peanut butter cups

It's hard to find a good peanut butter cup- at least, one that doesn't contain dairy.

(Justin's and Trader Joe's are at the top of the list)

However, it can get costly buying fancy peanut butter cups and they are actually really easy to make.

I happen to have a shallow mini muffin pan that works perfectly for this, but you could also use a regular mini muffin pan, just fill them about halfway for the right ratio of chocolate to peanut butter.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. dairy free chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life or Pascha)

your favorite peanut butter

Instructions:

Spray the muffin pan with cooking spray and use a paper towel to rub it around evenly.

Grab a small saucepan and fill it with a couple inches of water.

Put it on the stove over high heat and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat off.

Place a bowl on top of the saucepan (make sure it's big enough that it doesn't fall in), and add the chocolate to the bowl. Stir it as it starts to melt.

When the chocolate is melted, use a spoon to put a dollup into each muffin well. Spread it around, using the back of the spoon to spread chocolate up the sides, like so.

Place a dollup of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) into the middle of each well. Bang the pan on the counter top a few times to level it out. Top with more chocolate and spread it around to cover the peanut butter.

Freeze it for a few hours until everything is set. Use a small spatula or spoon to loosen the chocolate from the pan.

Store in the fridge or the freezer.

Makes 6 peanut butter cups.

Peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips

It has been too damn long since I've made cookies. Sure, I've had cookies [I mean, come on], but store bought are just never the same.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips- you just can't beat a classic.

3/4 c. peanut butter (this time we had crunchy)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c. GF Flour mix (1/3 c. each brown rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, pinch of xanthan gum)
1/4t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
enough chocolate chips to make your heart sing

Cream the peanut butter & sugar, add the eggs and beat in. Stir in the flour, leaveners, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop onto cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar. The world won't cringe if you don't use that raw, chunky stuff. Regular old sugar is fine.

:: Now. A bit about fork marks. I'm a peanut butter cookie traditionalist. If there are no fork marks, I immediately consider the cookie sub-par. However, fork marks and chocolate chips don't mesh. So it's forgivable, just this time.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, until the bottoms start to brown around the edges and the centers are set. Let cool before enjoying.

Single serving microwave cake

I'm sure you've seen the single serving microwave recipes around. I think they're a freaking amazing idea. The only thing that bothers me is that most require separating an egg. I feel like that defeats the purpose of a quick, simple recipe. My opinion: Streamline!

So I came up with this.

It actually makes two servings, because there's always someone around who's going to be eyeing your treat. Like a husband with a sweet tooth (sigh- not soon enough). Or a pregnant sister. Or a mom who's always down for a treat. Or, at the very least, an extra treat for myself for later.

 This was originally intended to be a chocolate chip cookie, but turned out with a cake-like texture. I call that a win-win situation, especially since it makes a great basic recipe for other cake flavors. But for today, we enjoy chocolate chip-- A la mode.

 Single-serve Chocolate Chip Microwave Cake

Gather:
2 ramekins

1 egg
1 T melted butter or olive oil
1 T brown sugar
1/8 t. vanilla
pinch salt
1/3 c. gluten free flour**
pinch baking soda
2 T mini chocolate chips

**Or blend of flours- see right sidebar for my preference: (2 T each of brown rice flour,sorghum flour, potato starch)

In a bowl, beat the egg, sugar and butter until combined. Add in the other ingredients and mix well. Spoon into ramekins. Microwave for ~60 seconds, and check to see if they're done with a toothpick that comes out clean. If they're not done, just pop them back in for a few more seconds. (Keep in mind that my microwave came free with the purchase of a george foreman grill about 10 years ago, and it took a little over a minute to cook mine)

P.S. Beats the heck out of heating up an oven in the middle of the summer.

Triple chocolate pancakes

Today, I woke up wanting chocolate. For breakfast.

And, because I'm an adult, I can do things like that. A simple bowl of cocoa pebbles would have sufficed, but there were none in the house.

Enter: Triple Chocolate Pancakes.

A basic pancake recipe chocolated up. You're welcome.

Triple Chocolate Pancakes

1/3 c. brown rice flour
1/3 c. sorghum flour
1/3 c. potato starch
1/8 t. xanthan gum
1 t. baking powder
1/8 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1 T. oil
1 T. chocolate syrup*
1 T. cocoa*
1 T. lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
2/3 c. milk
1/3 c. mini chocolate chips*

*Hershey's chocolate syrup, cocoa and chocolate chips are GF

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix well with a whisk, and stir in the chocolate chips.

Preheat a griddle/ pan until water droplets dance around a few seconds before disappearing. (I use a nonstick pan on medium-low)

Ladle in about 1/3 cup of the batter and let it cook until you barely start seeing bubbles in the middle and the sides are set. Flip, and cook for a few minutes until the center is done.

Serve with whipped cream, and chocolate syrup in place of regular syrup.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Scones

A quick peek around the internet will tell you that everyone's got their own scone recipe. From the traditional, to the bizarre, and everything in-between. Some use cold butter, some use soft butter, some use cream. Some use milk, some use eggs, some don't use any of that stuff.

This is my version.

I love the combination of cinnamon and chocolate, in the right ratio so that you can taste both. They end up kinda tasting like a biscuit-y cookie. Perfect with coffee or tea.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Scones

2/3 c. brown rice flour
2/3 c. sorghum flour
2/3 c. tapioca starch
pinch xanthan gum
pinch salt
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 T. cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla

1 c. mini chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks

To sprinkle on top:
1 T. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the egg, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Mix the dry ingredients together, then stir into the wet ingredients. It may take a little stirring, but they will eventually all mix together. It will form a soft, slightly sticky dough. Mix in the chocolate.

On a greased cookie sheet, plop the dough in a mound and form a flattened circle- not too flat, about a half inch or so.

Sprinkle on the cinnamon/sugar/salt mixture, and bake for about 20 minutes.

The center will be set and form a nice crust on top.

After removing from the oven, cut into wedges with a pizza cutter.

Please, learn from my mistakes and let them cool before enjoying. :o)

Pumpkin, chocolate chip, oatmeal... cookies

I had leftover pumpkin after making some muffins, so these cookies were born. I was actually laying in bed this morning thinking of what kind of cookie to make. Once I had it all figured out in my head, I had motivation to get up.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 large egg
1/4 t. vanilla
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cups gluten free oats
1/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. potato starch
1/8 t. xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips

cinnamon & sugar (1/2 c. sugar + 1 T. cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg, pumpkin, and vanilla, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to wet mixture, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets and sprinkle with cinnamon/ sugar mixture. They won't spread. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack.

These cookies bake up not too sweet, with a hint of every flavor.

Makes appx 18 cookies

Cupcake win

Chocolate cupcake (made with black beans!) + Nutella frosting* = WIN

*To give the Nutella a stiffer consistency for piping, mix 1/4 c. Nutella with 1 t. corn starch.

Bob's GF Brownie Mix

So last night I crashed a casual dinner party of sorts. It wasn't a gluten free meal, so I brought my own meal* and joined in on the fun. This is why my friends are awesome, haha. Even more awesome was the gluten free dessert, Gluten Free Brownies from Bob's Red Mill.

I'm not including a picture because we all know what brownies look like, and I can't find my camera.

So how were they? I thought they were good. They've got a richer chocolate texture than most brownies and a cake-like texture. There were a couple comments from the gluten-eaters that they were slightly grainy, and that they left kind of a slimy aftertaste (presumably from the xanthan gum and various starches?) but I guess I'm just used to that kind of thing because I didn't really notice it until it was pointed out.

I'd say they are my third favorite brownies, under Nestle's and Betty Crocker's- which has little tiny chocolate chips in it.

*I absolutely LOVE Amy's gluten free frozen meals. Especially the enchiladas- the sauce is amazing. The baked ziti is fantastic, too. As is the mac n cheese. I don't think I've ever tried anything bad from Amy's; those are just my favorites.

Black Bean... Cake!

We've all heard of the chocolate cake or brownies made using black beans instead of flour. After trying one of these cupcakes that a friend made, I was amazed and finally decided to try it.

It's so freaking easy, and I have to admit I was skeptical as I was mixing the batter together. It's very wet. And even though I pureed the heck out of the beans, there were little bean skin pieces floating around in it.

However, when they came out of the oven and eventually made their way into my mouth, I was a believer all over again.

I used the recipe provided at Chocolate and Carrots (darling blog). Instead of all the embellishments, I made the basic cake recipe and added store-bought german chocolate icing for my sister's favorite birthday cake.

Unfortunately, the only picture I took was one with my crappy camera phone, sent to her with a note: Come over after work. (She did.)

They are moist, a bit dense, and perfectly chocolatey.

I fed them to my family, watched them eating, and asked, "You wanna know what's in there??"
They stopped eating and their faces became skeptical. When I told them, they were all, "No way!" and polished them off. You really can't tell there are beans in the batter.

One thing to note: they don't rise very high and get that traditional domed cupcake shape; I suppose it's just the nature of the recipe, but it's ok because you get to put more icing on that way. :o)

So, whether you make the surprise cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (which are, by the way, AH-MAY-ZING) or just use the plain chocolate cake recipe, it's all good.

Just make them.

chocolate chip muffins

Hey, I'm alive! It's been a while since I've posted. Semester 1 of CLS school is DONE! I gotta say, it was a lot harder than I thought it'd be, but I did it. (As a matter of fact, I did quite well.) Now that we get a break, I get to get back into the kitchen (and catch up on sleep). Hopefully I come out with something tasty.

Since I -am- a student and therefore broke, I plan on charming my friends with delicious baked GF goods and a few other homemade items that I can't post yet- otherwhise they'll know what they're getting for Christmas... if anyone reads this blog anymore, haha.

I really wanted cinnamon rolls this morning but I was too lazy to make them. They are a little bit of extra work, but when I actually get to doing it, it's not that bad. It's the getting started part that's always hard.

Muffins seemed easier, but my sweet tooth was aching. Easy solution? Throw in some chocolate chips. I figured I'd go easy on the chocolate, but if you're feeling it, add as much as you want. They're pretty yummy.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 egg
1/4 c. milk, non-dairy milk, or water
2 T. oil (or applesauce)
1/2 t. vanilla

1/4 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. brown rice flour
1/3 c. corn starch
1/3 c. sorghum flour
1/4 t. xanthan gum
1 t. baking powder
1/8 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/4- 1/3 c. chocolate chips

Beat the egg in a bowl, and mix in the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients together, then mix them into the wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, they're done.

Makes 5-6 muffins.

-Really good with a cup of coffee, a purring kitten, and a magazine that has nothing to do with hematology or chemistry :o)

Birthday Oreo Cake

This is what I chose for my birthday cake this year. 25, you guys! Ack! I feel like I should "feel" like more of a grown up than I do. I don't feel like an adult at all... except when I pay bills but that's no fun.

Anyway, I was browsing through blogs and I came across this cake at Gluten Free is Life and I HAD to make it.

I'm so, SO glad I did. We used the recipe here, but substituted Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate cake mix and Kinni-toos. My mom was amazing and went to 4 different stores to find the mixes. This is the first time I've tried the chocolate cake mix, and I really like it. I will definitely be buying it again.

The cake didn't look exactly like the one on Kraft's website, but it tasted freaking awesome. Not even gluten free at ALL. People were asking for the recipe, and today I was craving it all day through class.

A crowd-pleaser and a must-make.

P.S. Over Thanksgiving I went to this store in College Station that had a bunch of neat GF items, and I've been dying to do reviews but I'm so busy with the end of the semester. Gah! Soon.

Chocolate Cake

My sister Suzy just had her gall bladder removed, so she is on a low-fat diet for a while. It also happened to be my other sister Ashley's birthday this weekend. Both Suzy and I eyed the german chocolate birthday cake on the table, unable to take a bite. I found a vegan chocolate recipe here that I've been wanting to try. I've also been trying to cut down on my sugar intake, and decided to go wild and modify it to be low-fat, sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free. That's a lot of "frees."

It went okay, I just didn't use enough agave syrup so it was just not sweet enough. It was close, so I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top. It helped a little, and turned it into an almost sugar-free cake. The amount of agave I'm putting here is pretty close to what it should be. The cake was very moist, thanks to the applesauce and agave syrup. I'm probably going to make it again.

Chocolate Cake

1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/2 c. potato starch
1/4 c. cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. agave nectar
5-6 T. unsweetened applesauce
1 T. vinegar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. water

Mix up the dry ingredients, then just plop the wet ingredients in and whisk it all together. Pour it into a 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until it's done.

I'm trying to figure out an acceptable sugar, dairy, and fat-free frosting, but I'm pretty much getting nowhere with the ingredients I have. I can make it low-fat so Suzy can have some, but I guess frosting is just going to be sugary. It's not really something you eat every day, so that's okay. I did see a neat recipe that uses tofu, but I don't have any and I'm not that concerned about it. If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

Peanut butter chocolate cookies

I originally was going to try those white chocolate chip chocolate cookies again, but I ran out of white chocolate chips. I did have some peanut butter chips, so I tried those. Fabulous cookies. I brought them to a housewarming party to share, or I would have eaten wayy too many.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

2 T. each crisco & dairy free butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 egg (or, 1 T. flax seed meal + 3 T. hot water)
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. GF flour mix
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. peanut butter chips (or chocolate chips if you're feeling it)

Cream the crisco, butter, and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients except for the peanut butter chips in a separate bowl, and stir them into the wet mixture. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Oh, YUM. These rich cookies have a great balance of peanut butter and chocolate. They're slightly crispy on the edges and soft in the middle.

NEXT time, I will make them with white chocolate chips.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cookie fail, brownie WIN

After a dinner of a lighter version of this etoufee , I was craving something sweet and chocolatey.

I tried to make some white chocolate chip chocolate cookies healthier, but the dough turned out way too wet. I knew if I tried to make them as cookies they'd spread horribly, and if I added more flour they'd taste chalky. Enter: chocolate brownies, made as mini muffins: aka brownie bites. YUM. If only all of my failed attempts at baking turned out this tasty.

White chocolate chip brownies

1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. sugar
1 heaping cup of your favorite GF flour mix
1/4 t. xanthan gum
1/3 heaping cup of cocoa
scant 1/2 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
3/4 c. white chocolate chips, or to taste

Blend the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. Mix the two together and pour the batter into a brownie pan, muffin cups, or mini-muffin cups. Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Next try: the cookies I was trying to make! The original recipe asked for 1/2 c. butter. I'm going to try messing with ratios of applesauce and crisco to make the best cookies.

Oh, I'm so full.

Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix

You know you've got a great friend when your non-celiac friend requests a gluten free birthday cake just so you can have some. Talk about rockage. Gluten free enchiladas to boot? Makes me feel like it's my birthday! Like I said, that's a great friend right there. Happy 25th birthday to Missy!

The cake they chose: Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix.

It was really good. Missy commented on how good it smelled as it was baking. We were all stuffed on enchiladas so we only had a few bites, but another non-celiac friend of ours ate his entire piece and agreed that it was really good. I took a peek at the directions, and they seemed pretty simple; you have to add only a few ingredients.

The cake is very moist, with a nice chocolate flavor and soft texture. It's got a good mouth feel. The cake is not very sweet by itself, and was very tasty with a dusting of powdered sugar. We didn't add frosting so I don't know how the sweetness of a frosting would complement the cake. I imagine it would be delicious without being overly sweet.

Will I finish the leftovers I got to take home? Oh yes. I know I'll have some with my coffee for breakfast- I won't be able to help myself.

Would I buy this and make it myself? Definitely.

Employee of the Week Brownies

I made these brownies to celebrate Missy's Emloyee of the Week award at the middle school where she teaches english. She certainly deserves it! We ate the whole pan...

The recipe is off of the Nestly cocoa container, but I modified the directions a bit.

You need:
1 2/3 c. sugar
3/4 c. melted butter
2 T. hot water
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 1/3 c. flour mix (that includes xanthan gum)
3/4 c. cocoa
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Mix the butter with the cocoa and water, then add in the sugar. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a separate bowl, then mix that into the sugar mixture.

Put it into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 18-25 minutes.

If you halve the recipe, an 8 x 8 pan works well, but bake it for about the same time. They're ready when a toothpick comes out almost clean, or bake them until it comes out clean for less soft brownies.

While they're baking, make the frosting. The recipe is also on the cocoa container.

You need:

3 c. powdered sugar
2/3 c. cocoa
1/2 c. soft butter
5-6 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt

Mix 1 cup of the powdered sugar, the cocoa, butter, 2 T. of the milk, salt and vanilla with an electric mixer until it's creamy. Mix in the rest of the sugar and milk until it's frosting.

After the brownies have cooled in the pan, frost and add sprinkles. Yum. :o)

chocolate cupcakes

Please ignore the awful, hastily-taken picture. This recipe transforms beautifully into cupcakes. I found it somewhere on the internet, so if you came up with it, let me know so I can give credit!

Some things you should know:

When making the batter, it may seem as if the ingredients aren't mixing. Just keep the heat on low and keep stirring- they will come together.

I routinely give my cupcake liners a little spritz of cooking spray to keep the liner from sticking to the cake, but don't do that here or they will be greasy on the bottom.

The batter will be very runny. I use a ladle to fill the cupcakes.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Test with a toothpick because the tops will still look wet when they are done.

This makes a very soft cake. Very yummy. Make sure they are cooled completely before frosting.

The recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes, or 1 dozen if it is halved.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These were inspired by Ginger Lemon Girl. I don't think I would have thought of the pumpkin + chocolate combo. I gave one to my sister to try, and later that day I got this text message :

"So I don't normally like chocolate chips but omg. Those muffins were *expletive* yummy. I demand you make more."

Well, I complied with those demands.

To change the previous muffin recipe into this one, I cut the white sugar, added 1/4 c. more pumpkin, chocolate chips, and added 3T. of sweet rice flour.

The easier-to-read version:

3/4 c. flour mix
1 T. flaxseed meal
3 T. sweet rice flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/8 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 c. pumpkin
1 egg
1/4 c. applesauce
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. water
chocolate chips*
*I just threw in the rest of the bag that I had, but I'm guessing it was around 1/2 cup.

Muffins are so easy. Mix the wet, mix the dry, then add the wet to the dry until it's just moistened. Mix in the chocolate chips, throw them in muffin tins and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or so. Again, this makes about 6-7 muffins.

*update*

My sister also told me that she shared one of these muffins with the baker at the restaurant where she works, and she LOVED them. And she's not even celiac :o)

Product Review: Enjoy Life Brownie Cookies

As with a lot of the new things I try, this was one of those "I'm shopping hungry and this looks good" buys.

They come in nuggets that are fatter than a cookie, the kind of size that makes it sooo easy to shove them in your mouth one after another.

The nuggets are pretty chocolatey, and the texture is good although slightly crumbly. I love that there are mini chocolate chips scattered inside the cookie.

The thing is, though, as I was eating them I detected a taste that I couldn't quite pinpoint. It wasn't chocolate, and it slightly competed with the chocolate taste.

Then I read the ingredients and I figured it out. Second and third on the list of ingredients were fruit juices and date paste. I suppose they keep the cookies moist and less crumbly, but you could definitely taste it.

And I don't know about you, but I don't like the taste of fruit to compete with chocolate in my chocolate brownies. It's subtle, but it's there.

Overall, if the taste of the dates don't bother you, these are not bad. However I think I'll be sticking to homemade versions.

IKEA Almondy Swedish Almond Tarta

My friend told me that Ikea had a GF dessert, so when I went today I looked for it and I found it! I was very excited.

check out the embellishments I made to emphasize the GF-ness.

The cost was $6 for a 6-inch round treat. By the time I got home and cut into it, it was thawed but still cold.

The verdict: It was good. Chocolatey with a smooth flavor. You can see from the picture it was a mousse/cake layered type of thing. Not too rich so you could enjoy a decent-sized slice. And you bet I did.