Unexpected Christmas Cookie!

This weekend, I tried out a vegan chocolate sauce as a crepe-topper with mild success. Then, tonight, craving something pepperminty, I tried to figure out how to make my first gluten-free christmas cookie of the season. What followed was more successful than I anticipated (and easy and fast!):

No-Bake Chocolate Peppermint Macaroons (V, GF)

1/4 cup (or more) sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup coconut oil
2T dark chocolate cocoa powder
Agave nectar to taste (I think I used 1-2 T)
Peppermint extract to taste

In a bowl, mix sweetened, flaked coconut and oats. Press into a small plate lined with wax paper (I made a little envelope of wax paper...just wing it).

Heat coconut oil in a small bowl for about 1.5 minutes (until melted), then slowly stir in cocoa (mix well - the cocoa can clump up easily). When mixed, add peppermint and agave until you reach the desired sweetness and flavor. Then, pour chocolate sauce on top of your coconut/oat mixture and use the wax paper to distribute the sauce through. Wrap up and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes or more to harden the coconut oil. Remove, unwrap and cut up into pieces. Makes one piece of "macaroon bark" about 5" square.

My carnivorous father LOVED them, so I hope you will too.

Gluten Free Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

I have been long absent from this blog, both because I've started a new, tiring job and also because I have been delving into the world of gluten-free living, which has seen me spending many of my evenings with nachos in hand.

However, for Thanksgiving, I wanted to make something I could eat with my favorite ingredient (pumpkin!), so I experimented today since it was a snow-day in Seattle. (Certainly NOT as exciting as my from-scratch pumpkin pie experiment from last year, but whatever). These little guys are great for gfers and non-gfers alike.

Gluten Free Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Before prepping: preheat oven to 350F. Make sure cream cheese has been softened (leave out on counter for 4+ hours before baking) before getting started.

Load a muffin tin with wrappers and place one mini gluten free ginger cookie (Mi-Del brand from Fred Meyer is delicious!) or vanilla wafer flat side down in the wrapper.

Filling:

• 1.5 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup sour cream (1 big spoonful)
• 3/4 cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First whip cream cheese until fluffy and smooth and then add rest of ingredients and beat for another few minutes. If not yet smooth and fluffy, transfer to a blender and blend out the lumps (works very well, actually). Pour batter into muffin tins (almost full – it won’t rise). Bake for 25-27 minutes at 350F.

Topping (optional):

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• Splash of vanilla

Beat ingredients together (I used a wire whisk on my kitchenaid and it worked nicely). If desired, pull out cupcakes 5 min early, spread on a thin layer of topping and put back in oven for the remaining 5 minutes. Cool, then let set up in fridge overnight. I sprinkled a light dusting of cinnamon on the top of each mini-cheesecake as they were cooling.

Makes 14 large mini-cheesecakes. Enjoy!

It's never a bad time for molasses cookies

Apparently I've been on a cooking/baking roll lately. I tried a molasses recipe today to take to a party, and they were a huge hit! I finished off the leftovers on my drive home (whoops). They go down easily :)

Molasses Cookies (my new favorite, I have to say)

• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar (or 1/2 c brown and 1/2 c white)
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar (for rolling the cookies)

Mix all ingredients together and cool dough in fridge for 1/2-1 hour. Preheat oven to 375F and roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar. Place a couple of inches apart and don't flatten. Bake 7 minutes for nice, gooey cookies, and 8 minutes if you like your cookie a little more done. The bigger the cookie you want to make, increase bake time slightly (my last sheet was 1 1/4 inch-ish and I baked them 8.5 minutes, I think). Cool and enjoy! This recipe will make about 4 dozen small cookies (and you'll eat them all).

When I say from scratch, I really mean it.

My family does NOT buy pie crusts (we're actually quite snobby about our pies), but I've always made pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin, and it always tastes great.

That's what some people call "making it from scratch"...I suppose "not from scratch" would be buying it at the store?


The great pumpkin pie experiment of 2009 took place at my brother and sister-in-law's house this week. Leah and I have both always thought it would be fun to attempt pumpkin pie making sans the Libby's can (read: actually from scratch...real scratch!), so we went for it on Wednesday before the family gathered for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

What transpired was both easier and better tasting than I expected. Literally, this is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. The key is to food process the heck out of the ingredients (either pumpkin + egg for enough liquid or the whole recipe before pouring into the pie shell).

Here's the recipe (adapted from All Recipes, makes one pie)

• 1 sugar pumpkin (we used organic pumpkins - they're small, but 1 does the trick!)
• 1 pie crust (recipe below)
• 2 eggs (we used 5 eggs for 2 recipes and it tasted great, but I assume 2/pie works also)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice + a whole lot more and extra cinnamon to taste
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

This is what we did:

1. Cut sugar (pie) pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with lightly oiled aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees F for ~45 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Puree in 2 batches in a food processor (you may need to put the eggs in so that there is enough liquid to process very smoothly - that's what I did) .
2. In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the pumpkin puree, spices, and evaporated milk. Stir well after each addition. Whisk the ingredients until NO chunks are present (the flour clumped up for us, but a whisk did the trick).
3. Pour mixture into the pre-baked (see recipe below) pastry shell. Place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent over browning (this is key).
4. Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees F, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake an additional ~40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 20 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown (if needed - it may brown enough in the pre-bake of the crust). Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.
5. Please use REAL whip cream (and add a little vanilla, if you like) to top with...it's so much better!

Pie crust recipe (my grandma's famous, makes two crusts):

2 cup flour

2/3 shortening (vegetable or butter flavor)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tsp salt

1. Cut the shortening, flour and salt together using a pastry blender until mixed.

2. Add the water in tablespoons while mixing (with your fingers or pastry blender) until moistened.

3. Ball the dough up firmly, then carefully roll out on a flat surface. Leah is great at this: she rolls once, then flips the dough, then back again, etc. so that it doesn't stick to the counter and gets enough flour on both sides.

4. Pick up the dough by loosely rolling it over your rolling pin and place in pie pan (glass pie pans are the best)

5. Gather up edges and make pretty (see picture).

6. Pre-bake pie shell in oven at 350 F for about 10 - 15 minutes. This will make sure your pie crust doesn't get soggy when pumpkin is added.

pumpkin season

hi all.

sorry for the absence on here. i haven't been doing much cooking (or eating) lately - i don't think i've been grocery shopping in almost a month. tonight, i swear!

Anyhow, as Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and pumpkin is one of my favorite foods, I wanted to share my easy, low cal and delicious pumpkin recipes. I have big plans this year to make a pumpkin pie from an actual, honest to God pumpkin, so I'll definitely add that in when it happens (that fits in much better with the food ethic of this blog). Anyhow, for now:

Pumpkin Muffins

1 small can of pumpkin (or 1/2 one of those huge cans)
1 spice cake mix
1 cup applesauce
1 egg
spices to your liking (i add quite a bit of cloves and cinnamon)

Mix up, pour in muffins pans and bake at 350F for ~15 minutes, depending on how done you want them. So good and a definite crowd pleaser! I've seen dessert variations with cream cheese frosting - Oh LORD, those are amazing.

Pumpkin Mousse

SF (or not) Vanilla Pudding (prepared with milk)
1 container of Cool Whip
1 small can of pumpkin
spices (i use a lot of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg)

Fold ingredients together for a light, tasty fall treat. If you're not into Cool Whip (for good reason - who wants to eat plastic?) I bet you could try whipping up some legit whip cream instead, but it wouldn't keep (where the above recipe keeps for days).

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, wherever you are in the world.
KK