Gluten free, Dairy free Pumpkin Bread Muffins

     Now that fall has arrived, I find myself burning my favorite candles all day: pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and Christmas cookie.  I made a new batch of body scrub using pumpkin pie spice and vanilla, and I made a room spray of cinnamon and clove essential oils.  Now with all the scents of fall, I am craving the tastes as well!

     Now since I have to be gluten free, I had a hard time finding recipes that featured ingredients that I had on hand.  As I've said before, when the mood strikes me, I have to bake right then!  So, if some ingredients aren't available, I substitute.  Many times such substitutions aren't good, and I consider the attempt a fail.  However, other times I am very happy with the results, and this was such a time!

     

      I had originally shared a post about making the muffins with a cream cheese glaze, but I didn't want to use as much sugar as it seemed to take to make it taste good, so I omitted it, and stayed with the basic muffin.  If you don't mind the sugar, I'm sure it would be fabulous with cream cheese frosting!

     As I said in that post, I combined recipes from +Martha Stewart , +Jules Shepard , +Bob's Red Mill ,and one of my Grandmother's old church cookbooks.  I'm sure that any one of these would be great standing alone, but I didn't have all the ingredients I needed, and/or the recipe wasn't gluten free, so here is what my resulting recipe is:

• 6 Tbl. Earth Balance butter
• 1 1/2 Tbl. molassas
• 1 1/4 cups Sugar in the Raw
• 2   eggs
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1 cup of pumpkin puree, plus 2 Tbl. of pear or apple butter
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten free flour blend
• 3/4 tsp Xanthan gum
• 1/2 cup Almond flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking solda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 cup dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 
  

1. Preheatr oven to 350* and oil a muffin pan, or 4 mini loaf pans
2. Cream the butter, molasses, and sugar
3. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well
4. Add orange juice, pumpkin puree, and pear or apple butter, mix well
5. Sift all dry ingredients together in another bowl
6. Slowly add the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, stir well
7. Add dried fruits
8. Spoon into prepared pans
9. Bake 4 mini loaves 45 min. or until done in middle, and muffins 25-30 min. or until done in the middle.
10. Cool 10-15 minutes and turn out

     These were very moist and made the house smell as warm and inviting as my fall candles!  The best part was enjoying a muffin and a cup of Russian Tea.  I love the fall!!!

Many Blessings,

Joanna