An appropriate, if not confusing, food quote in my house from this evening, "And THAT is why I don't trust you to not feed our kids squirrel!" Can you believe my husband actually proposed the idea of hunting some squirrel and cooking it up? Apparently he saw a special today in which a chef explained that because squirrel are primarily nut fed, they have a very tender and "delicious" flesh... UHG. I told him that if I found out he gave our kids some cooked up squirrel I would seek couples therapy... haha. Later in the evening, that conversation came back, with my use of the quote above. Let us just conclude that you will not likely see a Naturally Raych blog on how to best cook a GF squirrel any time soon... Perhaps I can justify it by telling my husband that we can't be sure if the squirrel consumed left over bread in someone's backyard (or garbage), and therefore we can not deem it gluten free?
Well, dinner tonight was not of the rodent variety... it was soup and honey-maple turkey sandwiches. Our after dinner treat was where the recipe today comes from- Squash Biscotti!! I knew I wanted to find out what the differences between the different winter squash varieties were. The kobucha cupcake recipe came out so delicious that I wanted to do another semi-sweet squash recipe tonight. Now that I am gluten free, I have missed having biscotti with a cup of coffee. Justin and I met at a coffee shop, and the coffee/biscotti combo was a big part of our dating world (of yester-year... kids and marriage change the number of dates and date locations). Finally, I have a recipe that can be adapted for various biscotti recipes- next time I'll do a basic almond biscotti!
The recipe below uses amaranth in addition to my usual GF flour staples. Amaranth has an earthy/nutty taste, which I figured would be good in a dry biscotti. While it was tasty, I might sub in a different flour next time- the amaranth can overpower the spice/squash combo in this recipe.
These biscotti are great dipped in a gourmet hot coffee, or in our case, an evening of decaf coffee while Isaac watched "Kipper" and Henri drank "Mommy juice".
Ingredients:
1 Buttercup squash (a lot like the kobucha pumpkin I used in an earlier recipe) ¾ cup of the squash puree is needed for this recipe
1 Cup Water
Let me know your thoughts!
The recipe below uses amaranth in addition to my usual GF flour staples. Amaranth has an earthy/nutty taste, which I figured would be good in a dry biscotti. While it was tasty, I might sub in a different flour next time- the amaranth can overpower the spice/squash combo in this recipe.
These biscotti are great dipped in a gourmet hot coffee, or in our case, an evening of decaf coffee while Isaac watched "Kipper" and Henri drank "Mommy juice".
Buttercup Squash Biscotti, Gluten Free and Easy Vegan conversion
GF, CoF, SF, DF/CF (Contains Nuts, and in my case, eggs, though that can be subbed out)
Ingredients:
1 Buttercup squash (a lot like the kobucha pumpkin I used in an earlier recipe) ¾ cup of the squash puree is needed for this recipe
1 Cup Water
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| Buttercup Squash |
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1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca starch
½ cup potato starch
½ cup amaranth flour
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
1 tsp xanthan
1 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (or, to make Vegan, use flax gel… 2 TBS ground golden flax with 6 TBS Water)
You can do this part the day before and just scoop and refrigerate (or you can freeze the buttercup squash mash for up to 6 months):
Slice the buttercup in half and place flesh down on a foil lined baking sheet (with edges)
Pour in 1 cup of water on the pan.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until flesh is soft.
Allow squash to cool, remove seeds and scoop out flesh.
Mash the flesh of the squash with a fork or food processor.
To make the biscotti:
Wisk the eggs, vanilla and squash puree together in a bowl
In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.
Blend the wet ingredients gently into the dry.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Form a “flat” loaf… 6” x about 12” (only about ½ inch high)
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes
Slice the loaf into approximately 1” slices with a very sharp knife
Allow to cool slightly, for about 5-10 minutes
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees; bake the biscotti again for 15 more minutes, making sure there is space between them to “dry out”.
Remove and allow the cookies to cool before eating. If you like your biscotti crunchy/dry, I was informed you should leave it out overnight in a dry area.
1 cup brown rice flour
½ cup tapioca starch
½ cup potato starch
½ cup amaranth flour
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
1 tsp xanthan
1 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs (or, to make Vegan, use flax gel… 2 TBS ground golden flax with 6 TBS Water)
You can do this part the day before and just scoop and refrigerate (or you can freeze the buttercup squash mash for up to 6 months):
Slice the buttercup in half and place flesh down on a foil lined baking sheet (with edges)
Pour in 1 cup of water on the pan.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until flesh is soft.
Allow squash to cool, remove seeds and scoop out flesh.
Mash the flesh of the squash with a fork or food processor.
To make the biscotti:
Wisk the eggs, vanilla and squash puree together in a bowl
In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.
Blend the wet ingredients gently into the dry.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Form a “flat” loaf… 6” x about 12” (only about ½ inch high)
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes
Slice the loaf into approximately 1” slices with a very sharp knife
Allow to cool slightly, for about 5-10 minutes
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees; bake the biscotti again for 15 more minutes, making sure there is space between them to “dry out”.
Remove and allow the cookies to cool before eating. If you like your biscotti crunchy/dry, I was informed you should leave it out overnight in a dry area.
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| My 3 boys hanging out by the wood stove to keep warm, after enjoying dinner and biscotti. |
Let me know your thoughts!
Naturally,
Raych
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