Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

It's pumpkin season and I am busy adding pumpkin to some of my favourite recipes. I love this version of cornbread muffins. The pumpkin puree adds moisture and the spices create a warm, festive flavour. Enjoy slathered with butter and honey and along side stew, soup or chili.

Mini Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

We love them as mini muffins and I always make extra to freeze or take with leftovers for lunch. You can use the batter to make pumpkin cornbread pancakes too! (may need more milk)

makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

1/3 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Oil

1/2 cup Pumpkin (or squash) Puree (I use home made but store bought works)

1/3 cup milk 

2 Eggs

1/2 cup Cornmeal

1/2 cup Corn Flour (or use more cornmeal)

1 cup Rice Flour (or your favourite GF flour blend)

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice 

Directions

Mix together wet and dry ingredients separately, then combine.

Spread batter equally between 12 muffin tins lined with papers (or use mini muffin tins)

Bake at 350 for around 15 mins (more like 10 mins for mini muffins)

Serve warm with butter and honey or freeze for later once cool.

Not a pumpkin fan? Try my regular cornbread muffins!

Thin Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Thin Pizza Crust

I have been working on filling my freezer with easy meals for after this baby is born. I was craving pizza the other day and thought some gluten free personal pizzas would a good addition to my freezer stash (store bought frozen pizzas for the hubby). I made one large pizza for supper and 2 personal pizzas for the freezer from this recipe. It would be really easy to just freeze the crusts with no toppings (and normally I would), but for the sake of future convenience, I topped them before freezing.


Hawaiian Pizza

I got the recipe from the blog Minimalist Baker and made a few minor changes. The only special ingredients you need are brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan or guar gum. You could just use all brown or all white rice flour and it would still turn out. It is also egg free and milk free (if you use a cheese substitute).

Personal Pizzas

My husband was impressed with this crust and so was I. It's nice and thin with a chewy base and crispy edges. So far it's the best crust I've tried. Hope you enjoy it too!

makes 2 medium-large pizzas
Ingredients

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup White Rice Flour
1 cup Tapioca Starch
1 tsp Guar Gum (or 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Sugar, divided
1 Tbsp Yeast
1 1/4 cups Warm Water, divided
1 Tbsp Canola Oil (or other oil of your choice)

Directions

Proof 1 T yeast with 3/4 cup warm water and 1 Tbsp sugar. Let sit 5-10 minutes or until foamy.
In a large bowl, combine rice flours, tapioca starch, guar gum, salt, baking powder and remaining 2 T of sugar.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add oil, remaining 1/2 cup water, and yeast mixture.
Mix until well combined.
Oil your baking sheets (or line with parchment) and use half of the dough for each pizza, or a 1/4 to 1/5 of the dough for personal sized pizzas.
With oiled hands, press the dough into desired shape (crust should be very thin).
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (20-25 minutes for personal size). Dough will become dry and cracked looking but that's normal.
*
Now add your favourite sauce and toppings.
Bake again for around 20 minutes or until the edges are golden and everything seems cooked through.

* At this point you can let them cool and freeze if you want. If you add toppings before freezing you can bake them from frozen (about 20 minutes). If not, let them thaw before topping and baking for 15-20 minutes.
I put my toppings on my crusts while they were still warm so the cheese was starting to melt just a little bit. After they cooled, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and then foil and froze them individually.

Press dough into pizza pan

 

Or press them into personal sized pizzas

 (I forgot to take a picture of the baked crust before topping so you'll have to trust me that it's supposed to look dry and cracked)

Bake, top, and bake again!

Monkey Bread

Gluten Free Monkey Bread

I really don't know where the name "Monkey Bread" came from, but it seems to be what everyone calls this delicious mass of sticky bun balls all stuck together. I actually use the same dough recipe for this as I do for my cinnamon buns.

I have started a tradition of monkey bread for Christmas breakfast. It's great because we can make it the night before and take it out of the fridge to rise first thing when we get up. Just remember to give it a little extra time to rise. If you have little kids, they can get help make the balls of dough and dip them in the butter and sugar. It's also great for dessert or brunch any time of the year!

This recipe is enough for 2-3 people and is made in a loaf pan. You could easily double the recipe and cook it in a tube or bundt pan with a hole in the centre (or 2 loaf pans)

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Warm Milk

1 1/4 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend (see Flour Blends page)
1/4 cup Tapioca Starch
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3 Tbsp Oil
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Base Sauce:
3 Tbsp Melted Butter or Margarine
1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup chopped Pecans, Almonds or Hazelnuts (optional)

Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup Melted Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon


Directions

In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and warm milk. Set aside to proof for 5-10 minutes.
Using a stand mixer or by hand, mix dry ingredients (first 5 ingredients) in large bowl.
Mix remaining 4 wet ingredients separately.
While mixing, add wet ingredients and yeast mixture to dry ingredients. Let mix for 2-3 minutes (or mix well by hand)

Monkey Bread Dough

Prepare your loaf pan by buttering the sides

Base Sauce:  mix together 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a bowl, microwave until bubbling (about 20 seconds) and pour into loaf pan. Sprinkle nuts all over the bottom.

Base Sauce and Chopped Hazelnuts

Dipping Sauce: place 1/4 cup melted butter in a small bowl. Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a separate small bowl.

Form small balls (1 1/4-1 1/2 inches in diameter) from the dough. (this is the part the kids can do!)
Coat the balls in the melted butter, then roll in the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and place in loaf pan, leaving a tiny bit of space for rising.
Continue until all the dough is used up.

Dip Balls in Butter then Sugar/Cinnamon Mixture

Place in Prepared Loaf Pan

Let rise until roughly doubled in size.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins or until top starts to turn brown.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out on a plate (this will help the balls stick together better)

Monkey Bread Before Rising

After Rising

After Baking

Let cool 5-10 mins and turn out (we didn't wait long enough and it kind of fell apart... not a huge issue for me!)

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Buns

Gluten Free Cinnamon Buns

I had all but given up on cinnamon buns. After so many disastrous batches, I was starting to think I would never again have the luxury of biting into a warm, soft, sticky cinnamon bun again. Last week when my cousin Lucy asked if I had a good GF cinnamon bun recipe, I had to tell her: sadly, no. But, it gave me the motivation to give it another try... and I'm glad I did! These turned out great and the dough was actually fairly easy to work with for being gluten free.

mmm...

I looked up a couple different gluten free cinnamon bun recipes online and basically made a new recipe using similar ingredients. It helps to make smaller rather than larger buns. They are easier to work with that way, and you can eat more than one without feeling too guilty :) This recipe has a lot of steps to follow, but they really aren't that hard. The rolling out just takes a little patience. Oh, and so does the baking part... when you can smell them but can't eat them yet because they're laced with bubbling lava sugar!

I will definitely be making these again and I hope you all enjoy them as much as we did (yes, even the gluten eating husband was a fan). Thanks for the reminder Lucy! These are for you <3

bakes at: 350
makes 8 small cinnamon buns - recipe can be easily doubled
Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Warm Milk

1 1/4 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend (see Flour Blends page)
1/4 cup Tapioca Starch
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3 Tbsp Oil
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Filling:
2 Tbsp Butter or Margarine (at room temp)
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Base Sauce:
3 Tbsp Melted Butter or Margarine
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
(mix together, microwave until bubbling (about 20 seconds) and pour into greased square baking dish)

Directions

In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and warm milk. Set aside to proof for 5-10 minutes.
Using a stand mixer or by hand, mix dry ingredients (first 5 ingredients) in large bowl.
Mix remaining 4 wet ingredients separately.
Turn mixer back on, add wet ingredients and yeast mixture to dry ingredients. Let mix for 3 minutes (or mix well by hand)

Dough

Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap out on the counter. Lightly oil the top side. Prepare another piece of plastic wrap (same size) by oiling one side (this side will be face down on top of the dough)
While your hands are still a bit oily, pick up the dough and form it into a rectangle shape.
Lay dough on the oiled plastic wrap and cover with the second piece of plastic.
With a rolling pin, roll out the dough, repositioning the plastic as needed, until it's a rectangle about 8"x12" in size.
Remove top plastic wrap.
(If you double this recipe you will want to roll out the dough in two batches)

make a small rectangle with your hands and place between oiled plastic wrap

roll out with rolling pin until the dough is roughly 8"x12"

Prepare filling by combining the 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 T soft margarine and 1 T cinnamon.
Spread it over the surface of the dough, leaving a little bit of space on one long side with no filling so that you can seal it after you roll it up.
Start rolling up the dough at the long side that has the filling spread to the edge. Pull the plastic wrap in the direction you want to roll the dough to help it along.
Pinch the edge to seal in the filling and keep the buns from unrolling.

spread filling over dough, leaving space on one long edge for sealing

roll dough into a log, pulling up the plastic to help it along

lightly pinch the edge to seal it and keep it from unrolling

With a knife, make shallow dents on the cinnamon log to separate it into 8 pieces. This makes it easier to cut equal size buns.
Take a piece of dental floss or thread and position it under the cinnamon log. Cris-cross the string to cut the 8 individual cinnamon buns. (If you try to cut it with a knife it will just squish it)

make marks where you want to cut then use floss to cut without crushing the dough

Prepare a square baking dish by oiling and pouring in the base sauce (see ingredient list for directions)
Place cinnamon buns in the dish, close together but not touching.
Let rise in warm, draft free place for 30 mins (they should grow much larger)
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are light brown.
Let cool 5 minutes in the dish then invert on a plate.

pour the base sauce in oiled dish and place cinnamon buns with space to rise

let rise for 30 mins

bake 20-25 mins or until they start to brown. Let cool 5 minutes.

after cooling 5 mins, turn the dish over on a plate. they may or may not stick to each other... mine didn't

Let cool another 5-10 mins so you don't burn yourself.
Serve warm!
Left overs can be kept at room temperature and microwaved up to 2 days. They can also be frozen and reheated in the microwave (but be careful, they will be hot!)

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

This summer is soooo hot. Maybe it's just that I've lived in a basement suite or a house with AC for as long as I can remember, but it feels hotter than most. We have taken to sleeping in the unfinished basement for now as our main floor runs at about 80-82 Fahrenheit on average in the evenings. That said, I haven't had many opportunities to bake. We had a couple rainy days last week and the temperature dropped just low enough for me to brave turning on the oven; let me just say it was well worth it!

I found a delicious looking recipe for double chocolate zucchini loaf on the King Arthur Flour website (original recipe here). It wasn't gluten free or anything, but it inspired me to try my very first zucchini loaf. While most gf loaves tend to fall in the centre, this one held its form perfectly and tasted even better than I expected! It has 2 whole cups of grated zucchini, which is a total bonus since it tasted like chocolate cake. I only put in 1/2 cup chocolate chips (original recipe called for a cup) and my husband said I should put less in unless I was planning to call it chocolate cake... then he proceeded to eat at least half of the loaf throughout the rest of the day. hehe.

I use my light flour blend, but you might be able to substitute other blends. I think the combination of rice, millet and tapioca starch gives the best texture to muffins and cakes.
This is a great way to use up zucchini from your garden or to take advantage of the low prices on zucchini this time of year. Enjoy!

(makes 1 medium sized loaf)
Ingredients

1/2 cup Brown Sugar (or 1/4 cup if you want it less sweet)
1/4 cup White Sugar
1 2/3 cups GF flour blend (my light flour blend works best)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups Shredded Zucchini (don't peel, but do remove some of the middle seeded part)
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (omit or use 1/4 cup if you want it less sweet)

Directions

Combine first 7 ingredients and mix well.
In a small bowl, beat eggs, canola oil and vanilla together.
Cut zucchini in to quarters lengthwise then cut off the part with the seeds (if some remain that's ok)
Grate 2 cups of zucchini (press down a bit in measuring cup to make sure it's full) - about 1 med-large zucchini worth
Add egg mixture to dry and mix until just combined.
Add zucchini and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
Pour mixture in to a greased loaf pan (preferably non-stick)
Bake at 350 for 70-75 minutes. Unless it's burning, I wouldn't cook it any less than 70 minutes or it's more likely to fall in the middle.

When done, let loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely (you may need to run a knife around the inside edge of the loaf to get it out of the pan)
It's easier to cut once completely cool, but if you're like me and can't wait that long, just be careful!
This loaf stores well at room temperature in an airtight container, or you can freeze slices for a late night chocolate craving attack!

Before Baking

After Baking

Cool on a wire rack

Slice and enjoy!

Naan Bread

gluten free naan bread

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe. I seem to have made my way through every common illness in the past few weeks from barfing to sinus cold... and of course the angiogram before that. I am still trying to shake that last bit of a sinus cold, but other than that I think I'm good to go.

I haven't had much energy for baking, but I have been meaning to post this recipe for awhile. I found it on the GF blog Fire and Salt and knew I had to try it. I made some tiny changes, but definitely have to give this guy the credit. The bread is chewy and soft. The only downside is that it does not keep well, so only make what you think will be eaten for one meal (once it cools it becomes dense and dry).
I have made this recipe twice with great results!

Recipe from:
http://fireandsalt.blogspot.com/2010/09/gluten-free-naan-bread.html

(makes 4 Naan Bread)
Ingredients

2 tsp Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Warm Water
2 1/4 cups GF All-Purpose Flour Blend
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Guar Gum
1 Egg
1-2 tbsp Milk
Butter or Oil for frying
Optional: 1 tsp garlic powder (I left this out)

Directions

Proof the yeast with the sugar and warm water. (about 5 mins)
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Add egg, milk and prepared yeast mixture.
Mix well by hand or in stand mixer.
Separate dough into 4 equal balls.
Dust parchment paper with rice flour and roll out each ball of dough into the shape of naan bread. (they should be a bit bigger than your hand - or your husband's hand)
Place on a flat, portable surface (cutting board or baking pan), cover with a tea towel and let rise in a draft free place for 20-30 minutes.

* be very careful when transferring the risen bread to the frying pan as they are very breakable. Try not to let them bend at all. They will be much more stable after they cook.

Heat oil or butter in a frying pan and cook naan bread one at a time
Fry 3-4 minutes per side until it starts to brown a bit.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees.
Once all the bread is cooked, wrap them up (all together) in foil and place them in the oven for 5 minutes. The steam makes the bread nice and chewy.

roll out dough on parchment paper



let rise for 20-30 minutes

cook in the frying pan for 3-4 minutes per side (or until it browns like this)

wrap the bread in foil and place in 250 degree oven for 5 mins

serve immediately with dip, souvlaki or curries

Serve with Curry, Butter Chicken or Souvlaki. You can also eat it with hummus or other dips as a snack or side dish.

When it's just me and my husband, I usually make half the recipe.

Enjoy!