Baking with Spent Grains

After brewing on Saturday, we were left with a bag of spent grains from Nate's red ale. I just hate throwing things away that could have been put to good use, so I went to work looking for ways to use the grains. I found this recipe for muffins and threw it together right after brewing. I only made one batch since I didn't have any idea how they'd taste, but they were actually really good! Thanks to Chef Lisa for the recipe.

Banana Peanut Butter Spent Grain Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups spent grains
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup mashed banana (about 2 med.)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup milk

Smelly grains!

The grains lent a nice chewiness to the muffins that we really enjoyed. The peanut butter flavor wasn't very apparent, but I think this could be used as a good template for other flavors of muffins using spent grains. I think you could replace the banana with shredded zucchini, add nuts or raisins or whatever else suits your fancy. This recipe wasn't overly sweet, they seem more like a breakfast muffin to me than a dessert.

They had some distinctly brewey undertones in them and were a hit with the boys. I plan to experiment with some grainy goodies every time Nate brews from now on!