Baking: From Glitches to Glory

There are times in life when I'm so very glad to have the opportunity for do-overs. As much as one may like to think they can master anything the first time, it rarely happens. Thus was my experience this past weekend and also today. But thankfully, in both circumstances, my 2nd round went above and beyond and so redeemed the disaster of the first attempt.

We shall start with this past weekend.

Mission: Pancakes

Now, let me first tell you that those who have tasted my pancakes know that I make absolutely delicious pancakes. They are fluffy, delicate, melt in your mouth amazing. On Saturday, Hayden and I woke up early to take both our vehicles in to Fountain Tire for the summer tire exchange. My car was finished first, so I decided to treat my lovely husband to some Saturday morning pancakes. I raced home to get a head start so to be almost finished by the time he walked through the door. I was out of white flour (which I don't like using anymore anyway) and hadn't replaced it with any new baking flour, thus I went to my container of coconut flour, intending to mix some of it with a little bit of whole wheat flour, thinking it would do the trick. I started whisking my ingredients together with glee, as I too was craving some yummy pancakes. That is when disaster hit. May I just say right now, NEVER ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever (I think that's a good amount of "ever's") use coconut flour to make pancakes! Horrible disastrous mistake. The flour sucked up the liquids so fast, and that was only using half the amount the recipe called for! I attempted to try and fry them anyway, determined as I was, but the result was the bottoms cooking, but not cooking right through the pancake. When I tried to flip them, they fell apart into a heap of crumbly goo. Many things don't mix well together in my DNA, and today the recipe for disaster was…early mornings, mixed with emotional time of the month, mixed with crushed hopes of presenting a delicious breaky for my hubby, mixed with not getting that which I craved….all equals TEARS! Yes, that's right, I had a mini melt-down right there at the stove and there was nothing stopping it. Looking back it all seems quite silly really, but in the moment, those feelings are real. Those pancakes were a nuclear bomb on my heart in that moment. The world was ending.

Well, I knew I had to redeem  myself. I needed to find another alternative so that I wasn't forced to go back to using white flour. When one is trying to remain healthy, good choices are harder to find. Hayden has been in Calgary for a couple days with work, so I thought, perfect opportunity to try out something new! If it's a flop, only I will know. If you recall from a couple posts ago, I mentioned that little diner I ate at which inspired my maple squash butter. Well, that squash butter came served upon some buckwheat pancakes! So, that's what I looked for. I headed over to my rapidly rising favourite store, Bulk Barn. I found buckwheat and read that it was ideal for…you guessed it! Pancakes! Done and done. I left the store with my new flour and a light bounce in my step.

Tonight was the night. I decided to try, not just changing up the flour, but being inspired by that little diner, making my pancakes a filling and healthy dish. I want people to be full after eating only 2 small pancakes. Thus I gathered some extra ingredients and gave it a go!

On top of my normal ingredients (I don't use pancake mixes, I make it from scratch :)) I used the buckwheat flour and added some organic granola, hulled sunflower seeds and some blueberry flavoured craisins. Even the batter looked healthy. I also substituted normal white, refined sugar for organic palm sugar. It's a much healthier choice.

The consistency of the batter was much gooier then normal, stringy even, but it cooked faster then normal pancake batter and the best part, it cooked all the way through! I was delighted when I discovered I could flip with ease. They tasted amazing and were the very thing I hoped they would be….filling.

they smelled absolutely heavenly! 

Taking my first bite! 

Success! Yummy!!!

I have redeemed this one…phew! Now I just need to make them for my hunny upon his arrival.

The second do-over I had to worry about was this evening.

Mission:Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Cups

I follow a wonderful blog called Cotter Crunch and she has some of the most lovely recipes! I'm always trying out new recipes from her blog, and tonight was no different. I tried the Chocolate Caramel Peanut Butter Cups. Not only did they promise to taste good, but are healthier and a good after-run recovery snack. Done and done!

What you need….

1 cup sugar (I use the organic palm sugar. All natural, better for you)

1 cup organic peanut butter (I used natural chunky, but smooth would work too)

1 egg

1/4 cup caramel chips (couldn't find any, so I used butterscotch chips)

dark chocolate peanut butter (anyone living in Canada will have to forego this item as it's not available here. I opted for some Nutella)

preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease muffin cups. You can make regular sized ones or mini ones. I made the mini's.

In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, peanut butter, butterscotch chips and egg.

Roll the  mixture into balls. Press and flatten the balls into each muffin cup.

Then take the Nutella (or if you can find it, the dark chocolate peanut butter. And if you find it, please let me know where!) and place it in a ziplock bag, cut the corner and use as a decorating tube.

Bake for approx 15 minutes or until the edges are set and the bottoms and edges are lightly brown.

I took this 15 minutes literally and my first batch (yes, I had to make two) came out way too dark….ok, they were burnt, and tasted not so nice. The centres were ok, but to get to those centres was not a lovely experience. The fragrance, however, which wafted throughout my home was mouth-watering. Like peanut butter cookies, only better.

the first batch looking quite sad.

Thus, thankfully, I had time to try again and hopefully improve on this treat. Tomorrow is run day, so I wanted to have a little snack upon my return. On the 2nd round, I skipped the little paper cups and just greased the pan itself. I then only baked the cups for 10 minutes. This batch was much MUCH better. I don't have a good "after" picture of those ones, but trust me, they were almost perfect. :) I was so zealous in wanting them out of the pan, however, that I crushed a couple of them. I then took a breath, told myself to chill, let it sit, and the last few popped out with little effort. I'm definitely looking forward to my recovery snack tomorrow!

Feel free to give it a try. Obviously if you have allergy's, this is not the snack for you. Unless you want to try the No Nutz peanut butter. That would work too! 

Well, I do hope that you've been given the chance for do-overs in baking glitches and mishaps in your home. Feel free to share those moments if you dare. I hope this post finds you well and enjoying the sun which is finally turning our world green.

Till next time!