gluten free mixes

Fall is here, and it’s time to put all those pumpkins to yummy use. If you crave the seasonal staple but don’t want to consume so much sugar, these recipes from Simple Mills present better-for-you alternatives. Made with nutrient-rich ingredients such as almond flour and coconut sugar, Simple Mills’ mixes are certified gluten free and contain less sugar than competitors.

Mini Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Makes 24 muffins

ingredients

2 large eggs
2 tablespoons coconut or grapeseed oil*
¾ cup water
1 box Simple Mills Pumpkin Muffin Mix
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

* If using coconut oil, make sure that it is melted and cooled enough to hold your fingertip submerged in it. This is a good litmus test for a temperature that won’t cook the eggs.

directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray or lightly grease two mini muffin pans and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the oil and water.

Whisk in the pumpkin muffin mix and beat vigorously until thoroughly incorporated and no clumps remain.

Add a heaping tablespoon of batter to each compartment of the prepared muffin pans.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the tops are domed and firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

While the muffins are cooling in the pan, whisk together the coconut sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.

As soon as the muffins are cool enough to handle, place each one in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, firmly rolling it around so that the cinnamon-sugar sticks. Gently toss it around a couple of times until the whole thing is covered. If you’re having trouble getting the cinnamon-sugar to stick, you can very lightly brush or spray the muffins with melted oil or butter before you dunk them in the cinnamon sugar. Once covered, place each muffin back on the wire rack to finish cooling.

Serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of A Clean Bake.

Pumpkin Bread with Cranberries, Pecans and Pumpkin Seeds

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
¾ cup water
3 tablespoons oil
1 box Simple Mills Pumpkin Muffin Mix
About ¾ cup cranberries
Pecans and pumpkin seeds for topping

directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Whisk eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Add baking mix; whisk until well blended.

Fold in cranberries.

Pour batter into a lightly greased 8 x 4-inch loaf pan.

Sprinkle with pecans and pumpkin seeds.

Bake 30 minutes. Then cover loosely with foil; bake an additional 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and edges of loaf start to pull away from pan.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

INGREDIENTS

3 eggs
1 cup water
3 tablespoons oil
1 box Simple Mills Pumpkin Muffin Mix
1 tub Simple Mills Vanilla Frosting
Cinnamon, for garnish, if desired

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Whisk eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Add baking mix; whisk until well blended.

Spoon batter into a lightly greased or paper-lined muffin tin, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If using paper liners, let cool completely before eating to prevent muffins from sticking to paper.

Frost and garnish with cinnamon, if desired.

This weekend my kitchen was the scene of many experiments. The first was my celiac’s fifth grade science fair project, which involves lots of cups with lots of teeth soaking in different beverages to study the effects on the enamel. As an aside, he keeps asking me where I got the teeth and I told him I have a good friend who is a dentist. In reality, what does the tooth fairy really do with all those teeth? With four kids, I have a macabre collection in my nightstand drawer…six little baby teeth won’t be missed.

The rest of our kitchen experiments included gluten-free mixes or flour and peanut butter. We were hammered with snow on Friday and for some reason, a snow day brings out the bakers in my daughters. My second oldest always wants to make brownies and that is a gluten-free mix I generally have on hand. This time we warmed up some peanut butter and swirled it through the dough before baking. They were gone by Friday night.

On Saturday, my oldest got a recipe for peanut butter cookies off the internet and used gluten-free flour to make peanut butter cookies. Maybe math really isn’t her thing because the “drop by rounded teaspoon on baking sheet” became “drop by hockey puck sized blobs on baking sheet.” They were unattractive at best, but they actually tasted like peanut butter scones. I just had the last one with my morning coffee.

Ironically, I was the one who was supposed to be experimenting with peanut flour, but I think the foul weather delayed the arrival of my peanut flour…so as soon as I get that peanut flour it will be my turn to experiment in the kitchen.