Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies So Good They Will Make You Say "Momma!"

I was at a friend's house the other night and we were talking about chocolate and cookies and pumpkins. And then we were talking about pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which sounded weird to me!

Except, a friend of mine that was there said she drove to three stores the day before looking for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. So I thought to myself, there must be something to that combination.

I asked how to make those and the hostess said "It's easy, just substitute the pumpkin for the fat in the cookies."

Bingo! Now I was listening!

I don't make cookies very often, because they have so much fat and hello, I would like to keep my girlish figure. Plus the boy does not do so well with too much fat. So... Chocolate chip cookies with no fat. I am there!

First I had to go find a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, The one I ended up liking is from Gluten Free Goddess.

I changed up the flour, because oops, no buckwheat flour (what the recipe called for) in cupboard. Few other changes were made to make the recipe easier and pumpkin was substituted for the fat.

And let me tell you, these cookies are so good, they should be illegal! They are so good, people whom I shared them with are texting me back IN ALL CAPS about how good they are. People who were at my house when I took them out of the oven scraped the parchment paper the cookies were made on for cookie bits!And the boy inhaled all the cookies given to him (which is why I have a stash hidden.)

So, make these at your own risk, but if you do, hide and save them for yourself!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies So Good They Will Make You Say "Momma!"

Dry ingredients:

1 cup quinola flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt

Wet ingredients:

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 1/2 cups organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Add in:

10-oz bag of chocolate chips (I only had 8 oz of choc chips and that was plenty)
Couple of hand fulls of raisins


Directions:

Whisk together the flours, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda and sea salt in a big mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the pumpkin, sugar, vanilla extract. Add beaten eggs.

Add wet ingredients to dry. Mix to combine. When the dough becomes too stiff to mix, work with your hands. If it's too dry, add in a little milk of choice.

You are looking for a cookie-like consistency of dough, something that stays together enough to be handled with a spoon.

Add in chocolate chips and raisins and mix by hand. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, if you can wait that long!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop spoon fulls of dough onto cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press the mounds of dough only a little, leaving cookies in stack shapes.

Bake 12-15 minutes. You will know cookies are done when they spring back to touch and the edges begin to brown slightly. They will harden as they cool, so do not over bake.

Makes something like 30 cookies.

Cool on paper slid off the cookie sheets, or if you want to, put on cooling rack. Hide and eat them immediately! :)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Goat Cheese Icing

Original recipe from Gluten Free Goddess

It's that time of the year again. The time to do things with pumpkin!

Personally, I don't love eating punkin things, but I do love the way it smells when it's baking! (I think it's the spices heating up that make that yummy smell)

So when I ran across Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe on Gluten Free Goddess, I had to make the cupcakes. But, I had to make some modifications.

She really is a master at making gluten free yummy baked goods. But, I am also baking for health and well-being of a small boy, so I wanted the recipe to be a little bit more healthy.

I modified her original recipe in the following ways: I changed from just brown rice flour to a combination of rice and barley. I took away most of the starch, as I don't feel that it adds any nutritional value and instead added teff to boost the calcium and amaranth for protein content.

I left out white sugar all together, and also left out the fat all together and instead added 1/2 cup more pumkin.

Also, I don't love using soy products, and can't use cow products, so I made the cream cheese frosting with chevre goat cheese.

These still came out amazing! I wish I could share the frosted cupcake picture with you, but they were eaten by a small person as soon as they were frosted!

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 barley flour
1/4 cup teff flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1 cup organic sugar
1/4 cup Almond Flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 and 1/2 cups canned organic pumpkin (which is 1 can)
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the icing:

2 oz chevre plain goat cheese
2 tsp maple syrup, or more
2 tbsp org powder sugar, or more


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Wisk together all dry ingredicnce.

Add in pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla, and mix or beat with a blender.

Spoon the cake batter into the 12 cupcake liners and smooth out the tops.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or so, until the tops are firm but springy. Test with a toothpick.

Remove from pan. Cool. Hide!

Frost with:

2 oz chevre plain goat cheese
2 tsp maple syrup, or more
2 tbsp org powder sugar, or more.
Mix with a spoon or hand blender.

Frost. Eat. Enjoy!

Surviving the Winter Blues or How to Thrive in the Winter Time

I live in the North West and to me, winter is murder!

I am the sunshine girl. I am the person who cries if I can't be outside on a warm, sunny day. So days and days of cold, dark rain are almost unbearable, especially this year, because we hardly had a summer at all.

Alright, I am done complaining, because this year I actually feel pretty ok after I implemented some solutions. So, here's my formula for winter survival, with links for you if you want to get any of this stuff for yourself to make this winter easy to get through:

Brain food to lift mood and compensate for lack of sunshine:

Vit D to make up for lack of sunshine: Now Foods Vitamin D3 5000 Iu, 240 Softgels
Gaba for anxiety: NOW Foods Gaba 750mg, 100 Vcaps
Vit B for lack of sunshine: Solaray - B-Complex, 100 mg, 100 capsules
5 HTP (take with green tea):  HIGH POTENCY 5-HTP 200MG - 60 VCAPS
Fish Oil to help the brain fire better: Kirkland Signature Fish Oil w/ Omega-3 Enteric Coated 180 Softgels

Warm base layer:

Wool Socks to keep the feet warm: Search Amazon.com for wool socks smartwool

Thermal underwear: Search Amazon.com for thermal underwear women

Sunshine simulating light bulbs: Full Spectrum Light Bulb - ALZO 27W Compact Fluorescent - Case of 4 - Daylight Balanced 5500K - Pure White Light 


I know that's many steps to take to feel ok and if you don't need them, if you feel great in the winter just as you are, I am so happy for you! But for me, these steps are small given how good I now feel even thought it's gray and dark outside!

To Your Health and Joy!

Health Conscious Mommy