Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars

  No collection of recipes is complete without a gluten-free variation.  Whether its a personal choice to be healthier or a mandatory boycott due to allergies, finding gluten-free recipes that don't sacrifice taste can be a little difficult.  Most of the pumpkin seed recipes post earlier this month are also gluten-free, but here's a recipe that requires flour, but not necessarily of the wheat variety.  While we ended up using a cream cheese frosting to top off these yummy bars, there is also a healthier substitute made from tofu.

  We ended up tripling this recipe to make a 9x13 pan so we had enough for a fall festival.  Not being so great with math I just measured out each ingredient three times instead of actually trying to triple the number amounts.  When we first mixed the batter it looked dry and crumbly, but once we put it in the pan and pressed it together using a spatula it turned out wonderfully.  

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars

from Chocolate Covered Kate

YEILDS: 12 small squares

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup coconut flour (or oat flour, spelt flour, etc.) (For gluten-version, you can use white flour.)

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 “egg” of choice (or 1 tsp. ener-g powder, 1 Tbsp. ground flax) (if necessary, you can omit completely)

5 Tbsp. brown sugar (or 3 Tbsp. agave and 2 packets of NuNaturals stevia) (For a sugar-free version, you can use 3 Tbsp. xylitol.)

½ cup canned pumpkin (or cooked, pureed pumpkin)

2 Tbsp. milk (of choice)

2 Tbsp. oil (I used coconut oil, but vegetable oil is ok too.)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Spices:

Our own version of “Pumpkin Pie Spices”; feel free to ad lib a little based on what you have on hand.  Nothing is essential other than the cinnamon.

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine dry ingredients, then add wet.  Spread into an oiled 7x5 pan (or double the recipe for an 8x8) and cook for 14-15 minutes. 

Let the pan cool for at least ten minutes before cutting or frosting the squares.  Also, the flavors seem to intensify and taste even sweeter the next day.

You can frost with Healthier Cheesecake Frosting (recipe below) or you can opt to leave them plain.  Other topping ideas include apple butter, vegan butter, nut butter or vegan cream cheese.

Healthier Cheesecake Frosting

from Chocolate Covered Kate

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup silken-firm tofu (Mori-Nu)

2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Tofutti non-hydrogenated cream cheese

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

stevia or other sweetener to taste

cinnamon as desired

DIRECTIONS:

Blend the tofu until smooth, then add other ingredients and blend again.

Cream Cheese Frosting

from Simplyrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

8 oz cream cheese (1 package), room temperature

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

With an electric mix, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth (about 3 minutes on medium speed).  Add vanilla extract and mix.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Keep adding until desired sweetness and thickness.  (The more powdered sugar added the soupier the mixture gets.  I just used 2 cups.)  Spread on with blunt knife or spatula (or spoon into a piping bag to decorate your cake or cupcake).  

VARIATIONS:

-Add a teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice for exotic chocolate cake.

-Add freshly ground ginger for a carrot cake.

-Add freshly ground chai spice or even the contents of a bag of earl grey tea for heady and aromatic frosting.

-Add the scraping from a vanilla bean to make a very sweet frosting for red velvet or dark chocolate cakes.

-Add freshly grated or dried, flaked coconut for coconut cake.

-Add 6 oz of white baking chocolate squares or chips (melted and cooled slightly) for a delicious white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Homemade Granola with Almonds, Mangoes, Cranberries and Pineapple

  This month our food theme is pumpkin, in case you haven't noticed.  So far we've shared recipes for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, and Pumpkin Seed Pesto.  Today, we're continuing on the pumpkin seed path with Homemade Granola with Almonds, Mangoes, Cranberries and Pineapple.  This simple recipe leaves you with a good amount of granola—enough to share!  If you know the kids who are about to trick-or-treat at your door or are throwing a Halloween party, this festive fall colored treat is a perfect alternative to candy.  Or you could be like my mother who shared only a small amount and kept the rest for herself to put on greek yogurt for a mildly healthy snack. We say "mildly" because anything that has this much brown sugar in it shouldn't be considered the most healthy snack.  
  The original recipe we found included dried apricots, but while at the store, we found dried mangoes instead.  As always, feel free to make any substitutions you might want.  We just liked the rich, fall color mixture of red, yellow and orange.  Hope you enjoy this yummy treat!
  And don't forget to keep sending in your recipes that include pecan ingredients!  Check back in November to possibly see your recipe featured here.

Granola with Almonds, Mangoes, Cranberries and Pineapple

from the Kitchn

YEILDS: 10 cups

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

¼ cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 cups rolled oats

2 cups silvered almonds

¾ cup sunflower seeds

¾ cup pumpkin seeds

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups combined dried cranberries, dried mangoes (chopped), and dried pineapple (chopped)

salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350°F. 

Combine oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Pour butter and sugar mixture over the top of the oat mixture and stir until everything is well coated.  Add a dash of salt, if desired.  (If either of your seeds are salted, you don’t need additional salt.)

Spread the mixture onto a large, rimmed baking sheet (or two, if it’s overflowing).  Bake for about 1 hour, gently stirring and turning every 15 or 20 minutes, until granola is golden brown and toasted.

Transfer granola to a large bowl and, while it is still warm, stir in dried fruit.  Store in an airtight container.  Will keep for a few weeks.