Blueberry Mesquite Cornbread Muffins - Gluten Free

The gluten-free blueberry muffin idea was born at Trader Joe's while looking at a package of Wild Blueberries from Canada. I remembered that blueberries and cornbread are great together. My shopping companions made sure that the blueberries made it into the cart and off we headed to the checkout line.

I started with my basic cornbread recipe (December 1, 2006 post) and started by dividing the recipe in half. Then I substituted mesquite flour for the sweet rice flour and almond meal. I added 1/3 cup of blueberries to the recipe and topped the muffins with more blueberries and Turbinado sugar. They turned out beautifully. Tasting them was so sad...they were bland and the blueberries didn't taste like blueberries. The basic muffin didn't taste like cornbread at all. Overall, they had a bland generic berry flavor.

Back to the planning stages for this recipe. I began by adjusting the amounts of mesquite and arrowroot flours, then added back the sweet rice flour. I was ready to try again. I mixed, baked and tasted the second batch. Wow, they tasted like mesquite cornbread and better yet the flavor of the blueberries stood out.

Recipe

Muffins:
1 cup + 1 Tb yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup + 2 Tb brown rice flour
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup mesquite flour
2 Tb sweet rice flour
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
1 cup of milk
1 1/2 tsp kudzu powder, dissolve in the milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 Tb vegetable shortening

Tops:
1/4 to 1/3 cup of blueberries
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.

For mesquite cornbread muffins:
In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients and blend. In another mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer for this), place the vegetable shortening and began blending. Add the egg and milk, continue blending. Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl. Blend quickly, taking care not to blend too much. Spoon mix into the paper cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

For blueberry muffins:
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Then top the muffins with blueberries and lightly press down. Sprinkle Turbinado sugar over the tops. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

They turned out beautifully and have a lovely aroma. They taste great. The flavors of mesquite and cornbread come through and the blueberries add a delightful sweet flavor. They hold together very well and don't fall apart when you bite into them.

Where are my judges? This morning I lost out to fried rings of gluten and sugar. Otherwise, known as the doughnut. I'll keep trying and let you know what they say...

Mesquite Pumpkin Bread - Gluten Free

With Christmas only a few days away, I wanted to have some nice gluten-free sweet batter breads around the house for breakfast. Pumpkin Bread is a family favorite and I had a can of organic pumpkin, so the decision was made. Next step was trying to figure out which flours to use in the recipe. While I was contemplating what flours I had in the pantry, I remembered my bag of mesquite flour and realized that the light caramel-like of mesquite would go beautifully with pumpkin.

The basic wheat version of this recipe for Mesquite Pumpkin Bread comes from a church cook book that belonged to my mother. Her dear friend shared this recipe with their church community and now I'll share it with you.

Mesquite Pumpkin Bread

1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin (fresh or canned)
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup mesquite flour
1/3 cup oat flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup water with 1 1/2 tsp kuzu powder dissolved in it
Optional: 1/2 cup nuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a bread pan with parchment paper. Cream the shortening with the sugar. Then add the eggs and pumpkin. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Bake for 1 hour. Remove and cover with aluminum foil. Return to the oven and bake until a stick comes out clean. Approximately 90 to 120 minutes total baking time for one loaf. Allow to cool before cutting.

Alternative: Divide dough into two parchment paper lined bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees until a test stick or toothpick comes out clean. Approximately 1 hour. (Note: I would make this recipe as two loaves rather than one. It takes a long time for the one loaf version to bake all the way through.)

The bread turned out a warm shade of dark caramel and smelled divine. Just the aroma brought back so many memories of pumpkin pie and holidays. I had just set the bread to cool on the counter, when in comes my son looking for snackage. "Ohhhhhhh," he says when he spies the bread, "I want that for my snack." Out comes the bread knife (actually a cake fork might work better) and away I went fixing up servings for my salivating critics.

The family critics voted this recipe as yummy, to be repeated, and there won't be enough to have for Christmas morning. Not to worry, I told my daughter I'll make some more. By the way, mesquite flour and pumpkin are very good together. Now, where's the cream cheese.....

Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies - Gluten Free

One of our native flours is Mesquite, which has the added benefit of being gluten-free. I have been reading various articles and recipes about Mesquite flour and wanted to give it a try. After looking at the various companies that carried the flour, I decided to give order mine from Native Seeds out of Tucson, Arizona.

According to Native Seeds, the flour is a good source of calcium, manganese, potassium, iron and zinc. Additionally, it has the ability to stabilize blood sugar. It's taste is fruity or a caramel-like flavor. I found the flour to have a very pleasant taste which is mild. My kids liked it too.

I took my basic Chocolate Chip Recipe and modified it so that the flavors blended with the Mesquite flour.

Gluten-Free Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour

3/4 cup Oat Flour

1/2 cup Sweet Rice Flour

1/4 cup Mesquite Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 cup Organic Butter

3/4 cup Organic Cane Sugar

3/4 cup packed Organic Brown Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Flavoring

2 large Organic Eggs

2 cups Chocolate Chips

Optional: 1 cup chopped Pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Then combine the flours, baking soda and salt into a small bowl. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Then add the sugars and vanilla flavoring. Add the eggs, beating well after each one. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the parchment paper. Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before removing from the parchment paper. (Check the consistency of your batter once you've add all the flours. I added an additional 2 - 3 Tbs of sweet rice flour to make the batter firmer.)

The cookies turned out beautifully. The kids liked them and thought they were a great addition to our range of chocolate chip cookies. I agreed with them. My husband, who hadn't eaten anything gluten-free for awhile, thought that the cookie texture was a bit grainy. I agreed, however, the texture wasn't bothersome like it can be with other flour mixtures. We all agreed - these are worth making again.

Where I bought my mesquite flour:

Native Seeds/SEARCH

526 N. 4th Ave

Tucson, AZ 85705

1 lb Mesquite Flour @ $13.00

www.nativeseeds.org