Saturday, October 19, 2013

Bagels -- Maple Pecan Bagel-nuts

This morning I slept in for a change! I slept for about 9 hours, which is what I typically get in 2 nights. Needless to say, I awoke feeling extremely energetic and refreshed this morning. Hubby had an appointment at 10:30, so I decided to take advantage of my morning alone and experiment a bit with one of my existing recipes for Bagel/Squagels. While I like my Bagel/Squagels just the way they are, my point in making them that way was basically to say "don't get hung up on the shape or look of old favorites like bagels". To prove that you could still make a tasty non-traditional substitution that accomplished the same purpose, last November I made bagels in a cookie sheet and simply cut them into squares; some with holes (squagels), some without holes (bagel toast) and some cut into sticks (bagel sticks)! Mission accomplished -- they helped to fulfill the joy of having a bagel-like device to slather with butter or cream cheese and enjoy with a cup of coffee or alongside eggs!

So, as I opened my eyes this morning...I thought -- Holy Moly -- I have a donut pan now...I wonder what would happen if I tried placing my bagel/squagel dough inside that and made ROUND bagels instead of Bagel/Squagels! Recently, I have also been thinking about making a non-savory version of my bagel/squagels...more along the lines of a cinnamon-raisin or chocolate chip type bagel. Since it is fall, I decided to go with a more fall-like flavor of maple pecan bagels. I wanted them to have a sweet undertone but not a dessert-like sweetness, if that makes any sense. So, I embarked on my ROUND bagel journey this morning. I decided to halve my regular Bagel/Squagel recipe (just in case they didn't turned out they way I had envisioned). I essentially stripped my old recipe of the herbs, spices and savory flavors and made a few other minor tweaks as well. I replaced the savory flavor with the flavors of maple, cinnamon and pecan and sweetened it with Swerve and a few drops of stevia. The new recipe made 6 beautiful round "bagels". I enjoyed one for breakfast this morning, sliced in half and spread with softened cream cheese alongside a cup of Nantucket Blend coffee. It was a perfect breakfast for our damp, chilly, overcast morning. I really enjoyed them. Because they don't have the "tough chewiness" of a traditional bagel, you should cool them thoroughly if you plan to slice them in half (since they are more fragile when hot). To cut mine in half, instead of placing it sideways on a cutting board and cutting it in half vertically, I placed it flat (bottom side down) with my hand on top and used a sharp serrated knife to carefully cut it horizontally (slowly so I didn't cut my hand accidentally). The texture of these was more dense than the donuts I made last week which were more light and cake-like in texture. These were more solid but not as dense as my Bagel/Squagels, probably because of  being cooked in a more enclosed donut pan and not having the same surface area exposed like you get when spreading out the Bagel/Squagel dough. I really liked these - they turned out like a cross between a bagel and a donut -- a "Bagel-nut" of sorts (half bagel, half donut). Whatever you call them...you will call them delicious! If you decide to toast the sliced bagel-nuts, I would recommend using a toaster oven, if you have one, since they are a bit softer than my Bagel/Squagels (which toast nicely) or a traditional bagel. You can easily change the flavors and spices and make it more or less sweet to customize to your own taste. I snapped a few photos as well as the recipe for my Maple Pecan Bagel-nuts below. Enjoy!




Batter is in the pan...topped and sprinkled
Fresh out of the oven...
For perspective...this is how much they puffed up when baked (with batter to the top)



Maple Pecan Bagel-nuts
Makes 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut flour, sifted
1/2 cup blanched almond flour
3/4 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/4 cup confectioners style Swerve (or powdered erythritol)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs
7 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons extra light olive oil or coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure maple extract
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
12 drops stevia, or to taste
Toppings, optional (1 tablespoon granular Swerve or erythritol, 1/4 cup chopped pecans)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly spray a 6-cavity donut pan with olive oil or coconut oil spray and set aside. 

In a medium sized bowl, mix first 6 dry ingredients together with a whisk to help break up any lumps. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; add eggs, water, oil, maple extract, apple cider vinegar and stevia; mix until well combined.  Dough will be thick and somewhat sticky. Divide and spoon batter evenly among 6 molds; smooth tops with a finger, lightly dampened with water.

If desired, sprinkle with granular sweetener and chopped pecans, lightly pressing into top of bagels.  Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until the bagel feels done when lightly pressed near center.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing. Enjoy warm spread with cream cheese or butter, if desired.

*Note - Apple cider vinegar helps leaven the dough a bit and won't be tasted


         

25 comments:

Peg said...

Ooh, these sound so good! Thanks again GG!

Doggone it now I have to go shopping for a donut pan! :0

BTW, I finally made your Chocolate Chunk Cookies today. All I can say is WOW! It's so nice to be able to enjoy a cookie now and then and not have to worry about enduring the after effects of gluten. Oh and no squirrels to chase off today. :D

Keep up the good work!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Peg -- Thank you. Glad you are enjoying the cookies! LOL on the squirrels -- guess you didn't put enough nuts in the cookies to entice them today! Thanks, again! :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I bought the pan yesterday for the baked donuts, but I think I'll make these first. Bagels ... how about that! Just spoon the batter in, no muss, no fuss. :-)

Luana said...

I loved the pictures of your egg sandwich, and now really want to try these.

Have you made them without maple flavoring? I would think they would be fine?

Also very nice to see a recipe that doesn't call for so much almond flour.

Janet389 said...

I just finished making these bagels and they are to die for! I don't have a donut pan, so I used the muffin top pan I have. They didn't have a hole in them, but that didn't change the taste.
I didn't make them as sweet as you did. I used vanilla instead of maple extract. I was trying to get them to be more like a plain bagel. I sure hope these don't have a ton of carbs because I will be using this recipe on a weekly basis. (I still have to watch my carbs because I am carb sensitive). I think these will also work for hamburger buns because they hold together so well. My hubby even liked them and said it's the closest thing I have made to a real soft bun!
Thanks for coming up with so many wonderful recipes. I know it's a lot of time and money to do it, but we all really appreciate you helping us get and stay healthy!

Anonymous said...

What do you suggest to use if a person can not have erythritol?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis -- glad you got the pan and thanks for the tip about Michaels carrying the Wilton pans, too! Hope you enjoy the bagels. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Luana! I haven't made the non-savory without maple -- but I have made regular bagels without any extracts (just some spices instead). I think they would be fine without maple -- you could substitute a different flavor if you wanted or make them savory (like in my bagel/squagel recipe. It is a nice change from all almond flour...I agree! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Janet -- great idea baking them in the muffin top pans -- and they really did hold together even better than I imagined! I wondered if they might fall apart easier because they don't have a harder exterior crust -- but they held up well. I bet they would be great buns and you could spice them according to what you want to use them for. Thanks so much for your kind comments. Hope you enjoy using your "buns". :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous -- if you can't have erythritol, you might want to use stevia or xylitol. Xylitol measures similar to the erythritol but you have to be VERY careful because it is toxic/deadly to dog, pets, etc. Stevia would probably work well too (there is some stevia already int his recipe). You would just have to adjust it to you taste. Hope that helps! :-)

Sonshine Strong said...

The box with the smiling face arrived today with my donut pan. I'll be making these tonight. Thanks for so many awesome recipes!

~Cindy

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Cindy! Wow, that came fast! I love Amazon!!! Hope you enjoy them. For my lunch today (Monday) -- it's after midnight as I type this...was a thin cheese omelet that I folded and ate as an egg-cheese bagel sandwich -- it was good! Hope you enjoy! :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I made these a couple days ago and they're delicious! My hubby likes them as much as I do ... yay! I didn't have maple extract on hand (seems like I'm always out of stuff!) so I substituted vanilla. After spooning into the pans, I decided to try two with some dried blueberries poked down into the batter. The bagels were great both ways. The pecan topping is simply yummy! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis! Glad that both you and your hubby liked them! What a great idea to put dried blueberries in them, too! It's also a good way to try it like you did on a couple of them in case you didn't end up liking them in there...now next time chocolate chips might be nice to poke in there! ;-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

Chocolate Chips ... Y-E-S! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

LOL on the chocolate chips! That actually was my favorite flavor of sweet bagel! :-)

Sonshine Strong said...

I've been meaning to write again to let you know that we LOVED these Bagel-nuts. I've always enjoyed the flavor of bagels, but the texture was always dry and hard. These were perfect and delicious! Another keeper in our books.

~Cindy

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Cindy -- Thanks -- so glad you liked these -- and thanks for letting me know! :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

Just to clarify, I used Bob's Red Mill *unsweetened* dried blueberries. (I remember seeing them in one of your recipes.) They're quite a nice product I'd like to get the dried cranberries, too, but since they're sweetened I'm gonna pass on them.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis -- yes, I have the Bob's unsweetened dried blueberries in my fridge -- I need to use them again. I also have Bob's finely diced dried apples in the fridge, too -- I need to pull them back out and make something with them, too. I am trying to find different ways to use some of my ingredients and not just make the same thing with them each time. I would love to find unsweetened dried cranberries (similar to the blueberries). I used fresh in the cranberry muffins, but some baked goods you don't always want the moisture from the fresh berries (like these bagel-nuts, for example)...I'm afraid fresh berries might make them soggy. :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

I made this old favorite today for the umpteenth time, but this time I had an idea ... dangerous, I know! I rummaged around in the attic and found my grandma's Mirro "Cooky" and Pastry Press -- just like the one pictured here:
http://www.amazon.com/Mirro-Cookie-Cooky-Pastry-Press/dp/B0044ZDB0S/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1455410665&sr=1-1&keywords=mirro+cookie+press

I used that with the large pastry tip to fill the donut molds. It worked *great*! It was so fast and tidy. Took me *much* less time to fill the molds and no batter drips to clean up. Yes, you *do* have to wash the gizmo but that takes 30 seconds at most, so for me it's a good trade-off. I think this will be especially handy for filling small things like the mini-donut pan, which, for someone who has 10 thumbs at times, can be rather tricky.

My first idea was to pipe the dough in with a pastry bag. In the same box with the cookie press was my old (ancient) Wilton cake decorating kit, which I hadn't even thought about for *many* years. There were 2 large "feather weight" bags in there, which appeared to be in good shape, so I washed them up only to find the *plastic lining* flaking off. (I told you it was ancient!) UGH! So I went with "Plan B" and it worked beautifully! :-)

BTW, if you're ever in the market for a "vintage" Mirro Cooky & Pastry Press, don't get it from Amazon unless you enjoy paying through the nose! (60 Bucks? Gimme a break!)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

GREAT idea using that gizmo to fill the donut pan. I have a number of old Wilton cake decorating kits myself. I actually took advanced cake decorating classes decades ago, believe it or not! I don't think I have the press you used but I'll have to check my old stuff in storage out and see what all is in there. I think I have some of those feather weight bags somewhere too...but mine are probably too old to use as well. Thanks for the great idea and tip! Filling those donut pans can be such a pain! :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

It doesn't take much imagination *at all* to see you creating gorgeous works of art with frosting! :-) I never got beyond the rank-beginner stage. The course was 6-weeks long, I believe. It was fun, but didn't take long to figure out that I wasn't destined for greatness! I so happen to remember the cake I decorated for the "final" class. It was Easter time so I used the oval pans (which I actually have in my "active" cupboard to this day and still think is a lovely shape.) I made a lemon cake and, after frosting and doing a Really Simplistic shell border around the top edge and base, I stuck a bunch of those yellow marshmallow "Peeps" bunnies all over the top with toothpicks! See what I mean? (I didn't eat the Peeps, though ... not even back then!)

Another item in my attic "find" was an unopened package of triangular sheets of parchment from Maid of Scandinavia, which you fold a certain way to make disposable pastry bags. I don't even remember ordering them and my cake decorating career was so short-lived that they never even got opened!

Here’s a recipe for royal icing from the Swerve site.
http://www.swervesweetener.com/recipes/swerve-royal-icing/
I don’t see one for buttercream, though. I’m guessing that “our” kind of frosting would be too soft and “fluid” to work without the Crisco.

We have a nice sunny day today. Cold, though, 25 degrees at noon. After dipping below zero a few days ago, we’re heading for 50 degrees tomorrow, then back into the freezer by Sunday! Go figure! Hope you’re doing well and staying warm ... or cool ... as the case may be. :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

I'm sure you are right about the buttercream being too soft, unless we wanted to add some cream cheese...but then it becomes "buttercream-cheese" frosting, doesn't it! LOL Wow, you do have some chilly weather there. They say we may hit 70 this weekend which is entirely too warm.

Oh, and yes, I do remember making pastry bags from parchment sheets...I forgot all about that! I've got all that stuff tucked away somewhere too. I have so many Wilton cake pans...different characters from when my kids were little where you had to do like 5 million star tip dots to decorate...LOL. I have so many large rectangular, and round pans as well. One of our projects was to make a wedding cake so I have pillars and all that stuff somewhere, too! It was near Christmastime I remember and I decorated my wedding cake project with piped poinsettias for the flowers! Do you remember how bitter that red dye was? We used to add cinnamon oil to mask the bitterness. I can remember all the different flowers we learned to make and pipe on parchment paper so they could air dry enough to lift and set on the cakes. We made roses, rosebuds, violets, sweet peas, daisies and many others. Hope you have a good weekend and good weather to go with it! :-)

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

We did work on a few types of flowers (which was the main reason for signing up for the class.) I even have one of those little "cup" things to make lilies. AND I just remembered that I even bought some "rose soluble" at the pharmacy to make rosewater for all the lovely roses I was going to produce. Hmm ... the gum paste flowers might have been more up my alley, but I never got around to trying it. I don't remember hearing the cinnamon oil trick ... I'll file that one away for future reference! :-)

Your wedding cake project must have been *stunning*!

LOL on the "character" cakes ... at least they gave you lots of practice with the star tip! :-)