Chocolate Cake

This is a chocolate version of my ‘Vanilla Cake’ post.  I made this for my first anniversary at work.  I ‘glued’ Lindt chocolates, Reese’s balls, After 8 mints and whatever other chocolates on the cake with ganache.  I also poured the ganache over the cake instead of icing it.  The filling was caramel butter cream and nut fudge icing.  Other than the Lindt chocolates and Cadbury chocolate fingers, it was all GF!

 

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs

4 tablespoons vanilla

1 3/4 cups rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon xantham gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Combine sugar and melted butter in a mixing bowl and beat at medium speed, until creamy.  It takes a few minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and beat again.

Stir together flours, cocoa, xantham and baking powder.  Gradually add flour mixture alternating with milk to the butter mixture, beating at a low speed until well mixed.

Pour batter (it actually pours, but it is a little sticky) into a greased and floured bundt pan.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

My sister calls the corners of the cake ‘The 1000 Calorie Corner’.  Each Lindt ball has 80 calories! 

Best Ever Banana Bread

This is, hands down, the best banana bread ever.  It’s moist, light and yummy!  When my bananas start getting a tan, I know it’s time for b-bread, because it doesn’t taste the same if the bananas aren’t soft and spotted.  BTW, this is the full fat, full sugar version.  I’m currently trying a less fat, less sugar version version.  I’ll let you know how that works out!

Ingredients

6 tbs butter, at room temp

1 cup sugar

2-3 ripe bananas

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup tapoica flour

1/2 cup potato starch flour

1 teaspoon xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 chopped nuts and or chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour (I use sweet rice flour) a 9 X 5 loaf pan.

Beat the butter and sugar on medium with the flat beater for about a minute, until creamy.  Add the bananas and eggs, beat until smooth.  Add the buttermilk and vanilla, beat until just combined.

Mix all the dry ingredients, including nuts and choco chips.  Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat until just combined.  The batter will be lumpy.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan.  Bake for 55 – 60 minutes.  Let the bread rest for 5 minutes and then turn it out onto a  wire rake.  Eat!

Creamy Apple Crumble

This is like a warm, creamy, crunchy apple pie – hot out of the oven.  I could eat this everyday.  It’s a simple recipe with pretty basic ingredients that will really surprise your taste buds!

The thought of rice pudding always grossed me out.  Rice and pudding?!?!  What is wrong with people.  That’s like combining chicken and chocolate or soup and marshmallows.  Or making mayonniase and jam sandwiches — wait — my brother used to make those for lunch when we were kids.  (Seriously.)  Now you see why I knew he wasn’t joking about the mozzarella in the dessert cheese ball!  Oh well, back to rice pudding.  With two of my dearest friends (and hubbies) we rotate hosting dinner parties every couple of months (it’s my turn now).  Allergies and food preferences are taken into consideration (how sweet).  So my dear friend Kay made rice pudding with raspberry sauce and whipped cream.  Since she went into all that trouble to find a GF dessert, I was obliged to try it.  And I loved it!  And I had to try it again!

Per serving:

1 apple

1 teaspoon brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

splash of lemon

In a covered microwavable bowl heat the above ingredients for 4 minutes, until apples are mushy a little.

Put the cooked apples into a oven proof ramekin.  Top with one individual size (113 g) rice pudding, store bought.  Or if you make your own I want the recipe!

1/4 cup crispy rice cereal

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons chopped pecans

dash of cinnamon

dollop of butter, about a teaspoon or two

Melt the butter and add the other ingredients.  Adjust the sugar for your own preference.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350.  

You can even make this en-mass with six apples, 1 1/2 cups cereal, etc.  But it’s just me and Dr. T.  And if I made a dish of this, we’d eat the whole thing!

Dessert Cheese Ball

I made this for my sister’s birthday, last week.  It was such a hit!  I got the recipe from a co-worker, and I think this is a genius idea.  It’s great for sitting around snacking with friends.

My brother bought his own place about a year ago, and is learning the joys of food preparation.  It’s in our blood to be in the kitchen, and he’s no exception.  But he definitely needs to work on his kitchen skills just a little more.  During the birthday dessert, he asks me what’s in the cheese ball. 

‘Cream cheese’, I answer. 

 ‘And mozzarella?’ He wonders.

‘No!’

“Cheddar?’

‘No — it’s sweet!  Just cream cheese!’ At this point I realize he’s really serious!

‘You used about 5 then?’

‘No!  It’s just one.  All fluffy with butter and sugar.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I made it!’

Seriously, that was the conversation.  Almost word for word.  Then he asked if there was blue cheese in it, and Dr. T told him ‘Actually, it’s Parmesan!’  Brothers…

The REAL ingredients in a Dessert Cheese Ball: 

1 package cream cheese, at room temp

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

More chocolate chips, chopped nuts, skor or other candy bar

What to really do with the real ingredients:

1.  Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy.

2.  Gradually add sugars and beat until just combined.

3.  Stir in chocolate chips.

4.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

5.  Form cheese into a ball using ‘hand protection’ (saran wrap, wax paper, gloves).  It’s pretty messy.  I dropped the whole mass onto a long sheet of wax paper and used the ends of the paper to mold it. 

6.  Roll in additional chip, nuts, candy.  I put the skor bits on the wax paper and gently rolled the ball in it.  I did this the night before serving and the skor didn’t get soft.

7.   Serve with sweet crackers.  I used animal crackers.

8.   See?  No mozzarella!

Mississippi Mud Pie

 

This has to be one of my favorite desserts.  So, when I needed to suck up to someone in HR, I made this for her.  She did ask for the recipe, so we’ll see how well my sucking up worked!  Hee, hee!!!

Why is it called ‘Mississippi’ Mud Pie?  I have no clue.  Well, hats off to Mississippi, I’ll eat your mud any day!

BASE:

1/2 cup softened margarine or butter

2 cups crushed GF cookies (I’ve used maple cookies, chocolate cookies, chocolate chip, vanilla and yes, all at the same time.  Whatever’s in the pantry is fair game!  I grind then with my nut grinder-thingy from Williams Sonoma)

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Mix together and pat into a greased 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.

FILLING:

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

6 cups whipped topping (or 1-500ml Nutriwhip, whipped)

1-3oz package instant chocolate pudding

2 cups milk

1 chopped up Jersey Milk bar

Beat cream cheese, add 3 cups (half) of the whipped topping.  Spread evenly over the cooled crust.  Beat the pudding with milk.  Pour evenly over the cream cheese layer.  Top with remaining whipped topping and garnish with chocolate.  I usually add the chocolate right before I serve the cake, so the chocolate doesn’t ‘bleed’ on the whip.

Cool before serving and try not to eat more than 4 pieces at once!

Restaurants: Nana’s Bakery

Is a bakery a restaurant?  You can eat there, so it’s a meal-procurement-place, like a restaurant. 

Well, I want to talk about ‘Nana’s Bakery’.  The wonderful baker is Doug, and his sidekick wife, Barb.  It’s the only GF bakery that I can get to in less than 4 hours and without crossing any national borders.  Thankfully, he makes good stuff.  Not only does he make gluten free baked goods, but he can customize your order (doesn’t Burger King say they do that, too?  Gluten free bun, please!)  You can have sugar free, egg free, reduced sugar, dairy free, along with gluten free.  His bread is the second best I’ve ever had.  (First being one from Whole Foods, which I didn’t keep the packaging, so I don’t know what it’s called!  Duh!) 

He makes good chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps and peanut butter cookies.  The breads I’ve tried are the regular loaf, the cheese loaf, and the pizza shells.  (All good.)  Also, his island muffins (banana, pineapple) are GREAT, but I didn’t love the blueberry ones so much.  He also makes cakes.  All of this is gluten free.

Usually, he has GF foods available on Thursday and Saturday.  And it’s best if you call ahead and place an order at the beginning of the week.

Doug is very active in the community, visiting schools and nursing homes educating about gluten intolerance and diabetes.  His motto is ‘Every child should have a cookie.’  How sweet!  (No pun intended.)

Doesn’t this sound like a cheesy article in a small town paper?  Or a speech you wrote in grade six?  Such as ’Frogs like water and are green.  Their babies are called tadpoles.’  So much for any literary awards coming my way!! 

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies (like Oatmeal Cookies)

“Quinoa Won Me a Free Lunch” 

Aside from his practice, Dr. T is a clinical instructor at the college.  In the staff lounge, they have a question of the day which can win you a free lunch.  One day the question was ‘What is quinoa?’  No one was even attempting to guess.  Of course, Dr. T would know what it is since we have it in 3 different forms in our pantry!  So he says ‘Quinoa won me a free lunch.’  And he likes it. 

“Official Declaration:  It is Now Easier to Cook GF in my Kitchen’ 

Dr. T is sick.  Yesterday he wanted soup.  We usually have some gluten-loaded cans but we are out.  So I made chicken soup from scrap.  Everything was going great until it came to the noodles.  I wasn’t having the soup, so I was looking through Dr. T’s gluten noodles…which now is just spaghetti.  And ‘mine’ more than triple his!  I didn’t know how the rice noodles would turn out, and I’m out of corn and potato.  What to use?  Quinoa!  (Well, I was thinking of opening a box of Kraft Dinner and tossing in a handful, but what do you do with the rest?)  So I used a handful of quinoa and Dr. T said it was like mini pastina (anyone Italian will understand) but tasted like rice.  And he likes rice over pasta anytime!  Quinoa saves the day, again!

Note: because of our work schedules, Dr. T sometimes has to make dinner for himself.  So we still have a ‘gluten section’ for him.  He actually keeps it separated from my food!  He’s so cute

GF Quinoa Cookies 

1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
1 1/4 cups flour (½ quinoa flour, ½ sorghum flour, ¼ amaranth flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda½ teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened (or margarine works too)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk or soy
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.

Whisk together the quinoa flakes, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the two sugars in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until light and well blended. With the mixer on low speed, add the ‘oat’ mixture and the milk, beating until well combined and a stiff dough forms. Stir in the raisins and nuts. (If not using immediately, refrigerate the dough for up to 12 hours.) Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Press the tops gently to flatten very slightly. Bake until the edges are brown and the centers are still soft and puffy, about 11 to 14 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in a covered container for up to 3 days or freeze.

These are soft, chewy cookies, with a bit of ‘crunch’ from the quinoa.  They stay together and are not crumbly at all.  I shoved them into a ziploc bag and brought them to work and they didn’t fall apart!!!  Miracle, for any GF cookie I’ve had!  GF and non-GF peeps will eat them–and ask for seconds!

Date Squares – The Canadian Way

 

I like date squares.  Everyone I know knows what a good date square is – or so I thought.  I wanted to make some because – well, I don’t know why, I’ve just been thinking about them for a couple of weeks.  So, I started to look for ideas for a recipe.  What I quickly learned was that Canadian date squares are not the same as American date squares.  American squares are like coffee cake with pieces of dates in it.  While Canadian (the real ones)  squares have cooked dates in the middle and have to have oats. 

According the the Canadian Celiac peeps, oats are a no-no.  The genetic relation to wheat hasn’t been proved or disproved, so it’s one of those weird uncles I avoid, whenever possible!  I heard rumors of this amazing quinoa flakes.  But since I live in medium-size-Canadian-not-so-gluten-alert-city, I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes.  Then it happened – and I bought all the boxes they had!  (This is a picture of ‘Flour Heaven’ in my pantry, along with the quinoa flakes)

WHAT:

• 1 1/2 cups flour  (½ cup Rice Flour, 1/3 cup Tapioca Flour, 1/3 cup Soy Flour, 1/3 cup Potato Starch Flour)
  • Tapioca for ‘chew’
  • Rice for bulk
  • Soy for nutty flavour
  • Potato is ‘fine’ to combat the graininess of rice flour
  • ½ tsp Xantham Gum for fun
• 1 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt
• ½ cup chopped pecans

 Date Filling:

• 2 cups (16 ounces) chopped dates (coat your knife with cooking spray/oil as you chop)
• 1 ¼ cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or maple extract

HOW:

Combine filling ingredients in saucepan; simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick, but not goopy (like a nice jam). Set aside to cool.

Mix flours, quinoa flakes, sugar, butter, soda, and salt; press about half of mixture in a greased and floured (sweet rice flour) 9 X 13-inch pan. Spread filling over the quinoa layer. Add nuts to remaining oat mixture, sprinkle over the date filling and press down lightly with hands. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

I had GF and non-GF testers and it passed with flying colours!  So, enjoy a taste of Canada from me! ♥

Alex’s Cake

I made this cake for MC’s birthday.  Usually the b-day cakes at work are Hunks o’ Gluten.  Not sure what to make, I went for a GF consult to Alex’s cubicle, who begged asked me to make it dairy free too.  I love butter and wouldn’t skip that, but the rest is dairy free (Alex forgave me after the first bite).  I guess you could make it with margarine and it would really be dairy free.

DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE ~ GF, of course

¾ cup unsweetened GF cocoa powder, plus more for dusting pan

1 ½ cups water

¾ heaping cups each sorghum flour, tapoica flour and rice flour

1 ½ tablespoons xantham gum

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)

2 ¼ cups sugar

3 eggs

2 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.  (Or shove the rock hard butter into the micro at half power for 30 seconds).  And preheat the oven to 325°F.  Grease the pan and dust with the cocoa.  (Whoever first thought of that is a gluten-free genius!)

Boil the water and the cocoa power and whisk away.  Let it cool or it will melt the butter and ruin your cake.

Sift together all the GF flours, xantham, baking powder and baking soda.

Beat the butter (flat beater) on medium until smooth (1 min).  Increase the speed and add the sugar.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, every now and then.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between.  Add vanilla.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the cocoa ’sauce’, beginning and ending with flour.  Beat until just incorporated and scrape down the bowl as it tries to escape.

‘Pour’ the batter into the pan and spread it out.  (It doesn’t really pour, just get in in the pan somehow)  Bake for at least 1 hr and 15 mins.  That’s how long I baked mine, but I should have let it go another 15 a least.

Naturally, I just couldn’t bring in just another chocolate cake.  So I fancied this up by using one of my favorite cake fills.

YUMMY FILLING

2 cups chilled heavy cream

¼ cup GF icing sugar

4 ounces hazelnuts

4 ounces chopped Skor bar

1 pint raspberries

Toast the hazelnuts at 350°F  for 10 minutes.  Then rub them with a towel to remove the skins – this makes a huge mess!  So I usually use paper towel, just so I can throw it out after.  Chop ‘em up.

Beat the the cream and sugar until stiff.  Fold in the nuts, toffee and raspberries.  Yummy!  To make this dairy free – I used fwhip (fake whip, um…Reddi Whip, Cool Whip) and dropped the sugar.  The real cream is just a little heavenlier.

If you have ever baked a GF cake you know that the tops are the smoothest and prettiest sights.  As camouflage, I poured a ganache on top.  Or I did that just to have more chocolate!

CHOCOLATE GANACHE 

½ cup cream or fwhip

4 ounces chopped semi sweet chocolate (Lindt does a great job!)

Heat the cream on low, toss in the chocolate.  I like to use a mini whisk to stir it.  Keep stirring until the chocolate melts.  Pour on top of the cake.  The warmer the ganache is the quicker it pours, so if it’s too warm it will run right off the cake.  Just play with it.

The cake is a little denser than I was hoping, but it was mostly dairy free, just for Alex.  It is not very sweet - dense but sweet – I’m sure that reminds me of someone…The most common response to this cake was ‘Is this really gluten free?’  I managed to salvage a piece for my darling husband and his GF co-worker, who are my other daring taste testers.  And it got the thumbs up from them.  Happy birthday MC!  ♥