Pumpkin Seed Flour Anyone? - Page 4

[tanyalynn]

I think Elana's vegan GF choc chip cookies, with modifications, are going to become our travel/share cookies, they're good enough for other people to eat, in terms of taste and texture (I usually have a tough time getting the texture right with gf cookies).

I did a spice cookie version, subbed the pumpkin seed flour for her almond flour, coconut oil for her grapeseed oil, chopped up crystallized ginger for her chocolate chips, and added 1.5 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp ground cloves.

I had just a bit extra pumpkin seed flour this last time, not enough to store but I didn't want to throw it away, so I added that and ended up adding 1 egg as well because it looked dry, but even the batch before had a good texture (without any egg).

mamafish, your point is a good one, it's been one of my concerns with moving paleo-ish, is how to self-limit the nuts/seeds. I don't think I have a solution yet, but if we keep these as a sorta-special food, I'm figuring it should be good enough.

[FireWithin]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

mamafish, your point is a good one, it's been one of my concerns with moving paleo-ish, is how to self-limit the nuts/seeds. I don't think I have a solution yet, but if we keep these as a sorta-special food, I'm figuring it should be good enough.

This is my plan.

[mtn.mama]

(the self limit for us comes in focusing on meat and veggies and eggs and dairy... we don't do seeds, and all nuts for now are fresh ground which takes time and motivation... and I only bake rarely... so... I think going primal just takes a general refocus, and not trying to sub everything in the US way of cooking)

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by mtn.mama

(the self limit for us comes in focusing on meat and veggies and eggs and dairy... we don't do seeds, and all nuts for now are fresh ground which takes time and motivation... and I only bake rarely... so... I think going primal just takes a general refocus, and not trying to sub everything in the US way of cooking)

We don't do a lot of baking here either. I think if you go paleo trying to replace everything as before, that is a lot of time, expense and headache. So- baking currently is about 2-3x a week right now and that is on the high side from previous- mostly because I was trying to get a little more variety into breakfast and found a couple of easy recipes we like.

I have been doing coconut flour muffins one day for breakfast- and seed and nut waffles one day for breakfast- freshly grinding for waffles in the blender w/ some water. Generally I am way too lazy to do anything else, but sometimes might whip up some cookies if we have a special occasion to go to and the kids need a substitute snack. We do snack on nuts- mostly pecans and use sunflower seeds sometimes for salad toppings- but not excessively at this point, although that waxes and wanes depending on our moods. We love dates w/ pecans-mmmm!

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

I think Elana's vegan GF choc chip cookies, with modifications, are going to become our travel/share cookies, they're good enough for other people to eat, in terms of taste and texture (I usually have a tough time getting the texture right with gf cookies).

I did a spice cookie version, subbed the pumpkin seed flour for her almond flour, coconut oil for her grapeseed oil, chopped up crystallized ginger for her chocolate chips, and added 1.5 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp ground cloves.

I had just a bit extra pumpkin seed flour this last time, not enough to store but I didn't want to throw it away, so I added that and ended up adding 1 egg as well because it looked dry, but even the batch before had a good texture (without any egg).

mamafish, your point is a good one, it's been one of my concerns with moving paleo-ish, is how to self-limit the nuts/seeds. I don't think I have a solution yet, but if we keep these as a sorta-special food, I'm figuring it should be good enough.

MMM! We will have to try that variation- sounds delicious!

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

Thanks for bringing this up!!!! I looked into the numbers on these today and was blown away by the amount of omega 6s in pumpkin and sunflower seeds (when compared to other foods, like meats, veggies, beans, etc etc). I've been thinking about doing 2 parts pumpkin seeds to 1 part flaxseeds as a base flour for some of these baked goods (as long as it ends up tasting good enough to keep the numbers in the 2:1 ratio...

That might work, although not everyone can easily convert the flax seeds to the right kind of Omega 3s. My DS has a particular issue (or benefits greatly) from EFA balance, so I'm a bit obsessed about this at the moment. Balancing 1/4c of pumpkin seeds (minimum balance, 4:1) takes 4-8oz of salmon - that's a lot of fish! So I am careful. Seeds and nuts are pretty much our only concentrated omega 6 sources at the moment, because they have so many other nutritional benefits - but I do try to keep the quantity careful.

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

I think Elana's vegan GF choc chip cookies, with modifications, are going to become our travel/share cookies, they're good enough for other people to eat, in terms of taste and texture (I usually have a tough time getting the texture right with gf cookies).

I did a spice cookie version, subbed the pumpkin seed flour for her almond flour, coconut oil for her grapeseed oil, chopped up crystallized ginger for her chocolate chips, and added 1.5 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp ground cloves.

I had just a bit extra pumpkin seed flour this last time, not enough to store but I didn't want to throw it away, so I added that and ended up adding 1 egg as well because it looked dry, but even the batch before had a good texture (without any egg).

mamafish, your point is a good one, it's been one of my concerns with moving paleo-ish, is how to self-limit the nuts/seeds. I don't think I have a solution yet, but if we keep these as a sorta-special food, I'm figuring it should be good enough.

Yeah, I'm just varying them with some other stuff without nuts. My son basically eats paleo by choice, I can't handle that much animal protein. But when I look at a day's menu for most paleo type folks, they're either animal protein or nuts/seeds loaded, and I think both would cause us issues long term.

Originally Posted by mtn.mama

(the self limit for us comes in focusing on meat and veggies and eggs and dairy... we don't do seeds, and all nuts for now are fresh ground which takes time and motivation... and I only bake rarely... so... I think going primal just takes a general refocus, and not trying to sub everything in the US way of cooking)

I think the challenge for us is that the meat and eggs are expensive (we buy local and pastured), and we can't do dairy. So as much as I like the concept, I think we'd have to move to Alaska to pull it off .

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

That might work, although not everyone can easily convert the flax seeds to the right kind of Omega 3s. My DS has a particular issue (or benefits greatly) from EFA balance, so I'm a bit obsessed about this at the moment. Balancing 1/4c of pumpkin seeds (minimum balance, 4:1) takes 4-8oz of salmon - that's a lot of fish! So I am careful. Seeds and nuts are pretty much our only concentrated omega 6 sources at the moment, because they have so many other nutritional benefits - but I do try to keep the quantity careful.

I don't know enough about this! Any links or tips for searching (archives/google) would be greatly appreciated if you have them! I'd like to look into this a bit more deeply!

[treehugginhippie]

subbing

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

Listening to our president while typing...let's see how my brain does.

Chocolate muffins

Mix thoroughly in a bowl:

1 cup ground pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup ground dessicated coconut
1/2 cup arrowroot
4 TBSP cocoa (carob works too)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp fine Celtic salt

Beat together:

4 oz coconut oil (or butter), melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened apple puree OR pear puree OR cooked mashed sweet potato OR 1.5 cups mashed banana
1 TBSP vanilla (optional)
**sweetener

**I used to use 2 TBSP of agave nectar until I found out it sucked. I haven't made these since I ran out of agave, but I am planning on one of these combinations:

2 TBSP glycerin vanilla + stevia glycerite
OR
Glycerin vanilla + bananas

I have to play around with that part. I've used bananas & used a lot less agave. I just taste as I go along. Once I've mixed everything together, including the bananas, I add sweetener & taste until I like it. I never make them very sweet & I find that both the bananas & sweet potatoes add a lot of sweetness on their own. I've made this with Asian pear butter & that added an awesome cider-y tartness.

Directions:

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry & mix. Let sit for a few minutes while you prepare the pans. Line the 10 outside pans with paper liners. The batter should be quite thick, or it will take forever to cook. If it seems too thin, add some extra ground pumpkin seeds or arrowroot. Spoon mixture into pans & bake for about 30 minutes at 300 F. (If I follow the recipe above, the consistency is always good.

I think I've FINALLY tweaked these to perfection & figured out the best balance of sweetener:

Chocolate muffins

Mix thoroughly in a bowl:

3 cups ground pumpkin seeds (measure after grinding)
1.5 cups ground dessicated coconut (grind shredded coconut)
1.5 cups arrowroot
12 TBSP cocoa
3 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp fine Celtic salt

Beat together:

12 oz coconut oil, melted
6 eggs (room temp)
2.5 cups mashed banana
1/2 cup applesauce (or pear butter or mashed, cooked sweet potato)
3 TBSP honey

Directions:

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry & mix. Let sit for a few minutes while you prepare the pans. Line the muffin pans with paper liners. Spoon mixture into pans & bake for about 30 minutes at 300 F.

You could try dividing the recipe by 3, but I know that the amount of bananas & applesauce wouldn't work out the same - I'm telling you, I've been tweaking these muffins for YEARS & I think this is FINALLY it.

I taste the batter once everything is mixed together. I could even use less than 3 TBSP of honey in these because I don't need this level of sweetness - the banana might be enough for us. You can play around with the sweetener, even cutting out the honey & using a little stevia instead.

[FairyRae]

Thanks sooooo much for sharing! Can't wait to try them out!!!!

[LBMarie9]

subbing---can't believe I missed this thread that was started a month ago! I am about to do a big buy of nuts and seeds and added more raw pumpkin seeds to the order!

if anyone tries the chocolate muffins w/out eggs--let me know.. (however the new version has 6 eggs instead of 2 so maybe it wouldn't be possible)

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by LBMarie9

subbing---can't believe I missed this thread that was started a month ago! I am about to do a big buy of nuts and seeds and added more raw pumpkin seeds to the order!

if anyone tries the chocolate muffins w/out eggs--let me know.. (however the new version has 6 eggs instead of 2 so maybe it wouldn't be possible)

The new version, to my eyes, appears to be a triple batch.

[crunchy_mama]

Woo Hoo! I have my mom's grinder and dehydrator on loan and a BIG pumpkin sitting on my counter

[lil_miss_understood]

[kitschy.hippie]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

So, tonight I used an alteration of the elana's pantry vegan choc. chip cookie recipe again, this time subbing ground sunflower seeds for the almond flour. SOOOOO yummy--and at 1.99 a lb. vs the 4.50 a lb for the pumpkin seeds--it was a good deal! (And full of vitamin E!) I'm thinking next to do a mix flour of pumpkin and sunflower seeds!

Here are my alterations of Elana's recipe (linked in one of my previous posts).

2.5 cups sunflower seeds (ground in my coffee grinder)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

In another bowl
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil and 1 egg (in place of the grapeseed oil from the elana's pantry recipe)
1 tbs vanilla extract

1/2 cup enjoy life choc chips

Mix, bake on 350 for 10-15 minutes

SOOOOO yummy! Let them cool adequately--they will be soft when they come out (I cooked them so the bottoms were light brown) and then they will firm up as they cool--much more of a crispy cookie than the old gf/cf/etc cookies I'd been making w/ beans...

WOO HOO!

Yes! Thanks so much for posting this. I have tons of raw sunflower seeds that I need to use up & was looking for something just like this.