Cheesy Beer Muffins + Bob’s Red Mill Giveaway

Featured Ingredient: Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 

I can’t believe I have not yet used whole wheat pastry flour as a featured ingredient. How I love WWPF.

Milled from lower gluten soft wheat, whole wheat pastry flour produces less “heavy” baked goods than regular whole wheat flour which is gleaned from hard wheat. This means that whenever a recipe calls for nutritionally inferior all-purpose flour (and there are still many that do), I almost always use whole wheat pastry as a 1-to-1 substitute with very good results. Case in point: These savory cheese beer muffins. The carbonation from the beer contributes to the leavening (i.e. rising) of muffins. Make sure not to use a beer with a lot of hops such as IPA when baking as it can impart a bitter flavor. Infused with cheesy goodness, they are a wonderful muffin to take to the office for a healthy snack.

Whole wheat pastry flour is popping up in more and more stores. But if you can’t find it and want to give this recipe a shot, I’ve got good news. It is time for another Muffin Tin Mania product giveaway. The kind folks over at Bob’s Red Mill would like to award one of my readers with some of their whole wheat pastry flour to try out in the kitchen. 

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post that says “Bob, you are the man” along with some way of identifying yourself such as your initials, name or email address and I will use this online tool to randomly select a winner. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday September 12th, so if you entered write the date down on your calendar and check back in then for a chance to claim your prize.

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest. Congrats to Katherine who was randomly selected as the winner. Katherine, just use the contact button above to send me your shipping details and I will get some of the good stuff from Bob's Red Mill sent to you.

Cheesy Beer Muffins

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups wheat, lager or pilsner beer

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, thyme, and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg and whisk in beer, oil and garlic. Add wet ingredients to dry and fold in cheese. Divide among 12 standard sized greased or paper lined muffin tins. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out nearly clean. Let cool several minutes before unmolding. Serve warm.