Iced Pumpkin Cookies

I have gone a little pumpkin crazy now, but once again, it was well-worth it. This recipe will make a very large batch of cookies, so I divided it into thirds and froze two-thirds of the dough and made the rest right away. I ended up with about 25 cookies just from the third of the dough that I used. I personally love a lot of pumpkin spice and cinnamon flavor in my pumpkin desserts, but if you like a milder taste, reduce the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon accordingly. I used freshly roasted pumpkin for this recipe, but that was out of necessity, as I can't find canned pumpkin here. These turned out to be soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies that taste just like a piece of pumpkin bread. They'll disappear before your eyes if you bring them to a party - guaranteed.


Iced Pumpkin Cookies

½ cup gluten-free baking margarine, softened (OR Spectrum Organic Shortening)

1 cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree (from a can or homemade – I used homemade for these)

1 egg

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup white rice flour

½ cup potato starch

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (OR ½ tsp. ground nutmeg and ½ tsp. ground cloves)

Maple Icing Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tbsp. soy milk or water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. maple extract

(note: Chopped pecans or walnuts can also be added)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine sorghum flour, rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the ½ cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 tsp vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 to 20 min in the preheated oven. If you want them to be very soft, remove them when they are firm to the touch on top but not yet browned. If you want them to be a little crunchy, wait another 5 minutes until they are lightly browned.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar, soy milk/water, vanilla and maple extract. Add more water or soy milk by the tablespoonful as needed until you have the desired consistency (I like mine to be fairly thick).

When the cookies have cooled, drizzle glaze onto them with a fork or by putting the icing into a baggie and cutting one of the corners off to squeeze it on that way. If desired, add walnuts or pecans. If you prefer these without icing, they are just as delicious plain or with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top.

Quick and Easy Lentil Bean Soup

Yesterday I got home and was in one of those moods to make something fast and with no fuss. I had some leftover brown rice and some leftover flour tortillas (which double beautifully as flatbread, it turns out), and I am determined to be creative with the ingredients I already have in my cabinets so I can cut down on my grocery costs. Living on about $300 per month is a challenge for an avid cook and baker like me, but I am determined to eat delicious food despite being a poor volunteer in a developing country! And tonight, I succeeded. This is a very easy soup that came together in about 15 minutes total, and I ended up eating it with two pieces of my homemade flatbread from the other night, made warm and crispy in the toaster. The flavors are simple; I didn’t spice it up too much, but you could add any spices to give it a more distinct flavor.

Quick and Easy Lentil Bean Soup

2 green onions, chopped
1 15-oz. can lentils, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz. can butter beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 – 2 cups boiling water
1 chicken or vegetable bouillon cube or 1 tsp. powder
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

Heat through and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes. Adjust spices to taste and serve as a soup, with bread, or with rice.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Even though it's not fall here in Swaziland, I have been in a pumpkin and squash sort of mood lately. And in a pancake mood, too. So you can see where this is going. I based the recipe for these on one I found on the Gluten-Free Mommy's website and tweaked it a little bit. The results were fantastic - a moist and very flavorful pancake that tasted as delicious with a mere sprinkle of cinnamon sugar as they did with maple syrup drizzled on top. I caramelized some pecans and sprinkled them onto one of the pancakes as well, which was also heavenly. These are very easy to throw together, and if you're in the mood for a pancake that will taste like pumpkin bread, this is for you.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. oil
1 cup soy milk (or other nondairy milk, or water)
1 egg
7 heaping tbsp. pumpkin puree

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, and soy milk and pour into the dry mixture. Add the pumpkin puree and stir to mix. It is ok if there are a few lumps in the batter.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray or melted butter. Drop about 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the skillet for each pancake. When bubbles appear on the top of the pancakes, flip them over and continue to cook for another 3 - 5 minutes. These are very moist and may need a little more time than normal pancakes to cook all the way through. When they are done, remove from pan and serve immediately.

Top with cinnamon sugar, pumpkin pie spiced sugar, caramelized pecans, whipped topping, or maple syrup. Delicious!!

Homemade Tacos

I have had a pesky hankering for Mexican food for the last several weeks, and what I have been craving most of all recently is a good taco. I am lacking the ingredient necessary to make some good corn tortillas or corn chips (namely, Pan Masa Harina, a specially treated cornmeal), but I did find a recipe for flour tortillas that I adapted slightly to the ingredients I had available to me. The next challenge was finding a recipe that would replicate the flavor of a taco seasoning mix - and this one went above and beyond in that regard. It was full of flavor and tasted just like the meat seasoned with a store-bought packet of spices. Serve with all the usual taco fixings, including salsa, sour cream and cheese (if you can have them), guacamole or plain avocado with some salt and pepper added, and chopped lettuce. Another delicious tip is to spray a nonstick pan with olive oil, sprinkle some garlic powder and black pepper onto the pan, and then fry the tortilla until it is puffy, flipping over once and adding more garlic powder and black pepper to the other side - it adds an extra burst of flavor into your meal.


Homemade Taco Meat

1 lb. lean ground beef (or ground turkey or chicken)
3 green onions, chopped finely
2.5 tsp. onion flakes
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
3/4 cup hot water

Place the ground beef and green onions into a skillet and cook until the ground meat is browned. Stir frequently and break the meat into very small pieces. When the meat has been cooked, drain any excess grease and return to the pan. Add the onion flakes, chili powder, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and ground pepper and stir to mix. Add 3/4 cup hot water and stir to mix, and return to medium heat. Let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or so, and then remove the lid and continue to simmer until the water has been absorbed. Serve with fresh homemade salsa, fresh avocados (with salt and pepper added), lettuce or spinach, sour cream and cheese (if you can have them), all stuffed into a delicious gluten-free homemade flour tortilla.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Homemade Gluten Free Flour Tortillas

3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour (besan/garbanzo bean)
1 cup potato starch flour (arrowroot works also)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 - 1 cup very hot water

Mix white rice flour, chickpea flour, potato starch flour, tapioca flour, guar gum, xanthan gum, sea salt, and baking powder. Add the olive oil and, using a fork, blend with the flour mixture until it is crumbly.

Add 1/2 cup of very hot water and begin to knead the dough. Continue to add hot water by the tablespoonful until you can knead the mixture into a ball with your hands. Be careful not to add too much water, or your dough will turn into a soggy mess. Once the dough is stiff and you can handle it, form the dough into 10 - 12 balls, and set aside, covering with a damp towel, until the griddle is nice and hot.

I do not have a tortilla press, so I made these in a regular old nonstick skillet coated with olive oil spray. When you are ready to start cooking the tortillas, use a rolling pin to flatten each ball as thin as you can. If you don't mind a dough-fringe on your tortillas, put the rolled-out tortilla directly onto the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until large bubbles form. Flip over and cook for another minute, and then remove from heat. If you prefer a perfectly round tortilla, take a small bowl and use it to cut a circle out of the rolled-out dough before placing in the skillet.

Serve immediately or freeze them in plastic bags. Reheat in the microwave or by toasting the tortillas.

**Note: These would double beautifully as naan to be served with an Indian curry.
**Note: To add some extra flavor, sprinkle some garlic powder and ground pepper into the skillet before placing the tortilla dough in it to fry. You'll end up with a lovely shot of flavor. This is especially recommended if you will use these as bread to accompany a curry. You could even try brushing them with olive oil or butter, sprinkling with garlic and baking in a 350 F oven until crisp and golden.

Maple Oat "Brownies" with Maple Drizzle

This isn't really a brownie in the chocolate sense, but it's the closest thing I could compare the texture to. These were an experiment, adapted from a recipe from the Gluten-free Goddess' website for Oatmeal-Quinoa Breakfast Brownies. The idea sounded great to me, but I decided to spruce them up with one of my favorite things in the world - maple. Also, I have not been able to find a lot of my specialty flours here in Swaziland, so I had to make some substitutions there as well. And even though my family sent me some gluten-free oats, I have been using them very sparingly, and so instead of using all oats, I used half rolled oats and buckwheat flakes to conserve my supply. Feel free to use all oats in place of the buckwheat flakes in this recipe.

I am notoriously bad at waiting for baked goods to cool before trying them, and so predictably, as soon as these came out of the oven, I cut a small piece, expecting the maple flavor to burst into my mouth. Maybe I set my expectations too high, because I was a little disappointed with the flavor when they were hot from the oven. But let me tell you - once they cooled, these tasted phenomenally good. I didn't add as much sugar as Karina did in her recipe, but I made up for that by drizzling a simple powdered sugar-icing over the brownies to add a bit of extra sweetness. I had to give most of these away because I was in very real danger of eating the entire pan all by myself!

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Maple Oat "Brownies" with Maple Drizzle

¾ cup rice flour

¾ cup sorghum flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup rolled oats

½ cup buckwheat flakes

¼ cup shredded coconut

1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1 1/2 cups organic light brown sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. maple extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 - 5 tbsp. soy milk

½ cup crushed pecans or the nut of your choice

½ cup chocolate chunks or chips

For the maple drizzle:
1 - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 - 4 tbsp. water

1 - 2 tsp. maple extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine all the dry ingredients (including the brown sugar) in a bowl and mix very well. In another small bowl, combine the eggs, oil, maple syrup, maple extract, and vanilla extract and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well. At this stage, it will likely appear a little dry and crumbly; add 3 - 5 tbsp. soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) until the mixture is smoother and more consistent. Add the pecans or any other nuts of your choice and the chocolate chunks. Pour the dough into an 11" x 13" greased/sprayed pan, and press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting.

To make the Maple Drizzle:

Put the powdered sugar into a bowl and add 1 - 2 tsp. maple extract and 2 tbsp. water to start and mix well. Add water one tablespoonful at a time until you have the consistency you desire.
Drizzle onto the brownies only once they have completely cooled. Cut and serve.

Store in the refrigerator or freeze, wrapped individually in foil.

Apricot Oatmeal Bars

Ever since my lovely family sent me a care package containing two much-coveted bags of gluten-free oats, I have been going to town with them. Mostly I've been enjoying big bowls of oatmeal with cranberries, almonds, maple syrup and brown sugar; or with apricot slivers with almonds and brown sugar; or just plain brown sugar and cinnamon. But when I came across a random recipe on the internet called "Apricot Oatmeal Bars" and saw how simple the ingredients were, I decided to give them a try. I adjusted the recipe to be gluten-free and to include a few more flavors, and what I ended up with was a completely addictive pan of cookie bars whose flavors of cinnamon, brown sugar, and apricot were perfectly in sync with each other. Next time I might try sprinkling some almond slivers on top, or use some almond meal in the dough; or maybe I'll try the same basic dough recipe with different kinds of jam. Perhaps I'll try a pumpkin spice bar with pumpkin puree on top. But for now, try these - you will love them just as they are!




Apricot Oatmeal Bars

1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup white rice flour
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons cranberry-apple juice
1 scant cup of apricot preserves, preferably “all-fruit”

Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, making sure that there are no clumps of sugar or flour. Drizzle the canola oil and juice into the mixture and, using your hands, combine until it is evenly moistened and crumbly. Set aside 1/2 cup of the dry mixture and pat the rest of the mixture firmly into the bottom of an 8x8 pan (coated with cooking spray). Stir the apricot preserves, and if it is too stiff, microwave it for about 15 - 20 seconds to soften it. Spread the jam evenly on top of the dough mixture, and then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup mixture over the top. Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes and then remove from the oven. Let cool completely before cutting so the preserves will set. Store covered in the refrigerator or freeze to enjoy anytime.