Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies Recipe

Another pumpkin craving...

I love pumpkin cheesecake in a chocolate cookie crumb crust.  Like looooooooooove it!  Something about the darkness of the chocolate always brings out the best in the cheesecake.

So I decided to try my hand at combining brownies with the pumpkin cheesecake for a deeper chocolate layer.  And it had to be pumpkin.  And of course it had to be gluten free.

Here's what I came up with:

SPH Gluten FreePumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
1 Gluten Free Brownie Mix
2 eggs
1 stick melted butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 cake pan.  Grease it really well.

Make brownies according to package directions with 2 eggs and butter.  Spread batter in cake pan.

In your blender, combine pumpkin, cream cheese, 1 egg, and sugar.  Blend til creamy and smooth.  I tried doing this in the mixer, and no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up with lumps of cream cheese.  Trust me - use the blender.

Carefully pour the cheesecake mixture over the brownie batter.  Swirl with a knife.  I did circles across, back and forth, all the way down the length of the pan.  Then, I pulled the knife in a straight line, up and down, along the length of the pan.  Like cutting brownies, but mixing the batter.  This process will give you your swirls.

Bake this baby for about 40-45 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely, then cut into bars or squares, and serve.

These are rich and decadent, but also quick and simple, easy and delicious.  Make some for your family (or Bible study or a neighbor) today!

Enjoy!


This recipe linked to Very Good Recipes.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chip Cookies Recipe

Quick and simple.  Easy and delicious.  Chocolate and pumpkin.  Who could ask for anything more?

My sister makes these wonderful pumpkin chip cookies.  They are amazing.  They are delicious.  But alas they are not gluten free.

So I've had a real taste for these lately.  Because it's October.  And I'm suddenly hungry for anything pumpkin.  What's a gluten free homemaker to do?  Grab a box and a can out of her pantry - that's what!

SPH Gluten Free Pumpkin Chip Cookies
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, made per package instructions
1 cup pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350.  Add pumpkin to cookie dough, stirring well to combine.  Dough will be very soft.  Drop by spoonful/scooperful onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for about 12 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before removing from cookie sheet.  Try not to devour the whole batch before sharing with spouse, children, etc.

These are delicious just like this.  Not too sweet, but very cake-like for a very dessert feel to them.  However, if you really want to play around with them...

Add some pumpkin pie spice.  No more than 1/2 teaspoon.  Chocolate and spices go very well together.  Want them sweeter?  Dust with powdered sugar either before they cool (for more of a glaze effect), or after they cool.  Or, before baking, roll them in cinnamon/sugar.

No pumpkin?  Fool your kids and use either leftover baked squash or sweet potatoes.

Enjoy!




This recipe linked to Very Good Recipes.

Garden Party - Part 2 - What Comes Next

Did you dream of strawberries and asparagus and chard and watermelon and beets and cabbage and potatoes and dirt?  I hope so!  That's the fun of being a gardener!  So here's what comes next after you read the books from yesterday...

So  if you live in Northern Illinois, today is a really good day to get yourself started.  Map out where you could make your garden in a sunny spot in your yard, or plan on what you could do in containers on a deck or balcony.  Then, decide what your family will eat.  Trust me, those seed catalogs will make you want to grow 200 different kinds of tomatoes, 400 kinds of peppers, and then some!  Once you narrow it down, order your seeds.  Here are the sources I use for my seeds:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

And yes, we've actually grown this type of watermelon!  It's the only watermelon I'll eat - Moon and Stars.  It really is as pretty as the picture.

Seed Savers Exchange

A great resource for some really rare varieties.  This is where we order our pole beans from, among others.  I especially love the fact that they have very similar growing conditions to our own backyard, so I don't have to worry about whether or not stuff will really grow here.

Wood Prairie Farm

This is where we get our seed potatoes.  We've grown red, white and blue potatoes successfully for 4 years now.  This year, we're going to try some new varieties.  We're also ordering some clover from them.  This will not only help feed the bunnies, but also replenish the soil in one of our beds that's been used pretty heavily for the last few years.

If you are a first time gardener and you have small kidlets (mine are teenagers now, and seasoned gardeners), here are some plants I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND growing:

• Sunflowers - great for measuring both the plant and your kiddo (take photos of your little one standing next to a Mammoth Sunflower - what a memory); they also attract lots of bees for pollination which you need to grow your other plants.
• Pole beans - plant these in between your sunflowers and watch them climb.  We use Hidatsa Shield Figure beans from SSE - they are endangered, and are probably the beans eaten by Lewis and Clark on their grand expedition when they hung out with the Mandans over the winter.  Great history lesson!
• Pumpkins - generally easy to grow, and once they get going in July, they REALLY get going!  You can compare the size of your child's head to the leaves, measure the pumpkins as they grow, use describing words (adjectives) to tell the colors of the fruit and flowers.  All kinds of educational fun!

Now, the even-more-coolest part of growing these three together is that they are companion plants for each other, as well as part of a traditional Native American garden.  You may have heard of The Three Sisters.  Well, sadly, sunflowers were the Cinderella of the Three Sisters family, and they typically get left off the list.  The most common of the three is corn.  We don't do corn.  We've had really bad luck with it.  When it does grow, it tends to attract earwigs.  I hate earwigs.  Like I really hate earwigs.  Somehow, we've managed to get the magic jumping earwigs into our sweet corn.  So we stay away from corn.  If you want to try it, feel free.

Here's a hint of what's coming next - start saving your milk cartons/jugs (well washed and rinsed), egg cartons (plastic and cardboard are both ok), and newspapers.  Once those seeds come in, you'll need a place to put them.  That's what's next - and we'll tackle that next weekend!


Have fun with your seed catalogs today!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Orange Pancakes with Cinnamon Maple Syrup

The orange in these is a really surprising bright pop of flavor - you've GOT to try them!

Have you been watching "Worst Cooks in America" on FoodNetwork?  We LOVE that show in my house - it's been good reinforcement for why teenage-type people in my house need to learn to cook.  We watched the season premiere, and Princess exclaimed at one point "Even I know how to separate an egg!".  Can you imagine adding a WHOLE BOTTLE of soy sauce to a stir-fry dish?! How about not being able to read a recipe?!

The bright spot of the episode was this recipe that Chef Anne Burrell's Red Team had to make for their first official challenge.

"Can we make them gluten free?"

SPH Gluten Free Pumpkin Orange Pancakes with Cinnamon Maple Syrup
1 cup Pamela's Baking Mix
1/2 cup turbinado (or brown) sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon dried orange peel OR
use the juice and zest of 1 medium orange (be sure liquid = 3/4 cup, so add water if needed)
2 eggs (1 separated)
butter for griddle
1 cup maple syrup (the real stuff from trees, not the other stuff)
1-2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (or to taste)
Whipped topping of your choice (I had Cool Whip on hand, but you can go to the link above and get a recipe for Vanilla Whipped Cream)

Combine pancake mix and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.  In a small mixing bowl, beat together pumpkin, orange juice and peel, 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk.  Stir wet ingredients into dry, just until mixed (it's ok if you have a few lumps, but not too many).  In your mixer, beat egg whites til just before soft peaks form. Fold egg whites gently into pumpkin batter.  Preheat griddle, and when it's at the desired temperature, add a pat of butter.  Ladle/spoon batter onto buttered griddle, and cook until first side is done (bubbles have appeared on the top and burst).  Flip, then cook another few minutes on the other side.

While your pancakes are cooking, add cinnamon to your syrup and warm over medium heat.

Serve pancakes fresh from the griddle with the syrup and whipped cream/topping.  Be ready for some OMG's.  Yes, they really are that good.

Enjoy!