Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Well, after being my own chief reader of this blog for almost the last 2 years (coming back on to look up my own recipes because I lost them or didn't feel like looking them up, heh-heh), I'm back!

...For at least one post. ;-)

It's officially starting to feel like fall out there, so naturally, I'm starting to feel like things need be made with pumpkin around here. And since I am a big fan of muffins... and chocolate... what better recipe to start with on my pumpkin quest?

But enough chatter... let's just get to the recipe.

[Picture coming as soon as I make these again... Wish I'd have thought to do it when I made them the other night!]  

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

Ingredients:

 ¾ recipe (1½ cups) of the flour mix found in my Cranberry Bread recipe*
½ c. chopped GF oats (I used rolled oats from Trader Joe's, blending them in the food processor)

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

1½ tsp. pumpkin spice

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ c. butter or margarine

¾ c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can (approx. 1¾ c.) pumpkin

a few tbs. milk or milk substitute (as needed)

½-¾ c. chocolate chips (or raisins if you prefer)

*Edit: I previously included xanthan gum as a separate item in this recipe, but as long as you use it in the flour mix, as listed in the link, you don't need to add any extra.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, oats, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon). Set aside. In another bowl, whip butter until softened. Add sugar and mix thoroughly. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. Gradually add dry ingredients, beating mixture as you go. When the dry ingredients are fairly incorporated into the wet, add pumpkin and mix well. The batter may seem pretty thick, and this is okay, but if it seems to need a little thinning out, add a few tbs. of milk. (I've been adding 2-4 tbs. per batch.) Stir in chocolate chips.

Grease or line one muffin tin (for a dozen muffins). I recommend greasing vs. lining, because you will pretty much be filling each cup to the top. After doing so, place on a middle rack in the oven and bake for about 22-25 minutes. Best to let cool before serving, unless of course you prefer getting into a mess of melted chocolate!

These muffins are hearty little dudes that can fill you up surprisingly quickly! I sometimes make muffins as the main course of our "breakfast dinners," and while my older kids can eat 3-4 blueberry muffins easy, they could barely make it through 2 of these (and it wasn't for any absence of deliciousness). Pretty sure these will be a staple around here over the next few months. :-)

Hope you enjoy!

Cranberry Bread

Well, after over a year since I last posted, I figure it's high time for some new recipes... especially since I've been referring several people to this blog in the past couple months. Maybe over the winter I'll be able to catch up on my recipe sharing a little bit!

Today's recipe is brought to you by the classic children's book Cranberry Thanksgiving. My girls and I have been reading this book for school (using the homeschool Five in a Row curriculum), and today's project was to bake "Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread." Of course, with our dietary restrictions (including our recent re-elimination of dairy from our diets), we couldn't just follow the recipe exactly as it reads in the book. So here is my adaptation.

"GRANDMOTHER'S FAMOUS CRANBERRY BREAD"

Ingredients:
Sifted all-purpose flour, gluten-free mixture as follows:
-- 1/2 c. brown rice flour
-- 1/2 c. sorghum flour
-- 1/2 c. tapioca starch
-- 1/4 c. millet flour
-- 1/4 c. corn starch
-- 1 tsp. xanthan gum
(2 cups total flour mixture)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. butter or margarine (I used Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. grated orange peel
3/4 c. orange juice
1 1/2 c. golden raisins
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

Directions:
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice all at once; stir just until mixture is evenly moist. Fold in raisins and cranberries.

Spoon into a greased 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. [Note: Mine was finished cooking 5-10 minutes sooner than the recipe suggested, so I would check it at close to an hour.] Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.

If you choose, you may substitute cranberries for the raisins to have an all cranberry bread.

I did not change anything about this recipe except substituting the gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients, and slightly shortening the cooking time. Oh, and I also had to substitute white grape juice for about half the orange juice, since I didn't have enough. It turned out great! My only critique is that it was a little sweet for my taste... but then, golden raisins have never really been my thing, and there are quite a lot of them in this bread. I might try regular raisins or the all-cranberry version as suggested next time I make this... though perhaps not having to substitute for the orange juice would also help. :-)

Cornbread Muffins

Fall is on the way, complete with the cooler weather that calls for warm, comforting meals like chili... Which reminds me, I need to post another of my favorite chili recipes...

But anyway, the natural companion for chili and other warm meals is of course... cornbread. Who doesn't love munching on that crumbly goodness, normally slathered in some butter and honey (often mixed together as "honey butter" in my house)?

Of course, when you are gluten-free and you have been used to making cornbread from mixes, you quickly realize that just because it has cornmeal as a main ingredient doesn't mean it is gluten-free. Not to worry... plain old brown rice flour is a pretty good substitute for wheat flour in pretty much any recipe. But as I learned last night, you can make superior cornbread if you use just a few extra ingredients (including some tapioca starch that I finally found and tried out!) to bump up the quality of the flour substitution.

I've made cornbread GF style many times, but this time was definitely the best. It didn't crumble and fall all to pieces when you tried to put butter on it. Heck, I think it held together even better than my old homemade cornbread with gluten normally did. Plus I made it in muffins, so it came in a convenient little package that I didn't even have to cut! Definitely doing that again in the future.

Recipe adapted from this one from Allrecipes.com.

CORNBREAD MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1 c. buttermilk*

½ c. butter
½ c. white sugar
2 eggs

1 c. cornmeal
1/3 c. brown rice flour
1/3 c. tapioca starch (corn or potato starch will work, but tapioca is finer)
1/3 c. sorghum flour
½ tsp. xanthan gum
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

*Can be made using milk or milk substitute plus 1-2 tsp. of white vinegar or lemon juice. Let stand for 5 minutes before adding to batter.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease muffin tin (or 8-in square pan). If not using true buttermilk, prep using milk and vinegar or lemon juice (as described above).

2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Allow to cool a bit.

3. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. (Using a whisk is helpful.)

4. Whisk eggs into butter and sugar. Add this mixture and buttermilk to dry ingredients and mix well.

5. Pour into prepared tin (or pan). Bake for 20 minutes for muffins (or about 30-40 min. for bread, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). I recommend turning the tin or pan about halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly as mine does!

These are pretty tasty by themselves (especially while fresh and warm), but I couldn't resist adding butter and honey on mine. Mmm...!