Special Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bar Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting
Me preparing spring rolls on a Winter BBQ Picnic in the Park with Friends
Cantonese-Style Tofu Stir Fry with Simple Clear Sauce- Recipe in Development
Ra and Neko Kitty Brothers Snuggling this Week
This week the Gluten-Free menu swap is hosted by GF Goodness with an theme of SOUP. I also always enjoy posting my menus with Org Junkie. Don’t forget that Cheryl is temporarily housing the Gluten Free Menu Swap at her blog GF Goodness.
Monday: Korean
Rice Salad Bibbinba with soybean sprouts, spinach, kimchi, chili tofu topping
Cooling Yogurt Raita
Wednesday: Chinese
Fried stuffed Renkon (lotus Root)
Bok Choy Stir Fry with tofu recipe
Rice
Friday: Mediterranean
Grilled Fennel
Pressure Cooker Bean Soup
GF Bread Rolls
Baked Good of the Week: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This week I posted my Vegetarian Mushroom and Green Bean Risotto Recipe
and
my Gluten-Free Daring Baker French Yule Log with apple cardamom creme brulee and tons of chocolate decadence!
And now… for the Dessert of the week!
This week I had a great green bean salad recipe to share with you, but I didn’t have time (or appropriate lighting at the right time) to take good photos of the dish, so I decided to post an old favorite recipe for Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars as a special surprise. As a college student, I adapted this recipe to be gluten-free from the Better Home and Garden cookbook- the cookbook that essentially taught me how to cook. Between that cookbook and a rack of spices, somehow I learned how to cook and bake, although I never did get a successful cinnamon roll by adapting their recipe. This pumpkin bar recipe was always popular with my friends thanks in part to the super yummy frosting. DH gave me a copy of BHAG for Christmas just so I could revisit this old favorite- what a husband! Turns out the recipe is as popular as ever, although now I use a healthier flour blend when I make it (and considerably less butter in the frosting). Don’t worry, from next week I’ll try to go back to our weekly salad and dressing recipe! I have some really tasty ideas… And the green bean salad recipe for holiday gatherings WILL be posted very, very soon.
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Gluten Free Pumpkin Bar Recipe with Dairy free variation
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Ingredients
2 cups Gluten-Free Baking Mix (Such as Rebecca Reilly’s. Made in bulk, proportions are: 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch. Now please buy her wonderful cookbook.)
1 1/2 cup sugar (flavored with a vanilla stick stored in it if possible) 2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground preferred) 1 tsp. xanthan gum (optional, I didn’t use but will reduce crumbliness) 4 eggs, beaten 1 15-oz. can pumpkin (I used organic) 1 cup canola oil (or olive oil)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either use one 15*10*1 baking pan OR two 8*8 cake pans. Line with parchment or wax paper cut to fit the bottom. Spray with nonstick gluten-free cooking spray if you like.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix in the beaten eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Don’t overbeat but make sure it is all combined. Pour into your pan or pans. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t seem to make a very tall cake- it will rise! Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They should be solid in the middle, not jiggly like creme brulee. Cool in the pan on a rack or on the stove for at least an hour and then eventually you can carefully remove it onto a wire rack. Let cool completely before frosting.
Notes
DH gobbled this up like you wouldn’t believe. Despite his obsession with cream cheese frosting, he liked the cake/bar part too.
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Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
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Ingredients
2 package Cream Cheese OR equivalent Tofutti Cream Cheese
4 tbsp. butter OR Earth Balance 3 or 4 tsp. GF vanilla Powdered Sugar to taste (start with a cup and go from there)
Directions
Soften cream cheese in microwave on low (level 3) about a minute- but don’t soften so much it melts! Do same with butter (briefly). Combine softened cream cheese and butter in large mixer and whip until combined, adding vanilla. Add some powdered sugar and combine. Scrape down sides and taste. Add more powdered sugar, scraping sides and tasting until you are satisfied. You can use immediately or put in refrigerator, where it will thicken slightly.
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