Pumpkin Muffins

It's September, and do you know what that means? At least according to elementary/primary school students it is now fall/autumn. Which, to me, means pumpkins! Okay, who am I kidding? I'd eat pumpkins year round. But apparently autumn and winter are the socially acceptable pumpkin eating seasons. 

So to kick off September in proper pumpkin style, I'm sharing one of my many Pumpkin Muffin recipes. They're also gluten and dairy free (although you can adjust this recipe if you like gluten and/or dairy)!

What you'll need: (makes 12 muffins)

• 150g pumpkin (canned or cooked - I used Libby's)
• 1 egg
• 120ml unsweetened almond milk (I like Blue Diamond)
• 20g melted coconut oil
• 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 200g self-raising flour (I used Dove's Farm GF blend again - does that make me predictable?)
• 40g light brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• pecans (optional)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180C/360F.

Combine the pumpkin, egg, coconut oil, vanilla, and almond milk. I used a handheld beater for this, you could use a whisk though. Definitely don't go high powered on this stage, as it is mostly liquid and will go everywhere!

Next add the flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice directly to this mixture.

Blend thoroughly. It should look like this:

Finally, blend in the light brown sugar, continuing to mix until you achieve this consistency:

Next, lightly grease a 12 muffin tin with a bit of coconut oil. I know in my pictures I've used paper muffin liners. But unless you want to be picking bits of paper off your muffins before you eat them (Mmm, fibre. Haha!) I would highly recommend just using coconut oil instead.

Finally, if you'd like to, top each muffin with a pecan half. Another option with the pecans would be to chop a decent sized handful and blend into the batter. I've tried it this way too, and it's tasty!

Pop into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until you can insert a toothpick or fork and it comes out clean.

I've been eating these bad boys with my coffee for the last two days. Nom nom nom. Pumpkin.

Ed: These are best eaten within 24 hours of baking!

GF Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Cocoa nibs optional, but highly recommended!

Since reading about Averie Cooks over on A Cup of Joe back in May, I've been meaning to try a peanut butter cookie made with coconut oil. I have adapted the following cookie recipe from this peanut butter cookie recipe from Averie Cooks. I suspect mine are not as fluffy, due to some ingredient changes, but I wanted to try out a gluten free and lower sugar version, and I'm happy with the dome-shaped results. I hope you will be too! (Sidenote: I totally plan on baking the to-the-letter averiecooks-version soon too; I just need to hunt down some JIF!)

What you'll need:

• 125g light brown sugar
• 175g natural crunchy peanut butter (I used Meridian's no salt or sugar added variety)
• 90g coconut oil
• 140g GF self-raising flour (I used Dove's Farm)
• 75g GF oats (Alara Gluten Free Pure Oats)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbls vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp baking soda (Dove's Farm GF)
• pinch of salt
• cocoa nibs (optional and to taste)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

The coconut oil should be room temperature, and somewhere in between solid and liquid in terms of consistency. Think of yourself as the Goldilocks of coconut oil consistency.

Combine the light brown sugar, peanut butter, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. A handheld mixer on medium for a minute or two should do the trick.

Next, combine the flour, baking soda, and pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Gradually blend this into the wet mixture. Save the oats to mix in last (unless you're going to add cocoa nibs too, in which case, the oats will be second-to-last).

Will you be adding cocoa nibs to your cookies? I had an open pouch from naturya waiting to be used again, so I did half my batch with and half without. If you do want to add cocoa nibs, toss in as many as you'd like. Aim for a similar distribution to chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie dough; keep in mind these will not be as sweet though! (If you prefer a sweeter cookie, add in a bit more sugar - 20g or so.) 

A tasty addition.

Roll the cookie dough into balls and place evenly on a cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 8 minutes. After removing from the oven, leave the cookies to cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing.

Cooling on the cookie sheet.

Which did you like better? Would you prefer these with smooth peanut butter, or did you like the crunchy peanut bits? I almost always use crunchy peanut butter when I bake!

Half of this batch of GF Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies had Cocoa Nibs - my favorite half.