Gluten-Free Spiced Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

As a professionally trained pastry chef, being told I might want to go on a gluten-free diet sounded like some kind of cruel punishment.

I’ve worked at some of the top restaurants in the U.S., and I love dessert!

The problem is I have a hyperactive thyroid, which probably has been preventing me from getting pregnant these last three years. My hormones have been all over the place. At this point, I was willing to try anything so that hopefully we can have a baby someday. My acupuncturist and a fertility-specialty dietitian both recommended the gluten-free diet so I jumped on the bandwagon.

Going gluten-free isn’t easy, especially when you like to dine out often like I do. I’ve learned to eat a lot of salads, soups and Asian foods, which seem to be the most gluten-free friendly. A gigantic bowl of Vietnamese pho with chicken and rice noodles is my go-to dish for lunch. Italian restaurants are the worst – no bread, no pasta and no pizza.

After nearly three months of a gluten-free diet, I’ve figured out some healthy baking recipes and thought I’d start sharing these with you. Instead of using wheat flour, I’ve learned to use flours made from nuts, coconut, corn, rice and potatoes. My kitchen experiments don’t always turn out like my failed crumbly cornbread and my too fennel-y pizza crackers, but I keep playing in the kitchen. That’s what pastry chefs do!

And the results seem to be working. My blood work has shown decreased hormone levels; but since I’m also taking a thyroid medicine and doing the gluten-free diet, I don’t know which one has helped the most. (Oh and in case you’re wondering, I only had a few tiny sips of hubby’s beers at the recent Warszawski Festival Piwa I wrote about on Monday. I do miss beer!)

Since it’s fall, I’ve been baking a lot with pumpkin and sweet potatoes lately. I’ve adapted a pumpkin recipe I found online and have made these several times now. 

These gluten-free muffins are perfect for a breakfast on the go or an afternoon snack. Just limit yourself to one! I liked these so much that I ate two muffins the first time, and then realized that was just too much fiber to eat at one sitting.

These gluten-free pumpkin muffins also are girlfriend and husband tested and approved! I hope you enjoy them too!

Smacznego!

Remember: only eat ONE of these fiber-rich muffins at a time! 

Gluten-Free Spiced Streusel Pumpkin Muffins

Yields: 12-14 muffins

Adapted from Poet in the Pantry

Ingredients:

Spiced Streusel Topping

2          Tablespoons                organic coconut oil, melted

2          Tablespoons                pure maple syrup

2          Tablespoons                ground flax seeds

½         teaspoon                      ground cinnamon

½         teaspoon                      ground ginger

¼         teaspoon                      salt

½         cup                  (60 g.)  almond flour*

¾         cup                  (95 g.)  chopped pecans or walnuts

Muffin ingredients

1          cup                  (240 g.) homemade pumpkin puree OR canned

4          large                              eggs

⅓         cup                  (98 ml.)  pure maple syrup

½         cup                  (120 ml) organic coconut oil, melted

1          cup                  (120 g.)  almond flour

⅓         cup                  (45 g.)  coconut flour, lightly packed

1½       teaspoons                    ground cinnamon

½         teaspoon                      ground ginger

Pinch of                                   freshly grated nutmeg

½         teaspoon                      salt

½         teaspoon                      baking soda

½         cup                  (75 g.)  dried cranberries or raisins

*Note:             You can substitute the almond pulp from your homemade almond milk for the almond flour. Just be sure to dry your leftover almond pulp in the oven before using.

Preheat oven to 350F/175 C. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the streusel ingredients, tossing with a fork until you get small crumbs. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs and maple syrup. Once combined, whisk in the coconut oil, pouring in a steady stream.

Then, add the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated.

Lastly, fold in the dried cranberries or raisins.

Using a large cookie scoop or two spoons, portion out the batter, filling each muffin cup about ¾ of the way.

Sprinkle and press the streusel topping on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

These muffins can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for 1-2 days and then should be moved to the refrigerator. I had a batch of mine go sour after sitting out on the counter for 5 days. If needed, extra muffins could be frozen as well.

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Heart-Healthy Muffins from the Heartland

No matter if I am on “vacation” or not, I can’t help but bake.

I just spent a week in Nebraska visiting my family. As you might know from previous posts, my dad underwent a major surgery back in May to receive a new pacemaker. He’s supposed to have a very low-fat, low-sodium healthy diet.

So I decided to bake my dad some heart-healthy muffins he could eat for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. I made the first batch with dried cranberries, raisins and walnuts. The second batch I made was with apricots instead of the raisins. And guess where the apricots were from?

You guessed it. Turkey!

Apparently, the Wal-Mart brand dried apricots are from Turkey, according to the packaging. But I’m not surprised.

In fact, Turkey produces 80% of dried apricots in the world.

My parents were surprised too.

Anyway these muffins are hearty, healthy and tasty. I rewarmed mine and added a dab of honey on them.

I’m not sure you can find oat flour or oat bran cereal in Istanbul or elsewhere in Turkey. I have seen rolled oats, so you might be able to try buğday kepeği or yulaf kepeği as a substitute.

Hope you enjoy the muffins! Feel free to substitute with your favorite dried fruits and nuts in the recipe. I’m a fan of hazelnuts too.

Afiyet olsun!

Homemade oat, cranberry, apricot and walnut muffins.

Oat, Cranberry and Apricot Muffins

(Adapted from the New American Heart Association Cookbook)

Yields: 22-24 muffins

1 ½        c.               oat bran cereal or oat flour

1 ½        c.               all-purpose flour

2            tsp.            baking powder

1            tsp.            baking soda

1            tsp.            ground cinnamon

1            c.            buttermilk or Turkish ayran

½            c.            honey

½            c.            egg substitute such as Egg Beaters (or 2 large eggs)

¼            c.            brown sugar

3            T.             corn or sunflower oil

½            c.            walnuts

½            c.            cranberries

½            c.            Turkish apricots, diced small

(Or substitute 1 cup of your favorite dried fruit for the cranberries and apricots.)

All the muffin ingredients ready to be used.

Preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C. Line a muffin pan with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl, stir together the first five ingredients.

Make a well in the middle.

Whisk in the buttermilk, honey, egg substitute, brown sugar and oil. Stir until the mixture is moistened. Add the walnuts and dried fruit.

Do not overmix. Stir the mixture together until no flour is visible. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Fill the paper baking cups a little over halfway full. I sprinkled mine with rolled oats on top for a little extra texture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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Balinese-Style Kebabs in Istanbul

Coconut, lemongrass, peanuts and chilies are the main flavors you will taste in these Balinese-style kebabs; or should I say - chicken sate.

Today, I decided to finally dig into some of the exotic ingredients I brought back from our Bali trip in November. We had taken a delightful day-long cooking Balinese cooking class at the traditional home of Wayan and Puspa, owners of Paon Bali Cooking Classes. The food was fresh and full of the sassy Asian flavors that I enjoy so much! I highly recommend this couple's cooking class - they welcomed us into their home in Bali.

Taken in Bali: Wayan grilled our freshly-made chicken sate over the coconut husks.

Time to make my own Turklish version of the chicken sate in we made in Bali!

First, you will need one recipe of the Balinese Spice Paste I made awhile back for my Balinese-Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup. I did have some candlenuts on hand so I used them in place of the blanched almonds I used before.

Candlenuts look a bit like a large hazelnut or a macadamia nut.

Next, you need some ground chicken, so that required a trip to my friends at Kardeşler Kasabı in Beşiktaş. My kasap guy asked me if I was making adana kebab. I said, "Belki." (Maybe.) I didn't want to try and explain that I was making an Asian-style kebab.

Hopefully, you also can find some lemongrass, but the rest of the ingredients are usually found here in Istanbul. If you are back in the U.S. or elsewhere, you probably will have an easier time finding these ingredients. 

You'll need to set aside some time for prepping all the ingredients, molding the kebabs and cooking, but I think delicious food is always worth it! Guess who also made homemade vanilla ice cream this afternoon?

Afiyet Olsun! 

Balinese-Style Chicken Kebabs with Peanut Sauce made at my home in Istanbul.

For a good butcher and a specialty foods shop, check out these two places in Istanbul:

·                     Kolaylar Manav, Arnavutköy (You often can buy lemongrass here.)

·                     Kardeşler Kasabı, Gazi Refik Sok. No: 3 Türkali Mh., Beşiktaş

Balinese-Style Chicken "Kebabs" with Peanut Sauce

Yields: 15 kebabs/sate approx. 40 grams (1.4 oz.) each

Ingredients:

500      g.                                 minced chicken

40        g.         (1/2 c.)             dried coconut flakes

2          T.                                 Balinese Spice Paste

1          T.                                 palm sugar or sub brown sugar

1          T.                                 fried shallots or freshly diced if you don't have time

1          ea.                                juice and the zest of a lime

To taste                                   salt and pepper

15        ea.                                bamboo or kebab sticks (thicker than skewers)

In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, coconut, spice paste, sugar, shallots, lime juice and zest, salt and pepper with gloved hands. Mix thoroughly.

Take about 2 tablespoons (or weigh out 40 grams for each portion) of the mixture and form a ball. Mold the ball onto the end of the stick, flattening out as you go. Repeat the process to make about 15 sticks.

I actually made a double batch of these because we are having friends over for dinner tonight.

Grill the sticks over an outdoor grill until golden brown, turning once. Alternatively, use an indoor grill or grill pan, like I did, to cook the chicken kebabs/sate, until golden brown on both sides, about 7-8 minutes.

Serve with the peanut sauce below as an appetizer or with steamed rice for a main course.

Balinese-Style Peanut Sauce (Base Sate)

Ingredients:

250      g.         (1 1/2 c.)          unsalted peanuts, roasted until golden brown

5          ea.                                cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2          ea.                                Turkish aci peppers (hot peppers)

50        g.         (-1/2 c.)            ginger, roughly chopped

4-5       T.                                 kecap manis, Indonesian sweet soy sauce

2          T.                                 palm sugar or brown sugar

Pinch                                       salt

juice                                         of 1/2 a lime

240      ml.       (1 c.)                water, plus more if needed

To make the sauce, place all the ingredients (except the water) in a food processor. Blend until you form a fine paste. Alternatively, use a large stone mortar to grind the ingredients into a fine paste.

Then, thin out the paste with water until you reach the thickness you want of the peanut sauce. Slightly heat the sauce. Sate sauces are always served warm in Bali.

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Going Nuts in the Yarn Han in Istanbul

Today turned into another random day in Istanbul as I stumbled upon hans full of beads, racks of wool yarn, masquerade masks and of course, some charcuterie. 

This morning, I met a few friends in Eminönü. I needed to refill some of my spices at the Mısır Çarşısı and buy pastry supplies while they were looking for colorful yarns and other crafty items. We first went to the the yarn han called Kürkcü Han (Furrier Han) on Mahmutpaşa street. (See my previous post on the Kürkcü Han here.) 

For some reason, I do enjoy admiring all the gigantic spools of yarn, but I have no desire to knit whatsoever. However, give me some icing and a pastry bag and I'm one happy baker! (Valentine's Day-themed baking classes coming soon.)

While my friends were plunking down lira for their purchases, we stumbled across the nut man of the Kürkcü Han. He took a liking to my friend's six-month-old baby girl and gave the mom a small bag of hot nuts for free. Turks love, absolutely love, babies here! As he cooed over the baby, he handed out freshly roasted, still warm findik (hazelnuts) to all of us.

This Turk would certainly be able sell his wares down Bourbon Street in New Orleans!

These nuts were so good that I bought a small bag for only 5 lira and devoured half the bag in seconds. Apparently, he roams around the neighborhood every day so I highly recommend popping in the han if you are in Eminönü.

Also, I couldn't resist the gentleman's outrageously-decorated nut cart! Just one more reason to love Istanbul!

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Thankful for Turkey in Turkey

This morning, I was thankful to wake up with a cup of coffee in my favorite mug and sit down with a leftover slice of my pumpkin tart for breakfast.

A delicious way to start the day!

Can't help but think of NYC every time I use this coffee mug.

Yesterday morning, I was thankful when the Bolca driver called, asking for directions to our apartment. My fat 10.5 kilo turkey finally arrived at 11:30 a.m in Istanbul, Turkey. I gave the driver a 10 TL tip because I was so excited!

Soon, I was massaging my Turkish turkey with an herbed butter made from parsley, thyme, rosemary and sage.

12 ounces of butter rubbed inside and out on this Turkish turkey!

Before I roasted the turkey, I had to finish baking the 1.5 pans of stuffing and 2 green bean casseroles. With my measly oven’s capacity, this was a bit of a challenge.

Around 2 p.m. yesterday, I literally stuffed my turkey into the oven. The drumsticks touched the side of the oven, but there was nothing else I could do - except hope that I didn’t have a smoking oven from the dripping fat.

Later, I turned on the kitchen fans and opened up the windows because my oven was smoking a bit. All I needed now was the building security to show up if the smoke alarms went off.

Well, no fire alarms went off. Everything cooked properly. I even sat down for awhile while the turkey was roasting.

The beautifully-browned bird before being carved for dinner.

Later in the evening, I was thankful when our friends arrived - even though Istanbul’s terrible traffic caused some delays.

Our friends - American, Turkish, French, Russian-American and Singaporean - all had ties to the U.S. and had lived there at some point, except for our Singaporean friend, my husband’s colleague. We welcomed him anyway! =) At dinner I toasted my friends, saying how thankful I was this city has brought us all together. Each one us went around the table saying what we were thankful for - food, family and friends were a common thread.

Having a great group of friends like this make its easier to celebrate the holidays abroad!

Afiyet olsun!

Enjoying food, wine and conversation over our Turkish Thanksgiving Dinner.

Our full dinner table with 12 guests and lots of food and wine.

Homemade herbed stuffing

Platters of both white and dark meat from the turkey.

Roasted carrots and mashed potatoes

Cream cheese-filled Gingersnap Sandwiches for Thanksgiving petit fours.
Well, we actually ate them before the pumpkin and walnut tarts were served!

Recipe follows for the Walnut-Bourbon Tart I mentioned yesterday.

Cream Cheese Dough/Rugelach Dough
(This is the same dough I used to make the fig Rugelach cookies in September.)
Yields: 2 - 9-inch/22 cm. tart shells

Ingredients:
200      g.          krem peynir (cream cheese)
265      g.          butter, room temperature
350      g.          Turkish pasta/borek flour

1.          In a medium-sized bowl, using a stand mixer or hand blender, cream the krem peynir until smooth.
2.          Add the butter and blend again for a few minutes until completely combined.
3.          Add the flour and blend just until incorporated.
4.          If dough seems a little sticky, add a bit more flour but slightly knead the dough with your hands. Divide the dough into small plastic-wrapped packets (about 2-400 gram packets) and place in the refrigerator until cooled and slightly stiff, about 1 hour.

Now you are ready to roll out the dough on a floured surface. Line the tart pan(s) with the dough rolled out about 1/8-inch thick. Place the shells in the freezer while you make the filling. The shells need to be frozen to prevent shrinkage during baking.

Pecan/Walnut Filling
4           ea.                    large eggs at room temperature, whisked
¾          c.          185 g. brown sugar
¼          c.         60 ml. light corn syrup or Golden Syrup
¼          c.          60 ml. molasses or uzum pekmez
1/2       tsp.                       salt
1/2       tsp.                       vanilla extract
3           T.         42 g.    butter, melted
1/8       c.          30 ml. whiskey or bourbon, Maker’s Mark ** (optional)
__________________________________
1 c.& 2T.            250 g. walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped

In a large bowl, whisk the ingredients together in the order they are listed.

Cover the bottom of the tart shells with the nuts. Add the filling to right below the rim of the tart.

Bake at 350 F/175 C until lightly browned and the filling is set, about 12 minutes total for small tarts, or 30-35 minutes for the large tart. Remove tarts from molds while still warm.

Drizzle with melted chocolate for a more finished look.

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Taze Badem

These have to be one of my favorite street food snacks in Istanbul lately - taze badem (fresh almonds). An older Turkish gentleman sells these fresh and chilled almonds (look at the chunks of ice in the photo) near the iskele at Kabatas.

The flavor of these badem remind me of how almond milk tastes. A few weeks ago, the vendor even showed me how to eat them. You put an almond between your fingers and squeeze so the brown peel slips off and you're left with the milky white flesh to put in your mouth. Cok guzel!

Now, if only I could garnish them with a pinch of fleur de sel! :-)

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Simple Citrus Salad

I must admit I am a bit obsessed about the citrus here.

I understand the season is coming to an end soon, but that doesn’t stop me from consuming my mandalina (mandarins) and kanlı portakal (blood oranges). This weekend, we must stock up again at the pazar.

In the U.S., I often remember ordering salads with blood oranges, goat cheese or feta and often nuts like pistachios, almonds or walnuts during the winter months. I decided to recreate that type of salad with the ingredients I find here.

Nuts abound in Turkey. There are small stores known as kuruyemiş that sell (cheaply) tons of dried fruits and nuts. I try to always keep some badem (almonds), fındık (hazelnuts) and fıstık (pistachios) in the house. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Turkey produces 2 percent of the world’s almond crop. Most of the almond trees can be found in the southwestern part of the country called  the Datça Peninsula.

Last night, I decided to make a lovely spring salad using blood oranges, almonds, beyaz peynir (white cheese similar to feta), roka (arugula) and lemony bits of kuzu kulağı (sorrel). I reserved some of the juice from the blood orange segments and made a vinaigrette with the juice and Turkish olive oil.

A cutting board full of blood oranges at our apartment in Istanbul.

The salad is quite simple to make but is packed full of flavor. The sorrel adds a nice tanginess that complements the citrus. If you can’t find blood oranges, feel free to substitute with pink grapefruit or oranges.

Afiyet olsun!

Simple Spring Salad
(For about 2 small salads)
Ingredients:

roka (arugula), rinsed
kuzu kulağı (sorrel), rinsed
beyaz peynir - substitute with Feta or goat cheese
almonds, chopped into slivers
blood orange segments, cut from 3 oranges
TT salt and pepper

Vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together 2 T. blood orange juice and 2 T. olive oil.

1. Arrange the selected lettuces in salad bowls. Garnish with the cheese, almonds and orange segments.
2. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

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