Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornbread

I woke up this morning knowing that I was going to make chili.

I’ve been having this bug to make chili using adobo chipotle peppers, veggies and squash…but that’s a different post.  The point of this post is: where there’s chili, there should be some cornbread!  And as an extra plus for me, cornbread is one of those things that is pretty easily converted into a GF version.  I sign up for blog email updates just like everyone else, and as I was checking my email this morning I saw an update from Jules Gluten Free blog about all of her great recipes using pumpkin as the main ingredient.  Having just taken the whole family to our favorite pumpkin patch recently, I was in a cooking-with-pumpkin state of mind, and I checked out her email.  There were all sorts of recipes she had worked out for using pumpkin, from pumpkin muffins to pumpkin pancakes, and there at the bottom of her list was pumpkin cornbread.  I knew right away that I had found the match for my spicy, smoky chipotle chili.

Jules sells her own gluten free flour blend, but I was working with a GF flour blend from my local co-op.  I altered the recipe a little bit to deal with the lack of xanthan gum in my flour blend, and I added a bit more sugar (I like my cornbread on the sweet side).  But her recipe was the basis of this cornbread, and I love seeing the new things she comes up with!

Pumpkin Cornbread
(Inspired by Jules’ recipe)

1 egg

1 cup milk (I used original almond milk)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)

1 cup gluten free flour blend (I usually use Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tb baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 cup cornmeal (I used a course cornmeal for extra texture)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 Tb milled flaxseed

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray or oil an 8 x 8 pan.
2. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and whisk together until everything is nice and blended
3. In another large bowl combine the wet ingredients and whisk them together
4. Add the dry to the wet, and whisk together until there are no lumps.  Pour into your baking dish and bake for 35 minutes, or until the edges and top is browned and the center firm to the touch.

I really liked the pumpkin flavor of this bread!  The texture of it is certainly light, like the cake versions of cornbread, and the cinnamon and sugar bring it pretty close to being a traditional pumpkin bread.  If you prefer your cornbread less sweet, I would decrease the sugar and cinnamon, and possibly increase the salt a titch.  With spicy food, it tastes amazing (I was thinking about trying a spicy lentil dish with it, too)!  And I’m pretty excited to have some tomorrow for breakfast with fruit and honeyed yogurt.

Enjoy!