Gluten and Dairy Free Pumpkin Bread

Oh how I LOVE pumpkin bread. I made some this year using my favorite recipe for the Harvest Feast at my boys’ school. To my surprise my oldest (7) asked me if it has wheat in it. I told him it did and asked if he wanted me to make a wheat free version for him. He said “yeah!” Why was I surprised? Because he is a VERY picky eater and does not usually like to try new things. If you have read through my blog you will know that he is also Autistic. If you know anyone on the spectrum you will know that this IS A VERY BIG THING. I am so proud! He not only tried it, with out having to be coaxed, HE LIKED IT ALOT! Just smelling something new is huge let alone putting it in his mouth!

I have only made this once but I thought there might be a lot of people out there who might like a good pumpkin bread for the holidays. I also have a few notes from my first batch. 1- I am going to cut back on the oil a bit because it took forever to bake and was still very moist almost too moist. So next time I am going to try 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup. 2- My oven isn’t the greatest at maintaining temperature so if you think it looks like it still needs more time…..give it more time. I could have baked mine for a bit longer (that would have helped the moisture issue as well)

Ingredients:

3-1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix

3 cups sugar

1 Tbs xanthan gum

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp allspice

1-1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup oil (I am going to cut back to 3/4 c for my next batch)

1 29oz can pumpkin (Libby’s states it is gluten free!) I love Manufacturers that take the time to spell it out. They will forever have my gratitude for it.

4 eggs

1 cup each of Raisins and nuts may be added (walnuts are really good in this bread)

Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick spray. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine the oil, eggs and pumpkin. Mix pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. It will be thick and heavy. You can mix it in a stand mixer but it will probably be too thick for a hand mixer. A wooden spoon works great too. Bake for 1-1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Note: I have found that gluten free baked goods are always best when eaten right away. This recipe makes 2 loaves. If you won’t be serving both right away, try freezing half the batter. You can even freeze it directly in the loaf pan you plan to bake it in. You can also try this as muffins or even mini muffins. A favorite thing of mine is to take muffin mix and freeze some so that I can make them up on a Saturday morning in my mini muffin maker.

Happy Holidays!!!

Katrina

Technorati Tags: gluten free,dairy free,pumpkin,bread

Easy No Fuss Halloween Cupcakes-GF/CF

Peeps make the perfect Halloween cupcake toppers. A generous amount of frosting will keep your peeps standing upright. I made these for the first time last year with the ghosts after seeing some adorable ghost cupcakes made out of marshmallows covered in frosting. I even posted about them on my personal blog. Then I got a brilliant idea to just use peeps. No muss no fuss and they were thoroughly enjoyed.

When you pull the pumpkin peeps apart there is always a sticky edge. You can take care of this by pressing the exposed marshmallow in orange colored sugar crystals. You don’t have to do anything with the ghost peeps since they aren’t connected in the same way.

When I bought my peeps today I noticed that they also had “black” cats as well. If you have a few dozen cupcakes to make up for a Halloween party why not just top them with peeps and fun sprinkles? Even if you don’t have a party to make them for your children will no doubt love them as a special treat. They will enjoy helping you frost the cupcakes and decorating them with peeps and sprinkles.

Happy Halloween

Katrina

Technorati Tags: Halloween,cupcakes,Peeps,decoration

Yummy Parsnip Muffins-Gluten and Dairy Free

I know what you are thinking……”Parsnips? Yummy?” Yes they can be yummy. I can’t say that I eat parsnips all the time. What I can say is that I have prepared them before and not cared for their flavor. So when I say this is yummy, I am not kidding around. If I didn’t like them you would not be reading this. If my husband and one of my two boys didn’t like them, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Last weekend I was watching Good Eats on Food Network. Alton Brown had an entire show on preparing parsnips so that children would not only eat them but ask for seconds. The first thing he made was parsnip muffins. They looked pretty tasty. His version had roasted almond slivers on top and looked much like muffins you would buy in a bakery.

I decided I would try to make a gluten free version of these muffins since my son can’t have gluten. What is the point of making these the normal way if my child (whom I am trying to get to eat more vegetables) can’t eat them? So I can’t tell you if these taste “just like” his but I can say that we liked them. My oldest son is avoiding them because they are a new food (even though they look much like the banana muffins he loves). My younger son who is in many ways even more picky than his brother said “Mmmm these are super yum!”

My version has the texture of banana or pumpkin bread but a slight lemony flavor. Even though there is no lemon in them.

Thanks Alton for the inspiration!!! Here is Alton's original recipe.

Ingredients

1-ounce sliced almonds (optional)

nonstick spray

8-1/2 ounces Gluten Free Flour Mix

1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (Alton recommends freshly grated, I say use what you got ;)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 whole eggs

3/4 cup soy yogurt (I used 1/4 cup soy sour cream + 1/4 cup soy cream cheese + 1/4 rice milk because it is what I had on hand) Plain soy yogurt is harder for me to find with out driving all over the place.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)

8 ounces sugar

10 ounces grated parsnips (I processed the gratings into a pulp to hide them better)

Directions

Place the almonds in a single layer in a pie pan and place in the oven. heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the nuts until lightly toasted, approximately 20 minutes while the oven heats. Meanwhile, spray a standard 12 cup muffin tin with the nonstick spray and set aside.

I skipped that first part because I used my mini muffin maker (kind of like a waffle maker that sits on the counter). I did spray my mini muffin maker with nonstick spray.

Combine the flour, Xanthan Gum, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Mix well.

Whisk the eggs, yogurt (or my substitutions listed above), vegetable oil, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined. Add the flour and parsnips, and fold with a spatula until all the flour is moistened.

Prepare the parsnips by peeling off the outer skin. Cut off the top end and grate all but the inner core. In Alton’s show he explains that the core is a little bitter. You want only the sweet flesh for this. I then put my grated parsnip into a food processor to make it into a finer pulp. This gives the muffins a similar texture to banana muffins. The parsnip will not break down when baking. Your children will be able to see the shredded parsnip inside the muffin when they eat it if you don’t process it down further. Just saying….. For us it is a texture thing.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups. If you are adding almonds, sprinkle the top of each muffin with the toasted almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins reach and internal temperature of 210 degrees F and are golden brown. Rotate your pan half way through while baking. If needed, use a small knife to loosen the muffins and immediately remove them from the tin to a cooling rack. Alton says to cool them for 15 minutes and serve warm. We ate our mini muffins as soon as they were cool enough to bite into with out burning ourselves (which was more like a minute but remember we made mini muffins, they cool faster).

I have found that gluten free baked goods are best eaten fresh. These are best when eaten with in a day or two. I froze half of my batter for another time. I have done this for years with cookie dough, cake batter and banana muffin mixes. We bake up what we want to eat right away. When I want use use my frozen batter, I simply defrost it and bake it. This is great when you have produce that needs to be used right away before it goes bad. We like to use the frozen batters on weekends for no fuss breakfasts on Saturdays.

P.S. If you are freezing banana muffin mix add a touch of lemon juice to it and the batter won't turn brown.

With cookie dough you can partially defrost it and use what you want right then and put the rest back in the freezer. It will keep for 3-6 months.

Enjoy,

Katrina

Technorati Tags: recipe,parsnip,muffins,gluten free,dairy free

Easy Chocolate Halloween Lollypops

I can’t take credit for coming up with this idea. Other than I decided to do bats and cats because they are usually black and I am using Gluten and dairy free dark chocolate they are the brain child of my Mother-in-law.

Either one of these products are a good choice. I have used them both and like them equally. If you are looking for Mini Chocolate chips use Enjoy life’s. Tropical Source’s chips are regular sized.

My crafty sister-in-law Rebecca posted about this on our craft blog. I am simply sharing my take on her project which she got from Mom making them many years ago. You can go HERE to see her post and the tutorial and for a ghost template. Mostly I am just sharing with my friends and family what Hobbs and I did together today. Calvin stopped by to supervise and give suggestions. ;)

Hobbs helped me make the bats. I outlined the shapes from templates I printed out and added chocolate to the centers. Hobbs used the lollypop sticks to spread the chocolate around. I brought out some candy shapes and Calvin said that I should put a bone in the cat’s mouth. I decided to place it like it is a bow with a skull below like a name tag. I didn’t have just round shapes so I used skulls for the bat’s eyes. Instead they look more like big ol’ teeth or something. ;) Ah well they taste just as good. The candies actually have a citrus/fruity taste to them so they go really nicely with the flavor of the chocolate.

What I like about them is that unlike candy molds that make really thick chocolate lollypops these don’t use all that much chocolate for each one. Just enough to satisfy a chocolate craving. Also you can make a ton out of just one bag of chocolate. These can easily be adapted with other shapes for other Holidays as well. Just think Turkeys with Candy Corn tails (be sure to check the label Brocks is MFG on equipment that isn't dedicated), reindeer, hearts with conversation hearts in the middle, a pot of gold.... the list could go on and on. How great would these be with crushed up candy canes mixed in?

Thanks Rebecca for the great idea. The boys LOVED them!

Katrina

Technorati Tags: chocolate,gluten free,dairy free,soy free,nut free,lollypops,suckers,Halloween,kids crafts,allergy friendly

Pumpkin cookies from a box mix – even for people with food allergies

My Sister-in-law wrote this for our craft blog. You can read more about her story HERE.

When Fall hits here in Arizona, I have to do things to help me put myself in the Fall mood. We were still in the hundreds today…I’m talking about the temperature! It is hard to remember it is Fall with heat like this. The first thing I usually do is adjust our menu to include more root vegetables, and baked chicken and even dip into pumpkin cookies. Oh yah. I’m talking about you Mr. Pumpkin. You are not just for carving faces into my friend.

Just like my 3 year old, I also have Eosinophilic Esophagitis. I try really hard to omit wheat /gluten, dairy, soy, beef, nuts, tree nuts, and really go easy on eggs too. I like to bake. I love the smell of some delish sugary confection baking in my oven. Heaven. As you could imagine, my EE doesn’t leave a lot of sweets in my diet. Well, not sweets that won’t make me sick.

I used to always make sure that I had at least one cake mix and one cookie mix on hand for those last minute play dates or childhood emergencies that would call for fresh baked cookies a.s.a.p.! Our paternal Grandma always has the best-tasting-really-bad-for-you- recipes in her baking arsenal. Years ago she sent us all a package with all kinds of fall recipes. You know, church ladies kind of recipes. Yah, you know what I’m talking about now. Recipes smothered in gravies and cheese and other items that should never really be considered a real food, but we still put it in our dinner-kind of recipes. (How is that for a sentence?!) Wowza. My favorite was Spice Cake Pumpkin Cookies. Oh yah! Now we are talking. You know, you take a box mix of Spice Cake, and a can of pumpkin and mix it into heavenly yumminess. But, oh how a regular cake mix would make my insides hurt for a good two weeks.

I don’t have to suffer anymore!! Enter Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix. Oh yah, a gluten free cake mix in a box at a regular grocery store! I’m sure you could do this with Pamela’s or Bob’s cake mixes the same way. But sometimes you just need convenience my friends.

Now don’t look away my non-allergy friends. You too can make this with regular processed and packaged goods. You go buy yourself a regular cake mix or a regular spice cake mix, a can of pumpkin and some chocolate chips. You make it just the same way. And you non-allergy friends have a less gummy cookie. Mmmm.

• 1 package spice cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s gluten free)
• 1 (15 oz) can solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie stuff ‘cause that contains other stuff, yes I am getting technical on you here.)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/3 cup Enjoy Life chips which are dairy, soy and gluten free)
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla (I have homemade from liquor that I am not allergic to)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your cookie sheet.

Mix your cake mix, pumpkin and chocolate chips. drop onto the cookie sheet. I flaten mine with a fork and sprinkle some sugar on mine. If you have Turbinado or Raw Sugar (or even just regular ol sugar) sprinkle some of that on top. Who doesn’t love some crunch on top of their cookies? Wait, don’t answer that.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

These are more cake like than just a hard cookie.

Other variations could be:

add 1/2 cup raisins

add about 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 1/3 cup molasses to make a more ginger-bready kind.

I did the first batch with some added pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. The second (darker two) batch, I added the molasses. Both were good in their own right.

Below is an option that is not for those on a Dairy free diet (not sure about gluten in kisses because we know they aren't dairy free we don't buy them). Katrina

Last year, I used regular ol’ spice cake mix and pumpkin. I scooped some of the dough into my mini muffin tin.

Then I added some of these babies.

I think it was called Pumpkin Spice something or other. I got them at Target. They had a white chocolate kind of inside to them. I made the cookies this way because I thought it was like a twist to the peanut butter cookies with a kiss in each. This was over the top creamy-ness. If I told you I didn’t eat a ton of them, I would be lying. I would also need to confess they made me really sick. Oh my allergy overload. I learned my lesson! But you non-allergy friends who like white chocolate would likely enjoy this.

Enjoy your fall and make some quick cookies! Gluten-free or regular cake mix is up to you! I like having options;)

Anjeanette

Coconut Milk Vanilla Ice Cream- Dairy Free

Today I made some coconut milk vanilla ice cream. A few weeks ago I purchased a coconut because the boys were really interested in getting one. The have seen them in shows that they watch and were curious about them. They were very excited to shake it and hear the coconut milk sloshing around inside. Both Calvin and Hobbs were eager to try coconut milk. Jim has been getting coconut ice cream because it seems to bother him less than rice or soy ice creams. Plus he really likes coconut. When I purchased they coconut, I also picked up a can of coconut milk just in case they really liked it. Of course what comes out of a coconut isn’t like what comes out of the cans. The “milk” inside the coconut isn’t white and it has a much stronger flavor. I thought I would try my hand at coconut ice cream. I did some searching for recipes on line and found quite a few but most of them still use heavy cream. From a previous experiment I found that Xanthan Gum makes rice milk really thick. So for this recipe I used rice milk instead of heavy cream. I also added some Xanthan Gum to make up for the thinness of the rice milk and so that I could “whip” it up a bit.

I am pleased with my results. This is a smooth and creamy ice cream with plenty of coconut flavor. For added coconut flavor replace 1/4 cup of the canned coconut with fresh coconut milk or add coconut extract.

Serves 6 or more About 1 quart.

Ingredients:

1/3 cups sugar add more if you want to make it sweeter

2 cups rice milk

1-1/2 to 2 tsp Xanthan Gum

2 cups thick dairy free coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 vanilla bean scrapped

1. You will need to have a container ready to freeze the ice cream in. Set aside

2. Measure 2 cups of coconut milk and set aside. Whisk out any lumps.

3. In a blender, blend rice milk and xanthan gum until thick and smooth. About 1 minute. Mixture will be a bit gelatinous looking.

4. Transfer the milk mixture into a large bowl.

5. Fold in coconut milk into rice milk mixture to combine.

6. Add vanilla extract and 1/2 of a vanilla been scrapings. Stir to combine.

7. Pour the ice cream mixture into an ice cream maker or into the container you plan to store it in.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can put the mixture in the freezer and give it a stir every once in a while. Another fun way to freeze ice cream is to use two cans with plastic lids. You will need one can to fit inside the other with room for ice, salt and a little bit of water. Put the ice cream in the smaller can and close the lid tightly. If there is room put a layer of ice in the bottom of the larger can. Add a bit of rock salt. Place the ice cream can inside the larger can and pack with ice all around. Add rock salt as you pack in the ice. Now put a bit of water around the ice (not much just enough to wet some of the cubes). Place a lid on the large can. Now roll or shake the can around till your ice cream is frozen.

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie mix

I have finally tracked it down. Betty Crocker's new Gluten Free Brownie mix. What I really wanted to know is what was in it. I wanted to know if it was dairy free as well as gluten free.

Here is the ingredient list: Sugar, Semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocoalte liquor, cocoa butter,soy lecithin, vanilla), cocoa processed with alkali, rice flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, salt. Contains Soy Ingredients.

My son has been asking me to make them since we put them into the shopping basket in the store. All that you add to this mix is margarine (butter if you can have it) and 2 eggs.

Upon getting home my son asked me to make then right away. He LOVES brownies. xoxoxoxox The mix is pretty straight forwar and you can make then in anything from an 8x8 to an 11x7 inch pan. Obviously the bigger then pan the thinner the brownies will be. I choose to put them in an 11x7 inch pan. You know to stretch them out a bit farther. The mix has mini chocolate chips in it so you have that extra bit of chocolaty goodness when you take a bite. Honestly I have had many good gluten free brownies. In some ways brownies are a bit more forgiving that some other baked goods are. I have to say that my son and I really liked these brownies. They hit our chocolate cravings right on the money! What I like about them is that this is a name brand and is fairly easy to get a hold of at a regular supermarket. The price was also resonable as well. I have purchased some gluten free mixes were more expensive and not neccessarily above an beyond in flavor. If you haven't tried it you should.

We also purchased the devil's food cake mix. I will be sure to let you know how that one is. Although you may have to wait a week or two. I am not one to have desserts around all the time. Plus with the boys going off to school next week, I will be left all alone with chocolate and that is never a good thing. Well, yes it is a good thing for my taste buds but not for my hips. ;)

They also make a yellow cake mix and chocolate chip cookie mix. One by one I will be trying all of them. I have not yet seen the yellow cake mix.

Vanilla Frosting mix

Makes a nice creamy frosting however, I have used it for so much more. Any time you have a recipe that calls for the item you are making to be coated in powdered sugar use this instead. It has vanilla in it and adds a bit of extra flavor. It is what I used for my marshmallows, used it in my peanut butter cups and I made some snow ball cookies coated in this. Quite tasty!!! MMmmmmmm Of course if you have powdered sugar and powdered vanilla you could put something similar together yourself. This contains powdered sugar, vanilla and sea salt.

Marshmallows!

I made these as part of my Valentine's Day gifts to my husband and two boys along with the peanut butter cups. They love marshmallows. My sister-in-laws have a crafty blog with the recipe http://www.rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/ in the 14 day's of Valentine's posts. Check it out to see what they did.

To make it easy here is the recipe:

Marshmallows Recipe

3 envelopes of Knox gelatin (oops I used 4 and they came out great, not sure how this would change the outcome, mine were very creamy)

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cups corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dredging* see what I used below

In the bowl of an electric mixer (preferably a stand mixer), sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for 10 minutes. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a sheet pan with foil and brush with oil or non-stick spray. Also brush your spatula with oil.

Add vanilla and incorporate into mixture.

Scrape the marshmallow mixture into the lined sheet pan and spread evenly. Cover with another piece of foil brushed with oil. Let mixture sit for a few hours. Remove from pan, dredge the marshmallow slab with confectioners’ sugar and cut into equal pieces with a chef’s knife. Be sure to coat your knife between each cut with confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) to make it easier to cut. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in powdered sugar or dip in chocolate.

*Instead of just plain powdered sugar I used Vanilla Frosting mix by Cherrybrook Kitchen and it is all natural, Gluten and Dairy free. http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/. It is basically powdered sugar, vanilla and sea salt. If you have powdered vanilla you could make your own. The nice thing is that it added a bit more vanilla flavor, which added a nice touch. My sister-in-laws said that theirs came out a bit more bland than they would have liked. I found mine to be quite tasty and not bland at all. I also used my home-made vanilla for this. My sister-in-law also used her home-made vanilla but mine has a touch of dark rum in it which adds a bit of sweetness to it.

You could coat them with crushed candy canes or any other favorite crushable candies. Just put them in the blender or food processer and make them into a powder. These are quite sticky and need to be coated with something so they are easier to handle and don't stick together.

Happy Valentines Day Peanut Butter Cups

I opened one up just for you! MMMMMMmmmmmm......... I like them! They are a little different than traditional Reeses Peanut Butter cups in that they are essentially dark chocolate. I didnt' bother trying to sweeten up the chocolate chips. I only made 12 and the peanut butter filling could easily have made many more. Since I only have 12 heart cups I decided to stop there for now. Just happens that I didn't melt the whole bag of chocolate and had just enough for these. Since I like to consume anything chocolate I feel this is plenty for our little family.

I bought some silicone baking cups in the shape of hearts. You can find them in both the regular muffin size and the mini muffin size. Especially during February. Wait just a little longer and they will be on sale. I wanted to make something special for my guys. My husband and both of my children are unable to have dairy. My oldest son is unable to tolerate gluten of any kind. So buying chocolates off the shelf is out.

There are so many wonderful foods out there that he can't have and I don't want him to miss out. So I hunt up recipes and if I can't find exactly what I am looking for I will modify what I do find. In this case I only have to get the right kind of chocolate chips. This recipe called for milk chocolate but since "milk" is out of the question we will settle for dark chocolate peanut butter cups. My son has been on a gluten and dairy free diet most of his life and thankfully does not really remember a time when he ate what ever he wanted. He learned at an early age that some foods are out because we explained that it would hurt is tummy. That is how we explained it to our then 3 year old. He is now 7 and it does not so much cramp him up like it use to but he knows he can't have it anyway. These days he does not feel the cramping in his stomach that makes him cry and scream all night (what use to happen if he ate even a little bit of gluten or dairy). Now it just manifests itself as cranky, angry, uncooperative, hyper sensitive, and really makes his Autism more evident. People don't normally understand what I mean by this until they witness it for themselves. Any amount of dairy means 3 bad days. Any amount of gluten means up to a week or more of bad behaviors. You could say it makes life hard on him and us. Anyway, back to the recipe I promised you.

You will need:
Chocolate 1 bag of gluten dairy free chips (scroll down and see some I have found)
1 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

I need to note that I got this off of foodnetwork.com

There are many recipes out there but I found this to be the simplest and most straight forward. Some of the others had ingredients that needed to be substituted.

To temper the chocolate:place in a bowl over barely simmering water to melt. Bring the chocolate up to 113 degrees F. Turn off the heat, removed the bowl from the simmering water and let cool. Stirring until it reaches 82 to 86 degrees f. It will begin to set a little around the edges at this point. Return the bowl to the hot )now turned off) water for a few seconds at a time. Until it reaches 88 to 91 degrees F. Do not let it go over 91 degrees or it will go out of temper.

Pour melted chocolate in a candy mold with individual fluted cups to coat the insides. Pour the excess chocolate back into the bowl and let set or chill to set.

Meanwhile, mix the peanut butter and confectioner's sugar. Using a small spoon or pastry bag with a large plain tip fill each chocolate cup with the peanut butter filling leaving room for a chocolate seal and chill slightly.

Using a paper cone or pastry bag filled with melted chocolate, fill in the surface of the cups to enclose the filling with chocolate. Let set, then turn out of the mold.

I wanted to get this recipe up. I will post pictures since I plan to make some today.


Here are some choices I have found for chocolate chips that are gluten and dairy free. If you have trouble finding them at a store near you, then you can find them at http://www.glutenfreegrocer.com/.

My Gluten/Dairy Free Zebra Cake

First of all I feel I should acknowledge where I got the basic recipe that I modified to make this cake. http://amandainpitt.livejournal.com/6935.html I found this website while looking for a gluten free white cake recipe. It seemed to me that a Zebra cake is made from white cake with cocoa powder mixed into half the batter. I feel I have to add that while this cake turned out fine it did not work as a traditional Zebra cake with vertical stripes. The batter was still much to thick for that. However, I did layer it and ended up with horizontal stripes. This being my first attempt at a zebra cake I feel it was a fair attempt. My 6 and 4 year old boys really liked it. The flavoring was good. I am going to try to come up with a less thick cake recipe to try this again. For now this is what I came up with.

Here goes:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Rice Flour (her recipe calls for white rice, I used brown rice since I had that on hand, you could also try sweet rice flour)

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour

2/3 cup Tapioca Flour

1/3 cup Potato Starch Flour

1 cup White Cane Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

3/4 cup Shortening plus 4 tablespoons Water (she used softened butter or margarine)

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 cup + 4 Tablespoons milk-any type (I used rice milk)

2 teaspoons oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch round pan or a 9 inch square pan. I also dusted my pan with rice flour to keep the cake from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Worked like a dream.

Combine the first 8 dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Place shortening and water in a mixer bowl and beat until creamy. Add dry ingredient mix to shortening on lowest setting until combined. Your mixture will be crumbly, about 1 minute.

In small bowl, lightly whisk eggs and vanilla together. Add eggs to mixer and mix until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Add milk and mix for 1 minute.

Now take half of your batter and pour into a separate bowl. Add to this:

1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons milk

What I did for layering my Zebra Cake. Since it wasn't runny enough to spread out, I decided to make several mounds of alternating chocolate and white cake mix. In the center I started with a tablespoon of white cake, then alternated between white cake and chocolate cake mix around it. Using a tablespoon at a time, layer white on top of chocolate and chocolate on top of white until you use all the batter.

Here is what mine looked like:

Ok, so I know this does not look pretty. I had already tried the traditional method for making a Zebra cake and my center mound just wasn't spreading out. What to do? So I decided to do six other mounds around it. The bottom layers alternating from white cake to chocolate. I also could have used a slightly bigger pan for this. My 10 inch spring form pan would have been better.
The batter was thick and I had a hard time spooning it on a tablespoon at a time. So this isn't going to be pretty from the top view. Maybe you will have better luck. In the end the layers did smooth out a bit so that they mounts would have made a fairly smooth top (If my pan had been bigger).

Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Finish cooling on wire rack. Frost when cool (though this does not need frosting).

Here is how mine looked when cut into:

Candy Corn Smoothies

I can't remember now where I found this but I found it on line. Sorry....

Ingredients: 3 red apples, peeled and cored

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6 cups low-fat plain soy yogurt

3 tablespoons sugar substitute

2 cups frozen peaches or mango

2 cups frozen pineapple

Red and yellow food coloring

(or you could add a touch of carrot juice for the orange, I can't come up with something with intense yellow at the moment but you get the idea) I know that many people on the Gluten/Dairy free diet also avoid artificial food colorings (especially red). For some reason red is one of those food colorings that more people are likely not to be able to tolerate than other colors.

Directions: Chop apples into chunks and toss with lemon juice. Place in a shallow dish in the freezer until frozen, about 45 minutes. In the work bowl of a food processor or blender, place 2 cups of yogurt along with the frozen apples and sugar substitute and blend until smooth. In the work bowl of a food processor or blender, place frozen peaches or mango and 2 cups of yogurt and process until smooth. Add 4 drops of red food coloring and 8 drops of yellow food coloring for a strong orange color. In the work bowl of a food processor or blender, place frozen pineapple and remaining 2 cups of yogurt and process until smooth. Add 6 drops of yellow food coloring for a bright yellow color. If not serving smoothies right away, store all three layers separately in three separate airtight containers in the freezer. Thaw slightly before serving. Spoon a layer of the apple yogurt mixture into bottom of glasses. Carefully spoon a layer of peach or mango mixture on top. Top with a layer of pineapple mixture. Makes 6-12 servings, depending upon size.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies..GF/DF

I have some cookie dough that I made and froze. When ever I make gluten/dairy free cookies, I never bake the whole batch. They are best when they are fresh. The batter does well in the freezer. I defrosted the container and make a sheet of cookies. This recipe is my own version made gluten free from a cookie recipe I loosely followed. I think the original cookie was suppose to have 3 different kinds of chips. It was from a gifts in a jar cook book. Since I was making a dozen of them at the time I wanted to cut costs down and only use chocolate chips. So what I did was add coco powder and made them into chocolate chocolate chip cookies. So really I use the recipe to give me measurements. I tend to do this a lot. See a recipe and change something if I don't have everything it calls for. The only thing is that rice flour tends to be grainy. These are made with a mix of 3 different flours but I think I will start playing around and see if I can improve the texture. Though I think I need to do more research into what a good sub for rice flour would be. Grainy texture aside these are really tasty. I can eat wheat but my son can't and I would happily eat these for a cookie fix.

At the moment, I am moving some of my food post from my personal blog to this one. So I will come back and add the recipe later. What that means is that I need to make these cookies again so I can tell you the amounts of everything I used. ;) For this batch I winged it...

Gluten, Soy and Dairy free Chocolate Chips

Enjoy life makes gluten,soy and dairy free Chocolate chips on a dedicated line. www.enjoylifefoods.com

Soy Whipped topping

Since Thanksgiving and the holidays bring pies and desserts that would be great with whipped topping, I went on a hunt. I searched the Internet and found this. I found it at one of my local whole foods type store. The packaging does say that it may contain trace amounts of milk. They still claim it is Vegan and Dairy Free on the front of the container. We choose to try it, even though trace amounts of dairy matter greatly to our oldest son. Turns out he didn't want to eat it. He was not in a mood to have something new. However, I tried it and feel that it is a great substitute for whipped cream. It is not unlike the dairy free stuff I use to be able to find in the grocery stores. To me it is a bit like fat free cool whip (maybe a little less sweet). My husband says it tastes like soy. I taste the sweet and the vanilla first and then the soy. Bottom line I highly recommend you try it and see for yourself.

Smoreables

I found these recently and decided to try them out for my cheesecake. My 4 year old sampled a couple of the cookies and said they were good. He is so use to gluten free foods (even though he can eat anything but dairy) that he really does not notice the difference. It is just another food to him. These are about half the size of traditional graham crackers. The smore in the picture is made with one cracker split in two. We have not used them for smores. I will have to get another box some day to try them that way.

The box has a recipe for cheesecake on it. I used their recipe for the crust. At first it seemed odd. Normally when making a graham cracker crust the mixture isn't very wet. Just enough to stick together. Theirs on the other hand, was very wet. It was like taking cookie dough and pressing it into the bottom and sides of the pan (though it didn't stick to your hands because of all the margarine). However, it made for a very nice finished product. I will be looking for these again when I make cheesecake.

Yummy Donut Holes

Recently I decided to try these. I believe I got them before but it has been a really long time. These are a nice cake donut. They look like they are chocolate flavored but they are plain. We ate them as is and I put some in a bag with powdered sugar to coat them. They were good that way too. Again my more adventurous son tried them and liked them a lot. These are a great treat to have.

Oreo type cookies

We use to get the ones made by Midel. They were a good substitute. However, the middle was not creamy like the real thing and the cookies were a little more crispy. These on the other hand have a nice creamy filling and the cookies are a little more moist. In my opinion these are more like Oreo's than Midel's. This brand also make vanilla sandwich cookies.

Pie Crust

Thanksgiving is coming around and pie is usually on the menu. You can make a pie crust that is gluten and dairy free. (this recipe makes enough for both the bottom and top crusts) If you would like a crumb topping I have added those instructions too.

1 Cup white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons ice water

For a crumb topping stir together 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, cut in 3 tablespoons margarine until mixture looks like course crumbs.

In a bowl stir together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Mix wet ingredients. Pour slowly at little at a time into flour mixture. Keep adding until the pastry holds together and forms a ball.

Divide into two balls, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove and roll out one at a time between 2 sheets of plastic. lightly coat plastic with flour to prevent sticking. When transferring to pie tin remove top sheet of plastic. Keep bottom plastic wrap on while pressing crust into corners then remove remaining plastic wrap. Follow baking directions for the pie you wish to make.

Here is another thing you can do. You can make mini pies. You can do this by either by cutting out small circles to line muffin pan cups or simply press the crust into the muffin pan. This is great to do with kids because they can do it themselves. Place pie filling in each up top with either rolled pie crust, strips of crust or with a crumb topping. Fill the muffin cups with a variety of different fillings. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, check to make sure they do not brown too much on the top (if using pie crust on top). If they are browning too fast cover lightly with foil and bake about another 3 minutes. I made these with my son when he was 3. He had lots of fun making them even if he decided he didn't want to eat them. Maybe some day he will try them. I think it is time we made them again this Thanksgiving. Who knows maybe my picky eater will finally try pie. I am on the look out for a dairy free whipped topping and I think I may have found one. I just need to get it and try it out. If it is any good I will be posting it here.

This recipe is thanks to in part to the Gluten Free Gourmet and to my son's summer camp for making mini pies and to my parents who always make a good apple pie with their fresh apples, which I am pretty sure is thanks to my late Grandma Hausser. She was a great cook. Right now I am thinking of her fry bread and can still remember standing on a chair watching them fry up. I can almost taste them with powdered sugar on top. Did I say I gain 5 pound just when I visit my parents? It seems that I gain it this time of year no matter what but when I gain it at their house it is all in one week, not over 2 1/2 months. Oh well, that is what January and February are for, working it off. ;)

Ice cream

Turtle Mountain makes, in my opinion, the best non-dairy ice creams. These are the flavors my boys like. Yep one likes chocolate and they other likes vanilla and they never switch and won't try other flavors. This company also makes a line called Purely Decadent which has some really gourmet flavors. I liked pomegranate chip. YUMMY!!! I can have dairy and have had pomegranate ice cream on a stick covered in dark chocolate. It was heavenly. The purely decadent version of pomegranate with dark chocolate chips in it was pretty nearly the same flavor. I have found many of them at a local health food store.

http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/products.html