Cameron Cooks In Chaos: Pumpkin and Ginger

Fall time, I love pumpkins. Anything pumpkin, I’m all about it.  So here are some dessert or snack type things that I love to make up, and in my house a batch lasts about a day.

Ginger is very warming and comforting for me, so I’m pretty liberal with the ginger.  Okay, here we go:

PUMPKIN BARS

preheat the oven to 350

Grease a 9×13 baking pan.  I use Genesis Kitchen butter flavored olive oil.  

Combine in a bowl:

1 cup of pumpkin puree (baked fresh or use canned pumpkin)

1 cup of almond butter

1/2 raw honey

4 eggs

4 tsp pumpkin pie spices (or to taste)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

Blend until it’s a smooth batter.  Then pour it into the greased pan and bake it for about 40 minutes – the top will get lightly browned. You can serve this warm or cold.  My kids like it better cold.  I think I’ll be baking a lot of this all this month, we really whip through these bars.

GINGER COOKIES

These are really easy and have a great texture.  I wouldn’t substitute anything, it changes the flavor totally.  Don’t be tweaking this one if you can help it, okay?

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3 cups almond flour (a finer grind is better)

4 TBS softened coconut oil (extra virgin)     

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 TBS molasses

4 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

Combine in a bowl and mix until batter is formed. I know you’ll want to bake them right away – but CHILL THE BATTER for about 30 minutes.  I’ve chilled it overnight, too – that works well. You want the batter FIRM before scooping and baking.

Using heaping teaspoon, scoop the batter and plop it onto the parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches per cookie. Use a wet fork to flatten each dough mound.  Or use damp fingers, whatever.

BAKE for about 10 minutes, and cool for 10 minutes ON THE BAKING SHEET before transferring to a rack or whatever you use.