No-Bake Cookies

I was craving chocolate and my daughter wanted to make cookies. To satisfy both of us, we decided on these little babies. I did a ridiculous amount of research to figure out why mine are always either too crumbly or too runny. I guess when I'm pregnant I take cookies pretty seriously. Here's what I learned: it's all in the boiling time. If you boil too long they're crumbly, not long enough they're runny. You have to set the timer for 90 seconds as soon as it starts boiling and then when the timer goes off, immediately remove the pan from the heat. This was my first time trying it this way and they were absolutely perfect. Happy chocolate to you.

No-Bake Cookies
1 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
1/2 c. butter
4 Tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
3 c. gluten free quick oats
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 90 seconds. Remove from heat immediately. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Add oats and stir well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper and allow to cool.

Fudge

I'm blaming all of this on pregnancy. I woke up yesterday wanting fudge so bad. I decided to make it today because we had lots of family coming to celebrate my little girl's birthday, so I knew I'd have help eating it. I've actually never made fudge before. Mostly because it's something I really love and I didn't want to risk screwing it up. I found a recipe on this blog that I figured I could handle and it turned out amazing. Happy Sugar Rush!

Fudge

4 cups of sugar (shocking, I know)
1 can evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Mix in a big pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Boil for 8 min. Remove from heat and add:

2 2/1 cups chocolate chips (I did half milk and half semi-sweet)
1 cup butter

Stir until mixture is melted and loses some of it's gloss. Add:

1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup more mini marshmallows

Stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour into butter cookie sheet and cool. This made very thin pieces for me, just thinner than I am used to. Next time I might use a 9x13 pan instead.

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

October is my very favorite month. I love the whole thing. We celebrated it’s arrival this week with our first new fall recipe and boy, was it a good one! I love pumpkin but I wasn’t sure how I felt about the idea of a pumpkin chocolate cake. I’m a definite believer now. I originally found this recipe on Gluten Free Mommy, but I changed it a little to use the ingredients I prefer.  I used to always just use store-bought all-purpose gluten-free flours in baked goods, mostly because recipes with lists of several flours was so intimidating to me. It worked okay. This year I’ve made a much more solid effort to branch out and try new things. I strongly suggest doing that if you haven’t already. For one thing, the store-bought all-purpose mixes are so expensive. For another, using other flours sometimes gives you much better texture. For example, I have fallen absolutely in love with sorghum flour. I don’t know all the science behind gf flours, but I can tell you that my cakes, breads, etc are so much better with sorghum flour. I’m so glad I finally tried that. Gluten-free baking isn’t nearly as scary as I always thought. Okay, lecture over, on to baking:

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

2/3 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup butter, softened (I used pureed black beans….worked great)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter (or beans) until fluffy. Add the sugars and mix well. Add the vanilla, then eggs, one at a time.  Add the pumpkin and milk. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Pour batter into two greased 9 in cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min (mine was done in 30). Remove from oven and cool ten minutes. Invert pans onto cooling rack and wait until completely cool to frost.
Oh, the frosting. It’s fantastic. But if you don’t have everything on hand, I think this one would be great, too.


Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

4-5 cups powdered sugar (depending on desired consistency)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp orange juice
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
Place all ingredients in mixer and beat to combine, but don’t overbeat.

I only frosted half, then froze the other half and the left-over frosting so we can eat again next week. Can’t wait.

Bake Sale Brownies (Aka: BEST BROWNIES EVER!)

Tonight my cute sister-in-law made the most fabulous gluten-free brownies.  She actually used the America's Test Kitchen Bake Sale Brownies recipe, but just switched the flour for gluten-free.  They were so amazing!  Definitely worth a try.

Bake Sale Brownies
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour

 Preheat oven to 350 and move an oven rack to the middle position.  Grease an 8in square pan (or line w/ foil).  Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave, stirring often, for about 1 to 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes.  Whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture until smooth. Stir in the flour until well mixed.  Pour batter into prepared pan and about 22-27 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Fudgy Brownies

Last night we were craving sugar.  Phil specifically wanted brownies.  I’m a big fan of mixes, but I didn’t have a gluten-free one so I decided to try making some from scratch.  It was a risky move when we were so desperate for something delicious, but it turned out rather amazing!  This is a recipe that I HIGHLY recommend trying out.  It sounds way more time consuming than it really is. 

Fudgy Brownies
1/4 c. almonds, ground fine in food processor (I used the incredible Magic Bullet)
1/4 c. gf oats, also ground fine
1/3 c. rice flour
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. walnut or pecan pieces (I left these out, but I bet that would be delicious!)

Preheat oven to 325 and generously grease 8x8 pan.  Combine ground almonds, oats, and rice flour, set aside.  Place the chocolate, butter, and salt in a sauce pan and melt on stove-top over low heat.  Stir constantly and remove from heat when the mixture is smooth.  Cool for 5 min.  Add the sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add flour mixture and stir until moistened.  Stir in nuts if you’re using them.  Scrape batter into pan and bake about 25 min or until a tooth pick comes out moist but clean. 
These are delicious warm (we ate them with vanilla ice cream) but were equally amazing when they were completely cooled the next morning (yes, morning. Don’t judge me).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tried these today and I’m in love.  They’re amazing.  I modified this recipe from one on Gluten-Free Goddess.  Try it.  You won’t be sorry.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 3/4 c. all purpose gluten-free flour (I used Blue Chip Feather Lite, my new favorite in almost everything)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
*Whisk these in a bowl and set aside.  Then cream together:
3/4 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
2 eggs
*Add dry ingredients to cream mixture,  mix well.  Then add:
3 c. gluten-free oats
1 c. milk chocolate chips
*Scoop tablespoon-sized balls onto well greased cookie sheet and bake 11-13 min.  This made about 3 1/2 dozen cookies so there’s plenty to freeze for later!

Welcome!

So here it is!  My all-time favorite gluten-free recipe, for the sake of starting things off right.  This is one I got from my mother-in-law's neighbor and it's a great cookie recipe.  My husband even says they tast "real."  That's how you know.  Here it is:

1 2/3 C. GF all purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

1/4 c. butter (non hydrogenated canola shortening if you need it dairy free)

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1 c. chocolate chips (can use dairy free)

1/4 c. nuts (optional, but fantastic!)

Preheat oen to 350, grease cookie sheets

Stir together all dry ingredients except sugars, set aside

Beat butter (soft, but not melted) with sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix thoroughly until light and fluffy.  This is key.

Slowly add in dry ingredients.  Drop cookies on sheets and bake approx 10 min.

VARIATION: I love to swap half the vanilla for 1/2 tsp almond extract, and then 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup white chips instead of chocolate. Delicious.

They're amazing.  Now go try 'em out.

Do you have a recipe to share? Leave me a comment and you can get yourself published right here on my blog. =)