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Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pucks

Posted by Beth on Nov 5, 2014 in Blog, Bready or Not, breakfast, gluten-free, healthier, pumpkin | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pucks

I don’t follow a paleo diet, but I do follow delicious food. In this case, delicious AND healthy.

These pumpkin pucks are rather like mini pumpkin pie custards with a slight nutty taste. That nutty taste is stronger if you follow the original paleo version of the recipe and use almond flour, which was my preference, though making them with whole wheat and all-purpose flour works well.

I also used different nut butters. Almond butter tastes the strongest–in a very good way–though cashew butter was fantastic, too. Once, I only had 3/4 cup of pumpkin, so I made up for the difference with applesauce. I found no major difference in taste or texture.

This isn’t one of those dishes I make for my husband to take to work. These are mine. Two of them make for a yummy, nutritious breakfast. Pucks also be an awesome snack, and with their size they are very kid-friendly. They keep very well in the fridge for at least a week.

Modified from Paleo Parents.

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Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pucks

Tasty breakfast or snack treats with autumnal flavors. These are great to freeze for later.

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Keyword: gluten free, paleo, pumpkin

Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

1 cup pumpkin puree applesauce can be substituted in full or part
1 cup almond or other nut butter
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 eggs room temperature
1/3 cup almond flour or wheat or all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips optional, or chopped nuts or dried fruit

Instructions

Prepare a muffin pan with dropping in cup liners, then spray the insides with nonstick spray. Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
If your almond butter is very stiff, zap it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so to soften it. Mix pumpkin puree and the almond butter together.
Add honey and syrup and beat in eggs one at a time. Follow with each of the dry ingredients until it's just combined.
Fill the muffin cups to 3/4 full; a tablespoon scoop makes this easy, as it's almost exactly 2 tablespoons to fill the cups. Top with mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if desired.
Bake at 350-degrees for about 20 minutes. They will not rise much. The tops of some may start to crack. Let them cool for a while and then keep stored in fridge. They'll keep upward of a week, if they last that long!

OM NOM NOM!

Sunday Quote sends happy vibes to NaNoWriMo participants

Posted by Beth on Nov 2, 2014 in Blog, Quote | Comments Off on Sunday Quote sends happy vibes to NaNoWriMo participants

“You must learn to overcome your very natural and appropriate revulsion for your own work.” ~William Gibson

Treats, Not Tricks

Posted by Beth on Oct 31, 2014 in Blog, poem-a-day, public speaking | Comments Off on Treats, Not Tricks

First of all, Happy Halloween! And Happy Clearance Candy Day tomorrow!

Expect the blog to be quieter in November. I’ll be extremely busy, so posts, comments, social media, and emails will be a lower priority. So, what do I have planned exactly? For starters…
– World Fantasy Con in D.C.
– Poem-A-Day Challenge
– Novella Challenge on Codex. I’m aiming for 25-30,000 words, so it’s like a mini NaNoWriMo. I have never written to this word length before, so this will indeed be a challenge.
– Thanksgiving

… and other stuff, too, that I can’t talk about yet but will need to complete on a tight deadline. Somewhere in there I need to eat and sleep and tend to the family, too. *twitch twitch*

Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pudding Snickerdoodle Cookies

Posted by Beth on Oct 29, 2014 in Blog, Bready or Not, cookies, pumpkin | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Pumpkin Pudding Snickerdoodle Cookies

The name of the recipe is somewhat misleading. These don’t actually include pumpkin. Instead, they use dry pumpkin pudding mix!

This important ingredient vexed me. I found this recipe for pumpkin streusel pudding cookies at Chef-in-Training two years ago and wanted to do my own remix as snickerdoodles last year. The pudding mix is a seasonal ingredient. Foolish me, I started looking for it at Walmart in September, which is when I really want autumnal food even though it’s still 110-degrees here. No luck. I looked at every grocery store around. Still no luck.

Finally, the first week of November, I happened to be in Walmart. Lo and behold, they had the pudding mix! I bought several and resisted the temptation to cackle and dash through the store.

Therefore, you see, the timing of this post is so you can be on the prowl, too. Grab’em while you can!

Pudding mix is awesome in baked goods. It makes the end result soft, moist, and tender, and it stays like that for days. The pumpkin pudding here tastes like real pumpkin, but it has a lot more endurance. (If you want a real pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe, I posted one last year!)

This recipe makes a lot, too. I ended up with about 50 cookies using my teaspoon scoop.

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