Rye Muffins

A bit ago, I decided to try something new and make rye muffins. I have always loved rye bread, and muffins have never tasted right to me using all-purpose flour (probably because my mom always did half or all whole wheat). I made three different batches of muffins to try out the effects of rye flour, wheat bran, and flaxseed, and found that they make for extremely delicious, healthy muffins. I took a bunch of the muffins to my parents' house, and my dad made bread pudding out of some of them. It was great! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Rye Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup milk (1 1/4 cup if too dry)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups rye flour
     or 1 cup rye and 1 cup whole wheat
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/8 cup brown flaxseed
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of raisins
     or 1 cup mashed bananas
1 cup broken pecans or walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups with shortening, spray with cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups.

2. In large bowl, beat milk, oil, and egg with fork or wire whisk until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, stir in all but the raisins and pecans all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy--DO NOT OVERMIX). Fold in raisins and pecans. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Set aside the extra batter for another partial batch.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. If baked in greased pan, let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack.

Makes about 15-17 muffins. Would work best if you mix up enough for three batches and cook it in four batches.

Rich Bread Pudding with Non-Alcoholic Rum Sauce

Photo courtesy of myrecipes.com

During my first summer away at college, I decided to try out Bread Pudding, something my dad had made a few times but which I couldn't remember very well. I had just made Egg Bread (which was delicious) and made the bread pudding out of that. Then, for Halloween last year, I made this for my parents who had come to visit. My mom was amazed and told me it was the best bread pudding she had ever had! I don't remember what other bread pudding tastes like, so I'll just have to take her word for it.
Any sort of rich, stiff bread will do, but don't use mundane breads like white bread or wheat bread that you would use to make sandwiches. Specialty breads and homemade breads are much better for holding the liquids that make this dessert amazing. 

Ingredients 

Bread Pudding
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups milk/half and half mixture: Use 1 pint half and half, and add enough milk to make up the difference
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla (extract works, but real vanilla is better)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 oz French or other firm bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 10 cups)
1/2 cup raisins 

Topping (can be mixed in instead)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

Non-Alcoholic Rum Sauce
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon rum extract 

Procedure 

1. Grease bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with shortening or cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat 4 whole eggs, 1 egg yolk, and 3/4 cup sugar with wire whisk until well blended. Beat in milk, half and half, whipping cream, vanilla, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon until well blended. Stir in the bread pieces and the raisins. Let stand an hour, then pour into baking dish.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. In small bowl, stir 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon until well blended. Sprinkle over top of bread pudding. At this point, the original recipe says to mix the cinnamon sugar with 2 tablespoons of melted butter and then drizzle it over the pudding, but I skipped the butter, sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on top, and then mixed it all together. Since there is a rum sauce that gets poured over the pudding later, I find a sublayer of cinnamon sugar to be pointless.

5. Bake uncovered for 55 to 65 minutes or until top is puffed and light golden brown. The center will jiggle slightly. Cool 30 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter over low heat; do not allow to simmer. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes. Mix egg and water in a bowl, then stir into butter until well blended. Stir in 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon rum extract.

7. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat, and pour over bread pudding. Cool until the topping is hard enough to keep its shape (more or less) when the pudding is served.

Enjoy!

(Must be refrigerated if not immediately completely consumed.)