Pumpkin Madness!

Pumpkin snickerdoodles!

A new post? Shocking, right-- seeing as I've been completely AWOL for a very long time.... sorry about that. This week I got caught up in the fall pumpkin-everything craze!  It started with pumpkin snickerdoodles and then progressed to pumpkin-sauce pasta. I still have some pumpkin left in the can... so there may be some pumpkin pancakes in store for tomorrow morning.

I still have been being food-lazy, so I mainly used other peoples' recipes for these creations.  I made the pumpkin snickerdoodles using the awesome recipe on The Nourishing Gourmet.  They are definitely some of my favorite cookies ever!! The pumpkin gives them a delightfully fluffy texture.

In the recipe, I used coconut sugar for the sweetener.  For gluten-free flour, I used 1 cup millet flour, and 1 cup of mixed garbanzo flour and brown rice flower.  I also threw in about 1/4 or 1/2 tsp guar gum for good measure.  I also added Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips to half of the batter...... but those do have cane sugar in them. (I was feeling adventurous!)  I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate, but these cookies were so good they barely needed the addition.

Pumpkin (sauce) pasta

Now, for the pasta, I cooked up some gluten-free brown rice penne and twisty things (don't know the proper pasta-name!) and whipped up some pumpkin sauce with the left-over canned pumpkin.

I really just made the sauce by taste, and followed the basic seasonings listed here. The base was pumpkin, olive oil, almond milk, and pasta water.  The seasonings were salt, pepper, sage, onion powder, garlic powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  It ended up having a great blend of savory taste, plus the implied sweetness of the touch of cinnamon.  Definitely also a winning creation.

Happy fall! Now the big question.... what are you being for Halloween???

Apple Cider Donuts with Apple Cider Syrup

MmmMMmm... pre glazed.

Perfect for the fall.  TRUTH: I ate 48 mini donuts in 3 days.  Pretty easy to make, and the result has a true cake donut crumbly-but-melt-in-your-mouth consistency.  Top them with cinnamon coconut-sugar, or drizzle with home made apple cider syrup.... or both!


 THE RECIPE:

1/3 c brown rice
1/3 c teff flour
1/3 c tapioca Flour
1 c millet flour            (totals 2c GF flour)

1 tsp guar gum
1 tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp nutmeg (or more to taste)
½ tsp cinnamon (or more to taste)

2 tbs applesauce
¾ c apple juice
5 (/7, or scant ¼ tsp) drops apple cider vinegar
3/4 c coconut sugar          
2 tbs agave
2 tbs coconut oil, melted
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Make sure coconut oil is melted—place in hot water bath/heat gently on stove if not. Mix wet into dry.

Preheat donut maker; fill donut wells—DO NOT overfill, these WILL rise well. To top, spray with sprayable coconut oil, then sprinkle with cinnamon+coconut sugar. For a sweeter taste, drizzle with apple cider syrup (and cinnamon-coconut sugar, if desired). The syrup does take away a bit from the delicate donut taste, though - so take your pick!

Apple Cider Syrup:

1 gallon apple cider

First, measure 2.5 cups cider into a large (at least a gallon) pan, and note the liquid level. Add the rest of the cider. Boil for approximately 5 hours, stirring frequently (especially at the end as it thickens), until volume is reduced to 2.5 cups. Pour into sterile (boiled) glass jars for storage. Keep refrigerated. Syrup will thicken as it cools.

Boil it down!

As it begins to thicken (~5 hrs) it will begin to froth! Exciting!

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!