If you have not made your own marshmallows yet, you are seriously missing out. I haven’t bought marshmallows since I made our first batch.
We added chocolate chips as eyes (and eyes and eyes) for our spooky little treats. Fast and easy. Enjoy.
Tag Archive for 'gluten-free'
Ok, wheat’s not bad, it’s an amazing grain for sure, but lately, has not been agreeing with me. After being pretty sick in May, I stopped eating wheat gluten. I stopped for a few days, then had a slice of pizza and was sick for days. That’s it. Truth be told, I feel so much better. My allergies are 100 times better, I’m not bloated and my blood sugar isn’t dropping out the bottom. Crazy right? Maybe not.
So, my dear, sweet family has been eating less wheat too. They are awesome. We’ve found some excellent rice noodles, and they still taste great with pesto and spaghetti sauce. I’ve got a small stash of flours for baking and I’ve been experimenting (insert mad scientist laugh here) on friends and family. So far so good, ok well there was that one pie crust that was DISGUSTING, and I made brownies from the Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix (I thought they were horrible, but I know a few who have tried and LOVE them), but some things have really turned out well.
Then, the big challenge. Rob’s birthday. And Rob feeling a little put out by the no-wheat food in the house. You know, it’s just not the same (that’s right honey, it’s BETTER!). So I researched for a while, I read a LOT of recipes. Rob wanted something with chocolate and coconut.
I found recipe for . I have to tell you this cake is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Not only does it taste great, the texture alone will have everyone convinced this is a cake made with regular wheat flour. Guess what, there’s not a drop of wheat in it.
What started out as this:
Ended with this:
Rob had asked me, “Is it?” again, “Is it?”. He saw me eating it and I smiled. “It is.”
Enjoy. Get the full experience on with the original recipe . I made a coconut cream cheese frosting (oh my). Recipe follows below.
Lauren’s (CeliacTeen.com)
Ingredients
1/2 cup millet flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
5 tsp brown rice flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature *separated see my note
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup very warm water
Directions
*About 30 minutes before you start, get the eggs out of the fridge and separate them. Cover them either with a lid or clear plastic wrap so they don’t get filmy. They are easier to separate when they are cold.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 the sides of each pan. Put a parchment circle in the bottom, grease the parchment. (This is worth the time for success. The parchment ensures no cake will be left behind, ugh hate that, and greasing up only 1/2 the pan, let’s the cake rise to it’s fullest. Some will suggest only greasing the bottom, but I’ve had success with greasing 1/2 way.)
Combine all flours, xantham gum, cocoa, baking soda, baking power, salt and sugar. Sift together in a large bowl. (I did it 2x, sifting adds air to the mix, helping to keep the cake light and helps in preventing the dreaded cake falling in the middle.)
Combine egg yolks, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and very warm water in another bowl. Once thoroughly mixed, mix into the dry mix bowl, until combined, do not over mix, you want to keep as much air in the mix as possible.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. (also helps to keep cake light and airy and prevent the dreaded fall) Gently fold these into the mixture. Again, don’t over mix, the air in the mix is crucial, and over mixing eliminates the air in the mix.
Pour 1/2 the batter in each pan, bake for 30-35 minutes (mine was done at 30,), until the toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cake cool completely on a rack (if you have one). While cooling you can prepare the frosting.
Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (for sprinkling on the cake)
Directions
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the sides and bottom to make sure it is mixed thoroughly. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream. Continue scraping the bowl to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed. Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable. Add additional confectioners’ sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin. Stir in the coconut. Sprinkle coconut over the cake.
Assembling the Cake
After your cake is completely, totally and wholly cool you may remove it from the pan. Run a knife along the edge, remove cake from pan and place on cake plate. Spread the frosting over the first layer, sprinkle a bit of coconut on top. Place second layer on top of first layer. Spread frosting over top and sides. Sprinkle with coconut. Put in fridge to set if you have time, don’t leave out in the heat, butter and cream cheese will run if too warm.
Enjoy. This has to be one of the best cakes I’ve made so far. And the best part, it doesn’t taste like one of those gluten-free bricks.
Ok, get your mind out of the gutter! Puhleaze…. I’m talking about cooking here, nothing else… seriously…
It is squash season, and I don’t think I’ve ever met a squash I haven’t fallen head-over-heals in love with. I’ve got a bunch in the kitchen, some acorn, some delicata, a spaghetti squash and a few butternut. I love them all for different reasons.
We are trying a bit of gluten-free and dairy-free at our house these days, I really wanted to make a gluten-free zucchini bread, but the zucchini didn’t look so good at the grocery store, and I couldn’t make it to the farmers market, so I decided to use the butternut squash. I like that it’s sweet, and I thought the kids would just love it.
And they did, the above picture is of the last bite. It went so fast and is so delicious I can’t even begin to tell you how good that makes me feel! I don’t consider my self and “expert” baker/cook. It’s something I love to do, but I feel that I just don’t know enough about the science of cooking to really, fully experiment successfully. HA! I did it. I totally came up with the recipe, and it worked!
You should make it too. If you don’t want to do gluten-free, you could totally use wheat flour, it would be yummy!
Butternut Squash Bread (Gluten-Free)
- 1-1/2 cups Butternut Squash shredded (I cut my squash in half, put face down in a casserole dish, fill with about a 1/4″ of water and put in the oven at 450ºF for about 20 minutes. This softens it so you can peel it then run it through the shredder easily)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 cup gluten-free baking mix*
- 1-1/2 tsp xantham gum*
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Zest from 1 lemon
In one bowl, combine squash, vegetable oil, sugar and egg, mix until blended.
In another bowl sift together, flour, xantham gum, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and lemon zest. Mix well.
Pour flour mixture into squash mixture, and stir together until well mixed and moist.
Pour mixture into greased loaf pan.
Cook at 325ºF for about 45-50 minutes until golden brown and fork comes out clean. (Make sure you check your time based on your pan. This is not my forté, so stay close to the oven if you are not sure, burnt squash bread would be such a bummer! – in fact if anyone has a guide for cooking times based on pan sizes, i.e. – how to cook muffins instead of a loaf, please share!)
* You could totally use whole wheat flour for this as well, just eliminate the xantham gum.
I think what makes this bread is the lemon. I’ll be making it with other veggies, but the lemon will always remain.
I had a bunch of shredded butternut squash left over, I made .
OH MY GOODNESS! These were so delicious! Another fabulous gluten-free recipe where you could sub in so many different veggies and get incredible results. These absolutely melted in our mouths, went so quickly I couldn’t even get a shot on the plate! We were eating them as they came off the stove. This dish is so perfect for fall (any season actually), and we could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The mix of onion and squash was ideal, and we liked the cispier ones with burnt edges. We ate them with apple sauce. I’m thinking that this is the dish I’ll be making for the holiday family gatherings coming up, 1 little squash makes a lot of food.
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