Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

This recipe is a great fall standby, especially for when you have extra pumpkin sitting around.

¾ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup almond meal
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cardamom
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup soy or nut milk
½ cup warm water
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, spices, and baking powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, milk, sugar and oil until well combined, then mix wet into the dry until combined. I use around ¼ - ½ cup of batter for each pancake, fried in a small pat of earth balance. The recipe makes 4 of the bigger pancake

Vegan Coconut Milk Ice Cream

One of the nice things about being gluten-free is that you always have a stock of xanthan gum on hand for things like this.

1½ - 1¾ cups coconut milk
½ cup soy or nut milk
½ cup cane sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
pinch of salt
flavoring (see below)

We just picked up a quart capacity ice cream maker - which is really something I should've picked up years ago - and this recipe is by far the favorite. I have a nice all-steel blender and make the recipe from start to finish in there, though a blender isn't necessary if you're using store-bought coconut milk and have a whisk on hand.

I made the coconut milk from scratch, taking 2 cups boiling water and steeping 1 cup dried unsweetened coconut along with the sugar for around ten minutes, then blending for around 30 seconds (hot liquids can sometimes leak out the top when blended, so begin by pulsing, then giving it a full blend). Strain out the solid coconut from the mixture and return to the blender, adding the soy milk and salt, then sprinkling the xanthan gum on the top of the mixture. Blend until the xanthan gum is incorporated - the mixture should look noticeably thicker at this point.

If using store-bought coconut milk, combine the coconut milk over low heat and whisk in the sugar until incorporated. Remove from the heat, add the soy or nut milk, and whisk the xanthan gum into a small portion of the mixture, then add this back into the rest of the mix.

Add flavoring to the mixture, then chill in the refrigerator until cold.

A half hour before using, add the mixture to the freezer - you want the mix to be as cold as possible before adding it to the ice cream maker, but without letting it start to freeze, so keep an eye on it. It helps to take the mix out after 15 minutes, blend or stir briefly, then return to the freezer for the other 15. Add the mix to your ice cream maker and process according to directions.

For flavoring, any mix of extracts or fresh fruit will work. I'm pretty partial to 1 tsp vanilla extract and ½ tsp almond extract, with 1/3 cup chopped almonds mixed in after the mixture has started to freeze, or 1 tsp peppermint extract and ½ tsp vanilla extract, with chocolate flakes mixed in (pictured above).

Gluten-Free Pizza Dough

Okay, so, pizza.

The sorghum-tapioca-almond mix I used for cupcakes this weekend was so good and rose so well, I wanted to see how it would take to a savory recipe and a yeast-style rise. Almost all of the pizza crusts I see are rice-based, so pizza seemed like an obvious starting point.

1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
½ cup + 1 tbsp warm water
2 tsp olive oil
¾ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
2 tbsp almond flour
1 ½ tsp xanthan gum
½ tsp ener-g egg replacer
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
½ tsp basil
½ tsp oregano
few turns cracked black pepper

In a small non-reactive bowl, stir the yeast and sugar into 1/2 cup of the warm water, making sure to separate any clumps that form. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is noticeably frothy. In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, ener-g replacer, salt, herbs and pepper. Add the olive oil to the water and add the liquid to the dry, forming the resulting dough into a ball. The dough should be relatively moist, though not so much that it sticks noticeably to the bowl - add the extra water if needed. Oil the bowl and let the dough sit, covered, in a warm place for twenty minutes.

Take the dough and gently begin to flatten it into a disk - it will hold together fairly well, though you might have to patch a couple of cracks as you go. It helps to spread a little olive oil on your hands before shaping. At this point, you can either use the dough as is or allow it to have another short rise before baking, depending on whether you want a thinner or thicker crust. When ready to use, bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes, until the dough has started to slightly firm up. Remove the dough from the oven and add sauce and toppings. Bake for another 15-18 minutes.

I've always seen gluten-free recipes call for more yeast than usual, and was wondering whether this would give the more neutral-tasting sorghum an overly yeasty flavor, but this wasn't the case at all - the yeast, herbs, salt and pepper came together to form a really nice, savory crust. I also got a surprisingly good rise from this, which I've never been able to get from rice-based crusts. I had mine on the crisp side, topped with a chunky oregano-heavy tomato sauce and herbed tofu with balsamic.

For the record, I'm really into this flour mix.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I've never really freaked out over a gluten-free recipe tasting that much like its gluten-full counterpart, but I had a minor freak-out when I tried these. These cupcakes are moist and delicious and don't fall apart at all and are so, so good.

I read a great review of Elana Amsterdam's almond flour cookbook in my local paper last week and have been into the idea of baking with almond flour ever since, but I also know her recipes can get a little egg-crazy. The almond flour doesn't play a huge role here, since all of the other cake recipes I've seen that are heavy on the almond flour also seem to rely on just a huge amount of eggs to provide structure, but I want to play around with adding at least as much almond flour as starch. For science. (But since it's so much more expensive than other flours, I have no problem keeping it sparse - I just blanched and ground my own for this with some leftover bulk almonds we had in the kitchen).

¾ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup potato flour
1/8 cup almond flour or ground walnuts
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup soy or nut milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the milk and vinegar and let sit for a few minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, baking soda and powder, salt, cocoa, and cinnamon. Add the oil, sugar, and extract to the slightly curdled milk, then whisk the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. Pour into a muffin pan fit with cupcake liners and bake at 350 for around 18-20 minutes, or until inside is tested to be dry.

These cupcakes rise a good bit - seriously, I've never had a g-f cake recipe rise as much as this one - so only fill the each liner around 3/4 of the way up. Frost with chocolate frosting.

Chocolate Coconut Buttercream + Box Cake

Okay, so cake from a box doesn't actually need any need instructions beyond, you know, the box. This post is really just here to sing the praises of coconut oil and silken tofu eggs in veganizing this kind of recipe, and give me an excuse to post the buttercream.

1 box 365 brand g-f white cake mix
¼ cup coconut butter
¼ cup dairy-free margarine
¼ cup silken tofu
¾ cup non-dairy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the coco butter and marg in a large mixing bowl and let soften. In a blender, combine the milk and tofu and blend until smooth and without lumps. Add the vanilla extract to the milk mixture. Beat the coco butter and marg with a mixer and incorporate the cake mix while continuously beating. Add the milk mixture and mix until well incorporated. Pour batter into a 9" round cake pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until inside is tested to be dry. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

The cake doesn't do much in the way of rising, but it's considerably moist and delicious, especially topped with:

chocolate coconut buttercream

¼ cup coconut butter
¼ cup dairy-free margarine
½ cup cocoa powder
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup to ½ cup non-dairy milk (see below)

Place the coco butter and marg in a large mixing bowl and let soften. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth, then alternate the sugar and milk until completely incorporated. For a thicker frosting, use the lesser amount of non-dairy milk - if making a thinner frosting, it should be drizzled over the top of the cake before it has cooled completely. For thicker frosting, cake should be cooled completely before frosting top and sides. This recipe makes a decent amount of extra frosting, which is a good excuse to make cupcakes or eat it straight from the bowl. (Or you could always just halve the recipe.)

Homemade Garlic Ketchup

We ran out of ketchup tonight, and the last thing I felt like doing was taking a bus down to the store (though I obviously didn't mind playing around in my kitchen for the 45 minutes it takes to simmer this up).

1 large (15 oz) can of tomatoes*
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp tomato paste
¼ cup white vinegar
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
¼ tsp ground allspice
Salt and pepper to taste
small pinch of ground cloves (optional)

*If using diced tomatoes, drain (I reserved the liquid for the next time I make tomato sauce) and blend until smooth. If using crushed tomatoes, use as is.

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and cook the garlic until lightly brown. Turn the heat up to medium and add the sugar and vinegar, cooking for 2 to 3 minutes until the sugar begins to dissolve. Add the tomato puree, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and allspice, and cook until the mixture reduces and thickens, around 25 minutes. Check to see if more salt if necessary, then allow the mixture to cool (placing the pot in a cold water bath will speed this up). Add the mixture to blender and puree until smooth.

I originally used cider vinegar when I made my first batch, but the flavor was a little too pronounced and overpowered the tomato flavor of the ketchup. I also added 1/8 tsp ground cloves the first time around, which turned out to be waaay too much. I prefer it with just the allspice, or just a small pinch of the cloves.

For a more traditional ketchup, swap out the garlic for a quarter of an onion, chopped fine, or skip the oil and add ½-1 tsp onion powder (to taste) along with the allspice.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Bread

We went a little crazy cleaning and organizing the kitchen this morning, and in the process found two cans of pumpkin still leftover from the holidays. You know, the ones that happened over nine months ago? Those holidays.

I figured pumpkin spice bread was a good place to start using them.

1 ½ cups flour mix (see below)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ¼ cup cane sugar
3 flax eggs
¼ cup soy or nut milk
¾ cup chopped walnuts

I wanted to experiment a little with baking mixes, so ended up using 1 cup of bob's RM all purpose baking mix (a garfava/sorghum/starch mix) and ½ cup of my standard cake mix, which ended up being:

2 tbsp sweet brown rice flour
2 tbsp sorghum flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
2 tbsp potato starch

With those two combined, I ended up with a somewhat complex flour blend that looked something like:

2 parts tapioca flour
2 parts potato starch
1 ¼ part sorghum flour
1 part garfava flour
¾ part sweet brown rice flour

This worked great for the pumpkin bread, though I'm not sure that it did any better than either of the two mixes would have on their own. I'll have to try the recipe again with the other mixes and see.

In a medium bowl, add the xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices, then whisk to combine. In a large bowl whisk together the pumpkin, vegetable oil, sugar, milk and flax eggs (use 1 tbsp of flax seed blended with 3 tbsp warm water for each egg). Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, then fold in the chopped walnuts. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake on the middle shelf of a 375 degree oven for ~45 minutes or until inside is tested to be dry.

The bread holds up incredibly well - it's one of the first g-f things I've had that actually tastes better the next day.