Applesauce Breakfast Cake (not vegan)

 This morning I had some leftover Mussleman's applesauce I wanted to use up so I made up this recipe.  It isn't super healthy or low fat, but at least a little better than a regular coffee cake (6 T rather than 8 T of oil) or a store-bought muffin.

1/2 cup Kodiak Flapjack mix
1 cup white or wheat flour (or you could use all Kodiak mix, and not add the salt, baking powder and baking soda)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 T olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
1 egg (if you wanted to you could leave out the egg)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup chunky applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the dry ingrediants in a bowl.  In a separate bowl wisk egg, and then add the rest of the ingredients.  Wisk some more, and then add them to the dry ingredients all at once.  Pour into a prepared 8X8 square pan.  

6 TB applesauce

Spoon the applesauce onto the batter in six evenly spaced dollups (like dots on dice).  Don't stir in.  Place in the oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.  Then prepare the topping.

Topping

1/2 cup flour (white or wheat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TB butter or margarine

Mix together topping until it resembles course crumbs.  When there is 15 minutes left on the timer, remove the cake and spread on the topping.  Return to the oven and finish cooking

Glaze

1/2 c powder sugar
1 T butter or margarine
1 tsp soy milk (or however much you need to make a runny glaze)

Mix together the powder sugar and butter.  Add the soy milk and mix, adding enough liquid to make a runny glaze.  Drizzle over the warm breakfast cake.

Variation: I have made this same recipe but substituted frozen berries for the apple sauce.  I thawed the berries first.  When I did I had to add a little extra soy milk to the batter because it was too stiff.

Whole Grain Turnovers

 Ok, so this one is not very lowfat, and not vegan.  But it is probably better for you than the store-bought turnovers because it includes whole grain.

1 cup Kodiak Power Cakes Buttermilk mix
a dash of salt

1 T butter or margarine
1 T shortening
1 egg (optional)

2 T soy milk (or other nutmilk)
canned pie filling 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like dry bread crumbs. Add the egg, and enough soy milk to make a workable dough.  If you are leaving out the egg, increase the soy milk to make the right consistancy. (adding the egg makes the dough more tender when cooked,  leaving it out will make the dough more tough, but it works). 

Roll the dough on a well floured surface.  Make a 12X12 inch square, (the dough will be about 1/8 inch thick).  Cut the dough into 4 squares.  Put a small amount of your favorite kind of pie filling into the center of each square (there will be leftover pie filling.  You can freeze it for use later). Using a spatula to support it, fold one corner of the dough over to the opposite corner to form a triange.  Gently press around the edges to seal them. Repeat with the other squares. Use a spatula to carefully move the triangles onto a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes, or until edges just start to brown. Cool

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 t vanilla

dash salt

1 T shortening
1 T margarine
soy milk

Using a fork, cream the shortening and margarine into the powdered sugar/salt/vanilla mixture.  Add the soy milk 1 tsp at a time to make a nice spreading consistancy. Pipe onto the cooled turnovers.

Honey Bran Muffins

Here is another variation on the Kodiak mix muffins.

2/3 cup bran flakes cereal (less if using bran buds)
1/2 cup soy (or other nut) milk
2 tbsp honey
1 cup Kodiak power pancake mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy milk

Measure the bran cereal into a microwavable bowl.  Add the soy milk.  Microwave for 1-2 minutes.  Add the 2 tbsp honey. Stir and set aside to cool slightly.

Mix together the Kodiak mix and brown sugar.   Add the bran cereal and milk mix.  Add the additional soy milk and stir. (I didn't really measure the last bit of soy milk.  I just added milk until it was a good muffin consistency).  Fill muffin cups, and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.

Note: Nobody in my house likes raisins in baked goods, but if you do, they would be a great addition to this recipe.

Second note: If you are less worried about animal products, you can add an egg.  This will make the muffins have a fluffier texture.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

Ok, here is another Kodiak cooking mix recipe. I call them muffin tops because they are low fat, but your kids just might call them cookies.

1 cup Kodiak Power Cakes Flapjacks and Waffle mix
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/3 cup soy milk (or other nut milk)

1 egg (you can leave this out if you are vegan)
1/2 cup chocolate chips 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all the dry ingredients until blended.  In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients*.  Combine and mix just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Spray muffin top pan with cooking spray (or you can use a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it.). Spoon mixture by heaping tablespoons onto the pan. Bake for 12 minutes.

*If you are not as concerned about fat, add 2 T vegetable or olive oil.

Chocolate Muffin Tops

Baking cookies is one of the things I really miss following a low-fat vegan diet.  These are about as close to "cookies" that I can get with the low-fat vegan restriction. Like the muffins below, they are not strictly vegan because there is a little bit of milk in the mix, but they are pretty low-fat*, are made with whole grain, and don't contain eggs.

1 cup Kodiak Double Dark Chocolate Muffin Mix
1/3 cup soy milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 banana

Mash the banana in a medium bowl.  Add the other ingredients and mix until blended. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and drop by tablespoons onto the paper.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from the parchment paper with a spatula.

*A regular chocolate chocolate chip cookie might have 9 or 10 grams fat, these have about 2.

Egg-Free Pineapple Muffins

One of the challenges of trying to live a vegan lifestyle is baking.  I have always made muffins or coffee cake for breakfast on weekends.  So how do you make muffins without eggs?  This solution isn't perfect because it does have some powdered milk in the mix, but it is a compromise we can live with.

1 cup Kodiak buttermilk flapjack mix
1/4-1/3 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1/4 cup honey
2/3 cup soy or almond milk (I like vanilla but plain works)

Mix all ingredients until just blended.  Spray muffin cups with cooking spray and fill 3/4 full.  Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown on top (about 20 minutes for smaller cupcakes.) makes 6 smallish muffins.

note: why Kodiak?

I like this mix because it is whole grain and has extra protein.  It doesn't taste as bitter as other whole wheat mixes I have tried. 

Note: if you are not vegan, just vegetarian, add an egg.  If you are not as concerned with fat, add 2 T of vegetable or olive oil.  

Graham Muffins

I usually make muffins for Sunday morning breakfast.  When I had kids at home it simplified the morning because they could grab one whenever they were ready to eat, and I didn't have to bother with a lot of plates and silverware to wash.  Now that I am an empty-nester, I have continued the tradition.  I had some graham flour lying around the house, so I looked up a recipe for graham muffins. As usual, I modified the recipe to suit my personal tastes.

Graham Muffins

mix together:
1 cup white flour
1 cup graham flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (the original recipe called for white)
1/2 tsp salt

in a separate bowl mix together
1 egg
1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
4 tbsp melted butter
cinnamon sugar * (optional)

Add the dry and wet ingredients and stir until everything is moistened.  Put in cup cake tins and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.

*Cinnamon sugar: 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon.  Mix until blended and store in a shaker bottle.