Whoopie Pies

I love whoopie pies, and that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.  I also love baking things from scratch, but sometimes I like a quick fix.  This recipe uses Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free chocolate cake mix, it saves time as well as the cost of individual ingredients.  You don’t have to use Bob’s Red Mill, but you may need to cut back on the overall amount of liquid that this recipe asks for.  You want to make sure the batter is a bit thicker than normal.  After some trial runs, I also discovered that the best way to make the cakes is to use a cupcake tin, lubed up with butter or oil.

Ingredients for Cakes:

½ cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

1 (16 oz) package Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix
¾ cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 large eggs
1/3 cup warm water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients for Frosting:
¼ cup shortening
3 ¼ cups confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cupcake tin with oil or butter

Cream the butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth.  Gradually add the cake mix, milk, lemon juice, and eggs at a low speed.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and blend ingredients thoroughly.  Add the warm water and vanilla and blend until mixed.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake tin and fill each hole about ¾.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test (stick in a toothpick, if it comes out clean, they are done).  Remove from oven and allow them to cool completely.

While they cool you can work on the frosting.  Using your electric mixer, beat the shortening and confectioner’s sugar until blended.  Slowly beat in the milk and vanilla.  Mix until it is light and fluffy.

Once your cakes are cooled, cut each in half and spread frosting on each cake.  Sandwich the cakes together and dust the tops with leftover confectioner’s sugar if you’re feeling fancy.  Enjoy!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Along with forbidden sweet treats of the vast gluten sea I also miss my carbs.  I sincerely underestimated how wonderful delivery pizza is.  Yet, I refuse to accept defeat and continue to persevere to find gluten free solutions.  Luckily, I have friends on board to help me.  This recipe was sent to me by a dear friend and it does not disappoint!  The recipe is for a pizza crust made out of cauliflower… yes, cauliflower.  I had heard of using cauliflower as a substitute for a healthier version of the ultimate comfort food- mashed potatoes, but never as a pizza crust.  Intrigued, I gave it a shot.  It’s definitely not your traditional tasting pizza crust, but it’s still very good.  The texture reminds me of a very thin quiche, in a good way.  The recipe does call for a lot of cheese, as it is a major binding agent in the crust.  In my opinion, get some skim mozzarella and call it a day.  It’s worth it- whether you are trying to cut carbs or cut gluten!  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, shredded cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Olive oil (optional)

Pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Other additional toppings of your choice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

To prep your cauliflower, take 1 large head of cauliflower and remove the stems and leaves.  Chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor and pulse just until it looks like rice. If you are low budget, like me, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater.

Place the shredded cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl with 1/4 cup water and microwave for 6-8 minutes, stir half-way through.

In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, mozzarella cheese and egg together and stir until blended. Add the oregano, garlic, and garlic salt and blend again. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and shape into a 9-inch circle. Brush the crust with olive oil to help it brown in the oven.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, until the crust is browned and cooked through the middle.

Remove the crust from the oven, add your sauce and toppings. Place under a broiler at high heat until the cheese is melted and bubbly. (About 3-4 minutes).

Allow the pizza to cool slightly.  Slice, Serve, Enjoy!

See original recipe below:

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Bethenny Frankel's Brown Rice Breakfast

So for those of you who know me, you know that I’m a big fan of Bethenny Frankel.  For those of you who don’t know who Bethenny Frankel is- shame on you.  I’ll leave out my speech about why everyone should love Bethenny and her Skinnygirl brand and focus on her recipe for alternative oatmeal instead.  Trust me- it’s not easy, I have a mini shrine to her in my office.

In the world of celiac, oats are controversial.  Some say they are ok, some say they are not.  Since I’m recently diagnosed, I stay away from them while I get everything under control.  But I miss my oatmeal.  I was perusing YouTube one day and came across this recipe from Bethenny that offers an alternative oatmeal using brown rice- and it is scrumptious!

Ingredients

½ cup brown rice

1 tablespoon sliced almonds

1 tablespoon raisins

¼ cup soy milk

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Dash on vanilla extract and cinnamon

Directions

1.       Combine ingredients and mix together

2.       Heat over stovetop or in microwave

I know the idea of making brown rice is dreadful, but what I do is buy frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s.  It’s already portioned out and you throw it in the microwave for three minutes. So simple.  Also, you don’t always have to use raisins and almonds.  I’ve subbed in pistachios, sunflower seeds, dried pomegranates, whatever I have in the pantry.  It changes the flavor and keeps it interesting!

For those who like a play by play, here is the YouTube link with Bethenny showcasing this awesome recipe!

Bethenny Frankel Healthy Brown Rice Breakfast Recipe

Thanks Bethenny!

Sweet & Spicy Chex Mix

This is a recipe I found on the side of the Honey Nut Chex box.  It’s super fast and easy and most of these things were already in my kitchen arsenal. 

Ingredients:

4 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
½ cup roasted sunflower kernels or hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
2 tablespoons Honey
1 tablespoon warm water
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
¾ cup raisins

* I found that I added more peanuts and sunflower seeds because there was a lot more cereal than other stuff.

Directions:

1.       In a large microwavable bowl, mix cereal, peanuts, and sunflower seeds and set aside
2.       In a small bowl, mix honey and warm water.  Stir in salt, cumin and red pepper.
3.     Pour honey mixture over cereal mixture, stir until evenly coated.
4.       Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring every minute.
        (Very important! Otherwise it will burn)
5.        Stir in raisins and microwave 1 minute longer.
6.       Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool.  Store in airtight container.

*Makes 12 Servings (1/2 cup each)

Chocolate Cupcakes

In looking for a gluten free recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes- one of my all-time favorites- I was finding pretty complicated ingredient lists.  I decided to take things into my own hands, and I feel good about what I came up with.  To show what I mean, I'm going to show one of the recipes I found on-line, and the recipe I came up with.

What they said to do:

Ingredients

 1/2 cup sorghum flour

 1/2 cup tapioca flour
 1/2 cup rice flour
 1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
 1 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum
 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 3/4 cup butter at room temperature
 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
 1 cup white sugar
 3 eggs
 2 egg yolks
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the sorghum, tapioca, and rice flours with the cocoa powder,    xanthan gum, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the brown and white sugars; whip until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. On low speed, alternately combine the buttermilk with the flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan.

13 ingredients, almost ½ dozen of eggs, alternating combining buttermilk and flour- this is too complicated and stressful for me (although it does produce very good cupcakes)

Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 ¾ sticks softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs, beaten
¼ cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill Baking Flour)
¾ cup Almond Meal (mainly for flavor)

 Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners
2.       In a small bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, flour and almond meal 
3.       In a larger bowl, beat together butter and eggs
4.       Combine the dry ingredients slowly to the eggs and butter while mixing together and blend until smooth
5.       Spoon batter into paper liners to about ¾ full
6.       Place in pre-heated oven for about 12-15 minutes.  
                  *These took longer in my oven,  after 12 minutes I was checking the cupcakes every 3 minutes with the toothpick test until they were done.  My oven also does not heat evenly so I was rotating the pan each time I checked the cupcakes.

7. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.

*Makes about 1 dozen cupcakes

With half the ingredients, I made some cupcakes that came out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself.  I brought them into work and my co-workers were all surprised that they were so rich and moist while also being gluten free!

Gluten Free Baking- It Can Be Easy!

Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  While I was adjusting to a gluten free diet and educating myself on Celiac Disease, I quickly learned three things. Firstly, wheat is the devil.  All those years of indulging on french bread and chocolate cake ended up doing way more damage than the mental guilt of extra calories.  How wrong I was thinking whole wheat pasta was the healthier choice. 

Secondly, about 3 million Americans have Celiac Disease, but that number is expected to be higher due to all of those still undiagnosed.  I can relate- I was having major tummy troubles for about a year before I finally went to the doctor.  After all, it’s so easy to write off; “Oh I ate something… It’s that time of the month… I’m really stressed out at work.”   And I’m lucky enough to have symptoms! 

The third thing I learned was that many people with Celiac Disease are symptom free.  Seriously?  I could not imagine a doctor telling me that pizza and bagels are off the table when I’m feeling just fine. 

As I incorporated the gluten free diet into my way of life, I found that the best way to cope was to use my love of food to get excited about how to make gluten free dishes fun and delicious.  I found that what I missed most from my gluten-ized past was baked goods.  However, when I look at these recipes, it’s crazy! They call for up to 15-20 ingredients and it could cost up to $40-$50 to get everything.  For that money, you might as well get something already prepared!  Baking is supposed to be fun.  Baking is a way to put love into something sweet to share with others.  I am determined to show that gluten free baking can be simplified and fun.  Whether it’s taking a recipe and breaking it down to cut out some ingredients while keeping the recipe an enjoyable dessert or just posting a simple sweet treat that I’ve found along the way. 

This is a part of my gluten free journey, and I hope it will be helpful to others as well!