Book of Yum

Welcome to pie and cobbler week! This week I’ll be sharing two cobbler recipes with you and hosting a cobbler, pie and crumble linky on Friday, so get ready for some flaky, fruity goodness. At this time of year, the farmer’s markets and even the conventional grocery stores are overflowing with delicious stone fruits just begging to be made into a cobbler. I have a rather interesting idea I’d like to try out for a rather unusual tart that I hope to get to for Friday, but let me start with a very easy plum cobbler recipe that I made using Pamela’s Baking Mix. I usually make things from scratch, but sometimes it is nice to get out a mix, add a few ingredients, and pop something in the oven without the hassle of mixing up flour. Pamela’s contains both dairy and nuts (almonds) in their mix, but never fear, my from-scratch cobbler recipe that I will post on Wednesday is potentially vegan and naturally gluten, dairy, and nut-free. You could easily swap the fillings in these recipes as well, so you can pick your favorite topping recipe and go from there.

I was inspired to make these cobblers because for the first time, we are living in our own home with a proper yard that came with proper fruit trees. To be specific, we have productive avocado, apple, cherry, plum, and apricot trees, with a persimmon tree dipping in over the neighbor’s fence for good measure. Right now the apricot and plum trees are covered in fruit, and we are scrambling to find ways to eat them up before time re-claims them for the compost. I’d never had plum cobbler before, but when my Mother mentioned that she’d once had some, I was intrigued. The resulting recipe made my mouth very happy, especially paired with some vanilla ice cream. One note, though. No matter how much you want cobbler, you definitely want to wait until the fruit is fully ripe. I like a tart plum for snacking, especially in preference to a mushy, over-ripe one, but for cobbler, you really want to harness the natural sweetness of the fruit so you don’t have to dip too heavily into the sugar jar to compensate. My plums were a tad under-ripe. I’ve learned my lesson, and next time I’ll use only ripe, sweet, toothsome fruits.

Baby Yum and I recently celebrated our birthdays in a joint, gluten-free birthday party ladybug-themed feast with a ladybug pinata, butterfly and black and red polka dotted balloons and of course, more food than you would think could fit on one (ok, two) tables. It was lovely and I hope to share pictures soon. I got a new camera for said birthday (the Nikon D5000). Thanks, kisses and loves to all of you for your patience while I befriend my new camera. Who knew light could be so much fun (and so challenging!)

Gluten-Free Plum Cobbler with Pamela’s Baking Mix Dessert  Alternative Grains  American

Ingredients 3/4 cup white sugar* 4 cups fresh plums, pitted and sliced into wedges 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 Tbsp corn starch 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, cloves, and allspice 1 1/2 C Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix 1/3 cup milk 1/4 C granulated sugar 1/4 C melted butter or margarine 1 tbsp. raw sugar Directions Take a deep pie pan or 2 Q. casserole dish and preheat oven to 350F. Combine your plums, sugar, vanilla, corn starch and spices in a large bowl. If you like you can then fill your pie pan or casserole dish and use it for your biscuit topping. Combine your Baking mix, sugar, and melted butter or margarine in a bowl and stir together. Fold your milk in gently. Use a large serving spoon to drop the dough on top of your plum mixture. Cover the surface but leave a little space around the edges. Sprinkle with your raw sugar for some pretty baking sparkle and bake at 350f for around 35 minutes or until lightly browned and firm on top. Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream or enjoy plain. Yum! Notes *I actually used 1/2 cup sugar, but the DH said it was too tart. Our plums were a little under-ripe, so we needed the 3/4 cup. Your mileage may vary.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1562 Added:  July 14, 2011 Last Modified:  July 14, 2011

I have long been a cookie-lover. Cookies are my favorite baked dessert even over pie, and definitely in preference to cake. It is odd that despite this long love for the crackley, sugary-sweet and buttery cookie, I don’t have more cookie recipes on the Book of Yum. I think it is because I often make the same chocolate chip recipe based on the Tollhouse recipe when I do make cookies. And, I like cookies so much that I have no willpower when I finally do make them, so I try to limit the frequency. Besides chocolate chips, one of my favorite cookies is sold at Mariposa Bakery- a nutmeal cookie that I could eat by the dozen. Oh, it is so good. But I’d never really tried to make it until I saw a recipe by Isa Moskowitz in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar for a chewy carrot-raisin cookie. I was inspired by the idea of a cookie with grated carrot, and set off from there to make my version of a yummy, spiced raisin cookie with chewiness from slivered almonds and coconut instead of oatmeal. I tried several variations of flour, oil, sugar and even baking powder before coming up with this one. The first version had too much starch, giving it a chalky taste. The second version was a little too healthy and while it had great flavor, it had an “Enjoy Life” processed cookie texture. Not bad, but not what I was going for. The final version is the kind of cookie that spreads a little, but not too much, and browns around the edges just like a chocolate chip cookie. The DH has liked every version of this cookie I’ve made, and gobbled them up, but I have a feeling this one will be his favorite too, as soon as he gets home and tries some. Baby Yum was content to sniff the cookies deeply and earnestly, but she prefers creamy yogurts and sugar snap peas to cookies. I’m sure she’ll get over that, but until she does, who am I to fight a kid with healthy taste buds? I hope you enjoy this relatively healthy cookie just as much as we do in our house! How often can you actually get your veggies from a cookie? *You will notice I don’t use xanthan gum or guar gum in this recipe. I don’t have anything against them, but I don’t find them necessary in cookie recipes with their forgiving high-ratios of sugar and oils.

Looking for more gluten-free cookie recipes? Try these:
gluten-free cookie roundup
Grain-free coconut raisin cookie recipe
Stevia Sweetened Sugar Cookie Recipe
Rosemary Lime Cookie Recipe
Gluten-free Dairy-free Thin Mint Cookie Recipe
Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Recipe
Soft Molasses Vegan Cookie Recipe
Coyote Cookie Bar Freezer Fudge Recipe
Chocolate Frosted Coconut Cokie Recipe
gluten-free cookie smores recipe
Cocoa Bean Cookie Truffles
Grain free Chocolate Raisin Rum Cookie Recipe
Dairy-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Thumbprint Macaroon Cookie Recipe

This recipe was shared with Gluten-free Wednesdays and Real Food Weekly

Carrot Raisin Un-Oatmeal Gluten-free Cookie Recipe Dessert  Alternative Grains  American

Ingredients 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Earth Balance Margarine (or oil) – chilled 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. lemon, lime, or orange zest 2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla (I use Costco’s Kirkland) 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp cloves 1/4 tsp. allspice 1/2 tsp. salt 1/3 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used soy, but you could use almond or hemp milk as well) 1 tbsp +1 tsp. ground flaxseed 3/4 cup sorghum flour 1/4 cup brown rice flour (or millet, or additional sorghum) 1/2 cup tapioca starch flour 1/4 cup arrowroot starch flour 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 cup shredded carrots 1 cup raisins 1/2 cup shredded coconut (or coconut flakes if you have them) 3/4 cup slivered blanched almonds, broken up a bit (I use Trader joe’s brand) Directions Prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375F. Combine margarine and both sugars in a bowl and mix until you have a creamy texture. Either a hand-held mixer or standing mixer works well, but you could do it by hand if you like that sort of thing. I’m lazy. Add your zest, vanilla, spices and salt and mix again. Combine your non-dairy milk with ground flaxseed in a blender or small food processor bowl. If you have sweetened or flavored milk you may wish to decrease the sugar and possibly vanilla in the overall recipe, to taste. Process or blend the mixture until it is smooth and has a slimy texture. Add your flax egg to the margarine and sugar mixture and mix it all together. Meanwhile, combine your flours and baking powder in a sifting cup and sift into the mixing bowl with your flax egg, sugar, and margarine. Fold together and add carrots, coconut, almonds, and raisins, folding in one last time. Drop tablespoons of dough in round 1 or 1 1/4 inch cookies onto your parchment paper covered cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Smooth tops of cookies if necessary and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they start to brown on the edges and the top is firm. Cool on parchment paper for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Makes 2 large sheets of cookies and a few extras. Enjoy with some nondairy milk!

Rating:  9 Original Source:  Inspired by Isa Moskowitz but my own original creation. Please do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1558 Added:  June 7, 2011 Last Modified:  June 7, 2011