Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (vegan option)

I have said before that I am a little scared to try new paleo muffin and quick bread recipes, because they often end up tasting much more like a souffle than a muffin. There is just too much egg texture and flavor for my palate. I have been on a success streak with my paleo baking as of late (see Paleo Pumpkin Bread, and Peach Blueberry Nutty Crisp) and I am gung-ho to try some other recipes!

This is a new recipe from PaleOMG (super great paleo blog, check it out!). I haven't ever had pumpkin flavors with chocolate and I was a little apprehensive. I know, I know. How silly of me. Of course chocolate goes with pumpkin. Chocolate goes with [pretty much] everything! 

These muffins turned out wonderfully! I made five regular sized muffins and nine mini muffins for the little one. J loved them and ate about 6 mini muffins before breakfast was over. I just love that I can give him such healthy food and he will gobble it up!

Once I gotten into making these muffins I realized I only had two eggs and the recipe called for three. Luckily, I remembered having read about replacing eggs in baked goods with chia seeds, this is a popular vegan replacement. When mixed with water, chia seeds form a sort of thick jelly very similar to raw eggs. For replacing eggs you grind up the chia seeds (I used our coffee grinder) and mix with water. I did this for one of the eggs called for in the recipe and used my other two regular eggs. I am pretty sure that if you wanted to make this recipe vegan you could just use the chia seed concoction for all three eggs. 

Here is the recipe for vegan egg replacement with chia seeds:

3 tablespoons warm water

1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (use white chia seeds if making something light in color)

Mix water and chia seed meal together with a small whisk or a fork in a small bowl. Let congeal for about 5-10 minutes, or until it is the consistency of a raw egg. Makes one egg replacement

These muffins are wonderful warm with a hot cup of coffee or a glass of apple cider. I love the way the spices play off of the chocolate, it kind of like a Mexican hot chocolate. The pumpkin is subtle and lovely, just the right amount of sweetness. Oh the wonderful, wonderful flavors of fall!

Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

(original recipe from PaleOMG)

• ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 eggs, whisked
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• ⅛ teaspoon powdered ginger
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease with coconut oil.

Mix together wet ingredients in a bowl: pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.

In another bowl, whisk together coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, powdered ginger, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon scoop batter into lined or greased muffin pans. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Roasted Avocado with Cheese

Here is another really quick post that started as an Instagram (follow me!) picture and has so many recipe requests that I had to do a blog post.

I've seen a few different variations on this recipe floating around on Pinterest (follow me!) and I was a little scared to try it out. I mean, warm avocados did not sound good to me at all. But, I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

Warm avocado with gooey cheese and spicy hot sauce is wonderful! Its creamy, cheesy, and bursting with flavor. Its a bonus that this recipe is so simple and easy to throw together.

I have been eating this for lunch, but it would make such an impressive dinner party dish. Maybe as the salad course?

Roasted Avocado with Cheese
(recipe adapted from Morsels and Musings)

• 1 avocado
• about 4 tablespoons shredded Italian blend cheese (divided)
• hot sauce
• fresh lime wedge
• salt

Turn on the broiler and cover a cookie sheet with tin foil, this will make clean up a breeze!

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Score the meat of the avocado in a diamond pattern and place on foil-covered cookie sheet meat side up.

Sprinkle a little salt over the meat of the avocado and add a few splashes of hot sauce. Fill the pit hole with cheese and then spread cheese over the rest of the meat. 

Place the cookie sheet in the oven on a middle rack. Watch it carefully making sure it doesn't burn. When the cheese is melted take the cookie sheet out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before eating. Squeeze a little fresh lime juice over the avocado and dig in!

NOTE: I haven't experimented with this recipe yet, but I am thinking adding some chopped pepperoni would be good. Or using cheddar or feta instead of Italian blend. Maybe adding tomatoes, garlic and cilantro, or olives and roasted red pepper? I bet it would be awesome done on the grill instead of in the oven, adding some smokeyness. There are so many options! Roasted avocados are going to be on my weekly rotation for sure!

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin! 

We are back to summer weather here in the Nation's Capital. Don't know what happened to the lovely, crisp Autumn weather we were having, but yesterday was only one degree away from breaking a record for highest temperatures for this time of year. 87 degrees is just silly for October. I mean come on.

Hot weather or not, I am still jumping head-first into fall. Maybe I won't be wearing as many scarves and sweaters as I would like, but I will be watching all the Harry Potter movies (along with all the other wonderful Halloween flicks) and eating as much pumpkin as I can!

Tuesday I made Pumpkin Pie Dip with NO refined sugar. That is some good stuff! A friend said it tastes like "Fall in dip form." and the hubby said "What is this? Its good!" Love it when I get those kind of reactions to my culinary creations, especially when they are semi-healthy.

Today, I was debating between pancakes and a quick bread. I am trying to stay away from grains as much as possible and that kind of limits the bread options. There are some really good paleo bread recipes out there, but I am very picky because many of them end up having too much of an egg texture for my tastes. I can't stand that. This recipe does not have that texture.

This is just what I wanted in a pumpkin bread. Its moist, flavorful, spicy, and nutty. It has a wonderful pumpkin flavor and it turned out so beautiful. I could not have been happier with the way this turned out. I had some cinnamon-honey butter in the fridge that just sent it over the top! I gave some to my parents and my aunt and they all thought it was amazing and couldn't believe it was grain free. Score! J loved it too.

I hope you take a chance and make this, especially if you are feeling a little iffy about the whole gluten-free thing. This is the perfect inaugural recipe to show you how un-scary gluten-free is and how YUMMY it can be. Let me know if you try it out!

XOXO,

Coco

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Paleo Pumpkin Bread
(original recipe from Paleo on Main)

• 1 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup mapple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Topping:

• 1/8 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/8 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

All ingredients should be room temperature. Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease 1.5 quart bread pan with coconut oil.  

Combine wet and dry ingredients in separate work bowls. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and pour batter into prepared bread pan. 

Combine topping ingredients and spread on top of prepared batter and place on middle rack in preheated oven.  

Bake bread for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out from the center of the loaf cleanly.  Allow to cool in the pan and slice. Serve plain or smeared butter or creamed honey.

Pumpkin Pie Dip (no refined sugars!)

I made this today and posted it on Instagram (you should follow me!), then decided I should just toss the recipe up here for you all to enjoy too! 

I made something similar to this for J's first birthday party. That recipe was very tasty, but full of refined sugars and not something I would feel comfortable feeding my family on a regular basis. 

This newly refurbished Pumpkin Pie Dip recipe is so yummy! Its creamy, pumpkin-y, spicy, and slightly sweet. It tastes just like fall should. Plus, its the perfect kid-friendly snack, J loved it!

#fall #recipe #pumpkinspice

PUMPKIN PIE DIP
1 block of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 can of pumpkin
1-2 tablespoon(s) coconut sugar
1-2 teaspoon(s) pumpkin pie spice  

Stir the cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin and mix well. Stir in sugar and pumpkin pie spice until well incorporated.

Serve with apples, pears, gingersnaps or graham crackers. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.