Featured Food Blog - October 2015

 

Meet Karina:

Karina Allrich is publisher, recipe developer and author Gluten-Free Goddess®. Karina discovered she was gluten intolerant in late 2001—after a decade of unseemly, classic celiac symptoms. She has been cooking and baking gluten-free ever since, serving up hundreds of original recipes on her popular food blog, launched in late fall 2005.

{Karina's Pumpkin Cupcakes}with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

1 cup Sorghum or brown rice flour
1 cup Organic light brown sugar 
¾ cup Potato or tapioca starch
½ cup Organic cane sugar
¼ cup Almond or hazelnut flour
1 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Ground ginger
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
½ tsp Fine sea salt
¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
½ cup Organic coconut oil
1 cup Canned organic pumpkin
2 Organic free-range eggs, beaten or egg replacer*
2 tsps Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
2 cups powdered sugar, more if needed
¼ cup chilled vegan cream cheese (or soft dairy cream cheese)
2-4 Tbsps pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 12-muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: sorghum/brown rice flour, light brown sugar, potato/tapioca starch, white cane sugar, almond/halzelnut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, sea salt and nutmeg. Add in the coconut oil by pieces, cutting in with a pastry cutter or your mixer's whisk/whip attachment, until the mixture is sandy. Add in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla and beat on medium-high for 1-2 minutes until the cake batter is smooth and stretchy.  Spoon the cake batter into liners and smooth out the tops. Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven for about 22 to 25 minutes, until the tops are firm but springy. Ovens vary widely, so watch these babies and check with a cake tester if you need to. Briefly cool in the pan until the cupcakes are cool enough to handle. Then remove from the baking pan and cool on a wire rack for one hour before frosting. Meanwhile... make your icing.

Pour the powdered sugar into a clean mixing bowl and add the cream cheese. Start beating to combine cream cheese and sugar.  Add pure maple syrup a tablespoon at a time, just until the frosting is soft and smooth. I only needed 2 tablespoons. Beat on medium-high for 1-2 minutes, until frosting is glossy and fluffy. Cover and chill as the cupcakes cool. Use a clean icing knife to frost cupcakes. Chill in the fridge briefly to set the frosting. To store extras, top each chilled/set cupcake with a square of parchment paper, then wrap, bag and freeze.

Gluten-Free Cooking Tips

When experimenting with gluten-free baking, choose a recipe wisely. Recipes containing pureed fruit, shredded veggies, yogurt, or sour cream translate beautifully to gluten-free. Think: banana muffins, carrot or pumpkin cake, sour cream apple cake or blueberry muffins made with sour cream or yogurt. Adding applesauce, pureed fruit or yogurt to recipes helps wheat-free gluten-free cakes, muffins and quick breads stay moist. Adding shredded or desiccated coconut, chopped nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate chips also goes a long way to improving texture and flavor. Start with adding one half cup to your favorite recipe. Experiment and have fun. Use light brown sugar instead of refined white sugar. It boosts moistness and flavor.

{Karina’s Pumpkin Bread}

This recipe makes one big, generous loaf of pumpkin bread. Be sure and use a large loaf pan, preferably ceramic, like this one, for even baking. And if you don’t care for walnuts, use pecans.

1 cup Sorghum flour
1 cup Potato starch (not potato flour)
½ cup Hazelnut flour
½ cup Corn flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Sea salt
1¼ tsps Xanthan gum
2 tsps Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
¼ tsp Nutmeg
1 cup Golden brown sugar
¼ cup Cane sugar
½ cup Organic expeller pressed canola oil
3 Organic free-range eggs, beaten
1 rounded cup Canned pumpkin
1 Tbsp Bourbon vanilla
¾ cup Walnuts (or pecans), chopped

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large loaf pan - preferably a 9-inch ceramic loaf pan- with a piece of parchment paper; the length of the parchment should be above both sides, with enough to grip (this makes it super easy to get the baked loaf out of the pan).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, starches, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, xanthan gum, spices and sugars. Add in the oil, egg, pumpkin and vanilla. Beat for two minutes till the batter is smooth and fluffy. Fold in the walnuts by hand, using a big spoon or spatula. Scoop the batter into the lined loaf pan. Smooth out the top. Add a few walnut halves for decoration, if desired.

Feel the pan. If the batter feels cold- allow it to rest for a few minutes and come up to room temperature- this will help with the rise. Place the pan in the center of the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350° F. Bake for 45 to 55 more minutes, until the top is firm and set, and a cake tester inserted into the center emerges clean. *This is a large loaf- so it takes a good hour, at least, to bake. Every oven is different, and if you are baking in hot weather, your loaf may cook through faster than mine did. As always, keep an eye on it. Test and get to know your oven’s tendencies.

Cool on a wire rack. When the loaf has cooled, loosen the end edges with a thin knife; grip the parchment to gently lift the loaf onto a cutting board. Remember- a warm loaf is a fragile loaf.  Slice with a serrated bread knife. We grilled our leftover slices in a dab of vegan butter. I froze half the loaf to have on hand. It freezes beautifully. This would be lovely to make ahead for Thanksgiving.

Recipe originally published November 2012 by Karina Allrich.

www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com
Pinterest: pinterest.com/gfreegoddess
Facebook: facebook.com/GlutenFreeGoddess
Twitter: @gfgoddess
Google+: +KarinaAllrich