Month: September 2025

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is all about those pumpkin flavored things like pumpkin spice lattes etc. I agree that pumpkin makes homemade baked goods even better tasting. A few years ago I made a batch of pumpkin muffins; they turned out nice.  Next, I did the upgrade version: mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.  Really amazing flavors and great texture in the resulting muffins! Today I am baking them with the addition of a heaping 1/3 cup raisins; I tried a few in the batter last time and loved the sweet flavor of the raisins sprinkled throughout the muffins. Doing that but even more raisins!

This recipe is my version using the banana muffin recipe from Annalise Roberts’s wonderful cookbook: Gluten Free Baking Classics as my jump off place.  They are easy to make, perfect in texture and totally yummy. I used coconut palm sugar; low on the hypoglycemic scale which is great for me.  I do love to sprinkle the raw muffins with chunky sugar before baking.  I sprinkled them last time with oatmeal, but I do love to use coarse sugar too. Today they are naked; in a rush so no time for sprinkle efforts.

I freeze any I won’t eat in 2 days; in a Ziplock freezer bag.  They make perfect snacks. My guy loves them about as much as I do. Enjoy!

chocolate-chip-pumpkin-muffins-011

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (14 muffins)

2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)

2/3 c granulated sugar or coconut palm sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp. ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 c packed canned pumpkin

½ cup mini chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup heaping of raisins (optional)

2 lg eggs beaten

½ c milk, 1 or 2 percent plus 1 extra tbsp. if you use the palm sugar

½ c canola oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees, placing the rack in middle of oven.  Spray muffin pans with cooking spray.  One batch makes 12-14 muffins depending on how large you want them.

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer or big bowl. Add nuts and then pumpkin puree, stirring into the dry ingredients. Combine milk and oil, beat in eggs.  Add liquids to big bowl; stir until fully blended.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full.  Bake 22-23 min until golden brown. Do not over bake or they get dry.  I baked these on the convection setting of my range; done in 17 minutes. Rest for five minutes and then remove from the pans using a fork, cool on a rack. Freezes well for up to 4 weeks.

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Originally published in 2016; minor updates to recipe as to adding raisins and using a convection oven.

Escarole and White Bean Soup

My sister Elaine was talking about making this soup and bought escarole for it at a farm stand, so I copied her and got a big head. I looked at recipes as I don’t think I ever made this soup…and made a few changes for my own version of this classic fall soup. It is not a complicated recipe, but it has a lot of ingredients. Get the freshest veggies possible and don’t skip anything; it melds together into this incredibly balanced and hearty meal in a big soup dish. Mostly you chop, dump and stir. The delicious lemony taste is quite addictive. It has some pancetta fried to a crisp and sprinkled on top, but you could make it vegetarian by omitting that. I had it with buttered sourdough toast and a lovely beet salad. It’s naturally gf, just check the pancetta for gf labeling. I didn’t miss having a big hunk of protein; the beans and toast were full of plant protein. Great for a meatless supper and you won’t feel cheated or deprived. I think this is my new favorite soup!

Notes: you can use a couple of cans of white beans but honestly it isn’t difficult to cook them yourself and the flavor is much better and so your soup will be much tastier. The red pepper flakes are fully blended in; if you want it spicy add another half or whole teaspoon of it. I think bacon could be a decent substitute for the pancetta. I used some garlic stuffed olives from Aldi’s; they worked perfectly. One medium lemon gave me the zest and enough lemon juice.

I let mine stand 15 minutes before serving and you should definitely do that to allow the flavors to blend and the soup to cool to a reasonable temperature; boiling hot soup is never a good taste!

Escarole and White Bean Soup

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of dry white beans; I used medium size white ones; soak overnight, drain, rinse and cook 1.5-2 hours until soft.

4 oz pancetta

4 Tbsp mild olive oil, divided

1 cup diced carrots

3/4 cup diced carrots

3/4 cup diced celery

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. lemon zest

1/2-1 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 tsp. fresh rosemary minced

1 fresh bay leaf

4 cups vegetable stock; you may need another 1/2-1 cups

1 lg head endive, washed and chopped into 1 inch lengths; I set the thicker bottom stems aside to add first.

1 cup large green olives cut in half (pitted)

3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2-1 tsp sea salt, black pepper fresh ground to taste

Finish: EVOL and fresh grated parmesan cheese to top soup

Directions: Pour a half Tbsp. olive oil in a large soup pot; heat, add pancetta and cook until crisp. Fish out with a slotted spoon and set aside for serving with the soup. Then add rest of olive oil to the pot and diced onions. Cook 2 minutes. Add the carrots and celery, cook 4 minutes stirring often, add garlic, stir and cook a minute. Add bay leaf, red pepper flakes and rosemary; cook 1-2 minutes stirring frequently. Add the stock and beans including all bean liquid, let heat a couple of minutes, stir and then add the endive stems, cook a minute. Add rest of endive and heat until almost boiling. Add olives and turn heat down, simmer 6-10 minutes until endive is tender. Add lemon juice, salt and black pepper, stir well and taste. Remove bay leaf. Adjust salt/pepper. Let stand 15-20 minutes for flavors to blend and soup to cool a bit.

Serve in a wide bowl topped with fresh parmesan, a good sprinkle of pancetta and a drizzle of EVOL. Enjoy!

Sourdough Discard Hamberger Rolls

This is my version of a recipe that was a sourdough bun recipe. I made many changes; added yeast which makes it a discard bread, changed flours, made less buns so they would be bigger and added a brief bulk rise. The sourdough starter adds a certain something even though I am not relying on it for much rise. Plus, without the yeast it would take up to 10 hours to get them to rise. I am no purist, and I don’t have the desire to spend my entire day fussing over rolls! These have great flavor and texture. Frankly they are the best burger buns I have eaten since going gf.

Notes: I made 5 but next time I will do 6 or 7 as they are quite big. I never thought my gf bun would be bigger than the burger, lol. And the flavor! They are tender and delicious. My guy tasted my bun, and it clearly was better than his store bought (not gf) hamburger bun. I love the sesame seeds on top; don’t skip that; adds flavor and they look so authentic and so beautiful.

GF Hamburger Buns

280 gms room temperature filtered water

18 gms. psyllium husk powder

130 gms tapioca starch

70 gms sorghum flour

100 gms oat flour (if you can’t do oats make that 170 gms sorghum flour)

1 rounded tsp. yeast

7gms xanthan gum

8 gms baking powder

25 gms sugar

12 gms sea salt

120 gms milk; warm 30 seconds in your microwave

60 gms room temperature sourdough starter, preferably fed within 8 hours

2 large eggs, room temperature

50 gms canola or sunflower oil

Topping ingredients: 1 small egg beaten, 1 tbsp. sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Add water and psyllium husk powder to a medium bowl and let stand to gel

In stand mixer bowl combine all dry ingredients; whisk briefly to combine. I don’t like to use the mixer to stir; flings flour out even at low speed; use a whisk

Add all the other bread ingredients and mix slowly for first minute than 4 minutes on medium. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place for 15 minutes. Then form into 5 or 6 equal balls on a floured board; I used tapiocas starch for the flouring. You can spray your hands with spray oil or just pour a tsp on your hands to help the dough not stick. Round the balls as best as you can; it sure is sticky. Place each in a small pan; I had some tall-sided pans and some tart pans; the walls help keep the bun from spreading too wide. Put the buns on a baking sheet and put in your oven that has been warmed for a minute or 2 so it is about 95-110 degrees. Let rise an hour; they won’t double but they should look bigger and puffy. Remove from the oven and set it to heat to 375 degrees. Put rack in middle of oven.

Topping: take 1 medium egg; beat it well to break up the white and blend it nicely. Brush on the roll tops and sprinkle each one as soon as you egg it with sesame seeds.

Bake for 55 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes; remove from pans. Let cool about 30-60 minutes; can use while slightly warm or at room temperature. Store in bread bag for a day or two or freeze in a freezer bag; use within 1 month. Enjoy!