Convection Baking Tips for Healthy Snacks featuring Thermador
By Larissa Taboryski on May 14th,2016Taking the time to bake your own snack foods for children or adults is well worth the effort because when you bake at home you have control over the quality of the ingredients used and can customize each recipe to your liking. Baking a variety of snacks is easy when you use the Convection Mode because in Convection you can bake on multiple racks at one time with no transference of flavor.
Baking requires ingredients we may not use on a day-to-day basis so by the time you have assembled your eggs, butter, oil, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and salt plus the ingredients for the item you are baking so you can see why it actually makes sense to bake more than one item at a time, once you have everything measured out everything goes together easily.
Tips for success when baking in Convection:
Always reduce recipe temperatures by 25°, if your baked items develop a dark ring around the edge but the center is not set then the temperature was too high. Rack positions are important for even results. When baking on two racks use rack position 2 and 5 (counting up from the bottom) when baking on three racks use rack positions 1, 3 & 5 Light colored pans are ideal for even results, dark colored pans tend to cook foods a little faster. When baking in glass dishes reduce recipe temperatures by 30° for even results.Carrot Muffins
2 – cups all purpose flour
2 – teaspoons baking soda
1 – teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 – teaspsoon salt
1 – cup sugar
2 – medium carrots, scrubbed & grated
1/2 – cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/2 – golden raisins
1/4 – cup flaked coconut
3 – large eggs
1 – cup vegetable oil
2 – teaspoons vanilla
1 – granny smith apple, shredded – do this last so the apple doesn’t brown
Preheat the oven – Convection 325° and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cups ( the recipe makes approx 18 muffins, the remaining muffins can be baked after the first batch is cooked)
Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar.
Add the carrots, pecans, raisins and coconut to the flour and toss to coat.
In a separate bowl whisk eggs, oil and vanilla together, stir in the shredded apple and combine with the flour mixture.
Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the tester comes out clean.
Quinoa Muffins
1 – cup cooked quinoa
1/2 – medium onion, finely chopped
2 – cloves garlic, minced
1/4 – teaspoon dried oregano
2 – packed cups spinach, chopped
2 – tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 – cup crumbled feta cheese
3 – large eggs, beaten
Preheat the oven to Convection 325° – spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking oil or line with paper cups.
Saute the onion in a little olive oil until softened and stir in the garlic and spinach, cook until the spinach is wilted, remove from the heat, fold in the sun-dried tomatoes and set aside to cool for 10 – 15 minutes. Beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl, stir in the feta cheese and the spinach mix and season with salt & pepper. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until set.