in the Hayes lab. I spent most of the week working on two presentations. One for my first guest lecture. Squee! I spoke about sensory science, and my absolute love for it to more than 120 students! I thought it went pretty well. Shout out to Ryan McArdle and Dr. Sarah Milillo who made the whole thing so much easier.

I am also working on a presentation for the Society of Sensory Professionals conference that my boss will present- a snapshot of the current state of the academic training pipeline. I’m a little behind on that one, so hoping for some magical time to appear.

I got to interact a lot more with the students in the lab this week, which was so fulfilling. They are so bright and motivated.

But I promised you pancakes. These are adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/04/edna-maes-sour-cream-pancakes/

Did you know that she and I are close personal friends? 🙂 I kid, but I did have the pleasure of sharing my love of sensory science with her on one of her visits to Land O’Lakes. She is a super taster, has an amazing palate, and is also just really, really nice.

One morning I wanted to make her pancakes, and I didn’t have sour cream, but I had nonfat greek yogurt. I also didn’t have white flour, but I did have whole wheat. I thought of this article that has been going around Facebook.

All The Comments on Every Recipe Blog

And I thought… I guess I am not making Edna Mae’s Sour Cream pancakes. I am adapting them.

So after that long introduction here is the recipe: (Oh for those keeping track I doubled it)

• 2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla

Notes on other changes I made besides the major ingredient swaps: I upped the flour a little since whole wheat provides a little less structure than than white flour. Also added the standard resting time (at least 15 minutes for whole grain recipes). Last week, I said I always add extra moisture when using whole wheat flour. Well since nonfat yogurt has a much higher moisture content than sour cream that was already taken care of. I swapped brown sugar for white sugar just like in my muffins for additional flavor depth, and I added a bit more vanilla than the recipe called for. This is another standard change I make to most recipes. I actually made these pancakes last weekend. On that occasion, I happened to have blueberries which were a wonderful addition. They also decreased the energy density (calories per gram) of the pancakes making them even healthier.

This week I simplified the instructions for mixing:

I dumped all ingredients together. Mix with a whisk. I didn’t think you really had to worry about overmixing, since these pancakes are so light and whole wheat flour really doesn’t form a great structure anyway.

But there was a change this week that I wasn’t expecting. They had a distinctly more eggy flavor which John liked, and I didn’t. I will have to investigate next week to see if the mixing step really was the cause. I will report back, and then you can follow according to your taste preference. Interestingly, cooking seemed to have an effect. The more cooked the pancake got, the more the eggy flavor came through. This makes sense, as cooking breaks bonds exposing sulfur groups responsible for that eggy flavor.

The pancakes also got tougher, if you overcooked them. Again this makes sense, as the proteins in eggs form tight networks as they heat. This is called coagulation. If you get too tight of a network, you have overcoagulated your proteins. If you’re lazy (i.e. like the just dump instructions) and want a less eggy flavor, just may be able to take one egg out of the recipe. I’ll try to test that for you readers, though, as the structure of these pancakes is based on that protein network, so it may not work.

I doubt Edna Mae knew the science behind why she lightly beat those eggs in a separate bowl, but she was on to something! This is often the case. I like to call it the wisdom of cooks. They may not know why they do things are certain way, but there is a scientific principle behind it.

Now here is where cooking whole wheat pancakes becomes cumbersome. Especially when you have a higher sugar batter, which I like. You need to cook theses pancakes on a fairly low heat, make them smaller, and really baby them. I did find that using a lot of butter (I actually used LOL Spreadable Butter) like Ree recommended made it easier. And I am all about balancing choices, so I say go for it. But if you really want to, you can cook them in a nonstick pan with just cooking spray or even nothing if you a super diligent.

Happy eating!

This weekend we had to keep Axes entertained and away from anywhere near campus, which was overrun with die hard Penn State fans. The level of college pride here is truly impressive. Daddy revived the belly pillow fights of his youth. We took a trip to the airport themed park near our house, and then I decided it was time for cooking class, so Axes and I pulled out an old recipe I had and made whole wheat pumpkin cranberry muffins.

They weren’t too bad, but I decided I could use a little food science to improve them. The texture was a little rough, so I switched to whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour.

I had previously increased the moisture content of the recipe, which I always do for whole grain recipes (the bran absorbs A LOT of moisture, so I always add extra and let batters rest for 15 minutes and doughs overnight), but now the muffins were a little gummy and the craisins were still not fully hydrated. So I soaked the craisins in the liquid, heating it to speed up the moisture transfer. I also subbed in apple juice for water to give an extra depth of flavor, and because I was lacking just a bit on sweetness. I also added 1/2 tsp vital wheat gluten to add just a bit of structure and suck up some of that moisture.

The previous recipe had called for equal quantities of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, which I questioned at the time, but I figured what the heck, I’ll try. I should have followed Alyssa’s rule of always following your intuition, because 1/2 tsp clove is indeed way too much. It imparted a bitter taste on the muffins. I traded that out for 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead and added 1/2 tsp vanilla to round it out. I also substituted brown sugar for white sugar again to add some molasses notes and a depth of flavor.

The final addition was a struesel topping. I wouldn’t always add that, but I was planning to give some of these muffins as a gift. And these are heart healthy muffins, so they needed just a little something extra. 

Here’s the recipe:

• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup craisins
• 1 can pumpkin
• 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup light tasting oil (I use olive oil, you could use canola)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vital wheat gluten

Stuesel Topping

• 1/4 stick softened butter
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white flour (I wouldn’t use whole wheat here, as the bran will not absorb water, so it will be rough)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (This was kind of spicy on top, so I may leave it out next time)

Add the cranberries to the apple juice and then heat in the microwave for about 45 seconds. It depends on the strength of your microwave, but you want it pretty hot but not necessarily boiling. Let that sit while you do everything else. Mix the pumpkin, spices, eggs, vanilla, oil, and sugar. Remind your child several times not to touch the batter. Wash his hands.

Add the dry ingredients. Mix with a whisk.

Mash the struesel ingredients together. You could use a fork or a pastry blender. A spreader worked very well.

Divide the batter into muffin tins. It made about 18 muffins for me. Sprinkle struesel on top. Your child will want to do it himself. I guess you can let him do one. Let sit for 15 minutes. This is the resting time to allow the bran to hydrate. In the meantime preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake for 17 minutes. Insert a skewer or a knife. If it comes out clean, they are done. If not, wait 1-2 more minutes.

Enjoy.

And share.

 

Sensory fact: did you know that it is more consumer friendly to call them heart healthy rather than low fat, low sugar?

Sensibility fact: protect your tickers. I just found out my dad will likely need a major surgery soon to clean out blockage in an artery.

Watch this space for more healthy recipes. It is a passion of mine.