Pumpkin muffins with ginger and mixed spice

Yesterday we had pumpkin risotto  for dinner and (as with every recipe) I was left with about a quarter of a pumpkin, which I did not need in the recipe. I always use more vegetables than the original recipe, because how else do you eat the required amount of vegetables per day? I think: "How can one family live off of 1 onion and 250 grams of pumpkin?", when I read such a recipe. 

I cram my kids full with 'that healthy stuff' called vegetables. In the beginning it was a huge struggle, but now it's getting better. My boys are no longer bouncing with disgust at the sight of asparagus, spinach, beans or pumpkin in this case. Sure, the three P's: fries (in Dutch it's called patat hence the three P's), pizza and pancakes for those who do not know those holy P's) are still favorites, but vegetables are now pretty ok. Not all of them of course, I mean, who likes Brussels sprouts? Blergh! ;-)

But anyway, there I was left with another 200 grams of grated pumpkin. What are you going to do with that? Well ... i decided to make high-fiber muffins, which the boys can take to school in their snack box (or i can take it to work as a snack). 

The recipe below is a free interpretation (read, I used what I had in at home) on a recipe from the Dutch cookery book Powersnacks, and of course I made it gluten free for the boys. In the original recipe, the pumpkin must be cooked, but because it was grated so finely, I have used the pumpkin ijlst like that. That way those fibers are retained a bit better and my gluten free boys need those extra fibers.

Ingredients for about 12 muffins:

• 200 grams (7 oz) of peeled, grated pumpkin
• Fresh ginger, piece of 4 cm finely grated
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons  of date syrup (every syrup works I think)
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of Greek yogurt (the recipe contained 225 grams (8 oz) of yogurt, but I did not have that anymore, so I added crème fraiche and milk to it.) Also works. ;-))
• 125 grams (4.4 oz) of crème fraiche
• 50 ml (1.7 fl oz) of milk
• 175 grams (6.2 oz) of rice flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of cornmeal
• 3 teaspoons of cream of tartar baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of gingerbread spices/ mixed spices

Instruction:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees centigrade/ 360 fahrenheit. 
2. Grease the muffin tin (or multiple muffin tins) or place paper cups in the cavities.
3. Mix the pumpkin, ginger, rice flour, corn meal, tartar baking powder and gingerbread spices in a large mixing bowl.
4. Beat the eggs with the crème fraiche, yogurt, milk and date syrup and pour this into the flour and pumpkin mixture. Stir everything together until everything is mixed well.
5. Spoon it into the cavities of the muffin tins and decorate the batter with some pumpkin seeds if you have them (i didn't) and put in the oven. Bake this for about 20 minutes until the muffins have risen and are nicely brown.
6. Allow them to cool for five minutes in the tin before removing them from the tin and allowing to cool completely on a rack.

Enjoy your meal!

Glutenfree oatcakes

I'm reading Jenny Colgan's The Summer Seaside Kitchen and in them the main character Flora makes Scottish oatcakes. Usually her books contain a few recipes and this one is no exception.... except... the Scottish Oatcakes aren't one of them. So I searched the ever knowing world wide wide and made my own version of the various different recipes I've found. 

These oatcakes are wonderful with a bit of butter or cheese, but I think they make a great and quite healthy breakfast option too, as I'm one of those breakfast cracker kind of person. ;-)

I made these crackers with 100% gluten free oats and oat flour so my two gluten free sons can eat them as well. My sons don't react to oats (i know that is not the case for everyone with coeliacs disease) and they love eating oatmeal and such. 

Ingredients: 

• 100 grams of rolled oats
• 175 grams of oat flour
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 60 grams of cold butter
• 1 teaspoon of iodised salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 100 ml  of hot water

Instructions: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade or 390 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together the rolled oats, oat flour, cream of tartar, iodised salt and sugar in a big bowl.
3. Add the cold butter mix this through the flour and rolled oats mixture by rubbing it together until everything is mixed. It should have the consistency of bread crumbs. 
4. Add the water (just bit by bit) and combine until you have a somewhat thick and slightly sticky dough. The amount of water varies; depending on the oats. I needed a lot of water. 
5. Sprinkle some flour on a clean work surface and roll out the dough to  thickness that's about 1/2cm. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. 
6. Place the oat cakes on a baking tray and bake  them in the oven for  about 20-30mins until a light golden brown colour. 
7. Let them cool a bit on a wire rack before you eat them with some salted butter or cheese.