Teff Gingerbread Muffins

Teff? Really? You bet. I love teff. Because I love whole grains!

Teff is originally from Africa. It's related to millet but with a much deeper, more sophisticated, almost molasses-like taste. It's stocked with phosphorus and thiamin; it's got seventeen times (!) the calcium as wheat or barley. And it's got a great fiber profile. As you may know, the specific mix of fibers in whole grains makes the nutrients more readily available to the body, far more accessible than refined grains that have those very same nutrients "added back" after processing.

Teff is the world's smallest grain, tiny little grains about twice the size of the period at the end of this sentence. In fact, "teff" in Amharic (a language of central Ethiopia) means "lost," probably a reference to how easy it is to lose track of those Lilliputian grains.

Ground, teff grains become a whole-grain flour. If you've never tried teff, now's the time! You can find teff flour in almost all large supermarkets--and in any health-food store, as well as from online suppliers. And since the flour is just the ground whole grain, you're getting the full teff punch in every bite of these muffins.

I'm going to give you them in two forms: one with butter and one with walnut oil. Either way, they're spicy and delicious, a real treat in the afternoon or for breakfast. Let's get to it.

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Apple Crisp

Well, there it is, ready to go into the oven. Pretty fine, eh?

I promised some recipes that use the sugars I discussed in the last post. So here's one, a perfect dessert for a fall evening--or really anytime.

It's also made with walnut oil--which got used in the Apple Cake here. But any nut oil would work for the topping. You could even use melted butter. Wow.

This recipe has also been adapted from THE ULTIMATE COOK BOOK. There's a mix-and-match cobbler/crisp section in that book: seventeen fillings and ten toppings. Here's the apple version with an oaty, maply, nutty, crunchy topping--and with a less-refined sugar, to boot. (That said, I'll give you some "standard" substitutions as we go through the recipe.)

Honestly, I have to hold myself back from picking off that topping, leaving the fruit behind--and I love apples! You won't need any whipped cream or ice cream with this one--although I wouldn't stop you from putting a dollop or a scoop on mine if I come to dinner at your house.

Let's get to it.

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Apple Cake

Apples are in! (At least around us in New England.) They're appearing by the bushel and the peck, despite the drought we've experienced for the past several months.

Natch, it's time for Bruce's apple cake. I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe with you before. It's a staple in our house--even a great breakfast cake, as you'll see.

It's also an old recipe, one he got from his grandmother. In fact, the beat-up, stained recipe card calls it "Israeli Apple Cake." I don't know about the Israeli part (are there apples in Israel?), but I do know she used a tasteless oil for the batter. Blech. If we know anything about real food, we know there's no satiety there. So Bruce has morphed the recipe with walnut oil. Yum.

As you know, we're nuts about nut oils. But one warning: they don't move off the supermarket shelves quickly. If you get a bottle home and it smells rancid when opened, take it back for a full refund! Or consider buying nuts oils from sites like amazon.com. You can find the whole La Tourangelle collection there. Check this out for a three-can supply. Plus, it's lots cheaper than at the grocery store. And if you look up the six-can packs, it's even cheaper. Just make sure you store them in the fridge before and after opening--because all those omega-3s and polyunsaturated fats go whangy pretty fast at room temperature.

Enough with the blather. On to the cake. Did I mention it's a one-bowl wonder? Indeed.

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Let's Talk: The Fat Discussion

Since we're been having some good discussions on Wednesdays about food, I thought we'd continue that trend with one today about fats.

Specifically, tasteless fats.

We're on a war path against the tasteless stuff. During the third step of our new book REAL FOOD HAS CURVES, the mini-detox program, we first take on the myth that fats are somehow bad for us.

We need fats to live. Some vitamins are fat (not water) soluble. Dietary fats aid in proper digestion. They also build neural structures and connections in the body. And they build the wall of every single cell in the body. Want to recover from your work-out with weights? Don't forget the role of fats.

But most importantly, fats bring on satiety. If only we register that we're eating them.

The research is pretty solid: we eat more and more these days because what we eat is pretty darn tasteless. We're caught looking for satiety because we're not eating flavorful food.

Fats, too. We eat copious amounts of the no-flavor stuff. But we crave big, bold flavors for satiety.

Or as we put it in the book, "You'll never see anyone canola-oil-ing their bread."

Let's be honest: all liquid fats have 120 calories per tablespoon. Every one. So why would you "waste" 120 calories on something tasteless? Why wouldn't you DEMAND walnut oil, or hazelnut oil, or olive oil? Why would you not want butter (which actually has fewer calories that a liquid oil)? Or (wow) lard--which is actually a monounsaturated fat like olive oil?

Yes, we consume too many fats. Saturated, monounsaturated, whatever. No doubt about it. The modern world is awash in fat. But most of them are tasteless. And craving flavors, we search for more. But we also eat more because we can't taste what we're eating.

The answer is not to pull away from fat. The answer is to embrace is for the real pleasure it is. The answer is to demand more flavor from every calorie. The answer is to use less of better, not more of worse.

Got a favorite, full-flavored fat--and a way to use it? We'd all love to hear from you.

(Hey, did you know we now have a channel on youtube? Check it out here. OK, don't laugh at me. It's rudimentary, for sure. But hey, I'm working on it!)

Let's Talk: Detoxing Off Tasteless Fats

Only a week or so before REAL FOOD HAS CURVES comes out. (You can find it here.) We're so very excited about it. And to that end, we started an important discussion in the comments thread the other day, a discussion that's pertinent to the new book; so I thought I'd give it more space here.

It's about fats. As you know, there's been a fair amount about it on the blog--making your own lard, making your own butter. And that long discussion about canola oil--and finding the best you can, if you want to use it.

All that said, the research is pretty solid: you have to taste something to register the cues of satiety along your gut's enteric nervous system. I spell this out more fully in the new book, but here's some of it:

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Banana Bread

Years ago, Bruce found the answer to the best banana bread (as if such a thing were a pressing question). We put it, along with other answers to pressing questions in The Ultimate Cook Book.

The secret? Walnut oil--which gives this easy quick-bread such a deep, nutty, satisfying taste.

There's a certain trend among food writers lately to kick canola oil and its cohorts, the other "tasteless" oils. I will tell you that since oil is oil in terms of calories (about 120 per tablespoon), there's no point in adding an oil that doesn't also add flavor. But that said, mild oils are a great way to start out chili and other hot dishes--because these oils don't interfere with the more complex, layered flavors.

However, in banana bread, walnut oil is definitely the way to go.

So let's go.

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