Quinoa Ginger Date Cakes

One Sunday morning, I was waiting for my friends to come over for a Lord of the Rings marathon.  I had lots of yummy food to keep us going on our 11 hour journey to Mordor, but decided on a whim to also make some ginger molasses cookies from the Quinoa 365 cookbook.  I made all my usual replacements to make them gluten/refined sugar free, and even though the batter was a bit runny, I popped the cookies into the oven and hoped for the best.  When the time was up – the cookies had all fused together into one thin rectangular cake!  Disaster!  But I tasted the cake/cookie, and it was actually pretty yummy, so I tried to save my poor gluten-free baking by spreading some date puree on top.  I rolled up one cake sheet into a dessert roll and folded the second tray in half to make little dessert sandwiches.  When my friends arrived I ran up to the door yelling gleefully “I invented something awesome!” and promptly shoved a tray full of ginger date cakes under their noses.  I love when accidents turn into something amazing, that’s the beauty of art and cooking!  The combination of the moist ginger cake and the creamy date puree is definitely one of the best mistakes I’ve ever made.   I preferred the sandwiches to the rolls because I found the puree balanced out better, and was a bit too dense in roll form. Needless to say, by the time Frodo made it to Mordor, the cakes were almost gone!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter – room temperature

1 cup brown rice syrup

1 large egg

1/4 cup organic molasses

1 cup quinoa flour

1 cup gluten free flour

1 teaspoon xantham gum

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon all spice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Stevia

2 cups date puree

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and brown rice syrup in a large bowl.  Beat in the egg, molasses, ginger and Stevia.  Set aside.

Mix the flours, xantham gum, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, all spice, cloves and nutmeg in a medium bowl and blend well.  Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms.

Pour half the batter on each of the baking sheets, keeping a rectangular form.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until light and fluffy, rotating the sheets halfway.

Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.  On a flat surface, cut each rectangle cake in half.  Using a spatula, carefully spread half the date puree evenly over one half.  Top with other half making a large sandwich.  Cut into squares.  Repeat with other cake.

Quinoa Ginger Date Cakes

12 Days of Christmas Dish#6: Orange, Squash and Ginger Soup

What to do with the squash?  Each holiday I feel like I should make something with squash but it just doesn’t excite me.  I’ve had enough butternut squash soup to last me a lifetime, but this recipe intrigued me, and is also a nice healthy break during the fat holiday season.  Infused with Japanese ingredients including a splash of wasabi cream on top, it sounded festive and most appropriate to serve to my half-Japanese family for Christmas dinner.  From the LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2002 magazine, this recipe is no more complicated than any other soup recipe, and the miso, wasabi and ginger can be found at a basic Asian supermarket.  The soup came out creamy with just enough zing to give some life to the tired, old squash and the cream on top was a simple touch for a nice presentation.

The Recipe:

This is a Japanese-inspired version of squash soup.  The inclusion of miso and sake give it a rich taste without using cream, and cooking it with orange juice brings out the sweetness of the squash.  The wasabi cream offsets the sweetness, but it can be omitted.

2 tbsp (25 ml) olive oil
1 ½ cups (375 ml) onion, chopped
4 cups (1 L) peeled and diced butternut squash
2 cups (500 ml) peeled and diced potatoes
½ cup (125 ml) fresh orange juice
¼ cup (50 ml) sake
2 tbsp (25 ml) light miso
5 cups (1.25 L) chicken stock
2 tbsp (25 ml) chopped pickled ginger
½ tsp (2 ml) grated orange rind
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1.    Heat oil in a pot on medium-high heat.  Saute onion until softened, about 2 minutes.  Add squash and potatoes and sauté 1 minute longer.
2.    Whisk together orange juice, sake and miso.  Add to vegetables along with stock.  Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.
3.    Add pickled ginger and orange rind and puree in a food processor or blender.  Return to pot, season with salt and pepper.
4.    Combine wasabi powder and water and stir to dissolve.  Add whipping cream and stir until combined.  Drizzle surface of each bowl of soup with about 1 tsp (5 ml) wasabi cream.

Serves 4-6

Impress your guests with Asian-inspired goodness!