I found out that my new coworkers already read my blog. They asked me questions about my baking on my first day. And they have asked for something spectacular for the company Christmas party. Peppermint brownies? Eggnog blondies? Decisions, decisions.
But, let’s procrastinate those decisions and talk cookies.
These cookies are brought to you by the numbers 3, 2, 1.
The past month has flown by like whoa.
I quit my job. I got a new job. I moved.
Old faithful is staying with Blondie.
That is quite a lot of change. Oh, and I am allowed to move around and bend and twist, there are no staples or steri-strips left on my back. I would say this means we need to celebrate. And we should celebrate with cookies.
I am going to dedicate this post to my mom. She helped me pull together the recipes for this month’s rally while I am supposed to be on bed rest. And this month you will really see where I get my baking sense from.
Oh, you read that part where I am on bed rest? I had surgery last Thursday and it was a little rockier than we had anticipated. I am waiting for electric leads to scar into place in my spine and because they were placed with no wiggle room, I have to stay put so that everything stays where it was placed. The good news is that the surgery was successful, and when you are reading this, I will be at the doctor’s office for my post-op appointment. And hopefully talking my sister into some Pei Wei.
Now, back to the pie.
I have baked this crust before for Gluten-Free Girl’s summer Pie Party. And I love it. It is light, flaky and delicious.
You can bake pie crust from scratch. Really, you can. It is not scary, and you never need to buy frozen pie crust again. Just make a double recipe of crust and freeze the spare. If you have a food processor, this takes about 10 minutes and once you make it a couple of times, you will never need a pre-made crust again.
The entire rally this month is full of proof.
The crust is great. The ratio is so basic, I will never forget it. 3-2-1. Flour-fat-water. I should be telling you that the ratio reigns supreme. But as important as the ratio is, there is a secret. The secret to pie crust is not the ingredients, or their amounts, but how cold your ingredients are. I keep my vodka in the freezer at all times, if you don’t you’ll want to prepare ahead. I also tend to keep an extra pound or two of butter in the freezer (I buy it when it goes on sale). If you only keep enough butter on hand for your current baking (if such a person exists), then you need to freeze your butter (or vegan alternative). This recipe will also work with Crisco in pace of butter. But again, you want to make sure that it chills in the freezer over night.
There is no need to vary the ratio. You can add a teaspoon of sugar for a sweet pie, if you want. But you don’t need it.
Now, onto the pies. That’s right, pies plural. Mom and I made 2. I will link you to the Apple Maple Cream Cheese pie, but I want to talk to you about this pumpkin mousse pie. Yes, pumpkin mousse. I love traditional pumpkin pie. I really do, but I was certain that someone else was going to post about it (and they did, so go to the list of posts if you want a traditional pumpkin pie). I wanted to do something that put a new spin on a perennial favorite.
Mom and I made a pumpkin mousse pie to do just that. You simmer the pumpkin and cream with spices and then chill it and fold it to some cream that you have whipped and make an incredibly light and airy pie with just the right amount of spice for the season.
Before you bake my pie, make sure you take a moment to see all the other delicious pies from this month’s Ratio Rally hosted by Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen.
Charissa from Zest Bakery made Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins
Claire from Gluten Freedom made Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie
Meredith from Gluten Free Betty made Blueberry Pie
Jean Layton made Cheese Crusted Apple Pie
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Chess Pie
Silvana Nardone from Silvana’s Kitchen made Chicken Potpie
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Chocolate Mousse Pie
gretchen from kumquat made deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Frangipane Apple Pie & Tart
Shanua from Gluten Free Girl & The Chef Fresh made Pumpkin Pie
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Green Tomato Pie
Kate from katealicecookbook made Kale & zucchini tart
Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] made Leek and Potato Pie
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Maple Walnut Pie
Morri from Meals With Morri made Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations
Brooke from B & the boy! made Pot Pie
Mary Fran | frannycakes made Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie
Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan made Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping
~Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks made Mock Apple Pie
Irvin from Eat the Love made Double Butterscotch Apple Pie
| Pumpkin Mousse Pie |
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Don’t have a scale? Use 1 1/4 cups of a commercial all purpose blend.
You might not need all the water, be careful or your dough will bake up hard on the edges and be hard to cut.
I have been having an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Have you missed me? Life has been topsy turvy, I launched 2 website redesigns at my day job, have a third one launching this week. I am probably going to be having surgery on Thursday (if everything goes according to plan). Needless to say, October has been one heck of a crazy month.
I also realized that the month is mostly over, and I haven’t baked much at all this month. There has been so much going on that I hadn’t been able to just stop and take a few hours to create a recipe and bake something. And I really needed to bake something. And I had no idea what to bake. So I did what any baking-obsessed girl would do. I pulled out 2 things from my cabinet and hoped that I could make a dessert that would be delicious. Thank goodness it worked.
Lately, I have been obsessed with ginger. There were brown butter ginger doughnuts, bourbon ginger peach pie, ginger pumpkin doughnuts. I had been buying these awesome ginger chips (chocolate chip sized bits of candied ginger) until they stopped carrying them at Williams-Sonoma. I had to settle for regular crystallized ginger & chopped it myself. and I finally got my hands on some of those new Enjoy Life Mega Chocolate Chunks. So clearly I had to make ginger & chocolate cookies. I am in love with the texture of these. They are soft but not crumbly. They are wonderfully delicate with just a touch of chew. I want to start a campaign to get Enjoy Life to add these cookies to the package. They are that good.
| Iced Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Ginger Chips |
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*I used Williams-Sonoma Cup for Cup flour blend, but I also highly recommend the Jules Nearly Normal flour for people who can’t have dairy (I also use this blend fairly regularly). You can also use this all-purpose blend from No Gluten, No Problem.
**If your blend already has xantham gum (or Expandex, guar gum, etc,) you can omit this.
*** If you can’t have eggs, dissolve 1 tablespoon ground flax with 3 tablespoons warm water.
****Feel free to use any kind of “milk”. I use the So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk, but you can substitute with what you prefer (Soy, almond, hemp, dairy, etc.)
I am sitting in the Westin where the Gluten & Allergen Free Expo is in Dallas and all I can think about is the bag of these cookies that I left on my kitchen table when I left. (I know, cookie abuse).
I would love to paint you a picture of the comedy of errors that was our 8 hour adventure to Dallas. There were cancelled flights, gate changes and airline rebookings galore. There was one little box of dried fruit and gluten-free airline snacks were few and far between. I am about to melt into bed from exauhstion.
But, I digress, this isn’t a post about air travel woes.
I love chocolate chip cookies. In college, I had the recipe for toll house cookies memorized. I could whip up a batch half asleep when I wanted to do something nice for my roommates before I left for the day or at 3 in the morning as sustenance to get a study group through a marathon final exam study session. I am not even sure if I measured most of the time because I knew the recipe so well.
I have made so many failed batches of gluten free chocolate chip cookies that I was certain that I was never going to eat a good one again.
But man, I had a craving for some cookies. As much as I love pumpkin, I needed a break from pumpkin-themed baked goods. I wanted a good, old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie. And, since I know a thing or two about chocolate chip cookies, I wanted to elevate these beyond the ones that you learned to make in junior high. They have a soft, chewy center with crispy golden edges where the sugars caramelized. The secret to the dynamite flavor? Semi-sweet chocolate chips (I beg you not to use milk chocolate! They will be too sweet) and toffee bits. The toffee bits melt slightly into the cookies and add a surprise layer of caramel goodness.
Oh, and there is no creaming til light and fluffy, no letting your butter soften and no pre-heating the oven. Just go with me here. And don’t deviate from the recipe. At least the first time. You will be happy you listened to me.
| Cookies! |
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Today felt like fall. There was a chill in the air. It rained a gloomy rain. I was wishing I had worn a sweater. This week is framed by college football. An Illini game last Saturday and a Notre Dame game this weekend. Fall has arrived.
And so has the insane amount of weekends filled with obligations. Blondie and I have one weekend “off” between now and November. There is a football game (our second in a row), a trip to Dallas, Blondie is running the Chicago marathon, reservations at Girl & the Goat, my aunt’s 60th birthday and a wedding.
But all that happening is ok because that means it is fall, and fall means pumpkin everything. Pumpkin lattes. Pumpkin soup. Pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin pasta sauce. Carved pumpkins. And pupkin cupcakes.
That’s right. Pumpkin cupcakes. Gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes.
Here is the recipe in stop motion. It might make you a little hungry, so grab a snack before you watch it, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(I made this video for a class I am taking at U of I to get my portfolio beefed up for grad school)
| Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting |
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I have had great success with both Jules Nearly Normal flour and Cup4Cup All Purpose flour. If you are making your own blend use 80 grams sorghum flour, 8- grams brown rice flour, 80 grams sweet white rice flour and 80 grams tapioca starch.
I might have a thing for doughnuts. I made 3 kinds of baked doughnuts earlier this summer with grown up flavors like honey lavender and ginger brown butter. (I might have also shown you that I have a ridiculous sweet tooth with those powdered sugar doughnuts).
When we were kids, doughnuts were a special tradition. On the morning of my first day of first grade, the ceiling collapsed in the kitchen. The fan was still spinning while it was sitting on the kitchen table. My dad, the breakfast superhero, couldn’t cook. So, he did what any dad would do. He went out to get doughnuts and started a tradition that lasted until I went away to college.
My favorites? Chocolate snowballs (powdered sugar-covered, chocolate whipped cream filled), Boston Creme and strawberry. Oh and pumpkin or apple spice doughnuts.
For this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally (in which we all create a recipe based on a ratio – you can learn more at Shauna’s introductory post), Meg thought we should all make doughnuts or fritters. The timing was perfect. School has just started; the air was cool this morning. And I had a whole bottle of canola oil.
My first two attempts at doughnuts were miserable failures. I tried one where you create a yeast sponge that you let sit overnight (hockey pucks) and another with the ratio that everyone else seemed to find workable (sand).
I sat down and did some math from recipes of chefs I admire (Jamie Oliver, Baked, Alton Brown, etc.). My ratio is radically different from the other ones that you will see. I used no eggs. I used a lower flour to liquid ratio. But I ended up with doughnuts that are like eating clouds. They were good plain (I had to taste to make sure), they were excellent with just the glaze (again, I had to taste them to verify) and they were pretty close to perfection once I filled them with cream and dipped them in the glaze again.
My ratio was 3:2:1:1. Flour:Liquid:Sugar:Fat. Pretty simple. You can scale this recipe down if it is just for 2 or scale it up to feed a small army.
If you are going to buy a flour blend, I made some of these with the Cup4Cup flour from Williams-Sonoma (that bag cost $20! You better believe I will be baking with it). You will have equally fantastic results with Jules’ Nearly Normal Flour. Want to blend your own? There is a break down in the recipe notes on how to do this.
Yeast doughnuts are not for the time-pressed, and I made these a little more complicated than just your basic doughnut. There is time involved (lots of waiting). You don’t have to fill yours, or cook raspberries to make a juice. (I also used the pulp to flavor my yogurt and cooked the leftover juice into a syrup for adding to bubbly water).
Think of the doughnut as a blank canvas with infinite possibilities. And then think of just how worth it a warm straight-from-the-fryer doughnut is. (KrispyKreme did not end up all over the country for nothing! Warm doughnuts are a superb treat).
Before the recipe magic, here are links to all the other participants in this month’s event, hosted by Meg at Gluten-Free Boulangerie
Charissa from Zest Bakery made Picarones (Sweet potato/pumpkin fritters)
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Mini raspberry doughnut cakes
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Apple Butter Maple Syrup Donuts, GF
gretchen from kumquat made peach cider doughnuts
Brooke from B & the boy! made Apricot Fritters
Meg from Gluten-Free Boulangerie made Old-fashioned raised doughnuts & cake doughnuts
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Chocolate Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free Thai Fried Bananas
Jean Layton made Cinnamon Apple FrittersOK
Silvana from Silvana’s Kitchen Vanilla-Glazed Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Claire from Gluten Freedom made Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Cake Donuts
Jeanette from Jeanette’s Healthy Living made Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Shauna from Gluten-Free Girl & the Chef made Gluten-free yeast doughnuts
Caliegh from Gluten Free(k) made Beetroot Fritters
TR from Nobody Likes Crumbly Cookies made Sweet Pepper Fritters
Pete from No Gluten, No Problem made doughnut holes
Britt from GF in the City made fritters
Tara from A Baking Life made Gluten Free Brioche Doughnuts
Irvin from Eat the Love made Vanilla Doughnuts
| Gluten Free Raspberries & Cream doughnuts |
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*If you are not using a pre-blended flour, you can either use [url href=”http://glutenfreegirl.com/gluten-free-holiday-baking-2010/”]Shauna’s All-Purpose Blend[/url] and add 2 teaspoons xantham gum. Whisk well before using.
Or you can make your own with 90 grams (3/4 cup) tapioca starch, 100 grams (1/2 cup) sweet white rice flour, 60 grams (1/2 cup) sorghum flour. Add 2 teaspoons xantham gum and whisk together well to ensure that the gum is spread throughout the flour.
**I made mine by cooking a half pint of raspberries in 2 cups of water with a half cup of sugar for about 30 minutes – you can use store bought or just use milk and vanilla extract
It was kind of a busy weekend.
Blondie and I saw friends, had dinner with my family (because my cousin got engaged!), went to a baking demo, went out for lunch, managed to get in a few photos for my class and I made caramels.
Blondie and I were going to do a scavenger hunt/race for an engagement ring on Sunday. But we skipped it. To go to a gluten free baking demo at Williams Sonoma. But I will tell you more about that tomorrow, once I bake something with their new gluten free flour.
Blondie graciously jammed on his guitar so I could do some homework. (Rapid fire shots combined into one swell image).
The real story is this caramel recipe. And a cookbook that I think you need.
You see, I was that strange kid that absolutely adored bulls eyes and cow tail candies. The chewy caramel filled with the creamy crumbly white sugar stuff.
This was my second time making the recipe, and it is divine. (It sure made my dad happy too, he is the one who got me hooked on this type of candy as a kid).
It is Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado. Now, before you get all conspiracy theorist on me, yes, she is Sandra’s sister. I refuse to hold this against her (mostly because Sandra was super gracious to the neighborhood kids when she filmed While You Were Sleeping).
Almost the entire cookbook is gluten free. Simply because when you are cooking with sugar and making candies, you don’t need flour. (There are a half dozen recipes at the back of the book, but you could substitute your favorite cake, crepe or pâte à choux recipe for hers and just follow the technique and recipes for frosting and and other bits).
There are recipes for several different fudges, marshmallows, rock candy, milk candy and to top it off, cotton candy.
Another bonus? The ingredients are listed in both US measurements and by weight. (I made the caramels using both sets of measurements). For those of you afraid of relinquishing your measuring cups, the conversions are there. For those of you not in the states or who have started to use scales for baking, the weights are right there for you.
The instructions are clearly written in a friendly voice. She sounds like a friend teaching you how to do these things in the kitchen might sound. There are sweet stories in the recipe head notes and all the recipes look fabulous. (I would like an excuse to make fairy floss, so someone needs to have a party for me to bring it to).
I am sure this book is not dentist approved, but the recipes are fun and approachable. Plus, the author lists variations for each recipe.
| Salted Caramels with Vanilla Bean Cream |
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Caramel
Vanilla Bean Cream
Try using instant espresso powder in the fondant to create caramel frappucino candies.
You can make fat rolls (like the ones pictured), by leaving a half inch of fondant from the short sides, cutting the caramel in half lengthwise, and then in half crosswise to make 4 shorter, wider rolls.
I can’t believe that it has been a month since I posted about making gluten-free pasta from scratch. Or, that just 2 months ago, I was making cream puffs and apricot dumplings.
This month’s challenge: white or yellow cake. It is the host’s daughter’s birthday, and we are all bringing cake to the party.
When I was a younger, my mom brought me up with a general disdain for baking from boxes. And I loved funfetti cupcakes when they were brought in as treats to school. Especially when they were baked in sugar cones.
As a kid, I had a cake that was decorated like a hamburger and one that was ballet shoes. I had the kind of cakes that you normally don’t get when your mom bakes your cake. Really cool cakes that taste good. But I remember being envious of those kids and their funfetti cupcakes.
I was envious of the sprinkles inside the cupcakes. Not the actual taste.
When I heard it was Kate’s daughter’s first birthday this month, I couldn’t wait to put sprinkles inside my cake. Because, really, they are better when they are inside.
I used a modified version of Ruhlman’s ratio. I couldn’t remember baking a cake without liquid. And his ratio somehow forgot that. I found an article on fine cooking about cake ratios. It was a bit less straightforward than a 1:1:1:1 ratio, but that’s ok. I did all the math for you. You can thank me later. When you squeal with delight because there are sprinkles inside your cake (or cupcakes), and you didn’t use a box mix.
My ratio ended up being 2:2:1:1:.75… flour:sugar:eggs:butter:liquid
Now, let me explain the wonky ratio. Yes, I said wonky.
Britt @ GF in the City made Boston Cream Pie
brooke @ B & the boy! made White Cake with Apricots & Blueberries
Caleigh @ Gluten Freek[k] made White Chocolate Cupcakes
Caneel @ Mama Me Gluten Free made Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Cake
Caroline @ The G-Spot made Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
Charissa @ Zest Bakery made White Russian Cake
Claire @ Gluten Freedom made Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze (alcohol-free!)
Dr. Jean Layton @ GFDoctorRecipes made Mocha Buttercream Yellow Birthday Cake-Gluten-Free
Erin @ The Sensitive Epicure made Chocolate Hostess CupCakes Dupes
gretchen @ kumquat made coconut boston cream pie cupcakes
Karen @ Cooking Gluten-Free! made Traditional Birthday Cake
Kate Chan @ Gluten Free Gobsmacked made GF Basic White Birthday Cake
Kate @ KateAliceCookbook made Lemon tea cake
Lisa @ Gluten Free Canteen made Frangelico Cupcakes with Nutella
Marla @ Family Fresh Cooking made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Shauna @ Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
The Healthy Apple made Gluten-Free Chocolate Pistachio Pound Cake
TR Crumbley@ No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Gluten Free Tiramisu Cake
Winnie @ Healthy Green Kitchen made Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
Rachel @ The Crispy Cook made Czech Cherry Bublanina
| Gluten Free Confetti Cake |
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Vegan swaps: use 4 flax eggs (1 tablespoon ground flax dissolved in 3 tablespoons water). Use Earth Balance Buttery Spread in place of butter and powdered, dried soymilk in place f the powdered dry milk.
To use a gluten free flour blend (or if you can bake with gluten flour), you need 1 1/2 cups of flour. (For a non-gf cake or if you use Jules Nearly Normal Flour, you can omit the xantham gum).
Blondie and I went to Williams Sonoma on Sunday to take my mom for coffee on her break and to look around for a wedding gift. And I might need some help on figuring out what exactly we should buy. I hate buying strictly from a registry. In fact, for close friends I skip the registry and just buy a nice gift. I like to think that I am good at gift-giving.
Anyways, we were wandering through the store and we walked by the pizza stones. I stopped, picked up a small one and told Blondie that I thought that I needed to get one.
He asked me what the point was.
I guess this shouldn’t suprise me. This is the same boy who said that all you really need is a 1/4 cup measuring cup. (I think this is because he has melted or snapped the handles off of the 99¢ set that he got when he moved into his first apartment).
I explained the science behind it to him, and a woman who was working right there said I sounded just like my mother.
Apparently, I am that age. You know, the age where you turn into your mother. You realize you say the same kind of things and you share hobbies and that for the first time in your life you aren’t fighting the inevitable.
I think it also was the first time in forever that I walked out of that store without a new pan or spice blend for my kitchen in ages. Or a gift. We ended up not buying the gift just yet.
Oh well.
I decided that I wanted vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting last night. And then I remembered that this month’s Ratio Rally is white or yellow cake. And if I baked those, I would have to wait a whole week to share them. And I couldn’t leave you hanging that long.
So last night, I invented these cupcakes. The method is similar to the way I made my gluten free chai cupcakes and results in the perfect cake texture.
I swear I have more imagination than this. But I really love strawberries and chocolate. Together.
| Strawberry Cupcakes with Ganache |
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If you prefer more of a frosting, double everything in the ganache except for the 2nd powdered sugar. You will need to triple or quadruple it.This way you can top your cupcakes with a fluffy dome of frosting.