Coconut Cherry Cheese Balls

This is a simple treat to make and fun to eat!

This is what you will need:

1 8 oz pack of cream cheese, softened
3 tbls whole cranberry sauce, well drained
whole cherries, cut into fours (the jar cherries work well) not sure how many to use, so use to your liking
1/2 tsp grated orange rind
coconut

Combine the ingredients, chill for 2 hours, shape into bite size balls and roll in the coconut. Chill again for about 2 hours.  Enjoy!

Option.....Instead of cherries you can use crushed pineapple

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If you enjoy chocolate, sugar, cookies, and love then you will be delighted for this amazing gluten-free dessert.

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A Torte to Remember

Over the past couple years for me I have strived to find my favorite kind of dessert. This year as my New Years Resolution, I decided that I needed to bake a variety of different desserts. Therefore, I purchased a calendar that would allow me to do just that. Pillsbury's 12 month calendar showcased a different dessert each month and I would make it and then fall in love with it. Other than the chocolate pecan pie, I absolutely love making tortes. I enjoy every aspect about it, even the fact that tortes use so many eggs. I like that the tortes I have made involve no flour and do are naturally a gluten free wonder. My mom & I fell in love with the White Chocolate Fudge Torte and look forward to baking numerous tortes over the next year. Maybe it will be my New Years Resolution, searching for the best torte cake recipe in the world and then sharing it with others. Enjoy this recipe and please share any experiences that you've had with tortes and also with this recipe. Xo


Recipe

16 servings
prep time: 55 mins
start to finish: 5 hrs 40 mins

Cake:
16 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 c. unsalted butter
6 eggs

Topping:
1 c. white chocolate chunks or white vanilla baking chips, melted
1 c. whipping (heavy) cream
1 package (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tablespoons white creme de cacao, if desired
1/2 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips, if desired

Raspberry Sauce:
1 package (10oz) frozen raspberries in light syrup, thawed
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/3 c. red currant jelly

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9-inch spring form pan with shortening or cooking spray. in 3-qt saucepan, melt semisweet chocolate and butter over medium-low hear, stirring constantly, until smooth. Cool completely, about 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer on high speed 5 minutes or until triple in volume

3. Fold eggs into cooled chocolate mixture until well blended. Pour batter evenly into pan.

4. Bake 15-20 minutes (cake edges will be set but center will jiggle when moved). Cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

5. In heavy 1-qt saucepan, heat white chocolate and 3 tablespoons of the whipping cream over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and, if desired, creme de cacao with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. While beating, slowly add white chocolate mixture, beating until smooth, scraping bowl occasionally.

6. In small bowl, beat remaining whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. With rubber spatula, fold into white chocolate mixture; if desired, fold in miniature chocolate chips. Spread topping over cake. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

7. To prepare sauce, drain raspberries, reserving syrup. Add water to syrup to make 3/4 c. In 1-qt saucepan, mix syrup mixture and cornstarch. Stir in jelly. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened and clear. Stir in raspberries. Refrigerate until cold.

8. Remove side of pan, leave torte on pan bottom. Serve dessert with sauce. Store in refrigerator

PS Sadly, I did not take a photo of the torte we made, so this is a photo from Pillsbury. Pretty much dead on to what our heavenly dessert looked like also!

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A pumpkin seed adventure

Growing up my family & I use to carve pumpkins out almost annually and I can still remember all the pumpkin guts being piled everywhere on the kitchen table and my dad always pretending to throw up all of the pumpkin innards. Carving pumpkins used to be on of my favorite activities to get my family into the holiday spirit. This year, my nephew & I carved pumpkins and roasted the pumpkin seeds. We used a very basic recipe and needless to say the seeds also turned out quite bland- edible & delicious still, but was missing a certain taste that I craved. After Halloween and Thanksgiving, we were left with 3 perfect pumpkins ready to be gutted, peeled, and boiled in order to use for any an every pumpkin treat we can think to tickle our taste buds with. We also had an overwhelming amount of seeds to roast and enjoy for the next week or so. We wanted to try a couple different recipes with the seeds, have both spicy and sweet seeds, but when we came across this recipe, we decided we wanted to do all of them this way. Spoiler alert: these were the tastiest seeds that I had all season. Next time you have some seeds to make delicious, try this recipe and I promise your taste buds will thank you later. Feel free to leave comments on your experience with this recipe or links to your favorite pumpkin seed creation. Until next time, happy gluten free baking to You!
Xo
Mom & Me

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Pecan Pie?! Don't mind if I do.

Everytime I mention anything about pecan pie, I never get the response that I want. It's always ewww! Pecan pie is gross, o so gross. NO THANK YOU! Then they try my pecan pie and realize it is delicious. I got the recipe from Betty Crocker's monthly calendar of baking. This chocolate pecan pie is quick and easy to make! enjoy!! xo

Gluten Free Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients

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Pamela's Gluten Free Bread Mix
2/3 cup sugar (cut it by half if using Stevia)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt (cut in half if using salted butter)
3 eggs
1 cup pecan halves or broken pecans
1 bag (6 ounces/1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
 

We decided to make it a flower

Heat oven to 375ºF.
1. Follow the recipe for Pamela's pie crust.
2. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, corn syrup, bourbon, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the eggs with hand beater. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.    3. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excess browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
4. Bake pie 40 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 2 hours until chilled.

we wanted to decorate more!

so pretty & tasty



yum!

My favorite pie is Pumpkin!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of having an early Thanksgiving dinner with my grandpa & cousins in North Carolina. We had such an amazing feast (sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes, beans, deviled eggs, turkey, stuffing, & our dessert was gluten free pumpkin pie. Everything was so delicious & Pop had two slices of the pie! This was such a quick recipe to follow and the total time from start to end was about an hour. I look forward to making this pie in just a couple weeks for Thanksgiving! Enjoy the photos from our trip!
xo Mum & Shari

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

 
  Ingredients

• Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread mix (this mix will yield 3 pie crusts)
• 3/4 cup white sugar (Half this if you use Stevia)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)




gluten free pumpkin pie






Josh & Ethan





Mike & Mum doing the crab dance



Cotton Cotton Everywhere



Pop



Pop doing the crab dance

 



yummy pumpkin pie



HALLLOOWEEEEEEEEEEEN(ie)!

What a great holiday this is! I loooove getting dressed up, decorating, baking, eating lots and lots of candy, making costumes (normally for myself; mum used to make most of our costumes), & baking + decorating. As we baked the last time, we also multitasked & made costumes for Derek & his friend Hunter. We decided we would share what we made & a couple pictures from Halloween. Enjoy!


candy rush!

Mum in my Rizzo wig



Oompa Loompa costume





scary haunted house



Ethan wishing you a Happy Halloween!

The Pink Ladies & The T Birds

pumpkin carving

oompa loompas post Trick or Treating & a Hay Ride



The Camel got into the Halloween spirit too!



Muffin Mania..not an entire failure.

My mom and I have decided to bake some muffins tonight since she couldn't resist buying blueberries on sale the other day. I searched the internet for a gluten free recipe that did not use rice flour. There is nothing wrong with using this flour, but mum & I want a challenge and simply because she doesn't like using rice flour. I found this recipe from the blog, Tasty Yummies (http://tinyurl.com/32a8zhb). 



**Ok! Mum & me decided that we wanted to do things a little different with the flour choices in this recipe. I noted it throughout the original recipe. This made the muffins still pretty doughy after baking for almost an hour. However! We had extra batter & added 1/2 c. rice flour (against our will) & about 2 tbs. sugar. This made the batter change the taste in flavor (the other batter was most delicious), but made us realize this experiment was not a total failure! We shall try this one again...



blueberry mix



Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins with Almond Flour

makes a baker’s dozen

adapted from Gluten Free Goddess



Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Sift together: (Note: Sifting is a must!)

1 1/3 cups almond meal (use Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour) (we used 1 1/3 c. coconut flour)
1 cup sorghum (or brown rice flour, if desired) (we used tapioca flour) 
1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!) (we opted for potato starch)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Beat in:

1 1/3 cups organic light brown sugar
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 organic free-range egg whites (depending on the size, you are looking to get 1/4 cup of liquid), beaten until frothy
1/2 cup warm water, more as needed, up to 3/4 cup*
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Beat the batter until it is smooth, like a slightly thickened cake batter.
*Sub milk for water- we used Vitamin D milk because it has more nutrients & it tastes better! Also with the flours we used we found the batter to be thick. In order to thin the mix to make it more of a cake batter instead of a cookie batter consistency, we added 1/4 c. at a time of milk (after adding up to the original 3/4 c). We used all together 2 1/4c.

Add in:

1 pint fresh blueberries, washed and patted dry

Stir gently and briefly.

Plop the blueberry muffin batter into the twelve lined cups. You’ll probably have some xtra- for a baker’s dozen.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 23 to 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. A wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Gently pop the muffins out to continue cooling on the rack (don’t cool them in the hot pan- they’ll get soggy).

If your muffins are soggy or slightly underdone– due to unforeseen oven temperature variations– place them back into the warm oven directly on the center rack for five minutes or so.


getting excited for the muffins!



With a little help from our friends...

My friend Kristel (http://stirringuptrouble.wordpress.com/) sent me a picture of a flour-less cake & this instantly struck my fancy to bake this with my mum particularly because my baked item of the month for November is a flour-less torte. So after a short search I found this delicious sounding dessert. It was pretty simple to do considering all that was involved was using a double boiler, a hand mixer, & the oven. After making it & trying it, it definitely needs something sweet to go with it or we need to put something sweeter in it. With the unsweetened cocoa powder & bittersweet chocolate chips it was not as delicious as I would like. With that being said, I look forward for to making this similar dessert next month. Enjoy!

Mum & I love multitasking. As we made this dessert, we also made Derek (my nephew) & his friend's Halloween costume. They are going to be oompa loompas. We dyed the turtlenecks brown & sewed the pants, hemmed them, & put in a waste band. We like to stay busy!!

Gluten-free Flour-less Chocolate Cake w Almond Whipped Cream

Ingredients

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
1 1/4 cups sugar (we used 3/4 cups of Stevia)
6 eggs
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Almond Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoons sugar (1/2 tsp Stevia)

1 teaspoon almond extract



almond whipped cream



Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a circle of parchment paper. Spray the paper and edges of the pan with cooking spray, and lightly dust with cocoa powder, then set the pan aside.

Place two-thirds (8 ounces) of the chocolate and 1 cup (2 sticks) of the butter in a double boiler  over medium heat. Stirring often, melt chocolate with butter until completely blended. Remove from heat add sugar and mix well. Let the mixture cool slightly and add eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition (this made it really pudding like). Sift cocoa into bowl and stir until just blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake has risen and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate, removing sides of springform pan. Remove and discard parchment paper and set cake aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the chocolate glaze. Melt remaining 4 ounces chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter in a double boiler over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly.

When cake has When cake has cooled, pour glaze onto the center. Using a spatula very gently smooth glaze along the top and sides of the cake. Chill cake, uncovered, for 30 to 60 minutes before serving to set the glaze and make the cake easier to slice.

For the almond whipped cream.  Add the cream, sugar, and almond extract to a bowl.  Beat on low speed until the volume begins to grow.  Increase to high speed until peaks begin to form.  Be careful not to overbeat or you will end up with almond flavored butter…

Serve cake with a dollop of whipped cream and garnish with fresh berries and mint. 



after flourless cake!



Yummy!



Special thanks to the following website, A Gluten-Free Guide (http://tinyurl.com/2wsll7m), for this yummy recipe!

Cherry Cake w Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

This was one of the simplest desserts to bake. The only prep time that was needed for this was for the homemade cream cheese frosting. Mom had made it a few days before for my nephews homemade gluten free chocolate cookie. One of the cookies made regular, the other with coconut (blog to come soon). This cake even though not made from scratch, made for a quick & easy dessert that leaves your mouth wanting more.

Cherry Cake 

Betty Crocker's Gluten Free white cake mix

2 cans of cherry filling

cream cheese frosting:

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature

8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature

2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Follow the directions on the white cake mix package

2. Be sure to grease thoroughly. Fill bundt cake pan halfway with the cake mix. Pour cherry filling on top of cake mix. Top with the rest of the cake mix.  

3. Bake!

After baking this delightful dessert, my cake fell apart.

Luckily for me, Mom is a genius & helped me fix my disaster into a beautiful presentation!

When Heaven hit our lips..

This heavenly dessert turned my negative thoughts about how difficult it would be to actually enjoy desserts that are gluten free. Chocolate Caramel Shortbread tastes even better than it sounds.

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

(serves 12)

Crust:

1/2 c. butter, extra for greasing

(sift the following ingredients)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 c garbanzo flour

1/4 c. sorghum flour

1/4 c. superfine sugar

Caramel:

3/4 c. butter

1/2 c. superfine sugar

                3 Tbs. dark corn syrup (we used light corn syrup)

                     14 oz/400g canned condensed milk

             70z/200g semi-sweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1. Preheat to 350F. Grease & line the bottom of a 9-in shallow square cake pan. Place the butter, flour, & sugar in a food processor until the mix binds together. Press in the pan & level. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

2. Mix all of the caramel ingredients in a heavy bottom pan. Heat gently until sugar melts. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer 6-8 minutes, stirring, until very thick. pour over shortbread & chill for 2 hours or until firm.

3. Melt chocolate, spread over caramel. Let chill in the fridge for 2 hours or until set. Cut & serve. 

Trying to satisfy the Starbucks Cravings

My sister, Jamie, wanted my Mom & Me to replicate the Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake from Starbucks. This was one of the first desserts that we converted over to gluten free. For the most part I think that this turned out pretty good. We could taste the bean after taste, but it did not take away too much from how delicious it was. We plan to tackle this recipe again in hopes of ridding the coffee cake from the bean after taste.

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

(serves: 24, prep time: 45 minutes)

1 1/3 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/4 c. margarine, softened

4 eggs

4 med., ripe bananas

3 tsp. vanilla (add more to taste)

1 c. chocolate chips

[sift the following ingredients]

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/8 c. tapioca flour

1/4 c. potato starch

1/2 c. sorghum flour

1/2 c. garbanzo flour

1/2 c. coconut flour

1. Heat oven to 375F. Spray a 9x11 inch pan w non-stick cooking spray. 

2. Beat sugar, sour cream, margarine, & eggs in large bowl on low speed for 1 minute.

3. Beat in flour ingredients on medium speed for 1 minute.

4. Beat in bananas & vanilla on low speed for 30 seconds.

5. Stir in chocolate chips & spread in pan.

6. Bake 35-40 minutes or until light brown on top.

7. Cool in pan.

8. Cut into 2-inch bars

Three step Cheesecake

3-Step Cheesecake

(serves: 8, prep time: 10 minutes + refrigerator, bake: 40 minutes)

Crust:

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. garbanzo flour

1/4 c. sorghum flour

1/4 c. superfine sugar 

(be sure to sift the dry ingredients together)

1/2 c. butter

Filling:

2 pkg (8oz each) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1. preheat oven t 325F. Bake crust 25-30 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar, & vanilla extract w an electric mixer on medium until well blended. Add eggs; mix just until well blended.

2. Pour into crust.

3. Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Refrigerate leftovers.  

Fudgy S'More Bars

I was very excited to put this one together. The picture makes it look heavenly & delicious. However we quickly learned that if you are going to use gluten free ingredients, you must be certain not to mess up. If the smallest thing goes wrong, it seems to have lasting effects on the dessert outcome. We were doing a lot of baking on this day & I forgot that this crust needed to be baked before adding the top. I thought this turned out awful, but Mom & everybody else who tried it, loved it. I could only taste the bean after taste, something I want to rid out of our desserts.

Fudgy S'More Bars

(makes 32 bars, prep time: 20 mins, start - finish: 1 hr 35 mins)

Crust:

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. garbanzo flour

1/4 c. sorghum flour

1/4 c. superfine sugar 

(be sure to sift the dry ingredients together)

1/2 c. butter

Topping:

4 c. mini marshmallows

3/4 c. candy-coated chocolate pieces

1/4 c. hot fudge topping, heated

1. Heat oven 350F. Grease 13x9-inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large bowl, beat crust ingredients w electric mixer on low speed until coarse crumbs form, scraping bowl occasionally. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan.

2. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over crust; bake 1-2 minutes longer or until marshmallows begin to puff.

3. Sprinkle chocolate pieces evenly over marshmallows; drizzle warm topping over top. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 8 rows by 4 rows. 

Perfect Apple Pie

These apples came hand picked from Carter Mt. in Charlottesville, VA. I was extremely excited to make this pie because it is one of my favorite types of pies & I was interested to taste the gluten free pie crust.
I used Pamela's Bread Mix & followed the pie crust recipe. This is has been the best pie crust that we've made thus far. For the filling, I substituted the flour for xanthan gum. This was my most favorite gf dessert that has been made. Enjoy!

 

Perfect Apple Pie

(serves 8, prep time: 35 mins, Start-Finish: 3hrs 20 mins)

Crust: Pamela's Bread Mix

Filling:

6 c. thinly sliced, peeled apple (6 med)

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. xanthan gum

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon (more if desired, I used more)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (I used more)

1 tbl. lemon juice

1. Heat oven to 425F. Place pie crust in 9-in glass pie plate. Press firmly against side & bottom.

2. In large bowl, gently mix filling ingredients; spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Top with second pastry; seal edge & flute. Cut slits or shapes in several place in top crust. Cover edge with 2-3 inch wide strips of foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 mins of baking.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until apples are tender & crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack at least 2 hours before serving.

Baking Tip: Tart apples, ie Granny Smith, McIntosh, or Pippin, make the most flavorful pies. Or you can substitute two 21 oz cans of apple pie filling for the fresh apple filling

Recipe from Pillsbury 16 month calender (2010) 

Yummy!

That's what we're hoping every person who tries our recipes will say! Recently, my stepdad was diagnosed as a celiac. This means his diet is restricted from gluten- barley, wheat, & rye. No bread, no pasta, no processed foods, no cross contamination (going out to eat becomes a problem), & trying to get enough nutrients in your body so that you do not become under nourished.

Our goal with this blog is to write about what desserts that we have tried, sometimes delicious treats, while other times the desserts are atrocious. That is what this is about though, going out on a limb and trying new things in order to help my stepdad eat with more of a variety. At the same time, my mom & I are slowly cutting out gluten from our diets. It is a lot harder than it seems, but it is a fun challenge that helps our bodies to be healthier.

I hope that you will go on this journey with us & pass it on to others..xo