{Recipe} Be Gluten Free.

I love to bake, but I have always been someone who bakes from a box and uses store bought frosting. Lately I have been trying more "made from scratch" type recipes, and while they dont always turn out the best, I love the extra time and effort they take and if they do turn out, I feel really good about them. During my journey into the world of holisitc medicine, a topic that is brought up alot is "Gluten Free" foods. While there are people who have Celiac disease and true gluten intolerances and cannot eat gluten, gluten free has also become somewhat of a fad amoungst the health world. Alot of people are going gluten free, thinking that it will make them feel better, lose weight, and be more healthy. I think if you feel better eating gluten free, than great! If you eat more healthy and lose weight, all the more power to you! But if you do not need to be gluten free and you do not feel any differently eating that way, than why deprive yourself of your favorite baked goods?
That being said, I did a little experimenting. After hearing from several people who try and eat gluten free, and some of the bad stories I have heard about the way some of the food tastes, I bought a cookbook, Babycakes (visit their website here-http://babycakesnyc.com/ )a mostly gluten free, sugar free, vegan bakery and cookbook.  Part of me wanted to see what all the hype was about with this gluten free thing and part of me wanted the challenge of trying to bake gluten free and make it still taste great. So I tried several recipes and some turned out ok and others not so much. The real stuff was obviously better, but I felt that I could eat it if I had too.
Than the other day I decided that I wanted to make donuts, so I got a donut pan and started browsing for some good but healthy (ier) recipes, as I am trying to watch the amount of carbs and sweets that I eat. I came across the below recipe for pumpkin spice gluten free donuts and after a coworker explained that she eats gluten free, I decided to give it a try. To my pleasant suprise, they tasted pretty darn good and I got some great comments on them today. I think that my experiment was a success, and I may be making future gluten free recipes!

                  Pumpkin Spice Gluten Free Donuts

Ingredients

2 cup gluten free flour (Bobs redmill all purpose)

1/2 cup brown sugar,packed

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon,vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2tsp ginger,nutmeg

1/2. Cup canned pumpkin, applesauce

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

Melted butter and cinnamon/ sugar mixture for coating

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven 350. Grease donut pan. Combine flour,sugar,baking powder,salt,ginger,cinnamon,nutmeg

Separate bowl combine pumpkin,egg,vanilla,applesauce and milk

Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until well mixed. Spoon mixture into donut pan and  bake 10-12 mins,until lightly browned

Remove donuts from pan to cool, than dip in melted butter and coat with cinnamon/sugar mixture * recipe courtesy of http://withstyle.me/