Chocolate Chip Pumpkin-Zucchini-Banana Bread

I've posted quite a few breakfast bread recipes here. That's because they are so easy to whip up and a great way to have breakfast all week. Now that the weather is finally cooling down it's actually starting to feel like Fall. What do we do in Fall? Eat everything pumpkin! I'm not a PSL drinker but I do love everything else pumpkin. Just the other night I made a vegetarian green curry with pumpkin. It was so spicy and delicious. That should be a future post. Having leftover roasted pumpkin from that evening, I mashed it up and turned it into Chocolate Chip Pumpkin-Zucchini-Banana Bread. This bread is really yummy! I like to serve it toasted (so the chocolate melts) with almond butter and sliced banana. It's also a filling fiber rich meal which will keep you going until lunch.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients
½ cup gluten free oat flour (blended up oats)
½ cup rice flour
¼ cup gluten free oat bran
¼ cup ground flax
¼ cup tapioca starch
¼ cup coconut sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
A few dashes of ground ginger
A dash or two of ground cloves

Wet ingredients
1 cup mashed pumpkin (canned pumpkin could also be used.)
1 medium banana, broken into smaller pieces
⅓ cup canola oil
⅓ cup blackstrap molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup almond milk
1 egg

Add ins
1 medium zucchini, grated
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Gently mix to combine. In a food processor, blend all of your wet ingredients except for the egg. Once all wet ingredients have been mixed, add your egg and blend for a few seconds. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix together until all of the flour blend is saturated. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread

Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 cup spelt flour

3/4 cup oat flour

1 cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

 2 eggs

2 ripe bananas mashed, about 1 cup

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Butter and flour a loaf pan. I used spelt flour.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Using a spatula, gently mix well to incorporate all ingredients. 

Using a hand mixer, blend butter in a medium bowl. 

Add eggs and blend to incorporate.

Lastly, add Greek yogurt and mashed banana. Blend until all ingredients are combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Fold in nuts and chocolate chips and pour into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick/skewer comes out dry.

Leave in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a wired rack covered with parchment.

This recipe was adapted from one found in a Martha Stewart magazine. Couldn't tell you which one... My mom has a million magazines and is constantly cutting out recipes for me. All I can say is that this bread is delicious!

Awesome Etsy Find - Purpose Design.

Now that Christmas is over, I can safely post this without fear that I will be showing the gifts I was giving this year. I began most of my holiday shopping in mid November and scoured Etsy in hopes of  finding the most personalized gifts for the people in my life. I came across the shop, Purpose Design, during the search for a gift for my boss. Keyword search: gift for baker. The shop owner, Julie, uses all natural ingredients for her spice sets and salt kits which she blends herself.  I wanted to order everything as I browsed the different items in her shop. I decided on the Artisanal Baking and Dessert Salt Kit for my boss. It consists of six different salt blends with flavors such as Espresso Sea Salt, Orange Ginger, and Vanilla Cardamon. For my brother who loves cooking Thai food, I found a Thai spice set. It's hard to come by certain Thai spices in the area we live so this was perfect for him. I couldn't resist getting something for myself so I purchased the Organic DIY Chai tea kit.  I've already enjoyed a pot and it was lovely.

Happy New Year everyone!

Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten & Egg Free

 Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 cup gluten free oat flour
3/4 cup hazelnut flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1 cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients:

4 oz butter, browned
(All I had at home was salted butter so if you
 use unsalted add about 1/2 teaspoon salt.)
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax meal plus 6 tablespoons hot water. Gently stir to saturate the flax meal.)


To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
First thing in order is to brown the butter. For those who are not familiar, here is an easy tutorial. 

How to make brown butter.
Once the brown butter is done, pour into large bowl. Let sit for about 5 minutes and then add the 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree. Whisk till combined.
At this stage you can prepare your flax eggs. It’s best to let them sit after the water has been added.
In a medium size bowl, sift together all dry ingredients except the coconut sugar and chocolate chips.
Gently mix well until flour blend is combined evenly.
Add the flax eggs to the brown butter and mix to incorporate.
Cream sugar into butter mixture.
Add flour blend a little bit at a time while mixing together in between additions. A spatula was handy at this stage.
Once the dough is uniform, fold in chocolate chips.
Form dough into 2 tablespoon size balls and place evenly spaced on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
Bake for 12 minutes.
I don’t know if it’s just me or because I use alternative flours and sugar but the cookies I bake never seem to flatten and expand outward. About 10 minutes into the baking I pressed down on them a little with the back of a spatula.