Just Add Pumpkin

Brooke Sweeney  

With seasonal change comes a change in flavor, and fall brings with it an explosion of pumpkin flavored everything. From double whipped lattes, to warm soups, to fresh baked goods, it seems that everywhere I go I see pumpkin. Advertisements for pumpkin pie bagels plaster the windows of Panera, and let’s not forget the infamous pumpkin donut that belongs with cider like peanut butter belongs with jelly.

But for us gluten free folks, this time of year can be a bit tough. As we watch our friends and family gobble down bite after bite of pumpkin goodness, we yearn for the perfect pairing that is earthy pumpkin and sweet cinnamon. And, contrary to popular belief, we can have it; it’s as simple as just adding pumpkin.

The other day, hoping to make a sweet treat for a work meeting, I went to the grocery store and let my craving do the talking. Chocolate chip cookies sounded yummy and simple, but then I remembered pumpkin. Why not mix the two? I grabbed gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix and a can of pure pumpkin – not pumpkin pie filling, but the creamy orange goodness of true pumpkin – and headed home to experiment with the two flavors.

After following the instructions on the cookie mix bag, I added two heaping spoonfuls of pumpkin mush. Next came a half-tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, leftover from last Thanksgiving’s pumpkin adventures. These measurements were really just a guess, and I tasted the cookie dough before baking to make sure I had the perfect ratio. In your own cooking, you can add or subtract as you see fit. I was eager to taste the results of combining the classic flavor of chocolate chip with the golden pride and joy of autumn that is pumpkin. Because gluten is a protein that gives dough it stretchiness, gluten free baked goods can sometimes be dry and brittle. Adding pumpkin helps to moisten the cookies to the perfect consistency.

After throwing them in the oven for a bit longer than the package calls for, the cookies finally emerged. I stared at them longingly as I waited for them to cool. When I finally got to taste, it was well worth the wait. My experiment had produced the chewiest, chocolatiest, most moist pumpkin cookies ever created. And that is no exaggeration. They were so mouthwateringly good my coworkers swooned over them. I baked the same cookies twice in less than four days – a record for a repeat recipe!

With the success of the pumpkin cookie in the bag and an apple orchard visit rapidly approaching, I realized that nothing would highlight some fresh cider like a gluten free pumpkin donut. Having never attempted a gluten free donut before, I returned to the childhood memory of a time my family and I fried up biscuit dough into donuts. Why not try and recreate doughnuts through that same approach? Picking up some gluten free biscuit mix, I once again followed the directions on the box before adding my star ingredients - pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. I rolled them out and cut them into donut shapes. Here I encountered the one trouble with this recipe (besides eating the whole batch in one sitting, oops!): the donuts stuck to the counter like crazy. I added more biscuit mix to the dough to try and fix this problem, but eventually decided to make donut “holes” instead, which turned out to be just as scrumptious. Once the little golden beauties came out of the hot fryer, I tossed them in a paper bag with some cinnamon and sugar and shook it to coat them. The result was a hot, mouthwatering pumpkin treat that went perfectly with the crisp cold cider.

As you can see, a gluten free diet does not mean you have to resign yourself to a pumpkin-less fall. And best of all, these recipes are great for both gluten free and the gluten eaters alike. In fact, no one could even tell that the cookies and donuts were gluten free. They chowed them down without a second thought, and you can too – all you have to do is add pumpkin.

You've Got a Friend in Tea

Haley Fox  

“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy tea, and that’s kind of the same thing.” – Unknown

Ah, tea.

Although it might not seem as “American” as coffee, over half of the United States population drinks a cup of tea on any given day. Worldwide, 3,000 million tons of tea are produced every year. To put that into perspective, you can make about 200 cups of tea from just one pound. Incredible, right? With this many tea drinkers, it’s easy to see why tea has been both culturally and economically vital since its discovery approximately 5,000 years ago. Tea isn’t just your morning jolt of caffeine; it’s a cup of history.

It’s usually best to start from the beginning—legend (and the UK Tea Council) tells us that tea was first discovered in 2737 BC. Shen Nung, the Chinese emperor, was sitting beneath Camellia sinensis tree while his servant boiled drinking water. Some leaves fell into the hot water, and Shen Nung decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created. The resulting drink was what we now call tea.

From China, tea was carried to Japan by Buddhist monks and to England by a Portuguese princess. England introduced tea to India and then America to compete with the Chinese monopoly on the trade; however, unfair taxation practices led to an infamous political protest known as the Boston Tea Party. Americans would go on to invent iced tea at the 1904 World’s Fair and tea bags in 1907. However, some things don’t change—today, the six most consumed types of tea still come from the Camellia sinensis. Because of its health benefits and global popularity, seemingly limitless variations are grown and sold.

On one hand, tea seems like the most straightforward of beverages—put leaves in hot water, drink, repeat. But in reality, tea is ridiculously complex—would you like white tea, yellow tea, green tea, oolong, pu’erh, black tea, rooibos, herbal, or chai? Loose, bagged, iced, bottled, decaf, blooming, or with tapioca bubbles? Milk and sugar? One lump or two?

With so many options, the idea of becoming a tea connoisseur can be daunting, to say the least. If you have no experience with tea at all, purchasing a box of bagged black tea and a box of bagged green tea is a good place to start. Once you feel comfortable knowing what bagged flavors you like, it’s time to try loose leaf! Loose tea, also called “full-leaf tea,” can be purchased at a specialty tea store, like TeaHaus in Kerrytown, or any number of online shops. I personally love Adagio.com for its plethora of choices, quality product, and no sales tax in Michigan. Don’t forget to buy a tea infuser too, or else you won’t be able to make the loose tea. Already a loose leaf tea drinker? Try something different like rooibos (pronounced ROY-boss), which is red bush tea originally grown and fermented in South Africa. I’m not going to lie; rooibos is my personal favorite due to its antioxidant properties and warm, rounded taste. If you consider yourself a tea expert, you could use your skills to try creating a signature tea blend at Adagio. Search “red fox” on the site to see a personal blend that I created!

No matter what stage of “prosperi-tea” you’re on, there will always be another way to enjoy this timeless drink. In my opinion, the state of being for tea lovers everywhere is best described by Henry James in his novel The Portrait of a Lady: “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” Maybe I’d even be so bold as to agree with D.T. Suzuki, who once said “When I am sipping tea in my tearoom, I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space.” Either way, I know that tea will always be there for me when my hands need warming. Cheers!

Sources:
Tea Drinking Statistics
Tea History in America
Tea Fact Sheet
Adagio