Pumpkin Scones

More in the Halloween Spirit-- this recipe was taken directly from Daring to Thrive.

These were the sconiest scones ever.

In college, my eating club Cloister Inn had the BEST chocolate chip and cinnamon-sugar scones-- and I would all-too-often binge eat three of them at a time. I had never really experienced scones before Cloister, but these were fantastic. They were still warm, crumbly on the inside, but crisp on the outside... just delicious!

These pumpkin scones could give Cloister's a run for their money. Just kidding mine would win because they're HEALTHY!

THE RECIPE: (from Daring to Thrive.)

1 cup brown rice flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup millet flour

1/3 cup tapioca flour

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ cup agave nectar or honey or brown rice syrup

1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree

6 tablespoons of softened coconut oil

1/3 cup of fake milk (I used soy)

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Carob or chocolate chips, if desired

Preheat oven to 400. 

Combine 'milk' and vinegar and let sit. This = buttermilk substitute!

Combine dry ingredients.

Cut coconut oil into dry ingredients until batter consists of little pebbles of uniform size.

Combine wet ingredients.

Mix wet into dry, knead a little with your hands. Add chips if desired.

Bake on an airbake cookie sheet, or double-layered normal cookie sheets, to prevent bottoms from burning. Grease either with oil first to prevent sticking.

Shape dough in rectangles on sheet. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form two triangle-shaped scones... or shape however you want. Bake for 20 min at 400, then an additional 10 at 350.

Again, see Daring to Thrive for original instructions.

Yum!

Sesame Tofu

OMG chinese food!!!! Also, my entry for the SOS Kitchen Challenge: October! Also, first in my series of Food Around the World! (just wait, it will be great...)

Seriously, this is pretty much restaurant-worthy sesame tofu.

The Recipe:

Use extra-firm tofu: either buy a brick and drain, blot between paper towels, and chop into bite-sized cubes, or if you can find it- use the pre-cubed variety.

Lightly bread tofu cubes in potato starch (/flour of your choice). I did this by dropping tofu into a ziplock bag with a few teaspoons of flour, and tossing until breaded.

"Fry" tofu by sauteing it with sesame oil on a frying pan until lightly toasted. (Or, deep fry in sesame oil if you dare!) Also, be careful if you throw a ton of the cubelets on a small pan-- the breading will make them stick together! So keep stirring/chopping them apart.

The sauce:

1.5 tbs agave nectar
3 tbs bragg's liquid aminos
2 tps powdered ginger
~1-2 cloves garlic (I used a dash of garlic paste instead)
4 tsp red chili powder (I used a dash of red pepper hot paste)
2 tbs sesame oil
1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1.2 tsp potato starch (optional-- I tried to thicken it a bit, but it didn't do much!)

Pour sauce over tofu, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Eat, and finally satisfy that chinese food craving-- minus the sugar, MSG, and other unhealthy mystery ingredients!

Pumpkin Sandwich Cake

It's October, thus I am in Halloween mood.

Yep, that's delicious. Two-layer pumpkin cake, with sugar-glaze filling and chocolate frosting. (Tastes like real food!)

THE RECIPE:

 Cake:

3 eggs
15 drops stevia
4 tbs agave            [cream]
¾ c pumpkin            [add]
3/4 c flour: garbanzo+millet+tapioca+brown rice
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp guar gum

Bake in two 8 ½ inch round pans at 350 for ~15 mins (until toothpick comes out clean).
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool on cooling racks.

Middle filling “white” frosting: (agave-sugar glaze)

¾ c cocnut oil, softened
¾ c light agave [makes it REALLY sweet!! beware!]
5 tbs potato starch
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs coconut flour?
¼ tsp guar gum

Mix, chill.

Chocolate outside frosting:

1/3 carob powder
14.4 tbs / 3.8 tbs oil

12 drops stevia
1 tsp agave (/to taste)

(same as Vanilla Bean cake frosting recipe)

Assembly:

Spread white glaze frosting on top of bottom layer of cake.

Place next layer on top. Cover with chocolate frosting.

If you're feeling creative, use potato starch (or tapioca flour) to stencil on a spooooky message (aka: boo.) It's not too hard- I chopped out the letters from a rando scrap of paper and it worked jussst fine.

Also: MOLD WARNING! Refrigerate pronto to avoid this moist-baked-good disaster. Invisible rancidity is all too common with ACD baking, and this moist, gooey cake is a prime candidate. I foolishly let this cake sit out, and by day three I had to amputate 75% of the cake to save the outer (dryer) perimeter!


 Anyway, this cake is delicious, so bake it.




Also, it took me over 3 hours to invent the middle frosting layer. White frosting is maybe the HARDEST thing EVER to ACD make without (a) sugar, (b) dairy, (c) soymilk powder, or (d) chia seeds. Seriously. Oh, or (e) using the ol' whipped coconut milk trick. My first attempt turned into tortillas. Really. Shockingly pliable tortillas, too! So, if you ever want to make super foldable pita/tortilla items, use a tonnn of tapioca flour. Hooray for eating my mistakes!

Squirrel Treats: Autumn Acorn Cookies

Happy Fall!

The seasons are a-changing. Until today, I hadn't posted in about a month. This is because, I started my real job! Hello, working world. Maybe now I'll actually be able to pay for all my organic baking supplies....

Anyway, I whipped up some squirrely acorn treats to commemorate the fall-ness:

Yummo. Perfect two-bite snacks! Also, check out that sweet maple-leaf mini-dish, which I scored at a yardsale last weekend. Get this-- it's from Occupied Japan, and I got it for FIFTY CENTS!!! (/two for $1) Success.

THE RECIPE:

1/4 c each of:
-millet flour
-garbanzo bean flour
-brown rice flour
-tapioca flour (scant)
-flax seed meal
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp guar gum    ---> combine all dry ingredients
1/2 tsp vanilla
10+ drops stevia
extra light olive oil

chococlate chips / hazelnuts
almond / nut butter
almond meal
almond slivers

Add oil gradually, cutting into dry ingredients gradually. Add vanilla and stevia to oil, so that they mix in evenly. Add oil until batter is pie-crust consistency (flour is just barely not-powdery anymore).

Shape dough around a chocolate chip and/or hazelnut, molding it into an acorn shape. Next, place a dab of almond butter on top of the "acorn" to form the lid. Roll this top area into almond meal, pushing the almond butter glob around the top of the acorn. Finally, stick an almond meal sliver into the "lid" to form a stem.

 Tadaa, you just made an acorn. Feel free to use other fillings (nuts, carob chips, coconut, etc).

Bake at 350 for ~10 minutes.

Consistency was powdery, taste not all that sweet, but still yummy. Add more sweetener if desired.

Rocky Mountain Mystery Green Dinosaur Cookies

1. When I was little I thought the Rocky Mountains looked like chocolate chip cookies, because they were tan with dark spots (which were trees, and sadly not chocolate.)

2. I decided that I'm going to be a dinosaur for halloween this year. Also, when I was little, I had a song that went "Roo doo doo doo dooo doo-doo di-o-na-saaur, what are YOU going to be-for-Hallow-ee-een?" I would sing this consistently from Sept 1-October 31, and I though that a dinosaur was the WORST thing in the WORLD to be for Halloween.

3. I read that when sunflower nut butter is cooked it turns green. Sometimes. How mysterious!

1 + 2 + 3 = Rocky Mountain Mystery Green Dinosaur Cookies!!!!!

Version 1: 

THE RECIPE:

1/2 c coconut oil
1 egg
1 tbs + 1 tsp agave
1/2 c sunflower nut butter (I use Maranatha)   --> cream all above ingredients
1 c all purpose gluten free flour
1/2 c millet flour
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 drops stevia

Mix all ingredients. I tried rolling/cutting a few into dinosaur shapes, but they were too crumbly. Also, too oily. Also, not alll that sweet, but still yummy. ALSO: THEY WERE NOT GREEN!!!!! how disappointing.

This led me to:

Version 2: (aka, WTF??!? cookies)

THE RECIPE****:

1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
3 tsp agave
1/2 cup sunflower nut butter  ---> cream all above ingredients
1 c all purpose flower
1/2 cup millet flower
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbs tapioca flour
10 drops stevia
unknown and unrecorded amount of yacon syrup.


Okay here's the deal. 1) They turned green. Very, very, awesomely green. 2) They were absolutely disgusting, and WAY too greasy. And, I had NO idea why. Then, two weeks after I fed these green monsters to my dad and sister because I couldn't stand them, my mom told me that she put sesame oil in an unlabeled Yacon Syrup can.

So, these probably would have been great, had I actually used yacon and not, apparently, sesame oil. As it were, they were awful. So, make at your own risk. (= ****)

Oh- also- sunbutter + baking powder = green. Mystery solved. DINOSAURRR!!!!!

Cucumbers Galore

THE RECIPE:
Cucumbers.

My garden produces one thing: Cucumbers. What is the MOST difficult vegetable to find something to do with? Cucumbers.

I do not particularly like cucumbers. However, they are quite refreshing, and make a good snack when sliced into chip-shape. At any rate, I'm proud to have produced some whoppingly big cucumber specimens.

HUUUGE cucumber.

 

Yep, that's a big one.

 

The garden in its prime! Note the chard in the bottom left corner. Sadly, it got devoured by mischievous squirrels before I could harvest any.

Basil Cheesey Eggs

This one isn't too hard a concept. Great for a quick lunch.

THE RECIPE:
1 egg
1-2 Basil leaves
Some soy cheese
Little bit of almond milk.(~1 tsp)

Crack egg on frying pan. Dump in ~1 tsp almond milk (adds fluffiness). Sprinkle in a small handful soy cheese (I used a "mozzarella" variety), or as much as you want. Break up fresh basil, and add that. Scramble it all together. When egg is just-cooked (no clear parts left), remove from pan and consume.