Another Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffin

Why make ANOTHER gluten free pumpkin muffin you ask? Good question! I'm in love with Trader Joes pumpkin pie spice and I wanted to try out the Trader Joes All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. The last pumpkin muffins I made were wonderfully dense and moist. These are equally moist, but the texture is lighter and closer to a gluten FULL muffin. AND this time I added my most favorite of all chocolate chips from Guitard. You could add pecans instead I suppose. It's not chocolate, but it would be tasty too. My hubby reluctantly tried 1/2 of one (he's generally not a big fan of gluten free foods) and then asked if he could have a whole one! They are THAT good.

DRY INGREDIENTS

2 cups Trader Joes AP Gluten Free flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spices

1/2 tsp kosher 

WET INGREDIENTS

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup Trader Joes Spiced Apple Cider

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin purée 

OPTIONAL

1 cup Guitard milk chocolate chips 

OR

3/4 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line your muffin tin with paper/foil liners.

2) In a medium sized bowl whisk the dry ingredients. Set aside. 

3) In a separate bowl whisk all the wet ingredients EXCEPT the pumpkin. 

4) Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. 

5) Add the pumpkin purée and fold in until combined. If using chocolate chips or pecans, fold them in as well.

6) Scoop batter into your prepared muffin pans filling each cup 2/3 full. I like to use an ice cream / cookie scoop. I had enough for 14 muffins. 

7) Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the muffin passes the toothpick test.

8) After baking, let the muffins sit in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

NOTES: I wouldn't change a thing. Well, maybe a few more chocolate chips! And I'm thinking of using this recipe as a base... subbing apple sauce for the pumpkin, blueberries for the chips, lemon  extract for the vanilla, and leaving out the pie spice to make lemon blueberry muffins. Mmmmm I do love muffins. Can you tell? ;)

Fall Smoothie

The farmers market was glorious this past weekend! We picked up delicious organic strawberries, perfect bok choy, adorable baby potatoes, raw peanuts, crisp apples, raw honey, beautiful fuyu persimmons, fantastic pluots, and the makings for some really tasty pico salsa. We are still able to get the best of summer fruits and veggies, at the same time get yummy fall favorites. We are so blessed here in California! 

This morning I combined 2 of our weekends treasures, raw honey & fuyu persimmons with some pantry goods to make a fantastic creamy non dairy smoothie! Wonderful fall flavor packed into a cool summer treat! My 3 girls and I gulped it down. I'll need to make a double batch next time!

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 cup cooked pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 fuyu persimmons

1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp stevia

2 tsp raw honey

Pinch of salt

ice cubes (if you want it cold)

DIRECTIONS: 

Throw it all into a high powered blender and process until smooth. 

NOTES: You can use all stevia or all honey if you want. I tried it with the stevia first and felt like something was missing. I added the pinch of salt and the honey and it was perfect! The honey added a depth that was lacking. You could also make it with almond milk instead of water or add some chia seeds if you are looking for more protein. Enjoy!

Fall is finally here!

It is my favorite time of year in Northern California! The mornings are cool, crisp, and sometimes foggy. The afternoons are still warm and clinging to the last bits of summer's heat. The leaves are beginning to turn colors, and the houses in our neighborhood are decorated with pumpkins in anticipation of Halloween. It's time for jeans, and boots, and light weight sweaters. It's time for soups, and apples, and the flavors of pumpkin pie spices.

This weekend I tried out a new baked oatmeal recipe. There are three reasons I love this recipe, (1) you make it the night before and bake it in the morning, (2) the house smells spicy and delicious when it is baking, and (3) it has a crispy sugary caramely topping like creme brûlée! Plus it's heart healthy oats! Can't go wrong with that!

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 small apple, grated

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

3 cups old-fashioned oats

brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1) Grease a square baking pan. I like to use my Anchor Hocking 9 x 9 covered glass casserole dish.

2) In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients in order except the brown sugar until thoroughly combined.

3) Poor mixture in your baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

4) In the morning, pull it out of the fridge and preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

5) Bake for 25 -30 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle brown sugar evenly over top of the oatmeal and place back in the oven under the broiler. Broil for one minute, or until sugar melts and begins to caramelize.

6) We like it served warm with a drizzle of more coconut milk. And it reheats in the microwave beautifully! 

Strawberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Today is Sunday and my husband is playing on the worship team at church. He got up at six and left the house long before any of the children were stirring. Normally about now I would be issuing orders to the girls to quickly finish eating their cereal and get dressed so we are not late for the first service. But today the girls are getting over a nasty cold and our youngest is still sleeping. So the Hughes girls will be staying in pajamas this morning, playing with toys, and eating a leisurely pancake breakfast. I created these tasty vegan Strawberry Cornmeal Pancakes using Martha Stewart's basic pancake recipe as a template. I bake all my pancakes in a large casserole dish so we can all eat at once. No more flipping pancakes while everyone else eats! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup corn meal

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 tsp baking powder

2 cups coconut milk

2 Tbsp flax meal + 6 Tbsp water (or 2 large eggs)

3 Tbsp canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

Non stick cooking spray or butter 

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a medium sized casserole pan with non stick cooking spray or butter.

2) In a large bowl mix together flour, corn meal, brown sugar, and baking powder. Set aside.

3) In another bowl, mix together coconut milk, flax meal plus water mixture, oil, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

4) Pour into prepared baking dish, top with sliced strawberries, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

You could easily make substitutions - whole wheat flour for the corn meal, or regular milk for the coconut, or sliced peaches for the strawberries. I happened to be out of eggs, so I subbed in the flax meal and water. Use your imagination and let me know what you think!

D is for Donut!

Each Friday as part of our homeschool preschool, we end the week in the kitchen making some sort of yummy treat. And this week we made quite possible THE BEST THING TO EVER COME OUT OF MY KITCHEN!! We made baked apple cider donut holes. Maybe they don't count in your book as donut holes because they aren't fried in a vat of oil. Fine. Call them a muffin, call them whatever your creative heart comes up with. Just make them. I promise you'll fall in love. You might even get someone to fall in love with you if you can manage to share them. They are THAT good.

I INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE BATTER

1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 egg, beaten 

1/2 cup apple cider (I used Trader Joe's)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Non-stick cooking spray

FOR THE SUGAR COATING

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground ginger

2 Tbsp melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Spray with a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3) In a large mixing bowl, add all they dry ingredients and mix with a whisk. Set aside.

4) In a small sauce pan over medium heat combine the cider, sugar, vinegar, & butter until the butter is melted and everything is combined. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, stirring to combine.

5) Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until there are no lumps.

6) Fill each mini muffin cup 2/3 full with batter.  I use a small ice cream scoop.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 6-7 minutes. 

8) While the donut holes are baking, make the sugar coating. In a small bowl melt the butter for the sugar coating in the microwave. Set aside. In another small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Set aside.

9) Allow to donut holes cool in the pan for two minutes. Remove each muffin and dip the top in melted butter, then roll in the sugar and spice mixture. Do this for each donut hole and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy right away. You can store left overs in an air tight container - if you have any!

5 Ingredient Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

These are embarrassingly easy. And made from a box, so don't shoot me.  But they are so quick and super tasty, I couldn't NOT share them with you! And they are HEALTHY!!!

Here are the ingredients:

Yep. That's is. And if you happen to have pumpkin pie spice, use that instead of the cinnamon & nutmeg, and it's only 4 ingredients!!

1 box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

1 can of organic pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp grated nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. Mix it all the ingredients together. Divide batter into your prepared muffin tin. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Fast, easy, light, moist, healthy, & most important, DELICIOUS!

I'm planning to make an apple cider glaze for mine. Slightly less healthy, but oh so tasty. 

GLAZE: 1/2 cup apple cider, 1 Tbsp powdered sugar, & 1 Tbsp melted Earth Balance buttery spread. Whisk it all up and drizzle away. Yummy fall flavors in a portable snack. Gotta love.