Cooking from the Glossies: Somewhat Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cornbread
Like most people, I prefer to start my day with a healthy meal. My breakfast usually consists of fresh fruit and two rice cakes topped with cottage cheese. It's certainly not as delicious as a bacon-and-pancake feast, but it's full of calcium and protein, and keeps me full until lunch.
That said, life if all about compromise. We deserve to treat ourselves—in moderation—every now and again. Some mornings I wake up with an insatiable craving for something warm, sweet, and carb-laden, like a scone or a thick piece of crumb cake. On such occasions I'm often tempted to head for the bakery on my corner, but I know this wouldn't be the best decision. Their muffins are amazing, sure, but they are total calorie bombs: the size of grapefruits, and made with copious amounts of oil, butter, and cream.
Instead, I often make a beeline for my freezer. It's well-stocked with loaf cakes, which are one of my favorite things to bake for their simplicity, and because they last for months frozen when well-wrapped in foil. Since I make them myself, I'm able to control the ingredients and make healthful substitutions. My banana bread will definitely cost you more than a couple of Weight Watchers points, but it's nowhere near as scary as the Starbucks treats, which can top out at almost 500 calories.
This week's Cooking from the Glossies recipe is my nutritious take on the Chocolate Chip Cornbread featured in the October issue of Bon Appétit. In addition to substituting low-fat milk for the whole, I reduced the canola oil to 2 tablespoons and made up the difference with plain yogurt. I also added a generous handful of chopped, unsalted pistachios for a dose of crunch, protein, and good-for-you fat. The results were moist, rich, and sweet—perfect with a slather of raspberry jam and hot cup of coffee.
Chocolate Chip Cornbread
- makes one 9x5-inch loaf -
Adapted from Bon Appétit
Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted pistachios
1 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 large eggs
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray a 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan with cooking spray and dust with flour, tapping out the excess. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and pistachios. Whisk milk, canola oil, yogurt and eggs in a medium bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients; stir just to blend. Transfer to prepared pan.
2. Bake bread until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Invert cornbread onto a rack. Cool slightly. Serve cornbread warm or at room temperature.
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6 Comments:
I have to be honest, it bothers me a little that this is called cornbread. Not because it isn't "technically" cornbread (I don't know that the technical definition is), just because I'm from the South, and we take cornbread very, very seriously. And it is slightly blasphemous to put chocolate chips and pistachios in cornbread. Nonetheless, it looks possibly delicious.
I also am always on the lookout for healthy breakfast/morning snack options, so that I don't wander into a pastry shop without even knowing what happened. I made these
pumpkin muffins this week, but I replaced the water and oil with applesauce, and the nuts with chocolate chips. They are very tasty and keep well.
Laurel E at 9:40AM on 09/18/08
YUM.
Christina at 11:55AM on 09/18/08
Could this be converted into a muffin recipe? If so, any thoughts on how to do it?
Amandarama at 1:15PM on 09/18/08
@Amandarama...I converted a cinnamon streusel quick bread recipe (9x5 loaf) into muffins before by greasing two standard-size muffin tins (or you could use paper liners). Fill the muffin cups about two-thirds full. Bake at the same temperature specified for the loaf. The length of baking time would be anywhere between 16 and 24 minutes (check at the minimum time and keep checking at regular intervals just to make sure). I can tell by touch whether the muffins are done but you could use a toothpick. I leave muffins in the pan between 5 and 10 minutes, then turn them out on a rack to cool.
holdthemayo at 4:30PM on 09/18/08
@holdthemayo - Thanks!
Amandarama at 9:12PM on 09/18/08
I love cornbread and I may have to give these a try. I made a boxed carrot cake the other day and used egg whites and a can of pumpkin (15oz) and added some raisins. Chocolate chips would have been great too, never thought of that. It was delicious and my 7 yr old daughter loved it. She had it for breakfast every morning until it was gone.
tammiebalon at 5:59PM on 09/24/08