Gluten-free Blood Orange Dutch Baby

I wish I had adequate words to describe this dish…but I don’t. My mind is exhausted from planning photo shoots and recipe writing and I just can’t seem to muster up any elegant way to describe this dish. Well that, and I’m too busy eating sweet, fragrant blood oranges. Swoon.

I picked up a few blood oranges the other day and immediately started thinking of what to make with them. Too many options led to me to the conclusion that I should probably just buy all the blood oranges in Richmond and make every type of marmalade, sorbet, cake, infused liquor (!!!!), and pot de crème under the sun. I contemplated just eating all of them in one sitting and then, I remembered dutch babies.

Dutch babies aka German pancakes aka thick, fluffy crepe-like pillows of goodness are an easy, diverse, and elegant breakfast. I haven’t had one in ages but this post from Smitten Kitchen convinced me that I needed one, immediately. Topped with caramel, please. So, I decided to give in to my dutch baby craving (that sounds borderline wrong) and make one that features blood oranges in every component. Blood orange zest and juice in the batter with a simple blood orange topping, all smothered in a blood orange caramel syrup. Oh, did I mention it’s dairy-free too? Trust me, you’re going to want to make this.

Gluten-free Blood Orange Dutch Baby

Yields: 4-8 servings depending on size

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

Dutch Baby:

3 Tbsp. almond flour

3 Tbsp. gluten-free all purpose flour

½ cup vanilla soy milk, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. blood orange zest

2 Tbsp. blood orange juice

pinch of sea salt

2-3 Tbsp. coconut oil

Blood Orange Topping:

This is enough for one or two individual toppings, depending on how much you feel like sharing and the size of your orange

1 blood orange, segmented

1 tsp. honey

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

Blood Orange Caramel Sauce:

You can double this recipe if you are serving 4 or more

½ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ cup blood orange juice

¼ cup vanilla soy milk

To make Dutch Baby:

1. Preheat your oven to 425F and place cast iron skillet or other oven safe skillet in the oven.

2. Make sure your eggs and milk are at room temperature – it helps the dutch baby get fluffy. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together until smooth.

3. Once oven is preheated, remove skillet and carefully add coconut oil. I used 3 Tbsp because my cast iron isn’t well seasoned yet, you made need less if you have a well seasoned skillet. Swirl oil around pan being sure to bring it up the sides.

4. Add batter to hot pan and bake for 15-17 minutes until puffy and golden.

5. Remove from oven and cool, it will sink at this point.

To make Blood Orange Topping:

1. Segment your orange. Check out this tutorial if you aren’t sure how!

2. Add all ingredients to a small bowl and gently stir to combine.

To make Blood Orange Caramel Sauce:

1. Combine sugar, water, and blood orange juice in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium high heat and bring to a boil, without stirring.

2. Once the mix has deepened in color (just a few minutes), shut off heat and carefully add soy milk.

3. Return to medium high heat and boil again for about 2-3 minutes, whisking occasionally.

4. Remove from heat and carefully pour into a bowl or small dish. If the caramel begins to harden, simply pop in the microwave for 10 seconds to warm up.

Green Egg Muffins

First, some exciting news – I can’t discuss details yet but you will be seeing some gluten-free recipes and photography by yours truly coming to a magazine stand near you in the not-so distant future. I can’t begin to express how utterly excited I am about this – to say that 2012 is off to great start would be an understatement. Thank you to everyone who reads or simply glances at this blog; putting my recipes and photography out there has helped me grow in unexpected ways and I always appreciate everyone’s comments, tweets, and encouragement! (P.S. did you catch the photo feature on bonappetit.com?! I discovered that completely by accident but was so excited).

I hope everyone enjoyed the tips posted earlier this week! I am going to try and post some additional health and fitness related things in the future but don’t worry, the main focus of this blog will still be recipes, both healthy and indulgent. Just don’t expect me to turn into a blogger that tries to make everything over-the-top healthy – I love chocolate, red wine, butter, and cream far too much. I would say that I eat very healthy and clean about 85% of the time but I’m not a girl who turns down a gin martini (extra dirty, extra dry please) just to save some calories. I am a big believer in moderation and quite frankly, there’s more to life than love handles. With that in mind, I thought I would share a healthy recipe that can help balance out those gin martinis.

Behold, egg muffins. Not quite frittatas, not quite quiches – just veggies and eggs together in portable muffin form. I make a variation on these guys every week to have as a quick breakfast or afternoon snack since I’m all about prepping and planning ahead. The husband doesn’t eat them since he really isn’t fond of the texture of baked scrambled eggs, which means more for me! If you’re a frittata lover like me, then you will love these little egg muffins packed with good green stuff like kale, cilantro, and jalapenos. They’re great to grab and go during the week or on those weekends where you have a to-do list a few miles long. Speaking of which, I need to get going on my to-do list that includes pie making, errand running, wine drinking, workouts, and house cleaning. Happy Friday!

Green Egg Muffins
Adapted from: Oxygen Magazine
Yields: 12 muffins

3 cup kale, de-stemmed and chopped into thin ribbons
1/4 onion, small diced or 4 green onions, finely sliced
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced
1 jalapeno, very finely diced (de-seed and remove the white parts to decrease spice)
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
11 egg whites (I use a small carton of organic, free-range liquid egg whites. You can also just use 12 whole eggs if you don’t like egg whites)
7 whole eggs
salt + pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375F and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and line with muffin liners (optional, I usually don’t).
2. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl steam prepped kale in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until soft and wilted. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In that same microwave-safe bowl, add diced onions and microwave for about 1 minute. This helps take away some of the strong, raw onion-y taste. Add onions to the bowl with the kale.
4. Add cilantro, oregano, jalapeno, salt, and pepper to the same onion/kale mix and stir to combine. Set aside for now.
5. In a separate large bowl, whisk together whole eggs, egg whites, salt, and pepper. You want the mixture to ribbon off the whisk and be fully scrambled. Whisk hard and use those biceps!
6. Distribute the veggie mixture evenly between your 12 muffin cups.
7. Distribute egg mixture evenly between cups, pouring over veggie mix. I usually use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to do the job.
8. Bake for about 30 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and puffed up.
9. Let cool in pan for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Try to remove them to a rack as soon as you can safely do so, while keeping the muffins intact. If they sit in the pan too long, they continue to stem and the texture can get rubbery.
10. Store in your fridge and reheat in a counter-top oven or microwave.

Dirty D’s (Banana) Chocolate Chip Muffins

The new year is fast approaching and I’m not sure that I’m quite ready for it.  2011 was a rough year full of serious ups (wedding, starting this blog) and downs (stress fracture, surgery) and while I am very excited about 2012, I’m not sure that I’m ready for 2011 to end.  It seems like this year flew by and that I haven’t had a moment to soak it all in.  On top of that, there have been some huge changes the past few months:
1. I got married!
2. I lost 25 lbs
3. The husband got a new job with a new, higher-up position
4. We are preparing for some big changes in the next year (No, not babies. Definitely not babies.)
5. I’ve had to do some serious career contemplation that has led me in several different directions.
6. My parent’s are selling their home to move in to a new place (hopefully closer to us!)
7. My brother moved out on his own to his first apartment.

While I have been prepared and ready for all of these things for a while, I was not fully prepared for my brother moving into his first apartment.  I’m so excited for him and this next chapter in his life but I can’t help but have a bittersweet feeling.  My brother and I are 4 years, 11 months, and 29 days apart (almost made it to five years!) so we have been fairly close our entire lives. I have a hard time remembering that he is indeed 18 years old and can drive, live on his own, and do adult things.  To me, he will always be in fourth grade.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what my little brother has to do with muffins and why in the world I titled this post “Dirty D’s Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins”.  Let me explain.  When my brother was really little, I don’t even remember how old now, we were watching a live ACDC concert on TV with my parents.  Yes, as a little kid I loved bands like ACDC, Sublime, Black Flag, and others – but that’s a different story entirely.  Anyways – we were watching the concert and the band began to play “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. My brother was loving the song and decided to try and sing along while attempting some serious Angus Young kicks. When the chorus came, instead of singing “dirty deeds done dirt cheap”, he sang out “dirty d’s chocolate chip!”.  All of us rolled with laughter and to this day, every time I hear that song, I secretly sing the “chocolate chip” version in my head.

When I was thinking up a treat to bring to my brother as a housewarming gift, I could think of nothing more perfect than bringing back that memory in the form of a chocolate chip muffin. While I may not be ready for the year to end or for my little brother to grow up, I’m excited for the future and can’t wait to see what the year ahead has to offer. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year and that you enjoy the present moment as you look forward to the future.

Gluten-free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yields: 15-18 muffins depending on size

Adapted from: Women’s Health Magazine

 270g gluten-free flour mix

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ cup ground flax seed

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs, beaten

¼ cup plain greek yogurt

¼ cup canola oil or other light tasting oil

¼ cup honey

½ cup chocolate chips (dark, bittersweet, or semisweet)

1. Preheat your oven to 375F. Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray or line with muffin liners. Set aside.

2. Combine dry ingredients (first 5 ingredients) in a large bowl and whisk together.

3. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients, minus the chocolate chips, and whisk together until fully incorporated.

4.  Add dry mixture to the wet mixture in three batches, whisking to fully incorporate between each addition.

5. Gently fold chocolate chips in to the batter.

6. Divide batter among muffin tins filling between ½ and 2/3 of the way full.

7. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating pan half way through, until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Let muffins sit in the hot baking pan for 2 minutes then gently remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.

Gingerbread Granola

It is Christmas crunch time over here! I’m up to my elbows in wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, and scotch tape.  I’m (not so) secretly loving every minute of it.  While I really do wish I had started doing the Christmas thing a bit earlier, I don’t mind the last minute rush since I really thrive under pressure.  Speaking of pressure, last night the husband and I hit the mall and got all of our gift shopping done in ONE hour! We were pretty proud of ourselves and thankful that we made it out alive. It is seriously crazy out there.

Despite the holiday craziness, I’m so excited to spend Christmas with my family and to have a week off of work. It will be a nice little break that will give me some time to finish up/start some important things like wedding thank you cards, organization, and other fun stuff. I also bought a candy thermometer to experiment with some candy-making over the break, so don’t be surprised if you see some caramel recipes soon!

If you’re like me and had your heart set on some delicious DIY gifts but don’t have time to break out the candy thermometer or craft some intricate cookies, I’ve got a great recipe for you.  Two words: gingerbread granola.  I feel like granola often gets overlooked during the holidays.  It’s not as flashy as fleur de sel caramels or as a decadent as dark chocolate fudge, but it is definitely just as gift-worthy.  Granola is a breeze to make at home and once you have a basic recipe, the flavors and add-in combination are endless.  For this gift worthy granola, I took my basic granola template and changed a few things (mainly the oil level) and threw in the flavors of my favorite Christmas cookie, gingerbread.  You know I love molasses and spice – add crunchy oats and toasty walnuts into the mix, and this humble little granola really shines.  Whip up a batch to give to friends and family or just to keep around while you’re buried under a mountain of wrapping paper and sticky bows.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing, and safe holiday – I will be back next week, hopefully with some new candy recipes!

Gingerbread Granola
Yields: 3 cups of granola

3 cups certified gluten-free oats

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup honey (or liquid sweetener of your choice)

2 Tbsp molasses

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. ginger

1 Tbsp. allspice

¾ cup walnuts

¼ tsp. fine sea salt
1.  Preheat oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with some parchment paper.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine oil, honey, vanilla extract, and molasses.  Whisk together until incorporated.
3. In a separate, large bowl combine oats, spices, salt and chopped walnuts.  Stir until everything is mixed together.
4.  Add liquid mixture to oats and gently stir to coat.
5.  Gently turn granola out onto your baking sheet and spread into an even layer.
6.  Bake for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, give it a stir to and pop it back in the oven.
7. Bake for another 10-12 minutes.  Keep an eye on it and notice it is starts to smell burnt.   You want to be smell the spices and the toasty oats, but you don’t want to smell burnt oats.  Molasses has a tendency to burn quickly so just be watchful.
8.  Let cool on baking sheet then store in airtight jars.

Gluten-free Apple Cinnamon Roll Muffins

I’m just popping in quickly to share this recipe because it may be the best thing that I have ever made!  These little muffins are the result of my indecision.  I couldn’t decide if I wanted to make apple cider donut muffins or cinnamon roll muffins so I did a little bit of both!

I was a little hesitant about how these would turn out.  My history with gluten-free yeasted dough isn’t pretty but luckily, these little muffins were unbelievably easy.  There is no kneading or worry of over kneading (the beauty of gluten-free dough!) and they have such a tender crumb that no one would ever guess these were gluten-free.

I baked these treats were for my bridal shower this afternoon and I can’t wait to share them with everyone!  This will probably be my last post until after the wedding since it is going to be a busy and exciting week.  I can’t wait to share wedding photos with everyone and I will try to pop in and share at least one photo of our married selves the day after.   When you hear from me next, I’ll be a mrs. !  In the meantime, bake up some of these and share them with the ones you love.

Gluten-free Apple Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Yields: 24 mini muffins or 12 regular sized muffins

Adapted from: Joy the Baker

Batter:

210g gluten-free flour mix
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (soy milk or regular milk)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

1 medium apple, diced very, very small

Filling/Topping:

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar or raw sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of allspice

Apple Cider Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp soy milk or regular milk + 1 Tbsp apple cider

1.  Grease your mini muffin tin.

2. Warm your milk in the microwave for about 40 seconds – 1 minute. You want it warm, not boiling.  Add yeast and dissolve.  Let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.

3. Mix together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium sized bowl until combined.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, vanilla, oil, and yeast milk (once proofed).  Whisk together to combine.

5.  Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture and mix until just combined (I did this with the paddle attachment on my stand mixer).  Add in diced apples and stir again to incorporate.

6. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and let rest for 15 minutes.  At this point, turn on your oven to preheat to 350F.  It may not be fully preheated when the muffins are ready but that is okay.

7. While waiting, mix up the filling by combing all ingredients with a fork until crumbly.

8.  After the 15 minutes, put about 1/4 tsp. of mix on muffins and swirl in with the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle a bit more on top.

9. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden on the edges and the muffins spring back when you touch them.  Make your glaze: whisk together all ingredients and that’s it!

10.  Let cool in the tins for a few brief minutes until you can easily remove them.  Let cool on rack for at least 30 minutes before glazing.

G-free Vegan Chai Banana Bread

The weather has finally caught up with my insistent demands for the fall season and it looks like there is cool, crisp weekend in store.  I also have a very, very busy weekend to follow my very busy week which means that I needed to do some serious make-ahead, grab-and-go food for the weekend.  I already whipped up a large pot of vegetable soup this week that has been my lunch every day this week (and I still have a large container left in the fridge and four individual servings frozen).  I had planned on posting that recipe since it is really tasty but then wedding planning took over my life, my pup got very very sick, and work came home with me nearly every day so it didn’t happen. The chaos of this month and the impending chaos of next month has worn me out. To say that I need something comforting is an understatement.

Apparently, my body is interpreting this as a craving for a thick slice of quick bread with butter. I didn’t do much baking this summer, and now all I want to do is bake – I’m blaming it on the cooler weather. After making these pumpkin whoopie pies last week, I’ve had all sorts of baked goods on the brain. Pinterest is only adding fuel to this fire and making me wish I could spend days in the kitchen. The other day, while furiously pinning gorgeous dresses and boots that I’m pretty sure I need, I saw a picture of a humble loaf of banana bread. After that, I could not get banana bread out of my head. Luckily, there have been a small batch of ever ripening bananas staring at me for a few days and I figured baking some banana bread would put them to good use.

Banana bread has always been a favorite of mine for so many reasons.  For one, it makes your house smell ah-mazing.  Secondly, it is the perfect vehicle for butter, nut butters, and cream cheese (if you haven’t tried that, do it. now. It’s life-changing).  Thirdly, it makes an awesome grab-and-go breakfast on hectic fall days. But my top reason? It reminds me of baking with my mom.  My mom and I would always make the best banana bread together and I can’t help but smile when I make it. Just the smell of banana bread is enough to send me into nostalgia land and provides a warm, buttery blanket of comfort for me.  So if you need some comfort or just a quick grab-and-go breakfast for your hectic weekend, whip up some banana bread. This bread is sprinkled with a bit of chai spices that take the comfort to a whole new level. It’s also vegan simply because my favorite banana bread recipe just so happens to be vegan.

Gluten-free Vegan Chai Banana Bread

Yields: 1 loaf

Adapted from:Joy the Baker

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. raw sugar (brown sugar or sucanat would work too!)

1 Tbsp. maple syrup

1/4 c. coconut oil (solid, very lightly packed. You can also use canola oil)

280g gluten-free flour mix

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. powdered ginger (you can also do 1/2 tsp. ginger and 1/2 tsp. ground cloves if you like)

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F and oil your loaf pan.

2. Mash bananas until they are very liquidy. Add in vanilla, sugar, syrup, and coconut oil.  Whisk until combined.

3. In a separate bowl, add remaining dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt) and whisk together until they are fully incorporated.

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.

5. Bake in loaf pan for 45-50 min until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. Let cool on a cooling rack for 20-30 minutes before removing from loaf pan.  Once removed, let cool completely before slicing.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Hi my name is Gabby and I’m addicted to pumpkin.  It has been less than 12 hours since my last pumpkin product was consumed. I wish I was kidding….but I’m not. I’ve had something pumpkin flavored every day since Friday. And I have been putting pumpkin pie spice on everything for the past two weeks. If being addicted to pumpkin is wrong, then I never want to be right. Beyond my craving for pumpkin everything, I have found myself craving granola.  Normally, I’m not a big granola fan – I love oats, spice, nuts, and all of that good stuff, just not in granola form. I can hardly remember the last time I actually bought a package of granola let alone had some. But alas, I had some serious granola cravings this weekend.

Store-bought granola wasn’t really an option – there are few that are made with gluten-free oats and those that are safe are often very expensive. So I decided to make my own and combine my love of pumpkin with some healthy, g-free granola. I very rarely plan a recipe days in advanced but this was one exception. I was out of nearly everything that I needed for this recipe so a little Relay Foods planning was required.

Have you heard of Relay Foods?  They are a online grocery service that brings farm fresh (literally) products to Richmond and Charlottesville residents through convenient grocery pick-up and delivery.  I first heard about Relay from a Groupon and have been hooked ever since. They have an awesome selection of goods, including tons of gluten-free products, and are incredibly nice. Their products are the same price as other stores (sometimes even cheaper!) and they eliminate the hassle of having to go to multiple stores to get all of your groceries. If you’re in their delivery or pick-up area, I highly suggest checking them out! P.S. They didn’t ask/pay/bribe/harass me to write this about them. I just genuinely love their company and think that the service they provide is awesome!

This granola recipe doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and takes just a few minutes to whip up.  It tastes like pumpkin pie and is  insanely addictive. And it’s vegan!  I may or may not have eaten a handful straight out of the oven and burned my mouth a bit. I’ll never tell. What I will say is that if you love pumpkin and granola, this will hit the spot on any crisp fall morning. Or cool rainy evening. Actually, it hits the spot any time.

And yes, I have burnt green polka-dot oven mitts. They have character. As does moody, rain and cloud filled natural lighting.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Yields: 8 1/2 cup servings or 16 1/4 cup servings

3.5 cups gluten-free oats (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

2 Tbsp. amaranth, optional (I like amaranth for a little nutritional boost)

1 cup walnuts, chopped

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or more if you like!)

dash of allspice (clove would work too)

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

4 Tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 cup dark brown sugar (I preferred my granola without sugar because I like to control the sugar content myself  and don’t have a big sweet tooth. If you like a sweeter granola, do this! It’s amazing)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Combine all dry ingredients (first five) in a bowl and mix.

3. Combine remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix.  Add the wet to the dry and mix it up so everything is nice and evenly coated.

4. Spread out granola on baking sheets in an even layer. Don’t overload the baking sheet, it needs to be in one layer so it gets nice and toasty.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning granola half-way through. Make sure to rotate your baking sheets every 10 minutes. This helps eliminate hot spots and burnt granola.

6. Let cool on a cooling rack and transfer to a large airtight container.

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I made these muffins the day after the hurricane to bring my family a quick pick-up to help them power through tons of clean up.  I wanted to make them something healthy and comforting. To be honest these muffins were as much for me as they were for my family. When life gets a little intense, I feel the need to do something familiar and methodical.  Cooking often meets that need in a big way: it’s methodical, comfortable, and brings focus.  In a city where everything is buzzing and frazzled, where far too many people are just trying to live without power, focus is something that is hard to come by.

The weather in Virginia has raged and rumbled, but it finally seems to have settled down and begin to focus. The air has a distinctive feel to it.  It’s slightly chilled and has a crisp edge that makes you feel a little bit different when you step outside in the morning.  I can’t wait until the leaves begin to change to deep rust, bright red, and that distinctive orange-yellow color. I’m glad the season is finally here since my wedding is only 2 (!!!) short, short months away and the idea of marrying my best friend in a landscape that is exploding with color is one of the reasons we decided on the date and location of our wedding.

Fall is so close, I can taste it.  And it tastes like these muffins – bursting with apples, spiked with cinnamon, and full of energy-revving ingredients like flax seed and buckwheat. They are topped with a delicious vegan peanut butter “frosting” that really takes them over the top. They’re also vegan since my go-to muffin recipe just so happens to be vegan. These muffins also provide a grab-and-go breakfast for busy weekdays, quick workout refueling, and as a pick me up with some coffee or tea.

Finding focus in autumn flavored muffin form? I’ll take it.

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Yields: 12 muffins

Based on this recipe

 

80g almond meal/flour

50g raw buckwheat flour (I grind raw buckwheat gorasts)

140g sorghum flour

50g tapioca starch (or potato starch)

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

¾ sugar

2 Tbsp. light olive oil (or other light oil)

4 Tbsp. flax meal + 6 Tbsp. warm water (flax eggs)

1 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp. almond extract

1 medium apple, finely diced

1 Tbsp. cinnamon (add more or less to your preference)

1. 1.    Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tin with muffin cups.
2. 2.    In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon) until they look like one flour and are nicely aerated.
3. 3.    Mix wet ingredients (flax eggs, oil, sugar, milk, extracts) together in a mixer until well combined.
4. 4.    Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three stages, ensuring that each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next.
5. 5.    Stir in and evenly distribute apples.
6. 6.    Pop them in the oven for 22-25 minutes or a toothpick comes out clean.
7. 7.    Once they are done, place on cooling rack to cool. Once cool, frost with peanut butter frosting.

 

Peanut Butter Frosting:

¼ cup all natural, creamy vegan peanut butter

1-2 Tbsp. maple syrup*

2-4 Tbsp. almond milk (use more or less depending on the consistency you want and your peanut butter)

1. 1.    Mix peanut butter and syrup together in a small bowl until combined.
2. 2.    Slowly add milk, one spoonful at a time. Be sure to fully mix the milk into the peanut butter before adding more milk.  You want the consistency to be thin enough to drizzle over the muffins. Use your judgment here.
3. 3.    Drizzle some frosting over each muffin and then promptly eat the rest from the bowl.

Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate and Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

This is one of those recipes that shouldn’t have worked.  I had no recipe, no real road map of what I was doing, and just baked with abandon.  My main goal was to create a cookie that met these criteria:

-vegan

-gluten-free

– chocolatey

– healthy enough to eat for breakfast

Done and done.

I basically took everything that I normally eat for breakfast in my microwave buckwheat bakes and put it in cookie form.   These cookies are packed with good for you foods like buckwheat, almonds, and flaxseed and you can have 3 cookies for under 300 calories (minus peanut butter topping – that probably puts it at about 330-350) with 10g of protein and 7g of fiber! (I calculated calories using caloriecount.com).  Although there is a decent amount of fat from the peanut butter, it is good for you fat and will keep you full for hours.

The cookies themselves are not extremely sweet.  The level of sweetness is perfect when you top with some additional peanut butter however if you want a sweeter cookie, add a tablespoon of maple syrup.

Cookies for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do.

Vegan, Gluten-free Chocolate PB Breakfast Cookies

Yields: 12 cookies

1/3 c. raw buckwheat groats, ground into a powder (use a clean coffee grinder!)

1/4 c. ground flaxseed

1/4 c. almond meal

1 tsp. baking powder

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 Tsp. vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. vanilla soymilk

1/4 c.  smooth natural peanut butter

maple syrup, if needed for sweetness

1 Tbsp.  smooth natural peanut butter + 1 tsp. soy milk for topping, mixed together (add more or less soy milk depending on the consistency you like.  I make my own peanut butter so it isn’t completely smooth, store bought peanut butter should get pretty smooth.)

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with some parchment paper and set aside.

2. Combine the first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl and sift together until thoroughly mixed.

3. Combine last 3 wet ingredients in another small bowl.

4. Add the wet to the dry and stir until you have a very sticky dough.  Add a bit more milk if your dough is still too dry.  It is going to be super sticky – gluten-free vegan dough is just that way.

5.  Scoop cookies by the table spoon (literally a spoon not tablespoon) onto the cookie sheet and using wet hands, press down slightly.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on cooling rack.

7. Once cool, frost with peanut butter topping if desired (I recommend it – it is so tasty).

Vegan Blueberry Power Muffins

The days are growing longer, with the sun lingering late into the evening.  Yet for me , the days seem to pass slower.

Maybe it’s the searing heat (and lovely humidity if you’re in Virginia) that makes my eyelids heavy in the afternoon.  Or maybe it’s the late sunshine drawing me outside instead of into my bed. Or perhaps, it’s even the daydreams of laying on beach sipping on some unnecessarily frothy drink with an umbrella.

Whatever it is, it’s making me drag in the mornings – not the heavy winter drag that makes your body feel like lead – it’s more of a lazy, Sunday morning drag.  The kind of drag where you want to leisurely sip your latte in your yoga pants.  This drag is definitely making it difficult to make breakfast before work – and you don’t want to see me without my breakfast and espresso.  I might bite your head off.

These muffins are the remedy to the summer morning drag.  Do yourself a favor and carve out a half an hour one evening to bake these muffins to have for breakfast this week. They’re light but substantial and bursting with fresh, delicious blueberries.  They are packed with healthy things like flax meal and buckwheat, which is why I’ve called them “power muffins”.  Light, vegan, gluten-free, healthy muffins –  there are few things better.

And is there anything more beautiful than berries bursting out of a muffin?  I don’t think so.

Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Power Muffins

Inspired by Gluten-free Goddess

Yields 12 large muffins

80g almond flour

50g raw buckwheat flour (I take raw buckwheat groats and give them a quick process in a grinder)

140g sorghum flour

50g tapioca starch (or potato starch)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. light olive oil (or other light tasting oil)

4 Tbsp flax meal mixed with 6 Tbsp warm water

1 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

zest of 1 small lemon

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 pint of fresh blueberries

Oat Topping: 3 Tbsp. gluten-free oats + 3 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tin with muffin cups!

1. Mix together all dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder)  until combined.  Add sugar and mix to incorporate.

2. Mix together wet ingredients (flax meal with water, oil, almond milk, vanilla extract) in a separate bowl. Add in lemon zest and lemon juice and combine.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients in three batches, mixing thoroughly between batches.

4. Gently stir in your fresh blueberries.  Fold the batter around the berries gently so you don’t end up with smurf muffins, but if you do, they will still be delicious.

5. Gently fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full.

6. Mix up the oat topping if using and sprinkle over muffins.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

8. Move muffins from tins to a cooling rack ASAP – soggy muffins are no fun. Let cool until you just can’t take it anymore.