Last night my husband and I went to my youngest son's house to have dinner with his wife and baby.  We had a Fondue Dinner!  It was delicious and fun!  It brought back memories of fondue parties when we were younger and more of a trend than they seem to be now.  And then I remembered that we are going on vacation with some friends this summer to their timeshare and the last time we got together we talked about doing a fondue night for dinner there as well!   So, since I came home with some leftover dippers, I decided that it is the perfect time to give a few fondue recipes a try!  

       Every time bananas start turning brown at our house,  even just a tiny bit, my husband asks me if I'm going to make banana bread!  Like him, I do adore the moist tenderness of banana bread, but this time, I had something else in mind.  
         I think that maple and banana flavor go together really well.  I've already shared with you a version of Banana Maple Buttermilk Bread.  This time I thought muffins would be perfect to make and share with my little no sugar eating grandson. 

     Welcome to my newest cookie experiment! 
      Once again, an idea has come into my mind that I simply had to give a try.   It happens when I have ingredients in my house that I feel like I need to use.  Then, I think about who in my family would like whatever I come up with and if I can make it to fit their dietary needs or restrictions.  

       In my pantry, I had a couple of different kinds of almond butter.  One of my grandsons is allergic to peanuts and other nuts, but not almonds which is apparently not really a nut.  One of the types of almond butter I had was a caramel almond butter that sounded pretty delicious!  I also have lots of jam and I thought to myself, "Self, you know I think that apple butter would taste really good with that caramel almond butter!"  I agreed with myself and I then began to think that a thumbprint cookie made from the almond butter and the apple butter would be great together.  The idea took off from there. 

     During times like the holidays, I always feel concerned about what to feed to my family members and friends who have allergies and special dietary needs.  I don't want them to feel left out from all of the special foods that we eat at this time of year.  Food is such a big part of the holiday season.  So, I'm always on the lookout for special recipes to try that will be delicious, not just for those who have such a limited diet, but for everyone to enjoy so that no ones feels isolated or singled out! 

      I have a friend who is not only gluten free, but totally grain free!  On top of that, she is dairy free!  What a bummer!   We were both going to a small holiday gathering, so I was searching for a treat that would fit all of her criteria.  Imagine my surprise when I came across a recipe on A Modern Homestead for a chocolate cake that used squash flour instead of any type of grain flour to make a delicious chocolate cake!  I was amazed! 
       I have made squash (zucchini) flour before.  I shared a post about it here.  But, I didn't realize that you could use all squash flour and zero grain flour and get such a wonderful result! Not only that, this cake that fits a 9" square cake pan only requires 1/2 cup of squash flour!  
        Victoria on A Modern Homestead gives an excellent tutorial for making squash flour here.  If you grow your own zucchini, this will be a great way to use up all of that bumper crop of zucchini that home gardeners get every year! 
      Luckily, I already had dehydrated zucchini stored in my pantry, so I was able to grind it into zucchini flour.  If you don't have any dried or freeze dried zucchini, you can pick some up at the grocery store, dehydrate it and give this recipe a try! 

      I was excited to give the cake recipe a try, but I had to tweak it to meet our particular needs.  So, I'm sharing with the the adapted version of A Modern Homestead's recipe.  Her version uses cacao and dairy and is a little less sweet that our family likes in a cake.   If you want your cake to be dairy free and a bit sweeter, my version is the one you will want to try. 
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     You may be wondering about that dollop of frosting on the top.  Here is what the cake looks like at first:

     You can use vegan butter and honey to make a delicious butter cream.  Here is a great recipe at Recipes to Nourish.  I substituted vegan butter and it came out so good!  We even used to to decorate cookies!  (No white frosting though, because it will be honey colored!)  I just put a dollop on the top of the cake with an almond slice, since almonds are okay for everyone here.