Baked Cinnamon Cake Doughnuts Recipe (gluten-free adaptable!)

baked cinnamon cake doughnuts | pamela salzman

I love teaching people how to cook and I love working with food, but one business I don’t see myself in is the restaurant business.  That just seems like waaaaaay too much work!  But if I did open a restaurant, I would have a little casual breakfast and lunch place called “He Said, She Said.”  The menu would be split down the middle with dude food on one side and lady food on the other.

You need a doughnut pan!

I’ve seen plenty of women eat just as much as a man and I am one of them.  BUT it’s the food choices that men and women make that I find so interesting, and different.  My husband and I are the perfect example.  We have been married for almost 19 years and I don’t think we’ve ever ordered the same thing in a restaurant.  And I can usually predict what he will get!

put the batter in a ziploc bag and snip the corner

squeeze the batter out of the cut ziploc bag

I tend to graviate towards salads, vegetable-based dishes, lentils, beans, and ethnic foods and away from things that are fried, greasy and heavily sauced.  He, on the other hand, will order anything with melted cheese and/or lots of tomato sauce plus a side of fries or onion rings.  My husband is a meat-guy too, and doesn’t think about how he’s going to get his veggies at every meal.

they're done if they spring back when you spree on them

Since I do all the cooking in our house, I tend to make what I like.  However, when it’s my husband’s birthday or Father’s Day, I will think about his favorites and go that direction.  Father’s Day is coming up, on Sunday, June 15th to be exact.  And even though I would prefer a veggie frittata or a yogurt and homemade granola parfait, I know my husband would be THRILLED if I bought him doughnuts.  But since doughnuts are probably one of the worst possible foods you can eat, there is no way in the world that I would ever give them to someone with whom I would like to grow old.  I hate to be a party pooper, but doughnuts are completely non-nutritive, full of empty calories, high in simple carbohydrates which spike your blood sugar and are deep fried in the most damaged pro-inflammatory fat EVER.  So not good.

they are more golden on the part that's in the pan

I will, however, make baked doughnuts with some higher quality (but I didn’t say healthful) ingredients.  They still taste delicious and won’t put anyone in a sugar coma afterwards!  Yippee!  I am giving you plenty of time to order this doughnut pan because unfortunately you can’t make doughnuts without a doughnut pan.  I like this one the best because it is coated with silicone for a nonstick finish that doesn’t leach like toxic PFTE’s and PFOA’s.  You can also scoop the batter with an mini ice cream scoop into mini muffin pans for doughnut holes.

dipping in cinnamon-sugar

I recommend making these the day you want to eat them and I am partial to serving these alongside a hearty, high fiber and high protein breakfast and not alone because even though they are significantly better for you than traditional doughnuts, they’re not health food!  I kept these pretty simple with a cinnamon-sugar topping, but if you really wanted to throw in the towel, you could go for a glaze instead.  Fun!

baked cinnamon cake doughnuts | pamela salzman

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Baked Cinnamon Cake Doughnuts
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Serves: makes 6 doughnuts or 20 doughnut "holes"
 
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup whole milk or milk substitute, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
  • ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole spelt flour*
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour or white spelt flour
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (do not omit – this is the secret ingredient of all cake doughnuts!)
  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + extra butter for greasing the pan
  • ¼ cup cane sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Topping:
  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 Tablespoons cane sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or less cinnamon for a more “authentic” ratio)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the wells of the doughnut pan with some butter.
  2. In a glass measuring cup, mix together milk and vinegar and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 5 minutes to curdle.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar, honey, egg, vanilla and curdled milk.
  5. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients, taking care not to overmix.
  6. Spoon batter evenly into wells of the doughnut pan, filling only ⅔ full.* If filled too high, there won’t be any doughnut holes. Another way to fill the wells is by transferring the batter to a quart-size Ziploc bag and snipping one corner ½inch and piping the batter into the wells. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until doughnuts spring back when pressed lightly. Allow to cool 5 minutes before turning doughnuts onto a cooling rack.
  7. While the doughnuts are still warm, combine the 2 Tablespoons cane sugar with the teaspoon of cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Brush the tops (or bottoms) of the doughnuts with melted butter and dip into the cinnamon–sugar mixture so that it sticks. Repeat with remaining doughnuts.
Notes
*Or substitute a total of 1 cup King Arthur Multi-purpose Gluten-free Flour and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum for the white and wheat flours

**Or bake in a greased mini-muffin pan for doughnut holes.

 

 

 

Homemade Larabars and Laralollipops!

Homemade Larabars | Pamela Salzman

Larabars were one of the first snack bars that I remember buying.   There are no scary ingredients, no added sugars or colors, just dates and nuts.  I liked having them for the kids in my diaper bag, as a snack for the plane when we traveled, and more recently for all-day soccer tournaments in the middle of Taco Bell-land.  I don’t know why it never occurred to me that I could actually make them in my own kitchen.  Without a special Larabar machine!  And when I finally realized how disappointingly easy these are to make, I really wanted to hit myself over the head.  And I could have been making them organic to boot!

making chocolate-chocolate chip larabars

 

ingredients for oatmeal raising larabars

I had so much fun teaching these bars in my classes last month.  Once I revealed the secret ratio of dates to nuts (1:1 !), we came up with lots of interesting combinations of ingredients and shapes.  The most important ingredient is something sticky to hold it all together.  Usually Larabars contain dried dates, which you might remember are one of my obsessions!   But I had success making bars out of raisins and dried cherries, too.  Are we having fun yet?!  Then take your pick of a nut or seed — I use either almonds, cashews, pecans or sunflower seeds.  You can make a Larabar with just dates and nuts if you want.  Or you can add some yummy things like chocolate, cacao powder, cinnamon, candied ginger, coconut, peppermint extract, instant coffee powder and so on and so forth.  Are your wheels spinning?

date paste

These are very yummy, but let’s keep it under control and limit ourselves to one for a snack and not the whole delicious batch.  After all, you wouldn’t sit down and eat 14 dates just because.  I also wouldn’t use these as a meal replacement because they generally have under 200 calories which ain’t enough for anyone.  Larabars get bonus points with me because you can make them in approximately 5 minutes and they last for a heck of a long time in the refrigerator or freezer.

shape it in a piece of plastic wrap

I thought it would be great to post this “recipe” now because Easter and Passover are coming up.  Larabars are a great Passover snack because there’s nothing not kosher for Passover in them, unless you use peanuts.  I think making them in the shape of a traditional Larabar is great, but you can also make little mini squares, or shape them into small, flat discs like a cookie, or a little round ball like a truffle.  And then I went to Michael’s and bought lollipop sticks and made…Laralollipops!!  How cute would these be for Easter?   Dip them in chocolate if you have to!   I’ve given three different combinations here, but you can really make up your own according to what you like.  Or go over to the official Larabar site and copy some of their flavors.  Just don’t tell them I sent you!

Oatmeal Raisin Larabars | Pamela Salzman

Laralollipops | Pamela Salzman

 

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Homemade Larabars and Laralollipops!
Author: 
Serves: makes 6 3” X 1 ½” bars
 
Ingredients
  • CHOCOLATE:
  • 1 ¼ cup dried, unsweetened dates (about 14), pitted
  • 1 ¼ cup whole raw almonds, cashews or pecans
  • 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or raw cacao powder
  • ¼ cup semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips or shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • OATMEAL RAISIN:
  • 1 cup unsulphured raisins (or dried cherries for an oatmeal cherry bar)
  • ¾ cup rolled oats (not quick cooking or instant)
  • ¾ cup raw cashews or pecans
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. The easy way to do this is to place all of the ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a food processor and process until the mixture comes together in a tight ball (about 2 ½ minutes). Everything will be really finely processed. See the lollipop images for what that looks like. Or if you want a little more texture from the nuts, process the nuts and dates separately and mix them in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. See the other images for examples of that.
  2. The chocolate chips can be added at the end and mixed in with your hands.
  3. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and transfer the ball to the plastic wrap and press down to start to flatten into a rectangle. Fold the excess plastic over the top and use your hands to shape and flatten the mixture until it is about ½” thick, about 9” across and 3” down. Or make whatever shape you want!
  4. Refrigerate for a couple hours until firm and slice as desired. Keep wrapped in the refrigerator. Or transfer unwrapped bars to a tightly sealed container.
Notes
You can also do a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar:  1 ¼ cups pitted dates + 1 cup roasted, salted     peanuts. Sometimes I add 2 Tablespoons of Maca powder and a pinch of salt with or without a few mini chocolate chips.

Moroccan chicken with dates recipe (slow cooker version, too!)

Moroccan chicken with dates | Pamela Salzman

You all know I live in Southern California and perhaps you know we are having a very mild, but super dry winter.  We actually have a serious drought happening here.  And you might also know that 99% of my entire family lives in the New York/New Jersey area.  And they’re having a veerrryy different kind of winter.

prep the chicken

So most of our phone calls the last few weeks have been kind of like this:

Me: “Hi!  It’s me.  What’s new?”

Sister/Mother/Father: “It’s snowing.  AGAIN.  The kids are off from school.  AGAIN.  It’s absolutely freezing out there.  Seriously, this is the worst winter EVER!”

Me:  “Bummer.  But I asked, ‘what’s neeeewwww?'”

Same old, same old.  I miss the talks we used to have about currents events, movies, what we’re making for dinner, what we ate for lunch.  Interesting, riveting stuff.  Instead, it’s all blizzard all the time!  Thankfully, winter doesn’t last forever and they’ll all be able to get back to business before we know it.  Easy for me to say, I’m sure.

onion, carrots, coconut oil and spices

 

prepped

But if I were in the middle of a polar vortex, I would quickly buy a one-way ticket to L.A. I would make super-warming foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We may not be able to control the weather, but we can control the thermal nature of what we eat.  And I say, heat me up!  High on my list would be this Moroccan chicken with dates which I taught in my classes last February.  I know it seems like there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but half of them are spices, all of which are warming to the body, and anti-inflammatory, too.  These spices, including ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin and a pinch of cayenne are also quite flavorful and make this otherwise simple chicken dish, something very special.  There’s also a little bit of sweetness from the cinnamon and from halved dates which rank as one of my favorite foods on the planet.  A little earthy, a little sweet, a touch spicy and a little tart — it’s one of my favorite chicken recipes!

slice open the dates to remove the pit

In these images, and for dinner last night, I served this with an apricot couscous (I’ll post the recipe next week.)  This will have a very tasty, but brothy sauce which just begs for something to sop it up.  Couscous, which is pretty dry, is the perfect side dish.  But you don’t need to make it with any seasonings or herbs.  Even plain would be just the right side for this dish.  Otherwise, if you’re gluten-free, steamed rice, quinoa or millet would be amazing here.  I also served it for dinner with simply sautéed Swiss chard, but check out this recipe for raw grated carrot and beet salad.  That would be fabulous, too.

bring to a simmer before added browne

add chicken to mixture

I have made this recipe in the slow cooker, as well.  Please read the directions for how to adjust this recipe for the slow cooker.  Both versions are amazing and will help warm up your core.  At least until the next snowfall or tomorrow, or both, as the case might be!

Moroccan chicken with dates | Pamela Salzman

 

5.0 from 9 reviews
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Moroccan Chicken with Dates
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 3 ½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts such as breasts (I like them split), thighs or drumsticks, seasoned with 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt when you get home from the market or brined for an hour (1/4 cup kosher salt + 2 cups water) EXCEPT if you use kosher chicken. See this post for how and why to brine chicken.
  • 1 Tablespoon unrefined coconut oil or olive oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 medium carrots, peeled and cubed
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric (feel free to add more if you like it)
  • ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 ½ cups chicken stock
  • 5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
  • 12 dates, pitted and halved
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, if you like it
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and add to the pot in one layer. Do not overcrowd. Cook until browned on the underside, then turn over and browned on the other side, about 15 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet or platter and repeat with remaining chicken if there’s some still left to do.
  2. Add onions and carrots to the pot and sauté until tender and translucent, about 6 minutes.
  3. Add cinnamon sticks, salt and remaining spices. Sauté about 1 minute, or until fragrant.
  4. Add stock, 3 Tablespoons lemon juice and dates. Deglaze the pan by scraping the brown bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil, add chicken pieces back to pot skin-side up and cover. Lower heat and simmer until chicken is completely cooked through, about 40-45 minutes. An instant-red thermometer should read 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the breast.
  5. Add lemon juice to pot and stir to combine. If sauce needs thickening, transfer chicken to a platter and simmer sauce until it is reduced. Sprinkle everything with cilantro and serve.
Notes
SLOW COOKER VERSION:

Use bone-in, skinLESS pieces of chicken
Use a skillet to brown chicken, and sauté vegetables and spices.  Add only ¾ cup of stock to the pan and the same amount of lemon juice as in the original recipe to deglaze the pan.  Do not add the dates until 20 minutes before serving.
Transfer the browned chicken, and the vegetable, spice, stock and lemon juice mixture to the slow cooker and cook covered on LOW for 7-8 hours or HIGH 4-5 hours.
20 minutes before serving, stir dates into the slow cooker.  Add remaining lemon juice and garnish with cilantro, if desired.

 

 

Gingerbread biscotti recipe (gluten-free version, too!)

Gingerbread Biscotti | Pamela Salzman

Gingerbread Biscotti | Pamela Salzman

I have been offered A LOT of biscotti in my life.  When everyone you are related to is Italian, biscotti appear more often than Oreos.  They’re called “biscotti” because they literally translate to “twice baked.”  You bake them in logs first, then you slice up the logs and bake them again. They have this tell-tale shape you see here and they are a bit dry and crunchy and not overly sweet.  There are infinite flavor combinations ranging from lemon to almond to chocolate chip to raisin to you name it.  I remember my parents and all the other grown-ups dunking them in espresso or, if they were really feeling festive, dipping the cookies in a sweet Italian liqueur called Vin Santo.

dry ingredients

chopping crystallized ginger

Now that sounds dreamy to me for sure, but when I was a kid, all I wanted was a normal chocolate chip cookie for goodness sake!  Or one with M&M’s or some other junk.  I’m all grown-up now and I much prefer homemade cookies, especially ones that don’t contain M&M’s and lots of sugar.  Even though I try not to indulge in sweets very often, I do like to bake cookies for the holidays.  My favorite holiday “flavor” is gingerbread.  Every year in my December classes I teach some sort of gingerbread dessert, two of which have been posted on my site.  These gingerbread biscotti might very well be my favorite so far!  One of my complaints about the biscotti of my youth is that they were B-O-R-I-N-G.  What kid gets excited about orange zest in a cookie or fennel seed?  Yaaaaawwwwnnnn.  That’s not a dessert.  But gingerbread biscotti are something else.  These pack a spicy punch from both crystallized ginger and powered ginger and a double crunch from the whole almonds.  Even Mr. Picky loves these.  He just walked by the computer and said, “isn’t it about time we make those gingerbread biscotti again?”  I absolutely swear he just said that!

bake the logs first

slice the baked logs

Biscotti are fantastic to make for the holidays because they last a good long time (a week or more?) without getting stale, so they’re perfect for gift-giving!  If you need to accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan folks, read through both recipes because there are options.  If you’re not sure how to do this, please leave me a comment below and I will help you out.  I’ll tell you the truth — I like the gluten-free biscotti better than the wheat flour ones.  I think they’re lighter and crispier, although both have that great gingerbread flavor.  I love the extra boost from crystallized ginger, but if you can’t find it, don’t worry about it.  And if you’re feeling extra naughty, you can go right ahead and dip these cuties in some melted white chocolate and let them harden before you store them or wrap them up.  Are you feeling the holiday spirit now??

gingerbread biscotti | pamela salzman

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Gingerbread Biscotti
Author: 
Serves: makes about 24
 
Ingredients
  • 3 Tablespoons coconut oil or room temperature unsalted butter
  • ½ cup cane sugar
  • ½ cup muscovado or firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs or ½ cup unsweetened smooth applesauce
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry or all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup whole raw almonds or chopped, if desired
  • ½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat coconut oil and sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy.  Beat in eggs, combine well.
  2. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients; add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Stir in almonds and crystallized ginger.
  3. Divide dough in half.  Using floured hands, shape each portion into a log 3-inches wide and 1-inch high.  Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
  4. Bake 25 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet; remove to a wire rack, and set aside until cool to the touch.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
  5. Cut each log crosswise into ½-inch slices with a serrated knife. Place slices on the same parchment-lined cookie sheet.  If you want long cookies, cut on the diagonal.
  6. Bake 7-8 minutes; turn cookies over, and bake 7-8 more minutes.  If you cut them thick, you will probably have to bake them a little longer.  Cool completely on wire racks.

gluten-free gingerbread biscotti

makes about 24

8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup cane sugar

½ cup muscovado or firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs or ½ cup unsweetened smooth applesauce

½ cup almond flour

¼ cup sorghum flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup potato starch

¼ cup sweet rice flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup whole raw almonds or chopped, if desired

½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped (optional)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and creamy.  Beat in eggs, combine well.
  2. Sift all dry ingredients together and add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until blended.  Stir in almonds and crystallized ginger.
  3. Dough will be very sticky so you can refrigerate it for 15-20 minutes and/or flour your hands while you split the dough into two logs, about 1 inch high and 2 inches wide.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on the edges and just slightly soft in the middle.  Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet and remove to a wire rack.  Set aside until cool to the touch, about 30 minutes.
  5. Cut each log crosswise into half-inch slices with a serrated knife.  Place slices on the same parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies Recipe (gluten-free)

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

Have you made my vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?   If you’re new here, do not hesitate.  They are fantastic!  They’re a staple around here and definitely one of the more healthful (less bad for you?) cookies I’ve tried.  I love that recipe so much I decided to tinker with it and make a fall version with pumpkin puree and delicious spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.  Amazing!  It’s like pumpkin pie meets an oatmeal cookie.  And as much I love these cookies fresh out of the oven, they are just as delicious raw.  That’s right, as in cookie dough.  And I’m not the only one who thinks so.  After I posted my secret pumpkin oatmeal cookie dough addiction on Instagram, my students started stealing the bowl out from under my nose during class and having a taste themselves!  The benefits of a vegan dough.

raw cookie dough

I thought I would sneak this recipe in today before you start baking treats for Halloween.  Of course, these are perfect during the entire season of fall and beyond.  They’re a snap to make and like many cookie recipes, you can prepare the dough in advance and bake as many or as few cookies as you need.  I like these best the day they’re made and even the next day.  Because there’s pumpkin in them, they get a little soft after a day.

pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

This recipe ended up being more flexible than I imagined.  I had to try it with a nut other than walnuts one day for a student with a walnut allergy and pecans worked great.  I haven’t tried this recipe with sunflower seeds, but I think it would work if you need to go nut-free.  The sunflower seeds just might react with the baking soda, however, and cause the cookies to have a green-ish color to the them.  Might be kind of cool for Halloween!  I know many of you will want to sub chocolate chips for the raisins and I say go for it!  Pumpkin + chocolate + spices isn’t my thing, but that doesn’t mean you won’t love it.  I was serving these in my classes plain and simple, but I found a recipe for a fun sweet potato-cream cheese frosting that was delicious as a filling if you wanted to make a sort of oatmeal cookie whoopie pie.  Just for kicks.

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies with sweet potato cream cheese frosting | pamela salzman

However, like I always say, just because these cookies are higher quality and not made with junk and chemicals doesn’t mean you can eat them all day long.  Concentrated sweeteners can still raise your blood sugar and will still feed yeast and fungus in your system and will keep you addicted to sugar.  So with the beginning of the season of sweets, which I say starts on Halloween and ends on New Years Day, I try to be conscientious about not going crazy when I am offered candy and treats galore.  But before we start thinking about 2014, we’ve got lots of fun in store.  Thanksgiving is indeed four weeks from Halloween which means you and I are going into planning mode pronto.  See you all back here on Thursday!

vegan pumpkin oatmeal spice cookies | pamela salzman

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Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Spice Cookies
Author: 
Serves: makes 20 2½-inch cookies
 
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups oat flour (see Step #2) (use certified gluten-free oat flour if you are gluten-free)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1 ¾ cups raw walnuts or pecans
  • 6 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (it doesn’t need to be melted)
  • ¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup (grade A or B)
  • 10 Tablespoons (½ cup + 2 Tbs.) coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) (anywhere between ½ -1 cup works)
  • 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (use certified gluten-free rolled oats if you are gluten-free)
  • 1 cup unsulphured raisins or chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. If you need to make oat flour, place 1 ¾ cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until powdery.
  3. Place oat flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
  4. Place walnuts in a food processor and blend into a fine meal. Add oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and pumpkin and process until mixture has the consistency of natural nut butter.
  5. Stir walnut mixture into flour mixture. Fold in 2 cups rolled oats and the raisins.
  6. Use a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper to form dough into balls, and place on baking sheets. You can fit 12 on a sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a damp hand. Bake 13-15 minutes or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry.
  7. Cool a few minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
SWEET POTATO-CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
(adapted from "Feeding the Whole Family")

1 cup mashed baked sweet potatoes
¼ cup softened cream cheese or soft tofu (2 ounces)
1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon or orange juice

Cream together all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or with a mixer until smooth and spreadable.

 

Apple-Dipped Pancakes recipe

apple-dipped pancakes | pamela salzman

Huh???  What is an apple-dipped pancake?  I know.  It’s really the silliest name, but I didn’t want to call these beauties “apple pancakes” because that makes me think of something that these are not.  These are better than just dropping a few pieces of diced apple into pancake batter or using apple cider instead of milk. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  These are literally slices of apple dipped in pancake batter and then cooked so there’s a tender apple slice nestled inside the pancake.  Beyond delicious!!!  The first time I made these, Mr. Picky asked, “Mom, I can’t figure out how you got the apple in there.”  And then he ate six.  And then I ate six.  And so did everyone else in the kitchen because they all woke up to the house smelling like apple cinnamon doughnuts.  Deep inhale.  Can you imagine that?  Heaven.

apples

dip the apple slices in pancake batter

Here’s the deal — even though I am sharing a fantastic spelt pancake batter with you that is perfection with apple slices, you can dip apples into whatever pancake batter you like.  Just add a little cinnamon and nutmeg so you get that apple pie thing going on.  The only trick is to slice your apples just so.  Not too thick or they’ll stay crunchy in the middle.  But not too thin or you’ll have a hard time dipping them into the batter without breaking.  You can use a skewer or a toothpick  to dip them in and out, but I found my fingers to be perfectly fine for the task.

cook them until dry on the sides and bubbles on top

 

apple-dipped pancakes | pamela

My husband observed that these pancakes hold their heat longer because of the apples.  So you can make a whole bunch at once and have them ready for everyone for breakfast.  I know you may think these are impossible on a weekday, but if you start making your pancake batter the night before , these are a snap in the morning!

apple-dipped pancakes | pamela salzman

 

apple-dipped pancakes | pamela salzman

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Apple-Dipped Pancakes
Author: 
Serves: 4-5
 
Ingredients
  • 2 large or 3 medium apples, cored and sliced crosswise into ¼-inch slices
  • 1⅔ cups whole spelt flour (or 1 ¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour)*
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • 2 cups buttermilk or plain, unsweetened kefir**
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 Tablespoon 100% pure maple syrup
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • Melted, unrefined coconut oil for brushing the griddle
Instructions
  1. Preheat a griddle to 400 degrees or medium heat.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
  3. In a medium bowl or 4-6 cup measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup and melted butter until well blended. (A blender can do this easily, too.)
  4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
  5. Grease the griddle with a little coconut oil.
  6. Dip the apple slices one at a time in the batter and turn to coat. I like to use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to do this.
  7. Cook dipped apple slices like you would regular pancakes, flipping once the bottoms are golden and the edges are dry. Cook until the second side is golden brown and the pancake is cooked through.
Notes
*Gluten-free: substitute half buckwheat flour and half brown rice flour for the spelt flour. Or you can use GF oat flour, too, such as part oat flour, part buckwheat flour and part brown rice flour.

**No buttermilk? Sub half unsweetened yogurt and half whole milk. Or use milk or an alternative milk and add 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.

Slow cooker apple pie steel cut oats recipe (stovetop version, too!)

slow cooker apple pie steel cut oats | pamela salzman

I feel like whining.  Nooooo, I don’t waaaaaaant school to start tomorrow.  I have to wake up so eaaaarrrrrly.  Ugggh.  And lunnnnnnches.  Ok.  I’m done.  Thanks for listening.

I think making breakfast, lunch and dinner during the school year is hard.  Sometimes I feel like I’m in a competition on a Food Network show.  Minutes to spare.  Limited ingredients.  Tough judges.  The pressure!  The fact is that I cannot wing it when school starts.  To feed my family and myself real food as much as possible, I need a plan.  I have one child leaving at 6:35 am, another at 7:20 am and my youngest leaves at 8:00 am.  To all of you who can pull together breakfast, lunch and dinner without so much as a list, I am in awe of you.  I consider myself a culinary quasi-professional and I cannot wake up on a Monday morning and open the fridge and say, “Hmmmm.  What should I make today?”  It stresses me out just thinking about doing that.

raw steel cut oats

Every Sunday night for 18 years, I have planned my meals for the week and I shop accordingly.  And every year I do one new thing to help me get a little better organized because every year my family seems to throw me a new challenge.  This year I think I’m going to do a breakfast schedule so I don’t have to think so much about that meal when I’m making my list.

Monday:  oatmeal or warm whole grain porridge (muesli in the warmer months)

Tuesday:  breakfast quesadilla or burrito

Wednesday: pancakes or waffles (homemade, silly)

Thursday: muffins, quick breads, or French toast or maybe oatmeal again

Friday:  frittata  or rice bake to use up leftover cooked vegetables from the week

I will always have homemade granola in the pantry, yogurt and nut butters in the fridge, stuff to make smoothies, and fresh fruit on the counter.  If one of the kids doesn’t want what I’ve made that day and chooses to make his or her own breakfast, I’ll believe it when I see it that would be lovely.  Here’s a previous post with more breakfast ideas.

place everything into the slow cooker

I’ve been making this slow cooker oatmeal for the last year and I couldn’t wait for it to be apple season again so I could share it with you.  We all love it!  Love!  It tastes like you stirred apple pie filling into your oats.  I like steel cut oats because they are so hearty and they take a little longer for your body to digest than rolled oats, so you get a longer-lasting energy.  There’s nothing wrong with making plain and simple oats for breakfast and setting out a bunch of delicious toppings, but this is so easy and it’s ready when you come into the kitchen in the morning.  Nothing else you need to do.  We love it as is, but if you don’t like raisins, you can leave them out.  But I encourage you to try it with the raisins because they plump up so beautifully and add a little extra sweetness to the oats.  You can also add more sweetener than I do, but again, try this as is because you can always add extra sweetener later.

what it looks like in the morning

If you don’t have a slow cooker, I have a post in the archives for stovetop overnight steel cut oats.  You bring everything up to a boil on the stovetop the night before, cover and turn off the heat.  I repeat, turn off the heat.  In the morning, just warm through and your oats will be perfect in a few minutes.  I don’t see why you couldn’t do this with this recipe.  And of course, you can do this the traditional way on the stovetop as well.  Just dump everything into the pot and cook.  No excuses on this one!!

I wish all of you an excellent beginning of school!

slow cooker apple pie steel cut oats

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Slow Cooker Apple Pie Steel Cut Oats
Author: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup steel cut oats (use certified gluten-free oats for GF oatmeal)
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 apples, peeled, cored, & cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 Tablespoons maple syrup (you can use any sweetener you want)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup raisins
Instructions
  1. Place the steel cut oats, water, apples, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and raisins into a slow cooker and cook on LOW heat for 5 hours. Actually, anywhere between 4 and 6 hours is fine. Most slow cookers have an automatic “WARM” setting so after it cooks, it will stay warm until you’re ready for it.
  2. Stir well to combine before serving. I like to finish my oatmeal with a little homemade almond milk to thin it out a little. Yum!
Notes
I know it's tempting to leave the peel on the apples, but after they cook, the apples get soft and the peel stays tough.  Not so fun to eat!  To make this on the stovetop, see the last paragraph above.

Individual warm peach pie pots recipe

individual warm peach pie pot | pamela salzman

I guess this is favorites week.  In my last post, I went on and on about my obsession with summer tomatoes and today I am sharing my new favorite dessert which uses my favorite fruit bar none, peaches.  Smiley face.  Peaches make me happy and this season has not disappointed so far.  We have had the best peaches this summer and although I may not have eaten one every single day like I have tomatoes, it has been close.

peaches!

I could make a meal out of a big peach.  Ok, not really.  But everything else I eat afterwards just pales in comparison.  I really love yellow peaches, which I find have a more intense, although more acidic flavor.  The white ones are delicious, of course, and slightly more sweet but just not quite as flavorful.  But trust me, I’ll eat either any day.  I always buy organic peaches since conventionally grown ones are on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list of the most highly contaminated produce.  I think it’s because the pesticides are able to permeate peaches’ thin skin thereby making it difficult to remove toxins by washing.  Pesticides make me nervous.

chopped and measured peaches

I have so many regular peach recipes, some that I’ve taught in my classes like peach pie, grilled vanilla peaches and this fabulous individual warm peach pie in a jar number I am writing about today.  This month I will teach an arugula salad with farro and peaches that is my new favorite.  Did you see that crazy delicious breakfast I posted on Facebook a month ago? Why aren’t we friends on Facebook?  You’re missing out.  I post something interesting there every single day!  I digress.  I used some leftovers from this recipe and put it on top of Bob’s Red Mill warm, creamy buckwheat porridge.  People, I was like “shut the front door.”  Best.  Breakfast.  Ever.
get those pecans nice and buttery and salty

I have a dozen other peach recipes that I’m not posting here so let’s not even torture you with those.  Let’s talk about these individual peach pie in a jar thingies that are the quickest, tastiest healthful dessert you can’t believe you haven’t ever made until now.  I was inspired by a recipe I saw over at Roost, which is one of the prettiest blogs that mine will never look like.  Sigh.  Caitlin used apples, which I tried and thought turned out delish, but this peach version is crazy delish.

pulse a few times in the food processor until crumbly but not like meal

Too many of you have expressed intimidation about making a pie from scratch and I get it.  Although for me, sometimes I just don’t have the time to prepare and bake a pie, especially if I’m entertaining and I am making a bunch of other things.  Or maybe I have a craving for peach pie and I don’t want to tempt myself with an entire pie in the kitchen.  I am weak, after all.

saute the peaches just until warm

This is your answer.  You make these amazing buttered, salted pecans which you then crumble up and put on the bottom of a cute glass jar, preferably with a wide opening at the top.  Then you sauté some chopped peaches with a little honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and the tiniest amount of almond extract possible because like I’ve said before, almond extract makes peach and apricot desserts more peachy and apricot-y.  But it has to be the teeniest amount otherwise, whoa.  And then just when the peaches are warm, you spoon them on top of the pecans. I am totally serious.  But see how not-at-all-bad-for-you this is??  See why I can eat this in the morning and at night?  See why I was giving out small portions at my classes so there would be more for me?  Weak, I tell you.

see how pretty the jars look?

warm individual peach pie pots | pamela salzman

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Individual Warm Peach Pie Pots
Author: 
Serves: 6-7, depending on the size of your glasses or jars. I've used half-pint and pint jars. You don't have to use jars or glasses, but it looks so pretty that way.
 
Ingredients
  • Butter Pecan Crust:
  • 3 cups raw pecans
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt (this is not a misprint)
  • Peach Pie Filling:
  • 8 cups chopped peaches (peeled or unpeeled), about 12 small-medium peaches
  • 2 Tablespoons butter, ghee or unrefined coconut oil
  • 2 Tablespoons honey (just eyeball it since it’s such a pain to measure)
  • ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • ¼ cup almond flour (if necessary to thicken juices)
Instructions
  1. Have ready 6 clean ½ pint or pint jars.
  2. To make the crust, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a small sheet pan with parchment paper. Melt the butter in a small (1-2 quart) saucepan, turn off the heat and add the pecans. Toss to coat.
  3. Pour the buttered pecans onto the sheet pan and sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Watch closely so they don’t burn! Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
  4. Place the cooled pecans into a food processor and pulse a couple times to form a coarse crumbly mixture. Place a couple tablespoons of “crust” into the bottom of each jar and set aside.
  5. To make the filling, in a large bowl, toss the peaches with the honey, extract, and spices. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the peach mixture to the skillet and toss gently to heat through, 2-4 minutes.
  6. Turn off the heat and if the mixture is very liquidy, add the almond flour to the peaches and stir to combine.
  7. Place several spoonfuls of the peach pie mixture on top of the pecan crust and top with crème fraiche, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or whipped coconut cream. Also delicious for breakfast on warm porridge or with yogurt. Serve immediately!
Notes
If you are nut-free, you can still make the peaches alone or serve them over crumbled cookies, like graham crackers or gingersnaps.