Fall + Baking + Gluten/Dairy Free - Yummm

Cranberry pumpkin chocolate cake

Fall baking, it just can’t get any better and it’s  been a baking marathon for me.  For those who have allergies yet want to enjoy some delicious treats for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share some wonderful items for those who have food allergies.  

First for those who have food allergies, such as wheat, corn, dairy, soy – you are going to be in heaven with the easy dessert recipes below:

Last week my brother, Barry brought me 2 dozen duck eggs.  They are hard to come by this time of year.  He can’t have chicken eggs but we were thrilled to find he can have duck eggs.

Cranberry Pumpkin Chocolate Pecan Cake

¾ cup butter, softened ( or substitute vegan butter or solid coconut oil)
1 ½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs (room temp) (duck or chicken)

1 tsp vanilla

1 can (15oz) solid pack pumpkin

2 ½ cup all purpose flour (gluten free flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup (6 oz) choc chips

6 Tbl baking cocoa

2 Tbl oil

*or 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted can be used

2 cups chopped pecans, divided

4 cups whole fresh cranberrys, divided

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter & sugars, then add eggs and vanilla. Then mix in pumpkin.  Sift into mixture  flour, baking pwdr, soda, cinnamon. Fold in chocolate chips.  Next divide the batter in half and  pour ½ into a separate bowl, with the remaining  mixture in the mixing bowl, then you will add the cocoa/oil (or melted squares of chocolate –omit oil if using the melted chocolate). 

In a well greased 10” tube pan, sprinkle 1 cup pecans on the bottom of the pan.  Then spoon chocolate mixture into the tube pan, (note: the chocolate is heavier -so it needs to be the first to be in the cake pan)  then sprinkle 1 cup pecans over chocolate mixture, then 2 cups of cranberrys.  Next add the pumpkin batter and sprinkle the remaining 2 cups of cranberrys over the pumpkin batter.  Bake at 325 for 75- 90 min or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool 15 min, then invert onto a cake plate and be prepared for lots of compliments!  (really)!!  This cake needs no glaze & is soooo yummy. 

So for Thanksgiving dinner, I am making homemade cranberry sauce. Barry can't have canned as it often contains corn syrup - plus homemade is sooo much better and low sugar.

Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce

(2) 12 oz bags of fresh cranberrys
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 small sweet apple, peeled and diced
¾ cup apple cider
1 cinnamon stick

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stirring occasionally 10-15 minutes, until sauce has thickened and the apples are tender.  Remove cinnamon stick, cool slightly and refrigerate.  Once chilled the sauce will thicken up.  IF you like thinner, you can stir in additional apple cider (about 1 Tbl).

Sauce can be frozen too!


Next here is some sweet treats - all gluten free, some dairy free -

Two different kinds of Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies, both looked good, and  I couldn’t decide between the two very different recipes, so I made them both.

Flourless Pumpkin chocolate brownie - dairy/gluten free

Flourless Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies/Dairy Gluten Free
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup almond butter
½ cup coconut sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

In a food process or with a mixer, blend all ingredients and in a pour into a parchment lined load pan.  The directions said 350 for 20-30 minutes, but I baked mine for 45min when the toothpick came out clean.



Then my other pumpkin chocolate brownie recipe...

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie - Gluten Free

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies/ Gluten Free

Sift into a bowl:

1 cup wheat free flour such as Namaste gluten free flour blend
¾ cup granulated sugar
 3 TBl coconut sugar
3 Tbl unsweetened baking cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt

Add:

½ cup almond milk
½ cup all natural choc chips*
¼ cup liquid coconut oil
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 Tbl vanilla
1 Tbl orange juice ( I substituted water as my brother is allergic to oranges)

Mix together and pour into a coconut oil greased pan (8x8) and make 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean

 ( “Enjoy Life” allergy friendly chips or all natural "Guittard"dark chocolate chips (I found these at Wal-mart)

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies - gluten free

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies/ Gluten Free
In a mixing bowl:

1 cup solid coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
Beat till well blended, then add:

2 eggs ( I used Duck eggs)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix well, then add:

1 ½ cup flour (use the gluten free flour mix)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats
mix well, then add:

3 cups fresh cranberries

Bake at 350 for 10-12  minutes.  My oven seems to take a bit longer -so it took 16 minutes to get a light golden brown.  The dough is a bit crumbly so I use a small ice cream scoop to form perfect regular size cookies – but you can roll the dough into balls too.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving.  All my best, Gayle