All hail the North American fall classic, the sweet squash sensation, the origin of Starbuck’s fall drink line up and the simplest of Thanksgiving desserts: PUMPKIN PIE. How could we not include our own take on this incredible contribution to the American Culinary Tradition? Pumpkin pie is undoubtedly the sweetheart of the US and Canadian (I’m assuming) fall dessert table, maybe tied with apple pie of course. But it’ll certainly be the star of the show this Thursday when (for all of our non-US-or-Canadian followers) we’ll be tucking in for a massive feast of turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, dozens of other side dishes, and about 8…
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Magic Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake
This is a 100% Kendra recipe (as are many of our concoctions), written up and photographed by Amelia (we’re the two sisters behind Sisters Sans Gluten if you haven’t read our About Us section). While this recipe was thought up by Kendra one evening when a sudden craving for pudding hit and this was the glorious solution, both of us sisters LOVE pudding. You know those instant Jell-o pudding boxes in the baking aisle that range from lemon to coconut to white chocolate and all you have to do is tear open the flimsy cardboard packaging, rip the foil packet open, dump the contents (questionable at best) into a mixing…
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Persimmon Pudding
This is hands down one of the easiest and most densely earthy and rich winter cakes you can make. Being from the US, when I first heard my grandma say she was going to make her persimmon pudding, I pictured a bowl of actual pudding: the jiggly stuff that my sister and I loved to make from instant pudding packets, our patience tested by the 3-minute stirring time needed for the artificial flavors and colors to thicken into a goop that we would greedily spoon out while watching afternoon shows. Oh no, as any commonwealth citizen will attest, pudding is something quite different, and much broader than just a bowl…
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Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake with Cinnamon Glaze
Cinnamon rolls are one of those ooey gooey doughy pull-apart bits of heaven that are tricky as hell to make gluten free. (says the person who’s never actually tried making them….). I did try an AMAZING one at Gluten Free Gem bakery in Portland, Oregon (if you’re in the area, definitely check them out), but have yet to find the time and the patience to dedicate myself to making them at home. So, in lieu of actual cinnamon rolls, I offer you this infinitely simpler, and deeply indulgent Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll cake! If you’ve been following along recently, you’ll notice that we’re on a bit of a Swiss roll/roulade kick,…
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Cheesecake Pecan Bars
You may notice a theme here: fall treats laden with hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds…autumn seems to be the perfect season to celebrate the brilliance of the nut. Buttery and rich, a touch sweet, and with an earthy variance in flavors as subtle as the gradient in fall colors. These cheesecake pecan bars simply jump on that nutty bandwagon, with the added bonus of a creamy, vanilla-packed layer of cheesecake to balance out the sticky sweetness of corn syrup and brown sugar caramelized around the pecans. What’s extra fun about this recipe is the magical switch that seems to happen after popping them in the oven: when you pour all of…
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Yogurt Cranberry Bread
We heralded the brilliance (and tartness) of cranberries in last week’s post (cranberry clafoutis) so we’ll refrain from repeating ourselves here. Instead we’ll just rave about the moistness (sorry) of this yogurt cranberry bread, which, yes, also contains bright crimson pops of color and fall crispness, but which also is a comfort food of the season and deserves to be your next baking adventure. If you’re celebrating turkeys and pies and all the drowsy effects of tryptophan in two weeks, this is another recipe to add to the Thanksgiving dessert table. Quick breads have a sort of humble elegance to them: rustic and simple, but with often more heightened flavors…
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Cranberry Clafoutis
Cranberries are the deceivingly beautiful but unfortunately tart fruit of fall. I grew up on Costco bags of dried Ocean Spray cranberries, grabbed by the handfuls for after school snacks or tossed together with almonds or cashews for a between-class snack. I remember the revelation that took hold of my sister and I the first time we witnessed the marvel of a cranberry harvest on PBS: millions of marvelously smooth rubies floating in washes of flooded fields. It was practically the red sea, waters parted by wader-clad farmers in checkered flannels and baseball caps. As a proud Pacific Northwesterner, it was another shining example of the quiet gloriousness of the…
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Classic Pecan Pie Bars
Sometimes a baked good just exudes coziness. Oozes curled up evenings under the covers with a good book (or four) or with the projector on and a Harry Potter movie playing out on the canvas of your apartment wall. These pecan pie bars do just that, with a kick of wickedly sweet corn syrup custard and the nutty fall crunch of caramelized pecans held together by the flakiest of shortbread crusts. If this sounds like the perfect Saturday evening, then by all means, read on. And, if you toss them in the oven before dinner, they’ll be done just in time for that movie night, or start them on the…
