Holiday and any day baking

I baked loads (and had simply the best time doing so!) over the November-December holidays, and wanted to share some of my favourite goodies in the next slew of blog entries.

(Confession: the following is actually a scone recipe, but I decided to bake them in MUFFIN molds for the purpose of yielding more to share.)

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Scones

Note 1: Though this recipe is GF, you could easily make it with regular wheat flour if you prefer (by substituting the gluten-free flours for wheat flour).

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 T. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Note 2: If you feel comfortable enough, feel free to use whichever flours you like... I used a mix of Pamela's baking flour, and what other flours I had on hand in the cupboards.

WET Ingredients:

• 1 cup pumpkin puree (I used fresh purée that we had bagged and frozen from our autumn pumpkin stash)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup plus 2 T. milk

Add-ins:

• 1/4 cup canola oil (I typically use olive oil instead)
• 2 T. unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4 cup pecan pieces (completely optional -- if you're a nuts-don't-belong-in-my-baked-goods person like me, then definitely leave them out)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (do, do!)

My Add-ins:

• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. pumpkin spice mix (can be found in any regular grocery store spice isle)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Mix all the wet ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Pour oil into the flour mixture, then butter. Combine with your fingers until nice and crumbly. Make a well in the middle.
5. Pour the liquid mixture into the well and work in by mixing with a spoon until just combined. Add pecan pieces and chocolate chips and mix in.
6. Using 1/4 cup measuring cup (or large cookie scoop), drop batter onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before eating (if you can wait that long).

Note 3:  I used a spoon to drop the scone batter onto the waiting cookie sheet.  It yields between 10-12 scones, depending on how much batter is used for each scone.

Mmmm, still hot out of the oven; these really are a perfect morning or afternoon treat.