Even When You Think You Have Nothing, You’ve Got Something

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Some of my favorite recipes aren’t really recipes at all: they are desperate explorations of a seemingly empty refrigerator or pantry.  Determined to make something, we pull out whatever we have and find a way to pull it together.  Sometimes this results in disasters (my sweet-potato gnocchi being the most recent example), but more often it’s a miraculous transformation.  These accomplishments are doubly pleasing: we feel frugal for not wasting food we have nor purchasing anything new, and we feel particularly creative for doing what we wouldn’t have thought possible an hour before.  This morning, determined to make breakfast (my wife loves breakfast), my wife pulled out of our empty fridge an apple, leftover bourbon cranberries, and walnuts.  Using a recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Feast as a guide, she created these delicious muffins.  One more thing - my wife loves to make baked goods as guilt-free as possible without sacrificing flavor, so feel free to sweeten or fatten these as you like.

Apple, Cranberry, Walnut Muffins
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups flour (I used a combination of spelt and whole wheat pastry)
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup wheat germ
pinch salt
½ cup yogurt
½ cup honey
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup milk
1 egg
¾ cups whole cranberry dressing
1 apple, finely diced
1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Combine ¾ cups of the walnuts with the flour, baking powder, wheatgerm and salt in large bowl. 

In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, honey, canola oil, milk, and egg.  Add cranberries and apple. Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine. 

Spoon mixture into prepared large muffin tins. Chop remaining nuts more finely and combine with brown sugar.  Sprinkle onto muffin tops.

Bake for 20 minutes.