Pumpkin Spice Bread

Pumpkin spice bread is all one needs when having a nice little get together with friends or celebrating the holidays. It's sweet, yet jam packed with flavor, you don't want to miss out.  

**This recipe was adapted by Allrecipes.com **


Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups of gluten- free flour (e.g Bisquick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 can of pumpkin puree 
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Next mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and baking soda)
2. In a separate bowl combine all wet ingredients (pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, and spices). Once combined add chopped walnuts.
3. Finally, combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour into a well sprayed or buttered pan (9*5*3) inch loaf pan. Then bake for 50-60 mins. or until toothpick comes out clean.

I recently was invited to a tea party and struggled to think of what kinds of treats are often found at tea parties. Usually, they consist of finger foods that most likely entails thin crackers with cream cheese and cucumber slices on top, but considering that both my friend and I are gluten-free, those types of foods would be an issue. Personally, I think of soft scones, light pound cake, dainty finger sandwiches and drinking with your pinkies up. So, I finally decided to do a spin on pound cake and make a pumpkin loaf instead. Knowing that pumpkin was my friend's absolute favorite, I thought it would be a good choice. It is packed with flavor but is extremely light and satisfying. I recommend sprinkling a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on top of the loaf, right as it comes out of the oven. This recipe would be the perfect dessert for any fall holiday party or even a nice sweet treat for a simple tea party. Either way, your guests will not be disappointed. Hope you enjoy!! :D

Tangy Mini Lemon Tarts

One bite and you're on your way to taste bud heaven. These mini tarts are just enough to quench any lemon craving.

Ingredients:


Crust:
1 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of butter, softened
1/3  cup of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract


Filling:
3 eggs, separated
2 lemons (small)
1 can of condensed milk (unsweetened)
1/8 teaspoon of salt


****The filling and crust recipes have been adapted from website Cooks.com and blog Gluten-free Tuesday. 


Method: preheat oven to 350


Crust directions:
1. Mix together both flours and salt into a bowl until fully combined. 
2. Next, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until a nice paste is formed. 
3. Once the paste has formed add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly. After about 30 seconds a nice crumbly dough should have formed. Then beat on medium speed for another 2 mins. until dough has formed.
4. Lightly spray the mini cupcake pan and press the dough into the tin forming a thin crust in each hole. 
5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. 


Filling Directions:
1. First grade the rind of the lemon to get lemon zest, then juice both lemons. Make sure you strain the lemon juice so you don't get any pits in the filling.
2. Beat the egg yolks then add the lemon juice, zest, condensed milk and salt to the mixture. Mix together well until blended.
3. Next beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they are stiff, then gently fold into the previous mixture. 
4. Finally, pour lemon mixture into the mini cupcake tins and and the bake in the oven for about 30 mins.




My sisters and I recently decided to throw a little dinner party for a friend of ours who was visiting from out of town, but struggled to think of a nice, light dessert to serve. We thought of all our options, from chocolate covered strawberries, to ice cream, to cupcakes, until we finally decided on mini tarts. Let's face it, who doesn't love something that's mini? The smaller the better in my opinion.

I've been craving everything lemon lately, so naturally I wanted to make a lemon custard tart. These tarts ended up being pretty time consuming, having to chill the crust for a few hours, but they were totally worth the work! They are tangy, sweet and super satisfying. Although I must warn you, it is almost impossible to eat just one.

I ended up having a lot of the lemon custard filling left over so I decided to pour the extra filling in small ramekin dishes to eat as a plain custard. In fact, I highly recommend doing this because the custard by itself was almost as good as the tart itself.

If you're a lemon lover like I am (can you tell?), then you must try this recipe. You will be pleasantly surprised by the strong lemon flavor, which so perfectly complements the sweet, buttery crust. The only thing that could make this tart better is to top it off with a healthy sized dollop of whipped cream! 

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

What’s better than waking up to the smell of freshly baked muffins, fresh from the oven? These lemon poppy seed muffins are sweet, tangy and leave you craving more

Ingredients


1 1/2 cup flour (Gluten Free Bisquick)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (organic optional)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
zest of 1 1/2  small lemons
juice of two lemons
1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350, then prep items
2. Mix dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder, salt)
3. In a different bowl mix wet ingredients (yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon and vanilla extract). Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until combined and smooth.
4. Gently fold in the vegetable oil and poppy seeds. ( do not over mix)
5. Pour into muffin tins about 2/3 full in each
6. Bake for about 20 mins. or until toothpick comes out clean. Then let the muffins rest for five mins. and then ENJOY!

Now that I’m done with work for the summer I have much more time to spend doing what I love – cooking! Dana had requested that I bake her something delicious – her only requirement was that it was something lemon. Well, Dana has been talking about muffins for weeks now, so I decided I would make her some Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.

The whole idea of lemon muffins came from a dinner party that our friend had hosted earlier in the week. A friend had brought the most delicious looking muffins I had ever seen – mini lemon muffins! (The fact that they were mini made them even better) However, to my misfortune these delicious muffins were not gluten free, which ultimately means they are off limits. With these muffins taunting my mind, Dana and I decided to give it a try.

I had browsed through numerous recipes and they all seemed good, but I was afraid they would lack flavor. That’s why I decided to add extra lemon juice and lemon extract than originally called for in the recipe. Just to make sure there was a lot of the delicious, tart lemon flavor I crave. Unfortunately, I may have added too many poppy seeds as it seemed to over power the lemon more than I would have liked, however, it was still overall very satisfying. So if you are a muffin lover like myself, and love the sweet, tartness of lemons than this recipe is for you. You won’t be disappointed!