Pumpkin Bread

It seems like southern California has finally gotten the memo about the change in seasons.

October should not be this warm.

It's officially been autumn for more than a month, but we were still seeing temperatures in the 80s and 90s for pretty much all of October. But apparently, now that it's November, the weather has finally caught up.

A few nights ago, we had a glorious thunder storm. I was overjoyed. Ecstatic. Giddy. Seriously, though, every time the lightning flashed, I ran over to my husband so I could share how ridiculously happy I was. I fell asleep to the sound of rain soaking the drought-stricken ground.

Of course, the fact that the weather has, until just recently, been hot hasn't stopped me from getting my autumn baking on. I've been making cookies, muffins, beer bread, and plenty of pumpkin goodies. And now that I've finally gotten around to baking the culinary pumpkin I picked up at one of San Diego's many pumpkin patches, we'll be eating pumpkin everything for some time to come.

I've made pumpkin bread three times within the past few weeks. I think I've finally perfected my recipe, after changing things pretty much every time I make it. This is bread has the perfect texture, is sweet enough without being sickeningly sweet, egg-free, and absolutely delicious.

Pumpkin Bread

1½ c flour
½ tsp salt
½ c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp cloves
equivalent of 2 eggs (or just use actual eggs if that's how you swing)
1 c pumpkin puree
¼ c applesauce
¼ c oil
drizzle of maple syrup (optional)
½ c chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Sift together flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, applesauce, oil, egg replacer*, and maple syrup, if using. Combine with dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes.

*I am currently using Orgran brand egg replacer, so I mix the powder (2 tsp for the equivalent of 2 eggs) in with my dry ingredients, then add the necessary water (1/4 c in this case) to my wet ingredients. I have also made this with ground flax in the past, in which case I'd mix both the flax (2 tbsp for the equivalent of 2 eggs) and the water (6 tbsp) in with the wet ingredients.

Review: Einkorn

These days, "gluten-free" has become a nutritional buzz word, and people right and left are ditching wheat products and claiming that their health has improved because of it. While there's still a fair amount of debate about exactly how wide-spread gluten intolerance is, it's hard to deny the abundant anecdotal evidence.

But is it really wheat that's the problem? What if the bigger issue is modern wheat, bred for high yields and specific characteristics to make farming easier? What if these changes have also altered something fundamental in wheat, something that our digestive systems haven't caught up with yet?

After all, our ancestors have been eating wheat since pretty much forever. If we could go back to eating those ancient varieties of wheat, would our bodies have an easier time digesting the gluten? Some people believe the answer is yes, and einkorn wheat, a relic grain that fell out of favor a long time ago, is starting to make a resurgence as a result.

But einkorn behaves differently than modern durum wheat in recipes. For readers who are interested in this ancient type of wheat but unsure of what to actually do with it, author Carla Bartolucci presents Einkorn: Recipes For Nature's Original Wheat. Bartolucci is a believer, and the preface to the book details how her oldest daughter struggled with an undiagnosed gluten sensitivity for years, and how they ultimately turned to einkorn wheat as a solution. The book also talks extensively about the differences between the gluten-forming proteins in einkorn verses modern wheat.

Because the gluten develops differently in einkorn wheat, you can't just substitute it in your regular recipes and expect the same result. Einkorn is very different, and Bartolucci has spent many years experimenting and adapting recipes to suit the different properties of einkorn flour. The result is that a gluten sensitivity no longer has to mean going gluten-free for many people; instead, readers of all kinds can enjoy the health benefits of recipes baked with einkorn wheat.

And Bartolucci certainly offers a wide variety of recipes. There's an extensive chapter on various types of bread, of course, but readers will also delight in being able to make breakfast dishes like scones and pancakes. There are cookies, like Goodness Graham Crackers or classic Chocolate Chip Cookies, and cakes like Dairy-Free Coconut Pound Cake or Brooklyn Blackout Cake. Pie crusts, cinnamon rolls, pasta noodles, pizza dough, and more can all be made with einkorn using the recipes in this book. There is even a chapter devoted to "Street Food," so readers can feast on cravables like Korean Dumplings and Soft German Pretzels.

Each recipe is very clearly written, and the pictures will make your stomach rumble. Bartolucci goes into extensive detail on making sourdough or yeast levains, offers techniques for turning the dough that is often super wet, provides instructions for how readers can sprout einkorn wheat berries at home for additional health benefits, and more. The recipes in here cover pretty much all basic wheat-based foods that those who face going gluten-free (or who are already there) might be miss the most.

Baking with einkorn still remains a daunting idea for many, but with a cookbook like Einkorn, those who are determined will have a much easier time finding their way.

***

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

Ever have one of those days where you just want to eat cupcakes for breakfast?

No? Just me?

Come on, now, be honest. Everyone wants to eat cake for breakfast sometimes, but most of us are too responsible to actually do so. (At least, we are once we're no longer teenagers.) But that's where muffins come in to play.

The last time I announced that I was having chocolate chocolate-chip muffins for breakfast, a friend asked what the difference was between them and a cupcake. Hmm. Lack of frosting, perhaps? These are also just a little bit denser than cupcakes; they don't have that same airy cake feel. On top of that, these muffins have a banana and some applesauce baked into them, which obviously makes them healthy.


So the next time you feel like indulging for breakfast, make yourself some muffins instead!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

1¾ c flour
¼ c cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 ripe banana
¼ c applesauce
½ c milk (I use nondairy, but I imagine cow milk would work just as well)
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp chocolate extract (optional)
1 tbsp oil
½ c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. In a blender (or in a smaller bowl and using an immersion blender), combine banana with applesauce with milk, water, extracts, and oil. Blend until smooth. Mix into dry ingredients until just combined (leave it a bit lumpy!). Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared muffin tins. Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the middle of one comes out clean (allowing for the fact that sometimes you'll hit a chocolate chip, and that of course won't come out completely clean at all).

***

This post is shared at the Happy, Healthy, Green, & Natural Party Blog Hop on 8/24/2015.

Cherry Oat Muffins

What do you do when you want blueberry muffins for breakfast, but are (sadly) out of blueberries?

You substitute cherries, of course!

And then add in a banana. And some oats, for extra breakfast power. And some almond extract, because it complements the cherries so nicely. And change some other things up, just for the fun of it.

We baked up a batch of these for breakfast the other day. They're not super sweet (which is how I prefer my muffins) and they have delicious cherries, which is just perfect for this time of year. Give 'em a try and let me know how you like 'em!

Cherry Oat Muffins

1 c flour (I used a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose)
½ c rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ - 1 tsp cinnamon (I actually used Penzey's Apple Pie Spice, but whatever)
1 banana (very ripe)
¼ c nondairy milk
¼ c maple syrup (or agave or honey)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
1 tbsp applesauce
1 tbsp oil (I used coconut, but feel free to use whatever you like, or use more applesauce instead)
½ c cherries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon).

Use a blender or immersion blender to cream banana with nondairy milk, maple syrup, extracts, applesauce, and oil. Fold into dry ingredients along with chopped cherries; mix until just combined, and be careful not to overmix!

Divide between muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes, until cooked all the way through. Let cool a few minutes before eating.

Makes 12 muffins.

***

This post is shared at the Healthy, Happy, Green, & Natural Party Blog Hop on 7/5/2015.

Vegan Spaghetti Squash Bread

When I had an office job, I used to delight in baking things to share with my coworkers.

It was win for everyone. I got to bake yummy food, which always made me happy. My husband got to sample said yummy foods (to make sure nothing was poisonous, of course), so he was happy. We didn't end up with an excess of yummy foods sitting in the fridge, making us hungry and tempting us to binge, which made both of us happy. My coworkers got to eat yummy food, which made them happy. And office morale improved, which made my bosses happy.

Many of my coworkers had religious restrictions against eggs on certain days, so I got into the habit of making nearly all of my treats vegan. It actually wasn't difficult to adjust to at all, and it made my life easier too; no eggs in the fridge = no problem! (And I hardly ever had eggs on hand; we just didn't eat them very often. So this was a good thing.)

Eventually, I kind of got into the habit of baking things that had fruits and veggies in them. It started with banana bread, no doubt; you can't go wrong with banana bread, since everyone loves it. Next came zucchini bread; everyone loved it, and I was hooked. Pumpkins, apples, carrots, pineapple, coconut, and even green tomatoes found their way into the things I baked. It got to the point where I'd bring food in, and people would ask me "So what's in it this time?"

It was fun. Really, really fun. And I still have not gotten tired of adding as many fruits and veggies as possible to things I bake.

And so last week, Bug and I baked up some spaghetti squash bread.

The best part of baking vegan? Absolutely no worries about eating the batter!

Hear me out here. I know it sounds weird. But pumpkin bread is a fall favorite. Butternut squash and other hard winter squashes can be made into muffins and pies and all kinds of yummy things. People don't even bat an eye at chocolate zucchini cake. (Or maybe that's just the people *I* know.) So why not turn spaghetti squash into a delicious baked treat? Don't leave spaghetti squash out in the cold just because it's got a weird texture.

I swear, the stuff just melts right into bread; it doesn't taste funny, and if you chop the cooked squash up before mixing it in, you can't find any little strands anywhere. This bread is delicious, and received full approval from my husband, my friends, and, perhaps most importantly, from Bug.

Bug wanted to get in on the picture taking action.

Spaghetti Squash Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 ripe banana
¼ cup applesauce (unsweetened)
¼ cup canola or coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 cup spaghetti squash

Note: Spaghetti squash needs to be cooked. You can microwave it whole for 10 minutes or until fork tender, or you can chop in half and bake at 350° F for 30-45 minutes. Remove seeds and use a fork to separate it into strands. You may want to chop it up some before using it to bake, if you think the long strands might weird you out. Or you could probably puree it.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg).

In a smaller bowl, cream together banana, applesauce, oil, vanilla, sugar, and flax seed. (I used an immersion blender for this, although a fork should suffice, especially if the banana is good and ripe.) Dump into the dry ingredients, along with the spaghetti squash, and mix until just incorporated; some lumps are definitely okay, and as this is a quick bread, overmixing is bad. (Mine, however, did get a little overmixed, as Bug was the one doing the mixing. And it still came out just fine!) Fold in walnuts, if using.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden on top and done all the way through (poke with a knife to make sure). Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool for as long as you can stand to before slicing. Enjoy!

 This post is shared at the Healthy, Happy, Green, & Natural Party Hop on 1/27/2015 and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop on 1/28/2015.

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

Is it too early for pumpkin everything?

It's technically almost autumn, although here in San Diego the weather doesn't seem to have gotten that memo.  It has been ridiculously hot and humid these past few days.  Temperatures in the nineties, humidity that makes it pretty much unbearable to be outside after 9:00 A.M. or so.  (Unless you're in a swimming pool, which is where we spent a good chunk of our morning.)  And we, unfortunately, currently live in an apartment without central air.  And it's a "reduce your use" day, according to SDG&E, so I can't even sit in front of our little A/C unit all day in good conscience.  Sigh.

Thankfully, we got our baking out of the way early this morning.  We *always* get up early; Little Bug rarely sleeps in past 6 these days.  (What am I talking about??  I don't know that he's ever reliably slept in...)  And since we were expecting company, baking some treats seemed like a good plan.

Actually, baking yummy treats is ALWAYS a good plan.  Company or not.  Just sayin'.

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

1 cup flour
¾ cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
¼ - ½ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons applesauce

Preheat oven to 425° F.

In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  (The spice isn't especially strong in these muffins, so if you like a stronger spice flavor you might consider adding a full teaspoon of pumpkin spice or even more.  Or, of course, feel free to create your own blend of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, etc., in whatever proportions please you!)

In a smaller bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, and applesauce.  (Note that I like at least a little bit of oil in my baked goods; I am generally not a fan of the texture of muffins that have no fat at all.  That being said, if that doesn't bother you, these would probably be pretty tasty with extra applesauce subbed in for that last bit of oil, if you so desire.)  Add to dry ingredients and mix until just blended; lumps are fine, and it's okay if there are occasional patches of dry ingredients.  Pour into a prepared muffin tin.

Bake 13-14 minutes, until muffins are golden on top and a toothpick or knife inserted into one comes out clean.

Small Batch Brownies

I can easily eat an entire pan of brownies in one sitting.  Well, maybe not one sitting.  But in one day, definitely.

I obviously have no self control when it comes to baked goods.  This is an established fact.

And the obvious solution to this, of course, is to just bake things in smaller quantities, so that I can eat the entire thing with less guilt.  Thus, a smaller batch of brownies, since that's what I was in the mood for tonight.

Back in my last apartment, where I had a microwave, I would satisfy my brownie cravings by making mug brownies.  None of that Betty Crocker microwave dessert bowl nonsense; real mug brownies are super easy, and they usually were just what I needed.  But my current apartment has no microwave, and I am too cheap to buy one (and I've lived easily enough without one before!), so a new way to make small quantities of brownies was needed.

So here's what I threw together tonight.  These brownies are not even remotely healthy for you; they have more sugar in them than flour, and lots of fat.  But that's why they taste so good!  I may eventually try to make a healthier version, but sometimes a little indulgence is fun too.

Little Bug and I almost polished off the whole batch.  Which wasn't hard to do.  But I did manage to put a few aside for my husband, because I'm just that kind of generous.

Here's hoping that I don't end up sneaking into them for a late-night snack!

Small Batch Brownies

If baked in a mini muffin tin, makes one dozen.  And who wouldn't want to make them that way?  Then you get plenty of crispy edges, and everyone knows those are the best parts.  These brownies are chewy and fudgy, just the way I like them.

I know the amounts here are kind of weird.  That's what happens when you make things in small batches.

1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking cocoa
2 tbsp + 2 tsp boiling water
1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil (melted coconut oil would be awesome too, I bet)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c + 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 c + 3 tbsp flour
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare something to bake the brownies in (I used a mini muffin tin) by spraying with baking spray.

Whisk baking cocoa and boiling water together.  Add baking chocolate and stir until completely melted (chop it up first and this will happen faster).  Add butter (melt ahead of time, or just rely on the still warm mixture to melt it for you) and oil, and stir until well-combined (but it will probably still look kind of curdled).  Add egg and vanilla extract and mix well.  Then add sugar and mix until completely smooth.  Add in flour and salt and mix thoroughly.

Pour into mini muffin tins (or other baking dish of choice).  Bake until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean; approximately 25 minutes for mini muffins.  Cool in pan for awhile, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  The longer you let them cool, the chewier they'll be!