Peace & Muffins

It’s been a while.

I’m still living and working on a beautiful apple farm in the Finger Lakes of New York, still cooking and still trying to become wiser.

Our tribe here includes omnivores, but also a lot of vegans and paleo. In addition to this, we also have a lot of friends who have gluten allergies, a disturbing trend of this decade which I don’t understand, but which I know is real. Cooking for all of these people I love very dearly can be a challenge, but since food is something that can bring us together, I have to try.

This is an adaptation of an old recipe (http://www.philosophybistro.com/pumpkin-carrot-beet-muffins/)to make it vegan and gluten-free. I field-tested it at an amazing house party and with our barn crew, so I’m pretty confident.

Ingredients:

  • ½ pound shredded beets (or carrots & beets mixed) I have a scale, but you can also sort of figure out half of a 1 lb. bag of carrots
  • ½ cup almond flour
  • 2 cups gluten free flour (if you are using straight up gluten free, you might need to add some xanthan gum)
  • 1/3 cup of sugar or a paleo sugar substitute
  • 1 Tbsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp mace (this gives it a little bite, but can be left out or replaced with ginger)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup brown sugar or dark substitute
  • ½ cup raisins (Golden raisins are better)
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • ½ cup pumpkin seeds
  • 2 cup pumpkin
  • ½ cup oil (it might work without this, I liked making it with coconut oil.)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ cup orange or tart cherry juice
  • 3 Tbsp ground flax-seed
  • ½ cup liquid
  • Note: Fleggs if Paleo (flax eggs made with 1 Tbs finely ground flax-seed to 3 Tbs hot water) or super-fleggs (flax eggs made with 1 Tbs finely ground flax-seed to 3 Tbs hot aqua faba or chickpeas brine)

Step 1, Prepare Ye the way: Preheat the oven to 350°. Either grease the muffin tins or put in the cupcake liners (I usually spray a little canola oil in the bottom of these to make things come out easier). I get 2 dozen medium sized muffins out of this mix.

Step 2, sifting the dry ingredients: In one bowl crumble up the brown sugar, then sift (mix if you don’t have a sifter) in 2 cups flour, the other sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, mace, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Step 3, making the “fleggs”: in a small bowl or cup, mix the flax seed with the liquid– aqua faba or water– and allow it to soak. after about 5 minutes, it should have a similar slimy consistency to eggs. I would whisk it before adding it to the mixture.

Step 4, shred the veggies & mix: Shred or grate the beets and/or carrots, and add the ½ cup almond flour to keep them from sticking together. Mix the shredded root vegetables, raisins, walnuts, pumpkin, juice (this needs some acidity for the baking soda), oil, vanilla, and fleggs.

Step 5, combining the wet and the dry: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix well.  The consistency should be much firmer than batter, but a little more liquid than cookie dough. You can bake down a fresh pumpkin, but canned pumpkin is easier.

Step 6, baking: Fill two dozen or so muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 or more minutes. See how they look. Stick a toothpick in one and see if it comes out battery.

Enjoy! These are perfect breakfast, for late-night munchies, for bringing to pass at house parties, for supporting apple tree grafters, for taking along in your pockets as you go couch surfing, for sneaking vegetables into people’s diets, however you choose.

Gluten-free Almond Scones

GF Almond Scones 1I am just finishing teaching a class on Ancient Philosophy which I call “How to Live Well.” Of course, part of learning that is learning to drink tea and eat scones, so I had them over for the last class & their presentations.
One of them, a very dear one, discovered last summer that she was sensitive to both Lactose and Gluten, so I had to come up with some substitutes.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup Almond flour
  • 1 1/2 cup Rice flour
  • 1 cup gluten-free wheat flour
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  •  3 Tbsp chilled butter (margarine if lactose free)
  • 1 cup  Plain yogurt (coconut yogurt if lactose free)
  • 1 egg
  • Slivered almonds or raisins to taste.

Step 1, Prepare Ye the way: Preheat the oven to 400°, assemble all the ingredients, run to the store for what you are missing (who finished the baking powder!?!), and grease two baking sheets.

Step 2, sifting the dry ingredients: In one bowl sift (mix if you don’t have a sifter) the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Step 3, pastry cutting: Cut in the ice cold sliced butter, using either a pastry cutter or a knife. I suppose some processer thingy can do this, too, but I don’t own one. The result should be crumbly.

Step 4, mixing the wet ingredients: In another bowl, mix the yoghurt and the egg.

Step 4, combining the big mess: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well. The results might be a bit gloppy. Try not to overwork the dough. The consistency will be much firmer than batter, but a little more liquid than cookie dough, a little drier than raw muffin. Stir in nuts or dried fruit if you want.

Step 5, baking: Flouring your hands, form little scone sized patties out of the dough and put them on the greased. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. See how they look. Stick a toothpick in one and see if it comes out battery.

Final Step, share and enjoy They do make a handy breakfast, GF Almond Scones 2which is much easier to eat in the car than the pie. They are perfect for sharing over breakfast, or in the afternoon over tea, or for dropping by and giving to friends.