Happy Bobbins

Mollie of Wild Olive has made absolutely the cutest thread bobbins imaginable and she's offering up them for us to print at home ourselves, for free! I might have to re-wind my entire box for the love of cute. Thanks, Mollie!

image © Wild Olive

Gluten-free Fairy Pumpkin Pies

On Sunday night, we had some of our oldest friends over for dinner, and we hadn't seen them since before Annabel's birthday. They were making the main course & a side to bring with, so I had to do something special for dessert!

I made these little pies with 2 fairy pumpkins from our local CSA (that were actually given to me in trade for babysitting!) and they came out SO good. These would be a great twist on traditional pumpkin pie for your Thanksgiving feast, too.

Gluten-free Fairy Pumpkin Pies

prepared pastry for 2-crust pie (my gluten-free pastry dough is here)
2 C. cooked, pureed and strained pumpkin (about 2 small fairy pumpkins)
2/3 C. brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Remove seeds and rind from pumpkin and cut into small pieces. Place in a large saucepot, add enough water to cover all pieces, and boil for 10-15 minutes until pumpkin is fork tender. Strain off water, puree pumpkin in a blender or food processor


2. Add remaining recipe ingredients in order given, stirring well between each addition. If there are any chunks of pumpkin left, strain the entire mixture. You want a smooth, liquid consistency. Set aside.
   


3. Cut pastry dough into circles to fit 12 muffin cups. For conventional pastry dough - I use an inverted bowl to trace out a nice shape with a knife, place in the tin and them trim to size if necessary. For gluten-free pastry dough, I grab about 2 Tbsp of dough and press it into each greased muffin cup. You can find my gluten-free pastry dough recipe here.
   


4. Fill each crust until nearly full with pumpkin filling, careful not to get any batter along your crust edge.
   


5. Bake fairy pies at 425˚F for 10 minutes, then turn heat down to 375˚F and bake for an additional 20-22 minutes, until knife inserted into the center of one pie comes out clean. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Top with whipped cream and Enjoy! Makes 12-18 fairy pies.

Caramel Popcorn Balls - a Naturally Gluten-free Handmade Halloween Treat

Here is the recipe promised in my last post! These are the best. THE BEST. I might make more just for snacking on.

Caramel Popcorn Balls
popcorn:
1/2 C. popping corn
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

Place oil, salt & popping corn into a large pan. Cover and place on high heat until the corn starts popping. Hold pan above the heat, firmly shaking until popping stops. Set aside.

caramel:
1/4 C. butter
1 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. light corn syrup
2/3 C. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until well combined. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Add sweetened condensed milk slowly, continuously stirring until the caramel reaches 238˚F on your candy thermometer. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla rapidly. This part smells heavenly :)

Pour hot caramel over popped corn, a third at a time - stirring well between each addition. Let caramel corn sit for 3-5 minutes until cool enough to handle. With well-buttered hands, shape into balls about 3" across and set on waxed paper to set. After 10-15 minutes wrap each in a square of saran wrap, using a cute sticker on the last corner so the treat is easily unwrapped!

This recipe makes about 15 popcorn balls per batch. I made three batches to give out on Halloween.