Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

In my post about Socially GF with Kids I talked about chocolate cupcakes that I keep in the freezer just for birthday parties. I gave short directions on how to make them, but I wanted to spend some more talking about them, because these cupcakes are a life saver.

When I first went gluten free, just for me, I read the G-Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In her book she asked a friend of hers that has a gluten free child to give tips on how to do gluten free with kids, because as we know, it's a whole different ball game with kids. This mother told how she always kept cupcakes in the freezer. She had a bag of white cupcakes and bag of chocolate cupcakes. She would call the mother of the birthday kid and find out how the birthday cake was going to be decorated so she could get it decorated to match. This is a fantastic idea. I haven't gone the extra step of decorating the cupcake to match or even have two different kinds in my freezer, but for now my child is young enough that you put chocolate anything in front of her and she's good.

I first started doing this around my daughter's 1st birthday. She wasn't gluten free yet but I was and so were a few friends and family members. I ordered a cake for my daughter's birthday and made these chocolate pumpkin cupcakes for everyone else who couldn't have the gluten full cake. My daughter ended up not liking the cake I bought for her, and asked to have one of the cupcakes I made, she never had either before. She loved my cupcakes over the expensive cake I got just for her. So ever since then I make these cupcakes just for her birthday and keep a stash of them in the freezer for every other occasion. I've brought these cupcakes to birthday parties, baby showers, weddings, graduation parties, baby dedications and any other event requiring cake to be served.

My daughter's Ponyo cupcake cake for her 2nd birthday.

I don't feel too guilt about making and bringing my own cupcakes either. If someone wants to go out the way to provide for us, great! However, that doesn't always happen. We do have a whole bunch of cousins that have the same food allergies as we do so any time there is a wedding or baby dedication on that side of the family they usally provide something or at least gives us a heads up if they will or won't. But not all family members have that kind of foresight.

When I first came up with the idea to mix pumpkin with my cake mix to make pumpkin cupcakes, was at the same time as my daughter's birthday. Her birthday is in the fall and as soon as the leaves change color I buy every can of organic pumpkin I can get my hands on. So since her birthday is in the fall and pumpkin is so fitting during that time of year, I thought why not. If you can use black beans to make brownies and they are healthier, why not pumpkin and cupcakes? So I did and they are fantastic. Now I make them all year round. No one knows and pumpkins are so healthy that I love that extra health kick to an otherwise junk food, plus the pumpkin makes them extra rich. You can really do this with any canned squash that you like. I've used three kinds of cake mix to make these cupcakes and all of them work great. I've used Betty Crocker, Pamela's, and Namaste. I do think Namaste and Pamela's are the richest, but Betty Crocker did pretty well too.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
1 box GF cake mix of your choice
15 oz can of pumpkin (make sure it it puree, not pumpkin pie filing) 

Preheat oven according to the box directions.
Mix cake mix and pumpkin together till well combined, do not over mix.  Either spray muffin pan or use paper liners to keep the cupcakes from sticking. I like to spray the top of the muffin pan even when I use liners, just in case they over flow a bit. Use a small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop or tablespoon to fill the pan almost completely full. Bang and shake pan around to make the batter settle and release any air bubbles.  Bake 10-15 minutes longer then what the directions say. They are done when a tooth pick inserted in the center of the largest cupcake comes out fairly clean - just a crumb or two. They are very dense and rich cupcakes so if their is a tiny bitty big of batter still on the toothpick, don't put them back in the oven, they are done. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Watermelon Sorbet

 

Summer time desserts are some of the best; they don't take any to little heat to make them and they are perfectly satisfying on a hot day.  As I have mentioned before I am an ice cream kind of girl, but I had this big watermelon sitting on my counter and we just hadn't gotten around to eating it and I was afraid it would go to waste. So I thought way not use up half of it at one time to make it go a little faster, and that is where the idea for doing a sorbet comes in. I've never made a sorbet before, but when we first got our ice cream maker that was one of the things I wanted to make.

In the process of researching how to make a sorbet I learned what the difference is between a sorbet, a sherbert, and Italian ice.  

• Sherberts are fruit juice or flavored water that is often made with some diary and alcohol.
• Sorbet is like a sherbert but without the diary. 
• Italian ice is with larger chucks of ice. 

In my sorbet I didn't use a lot of alcohol, in fact I really don't consider what I use to be alcohol, because I used my vanilla extract.  I don't buy vanilla extract that you get in the store, I make my own...well, kind of. Some vanilla extracts are not gluten free, which is why you'll see some other gluten free bloggers doing what I do, however, I learned this form my mom.

I take dark rum and add a vanilla bean to it and voila I have vanilla extract. Some bloggers use bourbon or brandy, but I prefer rum. Making vanilla extract this way makes it last a long time and it can be very frugal. Vanilla, the bean itself, can be expensive and most spice companies that sell whole beans make you buy two at a time. What I like to do is split the cost of the beans with my mom. We each pay for half and each of us get a bean to use to make vanilla extract. I think we only buy beans about every two years or so, it sure lasts a long time.

Many sorbet recipes I saw had vanilla extract and some sort of alcohol in it as well, so I just bit two birds with one stone, and I didn't have to use as much alcohol as most recipes called for, which is great if you don't buy alcohol or don't want to buy a whole bottle just for part of one recipe.

Watermelon Sorbet
1/2 of 5-7lbs seedless watermelon cut into cubes (you'll need enough to make 2 quarts pureed)
1/2-1juice of a lemon (depending on how juicy it is)
2 Tbs vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey or liquid sweetner

If you have an ice cream maker make sure it is prepared in advance to be used, mine has to be in the freezer for 24 hours before use. If you don't have one, you can use a rectangular cake pan.

In a blender puree all of the watermelon, you'll need enough for 2 quarts of liquid watermelon juice. Feel free to adjust the amount depending on the size of your ice cream maker or pan. Pour watermelon puree through a strainer to catch all the seeds, push as much of the pulp through. In a large measuring cup or bowl mix together the rest of the ingredient. The sweetness and tartness can be adjusting to your taste.

Pour into your ice cream maker and follow the directions for your machine. I have a Kitchen Aid one and I let mine go for 40 minutes. It didn't really freeze like ice cream, but it got icy then the rest of the freezing happened in the freezer. The alcohol keeps it from completely freezing in the machine.  If you use a pan, just pour the melon mixture into the pan and freeze. Every 30 minutes come back and with a fork scrape up the sorbet. You will do this for several hours, till it comes to the right texture, kind of fluffy.