As much as I enjoy baked goods, I don’t really have a sweet tooth. My favorite pastries minimize the sugar and boost the flavor, so I incorporate some unexpected ingredients into my recipes. One of those ingredients appears in the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I make Berry Chocolate Muffins with the whey left from draining Homemade Yogurt to thicken it. Not only does it add nutrients and tanginess to the muffins, but I avoid pouring the whey down the drain, a practice that can lead to environmental problems when dumped on a commercial scale.

My next choice for the liquid in these muffins is Cultured Buttermilk, the tastier and thicker version of an artificially thickened store-bought buttermilk or the milk you hastily spike with lemon juice to hint at the soured flavor. Once you start baking with these liquids, you’ll find a place for them in everything from biscuits to cake.

Learn more about baking with whey and get the complete recipe for Berry Chocolate Muffins in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

You’ll find other ingredient swaps that make baked goods healthier and more flavorful throughout the recipes on the blog. They include simple changes, like replacing some of the white flour with whole wheat and highly processed sugars with more natural ones. I often replace some of the fat in quick breads with homemade applesauce or pumpkin puree. Beyond using whey, I mix sour cream or actual yogurt into recipes for their fermented taste.

Here are just a few of the baking recipes on the blog that incorporate unexpected ingredients. You can find more in the recipe index.

• Double Apple Muffins
• Sour Cream–Applesauce Coffee Cake or Muffins
• Zucchini Sesame Bread
• Pumpkin–Chocolate Cookies
• Chocolate–Sour Cream Cookies
• Very Ginger Cupcakes
• Chocolate Zucchini Cake

You can learn more about using whey left from cheese and yogurt making in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.