Homemade Pumpkin Butter

At great long last, here’s how I make pumpkin butter. Now get baking!

Prep time: 5 minutes       Cook time: 1 hour or about 10 minutes, depending upon method      Yield: About 4 cups pumpkin butter

Ingredients

1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) sugar/baking pumpkin or 2 28-ounce cans pumpkin puree
1/2 cup (168 g) pure maple syrup
3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) apple cider or apple juice
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
*To make your own pumpkin pie spice, combine 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves + 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg.

Directions

• If using a regular sugar/baking pumpkin, preheat your oven to 375°F. Remove the stem and, with a large, sharp knife, cut the pumpkin in half through the middle. Scoop out all of the seeds (dry them, toss them with plenty of kosher salt, spread them in an even layer and toast them in a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat or in a 300°F oven until lightly golden brown and fragrant) and place the pumpkin halves, cut side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the pumpkin halves are fork-tender and the flesh has begun to shrink away from the skin (about 45 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool before scooping out the flesh and pureeing in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• In a medium heavy-bottom stockpot, combine the pumpkin puree with the maple syrup, apple cider (or juice) and pumpkin pie spice. Mix to combine well and then simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, until reduced by at least half.
• Allow to cool completely before baking with it. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Love,
Me

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Sea Salt Caramels

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup Karo light corn syrup
• 1 cup evaporated milk (note: this is NOT a full can)
• 1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. First calibrate your thermometer by placing in boiling water for 10 minutes. It should read 212°. If it doesn't, adjust your goal temperature for this recipe based on how many degrees you are off. For instance, my thermometer always registers 210°, so I cook my caramel until it reaches 246° instead of 248° like the recipe calls for.
2. Line a jelly roll pan (11"x15") with parchment paper and lightly spray or butter the sides where the parchment paper doesn't cover.
3. In a large pot, combine the sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, butter, and sea salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. I cook over the largest burner on my gas stove on a heat setting of 4. Be sure that you are constantly scraping the sides, edges, and bottom of the pan, and do not leave unattended for more than a couple of seconds.
4. Continue stirring, monitoring the temperature with a candy thermometer, until thermometer reaches 248°. The temperature reading will probably bounce up and down a bit, so I recommend stopping once you get three readings of 248°. On my gas stove, this takes me about 45 minutes; on my electric stove, this took closer to an hour.
5. When it reaches 248°, remove immediately from heat, remove the candy thermometer, and stir in the vanilla extract.
6. Immediately pour out the caramel into the lined jelly roll pan. Spread evenly with your spatula.
7. Wait 10-15 minutes, then sprinkle the surface of the caramels with large flake sea salt to your liking. If you sprinkle too soon, the salt just soaks in, too late, and it has trouble sticking to the surface.
8. When cooled completely, it is easy to lift out the parchment paper with the whole slab of caramel on it and place on a cutting board. I recommend using a sharp pizza cutter to cut into square or rectangle caramels. I usually do rectangles that are 1" x 2" and can get about 100 caramels, leaving us the edges to snack on.
9. Store at room temperature. If you allow these to chill or freeze, they will harden.

Notes

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Gluten Free Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe Ingredients 1 - 20 ounce can pineapple slices in pineapple juice 7 whole maraschino cherries 1½ cup Carol's Amazing All Purpose Gluten Free Flour or other all purpose gluten free flour blend (make sure it contains xanthan gum) 1½ teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ¾ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt 3 large eggs, separated 1 cup granulated sugar 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract ½ cup unsalted butter 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), firmly packed Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain the canned pineapple reserving ½ cup of the juice. Lay the pineapple slices (you should have 10 slices) and the maraschino cherries on a layer of paper towel and pat them then dry with another paper towel. Cut 3 of the pineapple slices in half. Whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the egg yolks, granulated sugar, reserved ½ cup of pineapple juice and vanilla until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine well. With an electric mixer beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold the egg whites into the batter, combining well. In a 10 inch cast iron skillet melt the butter over medium heat. When melted carefully swirl the pan so that the butter coats the sides of the pan. Add the brown sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar has melted into the butter and is lump free, about 1 minute. Let the sugar mixture cool very slightly then lay in the pineapple slices carefully so you do not burn yourself. Start with the center, put one whole pineapple slice in the center then arrange the other six whole slices around it. Place the halve slices in the spaces between the whole slices around the outer edge, the curved side facing toward the center. Place a whole maraschino cherry in the center of each of the whole pineapple slices. Pour the batter over the pineapples and cherries and bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cook for 2 minutes, run a knife around the outer edge then invert on a serving platter and let finish cooling. Make sure you do not let the cake cool too long before inverting or the caramel will harden and the pineapple slices will stick to the bottom of the pan.  Servings    Makes 10 - 12 gluten free servings.

Cream Cheese Almond Pound Cake

Cream Cheese Almond Pound Cake {Gluten-free}

Ingredients

• 1½ cups (3 sticks) salted butter
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (I usually use the lighter cream cheese: Neufchâtel)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 6 eggs
• 2⅔ cups Gluten Free Mama's Almond Flour Blend
• ⅓ cup corn starch
• 1½ tsp. xanthan gum

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Spray a bundt pan or 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light (medium speed -about 5 minutes).
3. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat another 30 seconds to mix well.
4. Place a sifter/sieve/strainer over a bowl. Measure the flour, cornstarch, and xanthan gum, and dump into the sifter. Sift together the dry ingredients. You can repeat to sift another time or I just used a whisk and really whisked them together well.
5. Break the 6 eggs into another bowl and set aside.
6. With your mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and the eggs to your butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
7. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
8. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan, then gently loosen the sides with a table knife or plastic spatula before turning over onto serving plate

Garlicky Guacamole

Ingredients

• 3 small/medium avocados
• 1 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice, strained
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¾ tsp. kosher salt
• ⅛ tsp. black pepper

Instructions

1. In a small/medium bowl, use a fork to mash avocados.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed. Add additional seasonings if needed to your preferred taste.
3. For best results, serve the same day as you make it.

Gluten-Free Blueberry-Peach Crisp

Gluten-Free Blueberry-Peach Crisp

Summer is all about fresh fruit - our produce box recently included a ton of peaches and blueberries and so it seemed like a good time to create a dessert.  I grew up on my mother's fruit crisps, and really wanted to make some, but I didn't wish to include a lot of extra sugar or use wheat flour.

I planned to make it entirely grain free but I found I couldn't bring myself to not include a bit of rolled oats, for nostalgia's sake - it is perfectly fine to leave them out.  They're there for texture - a chewy oatmeal cookie feel that brings back all sorts of comfort food memories for me.

I sliced the peaches, after washing them, without trying to peel them, and this worked out just fine!  I'm all about not creating extra work for myself when it doesn't matter.

The resulting crisp let both the blueberry and peach flavors shine, and as you can see, the blueberries gave the peaches a rosy color.  Since nuts and almond flour make up the majority of the topping, there is even a nice protein serving hiding in this dessert.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Peach Crisp
serves 4-6

1 tsp coconut oil, to grease pie plate
1 pint of blueberries
2-3 cups sliced peaches (about 8 small peaches)
1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats, uncooked
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey


Wash fruit.  Slice peaches into 1/8s. Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a glass pie plate or square glass casserole with 1 tsp. coconut oil. Combine fruit in pie plate, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, chopped nuts, oats and salt.  Add coconut oil and maple syrup.
 Mix with a fork to blend - don't over work it, just make sure almond flour is moistened.

Ready for the oven.

Use a pair of spoons to drop tablespoon sized portions of the crisp mixture on top of fruit. (Use one spoon to scoop up a portion, and  the other to help scrape it off that spoon so it drops onto the fruit.)

Bake for 45 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and topping is browned.  I suggest checking it at about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, you may want to cover it lightly with foil to finish baking.

Let cool until warm and serve as desired, or chill and serve cold.

Orange Creme Cupcakes

Orange Creme Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sorghum flour (or brown rice flour if you must)

3/4 cup potato starch (not potato flour!)

3/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons fresh orange zest

2 tablespoons light olive oil or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon raw organic agave or honey

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice at room temperature

 (fresh juice gives the batter a fresh, bright taste)

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water

2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients- flours through xanthan gum. 

Add in the orange zest, oil, agave, orange juice, Egg Replacer and vanilla.

Beat on medium speed for two minutes minutes until the batter is smooth and fluffy. 

Make a 'figure eight' motion if the batter climbs the beaters.

Let the batter sit a minute before spooning it into cupcake liners.

Spoon the batter evenly into twelve lined cupcake cups.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and firm 

(they should be slightly tender but too soft). Try not to open the door to peek until

 the very end of baking time- you don't want to jar the cupcakes and make them deflate. 

These cupcakes rose quite high, then slowly settled down to a slightly rounded shape 

at about20 to 25 minutes.

Remove and cool on a wire rack.

When the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with my vegan Orange Creme Frosting 

(recipe follows).

Vegan Orange Creme Frosting Recipe

Use your favorite vegan buttery spread instead of the soy-free Spectrum Organic Shortening, 

if you prefer.

Ingredients:

2 cups organic powdered sugar

1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening (or organic semi-solid coconut oil)

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice- as needed (start with less)

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar with the shortening and vanilla. 

Begin beating.Add in the orange juice a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Don't add too muchjuice too soon. Go slowly.

Beat on medium high until the frosting is smooth and creamy. If it is too thin, add more sugar;

 too stiff, add a spoonful of orange juice. You want a medium bodied icing.

Spoon the frosting into a zip-closing plastic sandwich baggie, press out the air and seal tight.

Cut a very small hole in one of the bottom corners-- not too big. To frost, place the cut tip 

over the cupcake, near an outer edge, and squeeze the bag of frosting, gripping it tightly and

moving in a circular motion, spiraling in toward the center, until the swirl of icing covers the 

cupcake.

Top with a few pieces of orange zest. Or try a sprinkle of flaked coconut, finely chopped 

pecans or walnuts.Place in a freezable container to chill or freeze. Once frozen, you can wrap 

each cupcake individually for single treats, if you like. Remove wrapping before thawing.

 To keep the icing intact.

Cook time: 1 hour

Yield: Serves 12