Gluten Free Dairy Free Pumpkin Bars for Thanksgiving!

The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook will be launched during the Cookies & Books Holiday Sale at a special price, yum!

To celebrate and get your taste buds flowing, here's a recipe from the cookbook, modified to be gluten and dairy free. Can also be nut, soy and egg free. 

PUMPKIN BARS

NOTE: I halved this recipe because it makes a lot and we were a few for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour: I use a mixture of 3-4 gluten free, high fiber and protein flours. These include oatmeal, garbanzo bean, coconut, sweet sorghum, and buckwheat.

2 teaspoons baking powder and 2 teaspoons baking soda: Gluten free flours don't rise as well. Having both baking powder and baking soda helps.

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves (can be omitted, but why?)

½ teaspoon ginger (also can be omitted, again, why?)

1 teaspoon salt

1 scant teaspoon xanthum gum: This helps the flours stick together. May be omitted.

2 tablespoons potato starch: This helps the flours stick together too. 

4 eggs OR egg substitute. If you use egg substitute, bars will be denser in texture.

1 ⅔ cups sugar (I use dark brown sugar, and a little less.)

1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large can (15oz) pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Sift dry ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and pumpkin. Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.

Spread batter in a greased 13”x 9”x 2” baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

Variations:

Add nuts, walnuts and pecans work well.

Add chocolate bits.

Add both chocolate bits and nuts.

Be careful not to make the batter too "full" as it will fall apart. I've done this.

Enjoy

Mild West Mysteries on SALE 3 days only! .99! Audio out too! And a GF, dairy free, egg free easy recipe!

In honor of the release of the audio book version of Mild West Mysteries, the eBook version is on sale, only .99, through January 8th!

Woot! Now Mild West Mysteries is out in all formats! Enjoy!

And here are some cookies to munch on while you read/listen to Mild West Mysteries. These are gluten, dairy and egg free!

EASY QUICK CAKE COOKIES (mildly sweet and nutty)

Ingredients:

1 cup cashew, almond or peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup oatmeal flour + 1/2 cup oatmeal flour

1/4 cup potato starch

3 teaspoons Xanthum gum

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons Vegan Egg in 1/3 cup cold water

Nutmeg and/or cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Directions: 

Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, potato starch, sugar and Xanthum gum together. Add liquids and stir well. Dough will be stiff. Roll into balls and press on cookie sheet until 1 to 1/2 inch depth. Sprinkle with nutmeg and/or cinnamon. Bake 15 to 20 minutes depending on thickness of cookies (thinner cookies will be crunchier, thicker more cake like). Flip cookies half way through baking. Cookies should be lightly brown both sides.

Again, enjoy! And pick up your on sale copy of Mild West Mysteries, just .99 through January 8th.

Carrot Cake Muffin Recipe, A Free Cookbook, and a Link to Bottlecap Jewelry Making! Summer Fun!

Hopefully this kinda unappetizing photo of a Carrot Cake Muffin will give you a smile, for this Smile Power Day! Recipe follows.

It's time for summer fun, so let's start out with what to take on a picnic. These muffins are gluten, soy, egg and dairy free and delicious, I promise! They also travel and freeze well.

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free Carrot Cake Muffins

Crusty outside, moist inside

Makes 6 good sized muffins

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups gluten free flour mix (consistency will differ a little depending on mix)

¼ cup dark brown sugar or molasses (muffins will not be very sweet, can add more sugar if you prefer, molasses will make a bit sticky)

2 teas bicarbonate of soda

2 teas baking powder

2-3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾  to 1 cup food processed until fine carrots

½ cup sultana raisins (may be omitted, I always omit these because I don’t like raisins in food)

1 cup nuts, walnuts or pecans (may be omitted)

¼ cup vegetable oil (coconut oil works best)

 2 teas apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

1 cup applesauce plus ¼ cup coconut, almond, cashew or rice milk

2-3 teas vanilla

Directions:

Add the ingredients into a mixing bowl in the same order as listed.

Mix well. Mixture will not be terribly thin, if it is add flour

Place muffin papers in a large muffin pan.

Scoop mixture into papers until well filled. Gently tap down until you have a imperfect “muffin top.”

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

More easy, cheap and "regular" dessert recipes can be found in The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Recipes, along with short stories of the fairies from my Mall Fairies  series FREE today only here.

Bottle Cap Jewelry are fast, cheap and easy to make gifts, here are a few ideas for Christmas ones.

Visit my post on Lois Winston's blog Killer Crafts and Crafty Killers for how to make cheap, easy bottle cap jewelry, great for summer fun for kids and adults alike! Lois is the editor of Bake, Love, Write: 105 Authors Share Dessert Recipes and Advice on Love and Writing. On page 99, you'll find my recipe for Soda Cracker Pie, another easy recipe and cool and delicious for those long hot summer nights!

Enjoy! Celebrate! And what's your favorite thing about summer?
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Happy Thanksgiving with a fun Christmas romance audio book! Recipe too!

My humorous romance short story A Crispy Rice Christmas out in audio and eBook.

Now that it's Thanksgiving, "It's beginning to feel..." and to get everyone in the spirit, here's some fun stuff.

First, a gift with a small request attached. My humorous romance short story, A Crispy Rice Christmas, is, ahem, a Christmas story and in need of a few more reviews for the season. If you would be willing to give an honest review of my story on Amazon or Audible, I will gift the audiobook to you. Please just comment on this post. You may leave your e-mail address as follows: Name (at) email server which is yahoo, or whatever dot com (In other words, obscure your address.)

In A Crispy Rice Christmas, if Beth can't figure out a way to seduce her love's picky appetite, she fears her relationship is toast-burnt. She cooks up a plan only to have it boil over. What's a terrible cook to do? Can Beth brave a winter storm in search of a Christmas dish to save her relationship - or will the holidays be a distasteful disaster? One reviewer said, "You will need to read this funny story to see how she gets herself in and out of trouble. It's the perfect book to curl up on the couch and get in the Christmas spirit!"

Second, in honor of this story about a wretched cook, here's the easy, iconic recipe Beth tries to make in A Crispy Rice Christmas, with a photo of the dish that's turned out being considerably better than Beth's--despite the pink! (I was going for a Christmassy red and failed.)

Rice Crispy Cereal Bars

Basic Recipe:

4 tablespoons margarine or butter or even coconut butter (oil)

6 cups crispy rice cereal (can be the gluten free variety, if needed)

1 16 ounce bag of marshmallows (fresh mini marshmallows work best)

In a large saucepan, heat the butter on medium heat until it melts. Add marshmallows and stir constantly until marshmallows all melt. Remove from heat. Add crispy rice cereal and stir well. Using a greased spatula, spread mixture in a buttered 15 X 10 inch pan. Cut into bars when cooled.

Okay, now for the variations:

Add vanilla or rum or orange or lemon extract, a teaspoon or two to the melted marshmallows and stir well for rum bars or lemon bars—well, you get the idea.
Add a cup of nuts, or raisins or any dried fruit, or a cup of chocolate bits (or a third a cup of each!).

Add any spices you like, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, or cardamom.
Add mini chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or

Add 1/3 cup of cocoa for chocolate bars.

Or be daring and try adding a bit of cayenne pepper and hot sauce to the cocoa! Strange but good if you like it weird and spicy!

The recipe above was the inspiration for A Crispy Rice Christmas. Where do you find your inspiration? 

The cover for the eBook version of A Crispy Rice Christmas.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Egg Free, Pumpkin Cake for July Fourth!

What could be more US of A than pumpkin?

Yes, it seems odd to have pumpkin cake for a Fourth of July celebration, but what is more American than pumpkin? And you'll never miss the eggs, wheat, dairy or soy, I promise! This is a recipe from my upcoming Conda's Healthy Cooking cookbook.

PUMPKIN CAKE

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Gluten Free oatmeal flour (make your own oatmeal flour using Gluten Free oatmeal--check to make sure it's GF as oatmeal is grown/processed with wheat otherwise)

2 generous teaspoons baking powder

1 generous tablespoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 generous tablespoons Ener-g Egg Replacement powder

5 generous tablespoons of vegetable oil (I use canola)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup of rice or coconut milk (not hemp or flax seed, it won't come out right)
1 scant teaspoon of Xanthum Gum (may be omitted)

Stir dry ingredients except for Ener-g Egg Replacement powder. In a separate bowl, combine coconut milk and pumpkin puree, heat in microwave until warm, not hot, then add the egg replacement and whisk well until dissolved. Combine the dry and wet mixtures, add the oil and mix well. Let set for 5 minutes minimum, mixing occasionally. Batter will be fairly thick, if very thick add pumpkin and or milk.

Spread batter in a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Variations:

Add nuts, walnuts and pecans work well.

Add chocolate bits (there are some that are dairy, soy and wheat free).

Add both chocolate bits and nuts.
Pictured:  I added pecans to the batter and then spread chocolate bits over the top of the cake when it was done and let them melt--instant frosting!

Any questions? Comment and I'll answer!

A "regular" version of this recipe can be found in my cookbook The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. The new edition of this cookbook is just released with bonus recipes and short stories!

And everyone--

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

IN HONOR OF EASTER, AN EASY TREAT! 

HAPPY EASTER!

This dish is so fast and easy with only two ingredients that you'll make it all spring and summer long! Plus, it's gluten free, dairy free and healthy. This is also one of the recipes that you'll find in my dessert cookbook, The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook. Enjoy!

BANANA "ICE CREAM"

Ingredients:

3-4 bananas, sliced and frozen (slice before freezing)

a generous tablespoonful of peanut butter (or other nut butter, see my recipe above for nut butter, I use cashew butter for the sweetness, can be omitted for a lower calorie ice cream)

2-3 tsp. cocoa powder (for chocolate ice cream, can be omitted)

Put your bananas into the food processor (not a blender) and blend. This takes a while and you will need to stop and check to see if all the frozen pieces are getting chopped. When it gets smooth, add the other ingredients add the other ingredients and blend again and eat! If you want it to be more of a firm instead of a soft serve, put it in the freezer for a few minutes.  Will freeze to the consistency of sorbet if left in the freezer, but is just as delicious.

Variations:

Try other frozen fruit, like strawberries for strawberry sorbet.

Add a touch of vanilla, always good.

Or rum flavoring and nutmeg for a different taste (this works with or without the chocolate).

Add coconut flakes and chocolate bits and nuts for a rocky road ice cream.

Or maraschino cherries and chocolate bits.

Or lemon flavoring,  or—the list goes on! Try your own!