I solemnly swear I am up to no good

I love the apartment that I live in. It's one of those new ones, all swanky and chic with a cool lobby. You know it's gonna be good when you walk into a lobby filled with mirrors and yellow lights with gold decorations and one of them swanky little moon shaped couches for your guests to wait. I've only ever had one real complaint: there was no supermarket nearby. I mean, what am I supposed to do when I need an apple? or butter? or worse, chocolate. Thankgod the people around the area decided that a Coles (supermarket chain) was needed to TA-DAH! I am now the happiest girl. =)

So yesterday while doing my usual daily walk around in Coles, I decided to buy the 'reduced to clear' organic apples for $0.99 to try making natural applesauce, the 'reduced to clear' organic bananas for $1.99 and the reduced to clear kent pumpkin for $0.45 to make PUMPKIN MUFFINS! I've been meaning to try a recipe from my 'Sweet Alternative' cookbook filled with glorious gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free recipes and a pumpkin spice muffin might do the trick. This whole gluten-free thing has gotten me finding interest in using vegetable purees and mashed fruits in my baking.

The pumpkin muffins were gorgeous, they rose sky high like normal muffins and were very fluffy with a very tender crumb. Fred had them for breakfast this morning without warming them up and he said they were yummy. Da-jie had them too and she liked them, which means alot coming from someone who finds the idea of pumpkin muffins quite revolting. I personally adored them, but then again I'm partial to my own cooking. HAHA!

Pumpkin Spice Muffin from Sweet Alternative by Ariana Bundy

1 ½ cup GF all-purpose flour ( 1 cup white rice flour + scant ¼ cup buckwheat flour + packed ¼ cup potato starch)

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp xantham gum

2 tsp cinnamon powder

½ tsp ginger powder (optional)

3 ½ tsp pumpkin spice/ all spice

2 free range eggs

½ cup maple syrup + 2 tbsp raw sugar

¾ unsweetened mashed pumpkin (boil until very soft and mash to make ¾ cup)

¼ cup sunflower oil

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside

1. whisk the eggs with the maple syrup and add the vinegar, mix to combine
2. blend it into the flour mixture and add in pumpkin puree
3. stir in walnuts and spoon in 10 cupcake liners and bake at 175 degrees celcius for 18-20 minutes.

and because I DID solemnly swore that I was up to no good, here's some awesome peanut butter cookies, gluten-free of course.

Natural Peanut Butter Cookies (yields 2 1/2 - 3 dozen)

3/4 cup natural chunky peanut butter (the 100% peanut kind)
2 tbsp butter, unsalted or salted
2 tbsp natural almond butter (the 100% almond kind, I made my own)
3/4 cup light brown sugar (I would reduce this)

3/4 cup white rice flour, finest grind you can find
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 potato starch
1 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 tbsp water

1) Cream first 4 ingredients together
2) Sift the dry ingredients
3) Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine
4) Add in the flour mixture and mix using a wooden spoon, adding water if mixture is too dry
5) *this is optional* Stir in come chopped up dark chocolate or if using milk choc, reduce sugar in creaming step.
6) Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls and bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes if a chewy cookie is desired or flatten the cookie before baking and bake for 18 minutes for a crunchy crisp cookie.