Tag Archives: Baking

Pumpkin Cake

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One of the hardest things about eating GF (gluten-free) is finding a dessert recipe that tastes good and doesn’t have a weird consistency. Pinterest has been a great help in finding recipes, and I’m thankful for all the chefs experimenting in their kitchens and posting food blogs.

This recipe is the Paleo Pumpkin Coffee Cake from jaysbakingmecrazy.com.  I haven’t made the recipe strictly per instructions, although I think it looks fantastic.  Since I can’t have eggs, and I was missing a couple ingredients, I had to change a few things. So, if you aren’t limited like I am, use the recipe as is.  However, if you find yourself missing pumpkin pie spice and unable to digest eggs well, then here is the modified recipe:

    • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
    • 1 cup canned pumpkin
    • 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free General Purpose Flour
    • 1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour
    • 1/4 cup coconut flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    • 1/2 teapoon ground cloves
    • 1-ish teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 2-3 Tablespoons reconstituted milled flax seed (in  water about 5 minutes, to be honest, I didn’t measure…)
    • 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
CRUMB TOPPING
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup brown rice flour
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • crushed walnuts (add a bit more oil and honey if you do this, or it will be crumbly; to keep recipe nut-free, omit walnuts)

I then followed the recipe’s instructions for adding ingredients and baking:

Instructions [from the blog]:

  1. Preheat oven to 325° and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper.
  2. Make the crumb topping first: in a small bowl, combine coconut flour, [brown rice] flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, honey, walnuts, and coconut oil. Mix well- it should resemble wet sand. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, combine coconut oil, honey, coconut sugar, and pumpkin. Mix well.
  4. Add in the brown rice flour, GF general purpose flour, coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. [here add the ACV and flax seed] Mix until no dry pockets remain. Pour into prepared pan and top with crumb topping.
  5. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  6. Store in fridge after the first day.

I let the dessert cool in the pan to help it stick together and it did not fall apart when I cut it and served it.  I’ve been told this also tastes good with vanilla ice cream or cool whip.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

New weekend, new recipe. To be honest, the only parts of this bread that I should be eating are the salt and baking powder, but I did a taste test and it tasted fantastic. Here is the recipe. Substitute softened butter (no shortening), one cup vanilla yogurt (no sour cream), and cake flour. Also sprinkle in some nutmeg and extra cinnamon before scooping into the pan.

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Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies: Dairy, Gluten, & Soy free

A sweet friend texted me on New Year’s Eve to let me know she had found gluten, dairy, and soy free chocolate chips on sale and bought me some.  I had to do some last minute grocery shopping the next day, so I stopped by the clearance shelf to see if there were more.  Each bag was $1.89.  I didn’t care what they tasted like. I threw caution to the wind and bought four bags.  I tasted them as soon as I got home.  Y’all, these taste better than the “real” deal.  Seriously.

So. Good.

So. Good.

Since it was a new year, I decided to tinker around with an old recipe to come up with a new cookie recipe.  It still needs some tweaking, which I plan on doing the next time I make these (see notes at the bottom).

You’ll need:

2 Tbsp. Grapeseed Oil

2 c. Unsweetened Applesauce

1 scant tsp. Vanilla

2 eggs

2 c. Almond Flour

1 c. Quinoa Flour (this is rather bitter)

4-5 Tbsp. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Salt (maybe a pinch more)

1 bag Dairy/Gluten/Soy free chocolate chips

Directions: MIx eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla with a wooden spoon.  Add the flours, salt, unsweetened cocoa powder and baking soda, stirring with spoon until moist.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. These puff up like cake cookies, but do not spread out, so it is OK if they are close together on the sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes, depending on size. Mine needed 12 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

These are wonderfully chocolatey and tummy-friendly cookies. :)

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The end result

NOTES:

1.) These taste similar to German chocolate cake cookies.

2.) Omit the chocolate chips for a sugar-free option.

3.) The almond flour gives a sort of “gritty” texture with the bigger pieces of almonds.  I personally like the almond flavor with chocolate.  However, when I omitted the chocolate chips, I did not like the flavor or texture as much.  With the chocolate chips, it is completely fine.

4.) Nut-free option: replace almond flour with oat flour.

5.) I wasn’t too much of a fan of the quinoa flour taste in a cookie, so next time, I plan to replace it with either oat or brown rice flour.