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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

GLUTEN FREE OAT BRAN MUFFINS WITH CARROTS AND RAISINS


Posted by Bryna Bear aka Gluten Free Baking Bear

     These GF Oat Bran Muffins are not too sweet and very satisfying.  The texture is a little dense yet light and the muffins are moist, flavorful and delicious.  I love raisins but you can use dried cranberries or chocolate chips if you prefer.  I also added chopped nuts which gives the muffin some crunch.  The carrots allow you to sneak some veggies into it.     
     I made these muffins with my new secret ingredient for baking breads and cake like baked goods.  By replacing some of the flour in a recipe with a tablespoon or two of coconut flour it make things fluffier and moister.  I have also been experimenting with my tried and true recipes  and it made my chocolate cupcakes even moister, lighter and more indistinguishable from a wheat cupcake.  With this recipe I converted a wheat recipe into a gluten free one.  I love the texture! 
   


GLUTEN FREE OAT BRAN MUFFINS WITH CARROTS AND RAISINS
Makes about 24 muffins


INGREDIENTS
¾ cup
Sorghum Flour
¼ cup
Tapioca Flour
¼ cup
Chickpea Flour
¼ cup
Coconut Flour
1 cup
GF Oat Bran
¾ tsp.
Xanthan Gum
1 ½ tsp.
Cinnamon
1 ½ tsp.
Baking Powder
1 tsp.
Baking Soda
½ tsp.
Himalayan Sea Salt
2 large
Eggs
¾ cup
Buttermilk
For Dairy Free add 1 tsp, of apple cider vinegar to ¾ cup of non dairy milk of choice and let sit for 10 minutes before using.
½ cup
Canola or Sunflower or other light tasting oil
2 Tbs.
Blackstrap Molasses
1 ½ cups
Carrots - peeled and grated
1 cup
Raisins - soaked in very hot water for 10-15 minutes and then drained (this keeps them moist even after baking)
1 cup
Pecans or Walnuts - chopped


DIRECTIONS
1)   Preheat the oven to 375℉.  Prepare a muffin tin by lining it with paper liners.  Set aside.
2)   In a large bowl add all the flours, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and gf oat bran, mix until well combined.  Set aside.
3)   In a medium bowl add the eggs, buttermilk, oil and molasses, mix well.  Set aside.
4)   Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix until just combined.
5)   Add the grated carrots and nuts and mix in.
Batter all mixed.
6)   With a scoop that measures 2” across scoop out batter into the prepared muffin tin.
7)   Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes at 375℉, then reduce the oven temperature to 350℉ and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the muffins spring back when lightly pressed with a finger.
8)   Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing from the tin to completely cool on a rack.
Baked GF Oat Bran Muffins in liners in a pan.

9)   You can freeze the muffins and then allow them to thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes before eating.  You can also reheat the muffins before serving.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

GLUTEN FREE PUMPKIN SEVEN LAYER BARS


Posted by Bryna Bear aka Gluten Free Baking Bear.

     This recipe is easy to make with scrumptious results.  A seasonal variation of the traditional seven layer bar this version preserves all the coconut & chocolaty gooey goodness of the original bar and adds a yummy and creamy pumpkin spice layer.
     You can change up what you put in the layers and how much of each ingredient you use to suit your personal taste. 
     Cool the bars completely before cutting to get neater squares.  If you cut the bars while hot they will ooze.  These must be stored in the fridge due to the dairy content of the pumpkin and condensed milk layers. 
     Enjoy!
    


GLUTEN FREE PUMPKIN SEVEN LAYER BARS

 INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups - 6 oz.
GF Cookie Crumbs - I used a mix of what I had on hand: chocolate chip, vanilla animal crackers and lady fingers.  Any cookies will work.  Grahams are most popular, but I think that gingerbread would also work well with the pumpkin.
½ cup/1 stick/4 oz.
Unsalted Butter - melted
1 can/15 oz.
Canned Pumpkin
4 oz.
Cream Cheese - at room temperature
¼ cup
Sugar - I used evaporated cane juice
1 tsp
Cinnamon
½ tsp
Ground Ginger
tsp
Ground Cloves
1 cup
Chocolate Chips
½ cup (or use 1 cup if you love coconut)
Coconut - shredded (I used unsweetened)
½ cup (or use 1 cup if you love nuts)
Walnuts or Pecans - chopped
½ cup
Raisins or Dried Cranberries - chopped OPTIONAL - or use more chocolate chips or white chocolate chips instead
(for moist and soft raisins or cranberries soak them in hot boiled water for 15 minutes and then drain well before using)
1 can/15 oz.
Condensed Milk

My cranberries were very large so I chopped them up.

Chopped cranberries soaking in hot water for 15 minutes.


DIRECTIONS
1)    Preheat the oven to 350℉.  Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.  The parchment paper keeps the bars from sticking and makes it easy to get them out of the pan without breaking them.
9 x 13 pan lined with parchment paper.
2)    Make cookie crumbs by grinding them in a food processor or place the cookies in a large plastic food storage bag and crush them into fine crumbs with a rolling pin.
6 oz. of assorted cookies I had on hand
 ready to be made into crumbs in the food processor.

Cookie crumbs.

3)    Melt the butter and add the cookie crumbs to the melted butter. 
Melted butter.

Butter and crumbs mixed together in pan.

4)    Mix the crumbs and butter well and spread them evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Unbaked cookie crumbs mixture spread evenly in the pan.
5)    Bake the cookie layer for 12 minutes and then remove from the oven.
Baked cookie crumb layer.
6)    In a bowl, add the pumpkin and soft cream cheese and mix until well blended.
7)    Add the sugar and spices and mix well.  Spread the pumpkin mixture evenly over the cooled cookie layer.  (I added the pumpkin, cream cheese, sugar & spices to the food processor and blended them all together.  A stand mixer could also be used.)
Pumpkin, cream cheese, sugar & spices in the food processor.

Pumpkin mixture after mixed together.

Pumpkin mixture spread over the cookie layer.
8)    Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the pumpkin layer.
Chocolate chips sprinkled over the pumpkin layer.
9)    Sprinkle the cranberries or raisins evenly over the chip layer.
Add caption
10)Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the cranberry or raisin layer.
I used nuts on half of the bars because I knew that
 someone who was having them is not fond of nuts.
11)Spread the coconut evenly over the nut layer.
Coconut sprinkled over the nut layer.
12)Drizzle the can of condensed milk evenly over the coconut layer.
Condensed milk poured evenly over the coconut layer.
13)Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Pumpkin Seven Layer Bars baked until golden brown.

14)Cool completely before cutting into squares so that they keep their shape.  Store in the fridge as the pumpkin and condensed milk layers contain dairy and can spoil.