8 Gluten Free Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Hey everyone! I hope that you've had a good weekend (better than my concussion-filled one, at least...). All this month, EA Stewart (@TheSpicyRD) and a variety of other bloggers are hosting an apple event called #applelove. Search the #applelove hashtag on twitter to find all the amazing recipes collected so far. 

For this cupcake, I wanted to take the essence of a caramel apple and turn it into a cupcake. The cupcake is filled with walnuts and tons of apples, then topped with a caramel sauce (the recipe for that located here). I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Also, as a fun alternative, you can bake this as a cake (for about 35 minutes) and drench the top in the caramel sauce. Delicious! Be sure to check out the bloghop below for more apple recipes!

Yields: 3 dozen cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 18 minutes for cupcakes

Ingredients

3 cups gluten free flour
1 1/4 tsp xantham gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1/4 c whipped cream
2 apples, thinly sliced and cubed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel Sauce

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with baking cups. In a medium bowl combine the flour, gum, powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whip the butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugar by the half cup. Once all the sugar is combined, blend the eggs into the butter, one at a time. Add the vanilla to the egg mixture.

Alternate adding the milk and dry ingredients into the egg mix, by about 1/2 or 1/4 cup at a time. Blend until the batter is completely smooth. Fold in the whipped cream until well mixed. Fold in the apples and the walnuts. Distribute these into the muffin tins, and bake in the oven for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Prepare the Caramel Sauce by following the Food Network recipe. To ice the cupcakes, here's a quick and easy tip. Either go to the store to buy a condiment bottle (normally only a few dollars), or clean out an empty ketchup or mustard bottle for reuse. Fill the bottle with the sauce, and use that to create the design of your choice, or give to your kids and let them have fun decorating.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and be sure to check out #applelove on Twitter this month!

0 Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Stock

One useful way of using leftover parts of a turkey is making turkey stock. Turkey stock can be used in any recipe that asks for stock, and makes a great base for poultry soups.

Steps:

1. Toss the carcass and bones left over from a turkey into a pot. Add garlic, celery, onions, and a mix of any other left over vegetables.
2. Cover the bones with about an inch of water, and turn the stove to medium heat for half an hour. Every 5-10 minutes skim the fat from top of the stock water.
3. After half an hour, turn the heat down to low and leave for about 3 hours. Every 30 minutes skim the top of the water for fat.
4. Pour the stock water into a fine strainer to remove all meat and vegetables. Strain a few more times to remove other material that is not stock. 
5. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, skim the top of the stock for fat. As the stock chills, it will congeal due to the gelatin in the bones. Once heated, the stock will return to its previous state.

Enjoy!

0 Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Not for the diabetic

You'll need:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup Orange Juice
- 16 oz organic cranberries
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- whisk
- pot with lid
- potato masher

Directions:
- Whisk together sugar and oj and bring to a boil on medium.
- Add cranberries and let boil until cranberries have popped
- Mash cranberries and add wine.
- Keep stirring for about 5, let stand to thicken and serve.

2 Amazing Tomato Soup

There is nothing quite as great as hot soup in winter !
And this recipe is great since it's easy and incredibly tasty.

What you'll need:
- 2 cans of 280z tomato puree
- 1 quart mushrooms
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pressed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt

You will also need a:
- blender
- pan
- fairly large pot
- whisk

What to do =)
1. Bring puree, salt & broth to a slow simmer while whisking them together.
2. Sautee onions with half of the garlic.
3. Blend onions until smooth, and whisk into soup.
4. With remaining garlic sautee mushrooms until they shrink. Add to soup.
5. Let simmer for another 20 min in order to allow flavours to amalgamate.
6. Sprinkle a little rosemary on top and serve!

Note: goes well with a little sour cream

0 Roasted Potatoes

So this post could be introduced with a story that is either half full or half empty. The half empty side is that I admittedly fail at getting a final picture of this side dish when I made it. While the full side that this is because I made this side dish for two of my brothers and they ate it up along with the steak I made in about 5 seconds flat...I'll go with half full! Yay friends, family, food, and fall!

On a total tangent, anyone else excited for Harry Potter in less than 3 weeks?

Ingredients
-5 red potatoes
-3 chopped garlic cloves
-1 ambrosia apple
-1 palm (i.e. enough to fill one palm in your hand) of oregano
-1 palm basil
-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-1 palm thyme
-2 palms parsley
- salt and pepper


Steps
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Quarter the potatoes and place in a bowl.

3. Core the apple, and cut into chunks. Add to the potatoes.
4. In a small bowl mix all other ingredients.

4. Toss the potatoes with the oil mixture, and spread out onto the sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Enjoy!

2 Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie!

Yesterday I posted instructions for how to make your own pumpkin puree, and today I decided to post the recipe for the pumpkin pie with a gluten free crust that I made. The gluten-free crust I made is an adaptation from here, and the pumpkin pie filling is an adaptation of this recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Pie Crust


Ingredients:
-1 cup and 3 tbsp white rice flour
-1/2 cup sorghum flour
-1/2 cup potato starch
-1 tbsp sugar
-pinch salt
-1 tsp cinnamon
-3/4 cup butter
-1 egg
-1/4 cup ice cold water

Steps:
1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Cut the butter in to small cubes, and add to the flour mix. Use a ricer or a fork to blend the butter with the flour.

3. Add the egg to the mixture, until mixed well.

4. Slowly add water to the mixture, and mix just until the dough forms a ball. Divide into two balls, and place the dough in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F.
6. Put one of the balls in between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll out until a relatively thin (1/8th-1/4th inch) circle. Place a pie pan, upside down, on top of the dough.
7. Flip over, and gently guide the dough into the pan. Trim off excess dough and use your fingers to crimp the edges.
8. Place the pie crust in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Filling

Ingredients:
-2 cups pumpkin puree
-2/3 cup sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon
-2/3 tsp allspice
-1/4 tsp ground ginger
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1 egg yolk
-A little less than 1 can condensed milk
-1/4 cup cream
-1 tsp vanilla

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 340F.
2. In a medium pot over low medium heat, warm the pumpkin, sugar, spices, cream, milk, salt, and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Pour a few spoons of the pumpkin mixture into the eggs and mix well. This technique tempers the eggs to the same temperature as the pumpkin mix; the purpose of this is to prevent scrambling of the eggs and ensure a creamy texture in the pie. Pour the eggs mix into the rest of the pumpkin, and blend throughly.
4. Pour the pie filling into the crust, and place in the oven.
5. Cook for approximately 40 minutes until the edges are done, and the center jiggles just barely. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
6. Whip some fresh cream with some powdered sugar, and top pie slices with the whipped cream. Enjoy!

2 Fall is here: Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin is the ultimate autumn food. It not only represents the produce of a season, but it also represents both Halloween and Thanksgiving dessert. I also have a handful of friends that love pumpkin, so making or eating any kind of pumpkin pie, cookie, or bread makes me think of them.

Below is the base to any pumpkin recipes (such as the gluten-free pumpkin pie I plan on posting later this week), a pumpkin puree. Now, if you're in a rush or don't want to make this from scratch, its easy to find pumpkin-in-a-can. However, I love the taste and texture of fresh pumpkin (and toasted pumpkin seeds!) so I really recommend making your own, I'll show you how super easy it is.

1. The key to any homemade pumpkin puree is to use a type of pumpkin called pie pumpkins. They're the smaller variety that's about 6-7 inches wide. Pie pumpkins are better for this than the traditional, jack-o-lantern pumpkins because of their texture (pie pumpkins don't have the stringy texture that larger pumpkins do)

2. Use a serrated blade in order to slice the pumpkin open. For the initial cut you'll want to use a sawing motion just to the side of the pumpkin stem.

3. Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to scoop our the seeds and guts of the pumpkin. You'll want to scrap the scoop on the insides of the pumpkin to remove all of the stringy pieces from the inside.

4. Using either a vegetable steamer, steamer basket, or a shallow dish filled with some water, steam the pumpkin pieces until done. This should take approximately 10-15 minutes. To verify when the pumpkin is ready, use a fork to test if the pumpkin flesh is tender.

5. Peel the pumpkin skin off of the flesh with either your hands or a fork (this should be a fairly easy task once the pumpkin is cooked). Drain off any left over water.

6. Use an immersion blender, or a regular blender to blend the pumpkin into a puree. Use in you favorite pumpkin recipes!

0 Fall has Come! Pork with Apples and Onion

Ingredients
-1/2 onion
-4 pork chops
-2 tablespoons brown sugar
-1 tsp dry mustard
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
-1 tsp cinnamon
-3/4 cups water

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Sauté the onions for about 1-2 minutes, and set aside.
3. Brown the pork chops on both sides, spending about 3-4 minutes per side.
4. While the chops are browning, peel and slice the apples.
5. In a lined baking pan, add the pork chops, and layer with the onions and apples.

6. In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, water, cloves, and mustard. Pour over the apples and pork.

7. Put in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

0 Apple Crisp Recipe

Sorry everyone for the total lack of updates this week. Work's been super busy this week, and has been capturing all of my attention. However, expect a ton of new posts this weekend!

But back to food. One of my new favorite food blogs is Foy Update. Simply everything she posts looks delicious, like this Apple Crisp! Link to the recipe below!

Image owned by Foy Update

Foy Update - Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat.: Fall Apple Crisp - Recipe

1 Apple Bacon Salad

Apples are one of the best products in Virginia during the fall. I love using them in anything from pork dishes, to desserts, and especially in salads. There's nothing more refreshing to me than biting into a crisp slice of apple in a salad. Below is one of my favorite fall-time salads, that's a little salty, a little sweet, and not too heavy. Besides, who doesn't love apples or bacon?

Ingredients:

Spring Mix of Greens

1 apple

juice of one lemon

zest of one lemon

2 slices of bacon

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup light olive oil

1 diced shallot

1 diced garlic clove

salt and pepper

1. In a pan at medium low heat, cook the bacon. Don't worry about oiling the pan as there will be plenty of grease from the bacon.

2. As the bacon cooks in a small bowl mix the vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest.

3. After the bacon has fully cooked, place the bacon onto a plate with paper towels, and pat the bacon dry.

4. To the pan with the bacon grease, add the diced shallot. Sauté for a minute or two, and scrape up the bacon bits from the bottom of the pan. Drain the shallot in a fine metal colander.

5. Add the shallot to the vinegar mixture, and slowly whisk in the oil.

6. Slice the apple into very thin slices, like below.

7. In a large bowl, add the salad greens and apples. Slowly add a few spoonfuls to the bowl, and toss the salad. Add more dressing spoon by spoon. The goal is to lightly coat the salad, without drenching it in dressing, Nothing is worse than a over dressed salad...

8. Slice the bacon into small pieces and toss with the salad. Enjoy!