Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pretty good cake-- slightly on the dry side, but soft like white velvet. It is heavy, but, hey, it's a damn pound cake! Perfect, in my opinion, to soak up homemade strawberry or peach syrup drizzled over the top.
Another non-original; I picked it up from here.



Makes 1 shallow bundt cake
Preheat 310 F
- large mixing bowl
- handheld beater
- spatula
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened
5.3333 oz. regular cream cheese* (2/3rds of an 8 oz. container), softened
2 c. white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour
2 heaping tsp. xanthan gum

*Kraft Philly cream cheese is GF (Tofutti cream cheese is also GF and does well in baked goods)

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat oven to 310 F. Grease a large bundt cake pan.
1. Let butter and cream cheese sit at room temperature for an hour, until quite soft.
2. Place butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat until soft and creamy, about a minute or so.
3. Add in the white sugar. Stir in till no longer powdery, then beat with mixer for about 30 seconds. Will look like paste.
4. Crack in the 4 eggs. Pour in the vanilla extract. Beat with mixer for a minute, until a uniform color. Batter should look like a thick custard.
5. Spoon in the flour, stirring with a heavy spoon or spatula. Also mix in the xanthan gum. The batter will get thicker, but should still have alot of 'body'-- much like dense whipped topping.
6. Scoop into waiting bundt cake pan (it definitely shouldn't pour!). Smooth top of the cake with the spatula.
7. Bake in middle of preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Top will turn a nice golden-brown and crack a little. Toothpick inserted in the top should come out dry.
Enjoy this warm with ice cream or homemade fruit syrup. Cake freezes remarkably well, actually.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

This is the best thing ever. Seriously.
The fruit in most cobblers turns out mushy and shapeless, here the fruit sits halfway into the batter, resulting in sweet, juicy fruit bites bursting with rich flavor. The spongy cake puffs up around the fruit and forms a butter-induced crispy layer on top. Incredibly good.
Recipe courtesy of my favorite college housemate, Reid. (adapted to be gluten-free, in a smaller pan)



Makes a 9 x 9" pan worth of cobbler
- 2 medium sized bowls
- 9 x 9" Al pan or glass pan lined with Al foil
Preheat to 365 F
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Fruit:
2 large peaches, sliced into 8ths
~3/4ths of a pint of fresh blueberries
1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar
Butter:
1/4 c. butter
Batter:
1.5 c. sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour
1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum
1.5 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. milk or non-dairy milk substitute

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat oven to 365 F. Line a glass baking pan with aluminum foil.
Fruit:
1. Wash the peaches and cut into 8 wedges. Half each of the wedges if you want smaller peach pieces. Wash the blueberries. Place fruit into the medium bowl and toss with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Taste berries; add in another 1/4th cup of sugar if you desire sweeter fruit.
Butter:
2. Before you mix up the batter, place the butter into the lined 9 x 9 pan. Pop pan into the preheating oven to melt the butter. Remove once butter had completely melted; swish around to get a uniform layer.
Batter:
3. Mix dry ingredients together (1.5 c. sugar, rice and BRM flour, xanthan gum and baking powder) in another medium-sized bowl. Stirring, pour in the milk. You actually want a viscous, almost paste-like dough (too crumbly, add in another tsp. of milk until smooth). If the batter easily pours, it is way too liquid-y and will turn out soggy.
Assemble:
4. Before the butter solidifies again, spoon the batter over the liquid butter (still resting in the lined pan). DO NOT mix the butter/batter. You want the layers separate-- the oil might move aside as you drop batter spoonfuls in, that's okay. Try to get a semi-uniform layer of batter, though.
5. Press the sugar-coated fruit pieces gently down into the top of the batter layer; evenly space out the berries. Make sure you don't transfer too much sugar water along with the fruit.
6. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes in the oven. The cobbler is done when the fruit is tender and roasted and the cake part is nice and browned. The inside of the cobbler will be moist. This is best served fresh right out of the oven (it gets dense after refrigeration, but the taste is still fantastic!).

White Top Cupcakes

These were incredibly tender and moist inside. Like little bites of brownie heaven. Soft, not too dense, and full of chocolate with a creamy white topping.
This recipe has definitely been around; I found it here.



Makes 16 cupcakes
25 minutes prep + 30 minutes baking (or 60 min, depending on #cupcakes in your pan)
- electric hand mixture
- medium bowl for cream cheese
- large bowl
- muffin tin with liners
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Cream cheese 'Filling'
8 oz. cream cheese*
1/2 c. fine grained white sugar
1 large egg
1 c. mini chocolate chips*
Chocolate Cupcakes
1. 5 c. flour ---> [1 c. brown rice flour + 1/2 c. Bobs Red Mill All Purpose Flour + 1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum]
1 c. sugar
1/4. c. cocoa powder*
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. water
1/3 c. corn oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla*

*Kraft cream cheese is GF; Toll House s.sweet morsels are GF; Hershey's cocoa powder is GF; McCormick vanilla extract is GF

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat 350 F. Fit a standard size muffin tin with paper liners.
Cream Cheese
1. Whip the cream cheese, sugar and egg with an electric hand beater for 1 minute, until creamy. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Place aside.
Cupcakes
2. Combine the flour(s), xanthan gum, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. Push the dry ingredients to the sides of the bowl (making a 'well' in the center for the wet ingredients). Add the water while stirring. Pour in the water, corn oil, apple vinegar, and vanilla extract.
4. Stir well to incorporate the oil-- it won't mix well at first. Keep stirring until the batter is smooth and silky. The gluten-free batter will be quite thick. Spoon into prepared muffin tins, filling half way.
5. If you want cream cheese inside the cupcakes, (as opposed to just the tops) you will need to sandwich it between the chocolate layers or pipe it in. Me, I just plopped the cream cheese on top of the chocolate batter. During baking, the cream cheese spread out and sat nicely on top of the cupcake, like baked-on icing!
6. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Check often near the end so that the cream cheese doesn't burn. You want it slightly tanned when removed from the oven. Cool slightly before removing them, they were quite impressionable when warm. I don't think these freeze very well, so enjoy then while fresh!

Blueberry-Strawberry Cobbler

Has a nice mixed-berry taste. Was shooting for red and blue-- came out more like purple-pink, but that's okay. The topping here is fluffy and spongy, reminiscent of muffin; definitely not a crisp.

I did just blueberry last week while on vacation using Bobs Red Mill pancake mix as pre-leavened, pre-xanthaned 'flour'. Fairly easy dessert to make while visiting a friend with a kitchen. All I needed, in addition to the pancake mix, was some extra white sugar, cream (use slightly less cream and less sugar in the batter), a lemon, an egg and a few berries. Didn't even require an electric mixer. Just as good!
Adapted from this recipe.



Make one 9" pie
65 minutes (15 min for fruit + 10 min for topping + 40 minutes baking)
- medium bowl
- 9" pie pan with deep sides; Al pan works fine
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Fruit Filling:
18 oz. of blueberries (-or- ~10 oz. blueberries + ~8 oz. strawberries)
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. GF flour (don't add xanthan gum!)
1 tsp. almond extract (use 1 tsp. lemon juice if you don't have almond extract)
Bread Topping:
1 large egg
3/4 c. heavy cream (try coconut cream if you can't do dairy)
1 c. GF flour ---> [I used Bobs Red Mill all-purpose flour + 1 level tsp. xanthan gum]
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat oven to 375 F
Fruit:
1. Wash blueberries. If you're adding strawberries, remove the green end bit and cut the large ones into quarters (leave the strawberries as fairly big chunks).
2. Place berries into a medium-sized bowl and add the 1/4 c. sugar, 2 Tbsp. flour and almond extract [fresh lemon juice is good, too]. Stir gently with your hands to mix. Scoop berries into the waiting 9" pie pan and spread evenly along the bottom.
Topping:
3. Crack the large egg into the rinsed bowl and mix with the heavy cream. [If using a pancake or cake mix, use less cream and sugar]. Whisk with a fork to break up the egg yolk. Pour in the flour, add xanthan gum, white sugar and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture to incorporate with the wet-- the dough should be thick, stretchy and soft.
4. With your hands, scoop the dough over the sweetened berries. You might need to stretch or squish the dough into thinner sections to evenly coat the top. Once the topping is uniform and covering, place into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. [I believe the pancake batter was slightly thinner and needed to be cooked for almost 45 minutes to brown.] The cobbler is done once the top is golden-brown and berries are bubbling. Serve warm with ice cream.

Rocky Road Fudge

The EASIEST gluten-free dessert ever. Seriously, it has 3 ingredients and all are 'naturally' GF.
Plus, it also tastes good; rich chocolate and crunchy peanut butter alongside puffy marshmallows. I whip this up if I suddenly need a hassle-free GF treat.



9 x 9 inch pan of fudge (so about 20 squares worth)
15 minutes mixing + 45 minutes solidifying
- medium saucepan
- 9 x 9 " baking pan, lined with Al foil
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
1 (10 or 12 oz.) bag of semisweet chocolate morsels* (find some DF chocolate chips for all those with lactose problems)
Half of a 14 oz. container of extra crunchy peanut butter*
Half of a 10 oz bag of miniature marshmallows*
*Toll House (nestle) chocolate morsels are GF (so are Enjoy Life and Tropical Source GF, DF choc chips), Jiff PB is GF, Kraft mini marshmallows are GF

DIRECTIONS
0. Line 9 x 9 pan with aluminum foil.
1. Pour the bag of chocolate chips into the dry medium saucepan. Begin heating over medium heat, stirring constantly as they start melting. Stir until the chips are nice and creamy.
2. Remove from the heat and spoon in half of the 18 oz. container of peanut butter (I just eyeball it, accurate measurements aren't important here-- go ahead and add in more if you really like PB). Mix well, until the chocolate/peanut butter is fully smooth and melty.
3. Let the saucepan cool further for about another 2-3 minutes-- you DON'T want the marshmallows to melt once you stir them in.
4. Add in a bunch of marshmallows (a little more than half of the 10 oz bag). Mix marshmallows in carefully, being sure to coat each one. Don't overstir, though, and make them shapeless and gooey.
5. Spoon the fudge into the waiting pan, spreading evenly. Cover lightly with foil and place fudge into the fridge or freezer to cool and harden, no shorter then 45 minutes. Once they've solidified, take out and cut into 2 x 1 " pieces (these babies are rich). Serve chilled, they will become rather messy once they warm up a bit.

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Muffins

Meyer lemon has a softer, sweeter flavor than 'regular' lemons. These muffins are tender and moist with a hint of lemon. The glaze is super easy to make and adds even more citrus-y goodness. Also, don't skip on the almond extract-- it tastes great with the lemon.
Inspired by these two recipes and the meyer lemons I found at the farmer's market.

Question: Anyone else notice sour cream and ricotta cheese seems to make GF baked goods fall after baking? They rise okay in the oven, but fall while cooling. Muffins seem to fare better than cakes, but fluffiness still takes a hit. Maybe I should investigate this...



Makes 12 medium muffins
20 minutes prep + 20 minutes cooking time + 40 minutes glazing/drying
Preheat 350 F
- large mixing bowl
- electric mixer
- large spatula or spoon
- muffin pan; lined with paper or butter
- small bowl
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Muffins
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
1 c. white sugar
Lemon zest from 2 lemons (~1 Tbsp.); you will also need the juice of said lemons, so keep them!
1 egg
1 c. ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Lemon juice from 1 to 1.5 lemons (~1 Tbsp.)
2 c. GF flour --> [1 c. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour + 1 c. white rice flour + 2 heaping tsp. xanthan gum]
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
Lemon Glaze
1/2 c. powdered sugar + more
Juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon

DIRECTIONS
Muffins

0. Let butter come completely to room temperature. This should take about an hour if the butter isn't frozen. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line the muffin tins with paper or grease with a little butter.
1. In a large mixing bowl, briefly hand mix the soft butter and sugar. Scrub the outside of 2 large lemons and add in their zest. Place the zested lemons aside (you will use their juice later). Beat the butter/sugar mixture with an electric mixer until white and very fluffy-- around 3 minutes.
2. Add in the egg, ricotta cheese, and almond extract. Cut your fresh lemons in half and hand squeeze them to produce around 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Be sure to remove any errant seeds. Briefly beat in the egg, cheese, almond extract and lemon juice with the mixer until well combined with the butter/sugar mixture.
3. Add in the flour mix [BRM All-P flour, white rice flour, xanthan gum], baking powder, baking soda and salt all at once. Gentry stir the dry ingredients over the top of the wet (you could mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl if you wish). Once the dry ingredients are combined, start mixing them with the wet ingredients sitting below; I use a spoon for this. Hand stir until the dough is well mixed. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl and will be almost spongy in texture.
4. Plop the dough into the waiting muffin tins. Equally distribute the fluffy dough; 12 muffins will be filled almost to the top. Place muffins into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden. Take them out and let cool before glazing.
Lemon Glaze
1. Spoon 1/2 c. powdered sugar into a small bowl. Squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Whisk with a fork until clumps disappear. You want the glaze to just drip from the fork. If mixture is too thick, add in more juice... to watery, use a bit more sugar.
2. Clump the cooled muffins close together on a tray. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the muffins until they are well-covered. Let the muffins sit out for over a half hour, or until the glaze dries. Eat immediately or store in the fridge for a cool treat.

Oreo Cookies

These were GREAT!! Nice rich chocolaty crunch and smooth vanilla filling. Just like I remember them (granted, it's been over three years since I had a 'real' oreo). In fact, they were better... everything is better extremely fresh. Try to ignore the fact that the filling is basically sugar and Crisco and just enjoy these babies.
I bet these wafers would make GREAT thin mint cookies if covered in melted peppermint-chocolate.
Original recipe from here. She has much better pictures (sorry-- I'm terrible with icing).



Makes ~18 2" diameter sandwich cookies (around 36 chocolate wafers)
15 minutes mixing + ~70 minutes baking + 20 minutes whipping icing and assembling cookies
Preheat 375 F
- large mixing bowl
- wire whisk or electric beater
- cookie sheet lined with Al foil or parchment paper
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Wafer
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or dairy-free alternative
2. Tbsp. vegetable shortening*
1 egg
1.25 c. flour --> (3/4 c. brown rice flour + 1/2 c. Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour + 1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum)
1/2 c. cocoa powder*
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 c. white granulated sugar
dash of salt
Vanilla Icing
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp. vegetable shortening*
~1.5 c. powdered sugar
~1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

*Crisco is GF, Hershey's cocoa powder is GF,

DIRECTIONS
Chocolate Wafer
0. Place stick of butter on the counter to reach room temperature. Make sure it is very soft before continuing. Preheat oven to 375 F.
1. Mix 1/2 c. butter, 2 Tbsp. shortening and 1 egg in a large bowl with a wire whisk (or electric beater) until well combined. The oils and egg don't have to be whipped or anything, just stirred till a uniform color.
2. Add in the brown rice flour, BRM All Purpose Baking Flour and xanthan gum over the top of the oil/egg mixture. Stir the flours together lightly with a large spoon, then add in the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Again stir dry ingredients without incorporating the 'wet' below. When it looks consistent, mix deeper to include the wet ingredients. Stir entire contents of bowl; the cocoa will start out light brown, then get a nice dark chocolate look once mixed well with the egg/oils. Continue to mix by hand until no more clumps appear. The dough will be soft and have a shiny chocolate look to it.
3. Pinch off about a teaspoon of dough and roll it into a 1 inch diameter ball. The dough should yield about 36 spheres. Place spheres onto an aluminum foil coated (or parchment paper coated) cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Use a level-bottomed drinking glass and squish each ball flat out to about a 2" diameter (around 1/4" thick).
4. Place cookies into the oven and bake for exactly 10 minutes at 375 F. They will come out soft, but will harden after cooling; wait at least a minute to transfer wafers to a cooling sheet. Continue baking; it took me a little over an hour to bake all of the balls-- I placed the waiting dough back into the fridge while cooking.
Vanilla Filling
0. Again, be patient and let the butter fully come to room temperature. Watch a Daily Show or something.
1. Place 3 Tbsp each of butter and shortening in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar, mix by hand until the sugar is not as volatile.
2. Add in the vanilla extract 1/2 tsp. at a time, beating with the mixer after each addition. You are looking for a thick, creamy consistency here-- it IS oreo filling. Basically you want to add vanilla extract until the mixture just turns from 'grainy' to smooth. Compensate for too much liquid with a little more sugar.
3. Beat the filling for 2 to 3 minutes to get it extra creamy.
Assembling
Place around 1 tsp. filling between two chocolate wafers. Press and twist the cookies together to mechanically bind the sandwich. If you want to add more icing, they'll come apart okay to do so. I suggest storing the cookies in the freezer, it makes them hold together better. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Lemon Coolers

These small little cookies ended up crumbly, fat and wonderfully tinged with lemon. Almost like dry, fruity bon-bons. Coat these with tart powdered sugar-- I found them rather novel and very easy.
Original recipe here, but this one is GF.



Makes 50 bite-sized cookies
20 minutes preparing + almost 2 hours baking total
Preheat 330 F
- large mixing bowl
- wire whisk -or- electric beater
- cookie sheet lined with Al foil
- large heavy duty gallon sized ziplock baggie
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1/2 c. + ~3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. white (granulated) sugar
1/3 c. butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1.5 c. GF flour mix --> [1 c. white rice flour + 1/2 c. Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose GF Mix + 1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum]
1.5 tsp. baking powder
zest from 1 fresh lemon
juice from 1 fresh lemon (about 1 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. powdered lemonade drink mix*

*Country Time Lemonade mix I think is GF; I used it and didn't get sick

DIRECTIONS
0. Preheat oven to 330 F. Place the butter on the counter to soften for awhile.
1. Wait till butter is room temperature (soft!) to begin mixing ingredients. In a large bowl, briefly mix the sugars (1/2 c. powdered and 1/3 c. granulated) with the butter, egg , vanilla and salt by hand. Once incorporated, cream together with a wire whisk or electric beater. The mixture should be creamy and consistent, but not fluffy.
2. Add in the GF flour mix and baking powder. Scrub the lemon well and add entire lemon zest into the bowl. Cut the lemon in half and easily squeeze its juice into the bowl, careful to remove renegade seeds.
3. Stir the entire mixture well. As usual, the dough will be thick, so I normally just hand mix it. Stir until the dough is slightly moist and easily forms a ball.
4. Roll dough into small little balls, no bigger than an inch-- I tried for about 3/4". Place balls onto the lined cookie sheet and press each one down slightly with your thumb; not too much. They will spread and puff out a little more in the oven, but you can get them fairly crowded on the sheet with no problems.
5. Before finishing the first batch, pour the remaining 3/4 c. powdered sugar into the heavy-duty plastic bag. Add in some of the powdered lemon drink mix and shake well to mix. Taste.** Add in more sugar or lemon drink if necessary (depends on how tart you want the powder!)
6. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes. They will get slightly tan on the top when done. Remove cookies and let cool for about 1 minute on the sheet. Before they cool ALL the way (they should still be warm, but not burning hot), plop the cookies into the bag and shake well to coat.
7. Continue baking and then coating the cookies. It took me about 5 rounds to finish the whole batch. I ended up just leaving them in the bag, there was enough sugar to go around.

**If you want more adult-like morsels, don't coat them with powdered sugar-- they have a good lemon taste on their own. I did prefer the melt-away lemon tang, though, and I'm in my 20's!

Sugar Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

My mother would make these for Valentine's day when I was growing up. To this date, I still associate Valentine's day with these cookies. They are light and crisp, but still have some 'body'... even translated over to Gluten free. The lemon icing is wonderful.



Makes 25 huge (~3" diameter) cookies
25 minutes + 3 hours of chilling time + 30 minutes rolling and baking
375 F
- electric beater (or whisk)
- cookie cutters
- rolling pin
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Cookie:
1 c. butter, softened
1.5 c. confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract*
1 tsp. Almond extract*
2.5 c. flour mix ---> [1.5 c. white rice flour + 1/4 c. potato starch + 1/2 c. tapioca starch + 1/4 c. cornstarch + 3 heaping tsp. xanthan gum] feel free to use your own favorite GF mix
1 tsp. backing soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar*
Lemon Frosting:
1/6 c. room-temperature soft butter
1.5 c. confectioners sugar
3/4 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbps. milk (or water, for dairy free)
zest of one lemon (preferably the one you just juiced)
GF food coloring*
*McCormick spices and extracts are GF

DIRECTIONS
Cookies:
0. Set the butter out on the counter to warm. Go watch TV or something while it softens.
1. In a large bowl, mix soft butter, confect sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extracts till smooth. I normally use an electric beater for this, but a wire whisk will work okay.
2. Hand blend in the flour mixture (white rice flour, xanthan gum, tapioca, corn and potato starches), baking soda and cream of tartar to the butter/extract. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky. Like most GF dough, it will also be dense; I suggest using a strong spoon.
3. Split the dough into two 'lumps'. Cover both with saran wrap and chill for 3+ hours. You want to do this... the dough is horrible to work with if you don't chill it first.
3.50. Heat oven to 375 F.
4. Place half of the cool dough onto a clean countertop and try to press it down a little by hand (it should be fairly hard). Cover the dough with a large piece of saran wrap and roll the dough out with a rolling pin to about 1/8th of an inch thick.
5. Cut the rolled dough into shapes. I like circles.
6. Place on parchment paper and bake 7 to 8 minutes until the cookies are light bown on the edges. Pull out and let cool for a minute or two before scooping them up.
Frosting:
0. Let the cookies TOTALLY COOL before icing them!
1. Blend softened butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, milk and zest in a bowl until soft.
2. Add in dye. Frost the cooled cookies gererously.

Anise Biscotti

"Biscotti" is Italian for "twice-baked". These cookies are baked once as a slab, cut into slices, then, returned to the oven to acquire a crispy exterior. Because they are dry, they are perfect for dunking into coffee. I'm not fond of black liquorice but enjoy these cookies, so don't be scared off by the anise!

The traditional method does not involve either oil or a leavening agent, but I experimented with both when adapting my mother's recipe to be gluten-free. I would leave in the baking powder, but exclude the butter-- turns out the oil makes these just a little too moist (never thought I would say that about GF flours!). Anyway, enjoy, soft or crunchy.



Makes 2 dozen long cookies
20 + 30 + 15 (65 minutes total)
Preheat oven: 350 F
-electric mixer
-large mixing bowl
-large cookie sheet
Easy

INGREDIENTS
[¼ c. butter, softened—optional; makes the cookies softer/moister]
1 c. white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract*
1 tsp. brandy*, or brandy flavoring
½ of a (1 oz) bottle anise extract*
2 c. leavened GF baking mix (I used Kinnikinnick All Purpose Mix—if you don’t have a pre-made mix, use this: 1.5 c. brown rice flour, ¼ c. potato starch, ¼ c. tapioca starch, 1 tsp. baking powder)
1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum
1 c. chopped walnuts
*All McCormick extracts are GF; Brandy is made without gluten-grains.

DIRECTIONS
1. Place butter into a large mixing bowl. Let it sit and warm up until it’s soft enough to ‘stir’. Beat the soft butter with the white sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, around 2 minutes.
2. Add in the 3 whole eggs to the beaten sugar(&butter). Beat again with mixer until fully combined, around 1 minute. The egg/sugar mixture should be thick and soupy.
3. Add in vanilla, brandy and anise extracts, mixing by hand to fully incorporate.
4. Pour 1 cup GF baking mix into the large bowl; don’t yet stir in the flour. Sprinkle xanthan gum over the top of the flour (as it’s sitting on top of the eggs/sugar); swirl the gum and flour a little bit. Now, carefully mix flour/xanthan gum into the wet ingredients, first by hand, then again with the electric mixer. Dough will be very viscous.
5. Add in the second cup of GF baking mix. This dough is waaay too sticky and dense to mix with an electric beater, so use your arm muscles and ridged spoon. Stir mixture until flour and eggs are well combined.
6. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Dough will look like taffy.
7. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper (you will be very sorry if you don’t line the sheet!!). Spoon dough out onto the parchment paper, spreading it out to form two long ‘loaves’ down the length of the cookie sheet. Each flat loaf of dough should be about 4 inches wide and 1 inch thick.
8. Place cookie sheet into the preheated oven (350 F). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cookie loaves are slightly browned on top. Remove sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool for 10 minutes.
9. Cut cookies at a slight angle (makes them longer) across the width of each loaf, forming 1 inch thick ‘candy bar’ cookies. These biscotti are soft enough that you should have no real problems cutting them.
For soft, moist cookies:
Stop now and turn off the oven. Refrigerate the cookies. Serve warm or cold with coffee.
For crunchy-on-the-outside cookies (my favorite):
10. Turn cookies over on their side, displaying the ‘cut’ part up. Return cookies to the hot oven. Bake 10 more minutes on one side, flip, then bake another 5 minutes on the other side. These cookies will be an amber, toasted brown—nice crunchy exterior with a moist center.
11. Once cooled, remove from cookie sheet and refrigerate. Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and apply to the bottoms of cookies, if desired.

Cherry Crisp

Fresh cherries = good. Pitts = bad. It took me a good 40 minutes to de-pit these cherries by hand, but it was worth it. Really no-hassle once the pits are removed. Old fashioned crisp.. this 'oatmeal' topping is crumbly and crunchy, not cobbler. Add in more white sugar if you wish, I liked this dessert slightly on the tart side.

Serves 4

40 + 15 + 55 minutes (total 1 hr 50 minutes)

preheat 375 F

- 9 x 9 inch pan

-medium bowl

Easy

INGREDIENTS

Fruit:

2 c. cherries, pitted-- could use thawed and drained frozen cherries and cut 40 minutes off of the preparation time
½ c. white sugar
1 ½ tbsp. cornstarch

Crisp topping:

¾ c. brown rice flour
½ tsp. xanthan gum
¼ c. brown sugar
½ c. crushed Enjoy Life Very Berry granola cereal
Pinch of salt

1/3 c. butter, cut into batter

DIRECTIONS

Fruit:

1. Find yourself some pitted cherries. That means defrosting a bag of frozen, pitted cherries -OR- using fresh cherries and taking the pits out by hand. I used a paring knife and cut into each cherry, removing the pit.

2. Place the DRAINED, pitted cherries into the 9 x 9 inch pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle fruit with 1/2 c. white sugar. Also sprinkle with cornstarch. Toss/stir to evenly coat the cherries. Make sure the fruit is evenly distributed in the pan; fruit layer should be at least 1 inch thick.

Crisp:

-Preheat oven to 375 F-

3. Pour brown rice flour into a medium bowl. Add in the xanthan gum and stir well. Add in the brown sugar. Mix again.

4. Place Very Berry granola cereal into a heavy duty sandwich baggie and smash with something hard (I use a nice hammer) until the granola resembles small oatmeal chunks. Add smashed granola bits into the medium bowl with the rice flour mixture.

5. Cut butter into flour/cereal mixture (make sure it's room temperature); cut small bits of butter at a time. The topping should look like coarse, crumbly, cornmeal when completed. Mix well.

6. Spoon crumbly butter topping over the fruit in the 9 x 9 inch pan. Distribute evenly. Place pan into the oven and bake for 55 minutes at 375 F. Crisp is done when fruit juices are dark red and bubbling and topping is crispy and browned. Enjoy hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cookie Dough Layer Brownies

Someday, I will learn how to make lactose-free caramel, so I can concoct a GF version of my mother's caramel brownies. For now I will settle for this treat, which features a layer of brown-sugary goodness sandwiched between rich dark chocolate brownies and a layer of melted chocolate. I don't feel at all deprived.
From Pillsbury's "Best of the Bake Off" Cookbook.



Makes a 9 x 12 pan of bar cookies/brownies
20 + 40 + 10 minutes (plus 2 hours chilling time)
-large mixing bowl
-9 x 12 inch pan
-electric mixer
-spatula
-small pot for melting chocolate
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Middle Cookie Layer:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. potato starch
3/4 c. white rice flour (don't use bean flour; this part won't be baked and will retain its 'raw' flavor)
1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum
Bottom Brownies:
1 box favorite GF brownie mix-- I used the 16 oz. Gluten Free Pantry Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix (requires 2 eggs and 6 tbsp. corn oil)
Top Chocolate Glaze:
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate morsels-- I used Enjoy Life's lactose-free chips
1 tbsp. shortening (NOT butter or oil)

DIRECTIONS
**I made the middle layer before the bottom layer so to use my same big mixing bowl without raw egg contamination
Middle Cookie Layer:
1. Bring butter to room temperature. While butter is sitting out inside your big mixing bowl, gather sugars and flours.
2. With an electric mixer, beat the butter till smooth. Add in brown and white sugars. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (no longer than 2 minutes). Pour in 1 tbsp. of water and vanilla extract. Beat more to combine ; mixture should be a little less crumbly.
3. Add in 1/4 cup potato starch flour and 1/4 cup white rice flour. Mix gently by hand to combine, then add in remaining 1/2 cup white rice flour and heaping tsp. of xanthan gum. Beat for another minute with the electric mixer to make sure everything is well combined.
4. Scoop 'cookie dough' out of bowl and place on a piece of Al foil (use this piece to cover the 9 x 13 pan later on). Set in fridge while you mix and bake the bottom layer.
Bottom Brownies:
5. In same large mixing bowl, combine brownie mix as directed on package.
6. Pour/scoop brownie mix into greased 9 x 12 pan-- I used disposable Aluminum pan. Bake as directed on package, but DON'T overbake. You don't want the edges burnt.
7. Remove brownies from the oven and let them cool. (10 or so minutes; want brownies to be 'firm'.. place in fridge to speed up). Turn off oven. While the brownies are cooling, take 'cookie dough' layer out of fridge to soften.
8. Press soft cookie dough layer onto the top of the cooled, cooked brownies with your fingers. Evenly spread 'dough' out over the entire pan.
Top:
9. Pour 1 cup chocolate chips into a small pot. Add in 1 tbsp. shortening. Begin heating over LOW heat, stirring constantly with a heat-proof spatula.
10. When chips are fully melted and creamy, remove from heat and let cool a minute or so. Spread chocolate glaze evenly over the cookie dough layer with the spatula.
11. Cover pan with Al foil piece and place into the fridge until top chocolate glaze has hardened. To cut into bars: remove from fridge and let them warm up slightly (5 minutes). Cut and serve when bars are still chilled, but glaze is no longer rock-hard. Store in the fridge.

Strawberry Ice Cream Sundae

Summer is here!!!
This makes a wonderful GF dessert or snack. The frosted flakes totally satisfy my 'ice cream cone' cravings.



Serves 3-4
20 minutes
-medium saucepan
Quck and simple

INGREDIENTS
Ice cream of choice (I use plain vanilla-- dairy free So Delicious)
Homemade Strawberry Syrup: Fresh Strawberry Syrup
handful of GF frosted flakes (I use Envirokidz Amazon Frosted Flakes)

DIRECTIONS
1. Make up your own Strawberry Syrup as printed in link above [strawberries, water, sugar]. Chill or pour it warm over the ice cream.. both are delicious.
2. Duh--Just follow the picture.
Go wild. Triple this to feed a party of good friends.

Lemon Squares

A classic: These are one of my favorite 'bar' cookies. Light shortbread base, with a moist lemon-custard topping dusted with powdered sugar. These use only 1 cup of GF flour for a 8 x 8 pan, so it's a pretty cost-effective GF dessert.
Mixture of my mother's recipe and Connie Sarros' take in Gluten-Free Dessert Cookbook.

My fellow labmates have been asking me to bring some of these in since March, when I first mentioned their sour-sweet goodness. None of them are Celiac and they didn't even notice these were made without wheat. It makes me so happy to bake for friends.



Makes 16 square bar cookies.
60 minutes
350 F
-8 x 8 square baking pan (glass, preferred)
-large mixing bowl
-small mixing bowl
-electric mixer
-zester (a very fine grater, used for fruit rinds)
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Shortbread Crust
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened; I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks to make this lactose-free
-- 1 cup GF flour blend (next four ingredients), unleavened --
1/4 c. tapioca starch
1/4 c. potato starch
1/2 c. white rice flour
1 heaping tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 c. powdered (confectioner's) sugar
Lemon 'Filling'
Zest of 1 big lemon
Juice of 1 big lemon (no less that 2 tbsp.)
2 eggs
1 c. white granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS
Shortbread Crust
1. Take butter out of fridge and set into your large mixing bowl; let soften (DO NOT melt the butter in the microwave.. be patient). Use the butter wrapper and grease up the 8 x 8 baking pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In small mixing bowl, combine tapioca starch, potato starch and white rice flour with xanthan gum and powdered sugar. Mix carefully, but completely, with a spoon. Let sit.
3. Go back to the big bowl. Begin beating the softened butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth (around 1 minute). Carefully add in the flour mixture to the butter, 1/4 cup at a time. Stir a little with a spoon/spatula before mixing again with the electric beater (it will go everywhere, trust me). Beat the combined flour/butter mix until fully moistened-- this batter will look crumbly, but should keep shape when pinched between your fingers.
4. Press the 'crumbly' shortbread batter evenly into the greased 8 x 8 pan with your fingers. Once you have a smooth, uniform surface (press well to make it stick), slide the cookie crust into the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes-- DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE ON TIME!
Lemon Filling
5. While the shortbread is baking, wash out your large mixing bowl and beater prongs with hot water. Also wash out your small mixing bowl.
6. Scrub the large lemon very well with hot water (Celiacs: cut off the fruit sticker). Remove the top yellow rind from the fruit with a zester. Don't zest too much and get any of the white pith. Place zest in small bowl-- you should have maybe ~1/2 tsp.
7. Cut the zested lemon in half and remove the seeds, if you can. Squeeze both lemon halves over the small bowl, accumulating no less than 2 tbsp. lemon juice. Be sure to catch and remove any errant seeds.
8. In large mixing bowl, crack open both eggs and add in white granulated sugar. Add in the baking powder and a little salt. Scrape the lemon juice/zest mix from the small to the large bowl. Beat the eggs/lemon until frothy (1-2 minutes) and sugar is mostly dissolved (mixture will be viscous).
9. Remove cooked shortbread base from the oven at the 20 minute mark. Pour/spoon the egg/lemon mixture over the cooked base and return cookies to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the top forms a tan skin.
10. Remove from oven and chill overnight. Serve cold with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Strawberry-Chocolate Muffins

You can probably tell it's spring break at U of Illinois-- I've been cooking daily and now baking. These came out very cake-like, moist, and delicately flavored with strawberry. Omit or add in more dark chocolate chips, I wanted just a few sprinkles of chocolate in each muffin. You will taste more chocolate right out of the hot oven-- I prefer them chilled for a fresh strawberry delight.



Makes 9 large muffins
45 minutes
preheat to 375-400 F (my gas oven is funny.. the real temp was somewhere in that range)
-muffin tin with liners
-large bowl
-wire whisk or large fork
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
12 oz. of fresh strawberries (3/4ths of a 1 lb package)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. corn oil (or any veggie oil)
2/3+1/3 c. (1 cup total) GF flour blend-- I used Kinnikinnick All Purpose baking Mix, it's already leavened, but I wanted to be sure these rose
1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/6 c. dark chocolate -or- white chocolate chips-- I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips to be dairy-free

DIRECTIONS
1. Wash strawberries and cut into small chunks (I made a cut perpendicular to the top, then sliced across the width). Drain thoroughly and place into a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour white sugar over strawberries and mix. Let the fruit sit for 10 minutes while the sugar extracts some strawberry juice. The strawberries should be halfway covered in a red sugary syrup when ready to continue.
3. Prepare muffin tin (grease or use liners) and preheat oven to around 400 F while waiting on fruit.
4. Take out whisk or fork and mash the tender strawberries a little.. not too much. Add in the egg and the oil. Whisk by hand until the mixture is pink and frothy (around 30 seconds).
5. Add in 2/3 rds cup GF flour blend, then sprinkle with baking powder and xanthan gum before stirring. Mix thoroughly, then add the remaining 1/3rd cup flour.
6. Stir by hand until batter is well combined-- the mixture will be incredibly thick and sticky.. that's okay. Add in a splash of vanilla extract and the chocolate chips.
7. Spoon (more like plop) the batter into prepared muffin tins. Filling the cups almost all the way to the top made 9 large muffins.. make 12 small ones by filling a little under 3 quarters full.
8. Slide muffin tin into preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes**, until nice and golden brown on top and a knife inserted comes out clean (they are spongy and give a little). Let them totally cool before eating-- it REALLY brings out the strawberry taste!
**Make sure to check on these at the 10 minute mark.. I don't totally trust my oven temp and 400 F might be too high, but it worked this afternoon. Turn down to 375 F if getting too brown too fast.

St. Luke's Apple Pie; Revised

The original recipe produced a pie.. this is more of an apple crisp, but still turned out delicious. (Plus, who really needs the bottom pie crust, anyway?) Don't let the 'overnight prep' or detailed instructions fool you, this is actually an easy GF dessert to make.



Serves 4
1 hour + 1 hour
450 F
Overnight prep
-8 x 8 " pan
-peeler
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Fruit filling
5-6 medium ripe granny smith apples
1/2 c. white sugar
plenty of cinnamon (around 2 tsp.)*
dash of nutmeg*
GF Crumble crust
3/4 c. white rice flour (sorghum would probably work, too)
1/2. tsp xanthan gum
1/2 c. white sugar
1/3 c. butter, frozen*
*McCormick spices are GF; I used Earth Balance buttery sticks to make this DF

DIRECTIONS
Prep:
1. Place butter in the freezer if not frozen already.
Fruit filling
2. Wash and peel all 5 apples. Use a peeler as you would for a carrot... it works WAY better than using a paring knife. Lie the apple on its side and cut into 1/4th inch slices. Use a sharp knife for this, since you will be cutting right through the seeds.
3. Once you have peel-less, round apple slices, cut out the core by making 4 cuts in each flat slice: two on either side of the core, then turn the apple 90 degrees, and make another two cuts (in a checkerboard pattern) around the core. You are now left with 9 apple 'chunks'.. discard the middlemost square since it contains seeds. Repeat until you have each slice divided.
4. Place all chunks into the 8 x 8 baking pan. Pour 1/2 c. sugar over apples and mix. Also sprinkle generously with cinnamon (and a pinch of nutmeg) till it suits your taste.
Crumble Topping
5. In a medium-sized bowl, combine rice flour and xanthan gum. Stir in sugar until all is well combined.
6. Retrieve butter from freezer.. it should be hard. Carefully drop butter into flour mixture by cutting off small 'flakes' at a time.** Stir butter flakes into flour every tbsp or so in order to not clump all pieces together (this is what makes the crumble crust crumbly). Flour should coat butter and crust should appear like coarse cornmeal when correctly prepared.
7. Spoon topping over apples in pan.. don't mix. Cover pan with Aluminum foil and place in freezer overnight, or until FULLY frozen.
**Use a pastry cutter or food processor if you have one!!
To cook:
8. Preheat oven to 450 F. Remove apple pie from freezer, remove foil and place in hot oven.
9. Cook 15- 20 minutes at high temp, then, decrease oven temperature to 350 F and bake ANOTHER 30 - 45 minutes at lower temp (it cooks a total of 50-6o minutes).
10. Serve warm, or cold. Try it topped with vanilla ice cream or cinnamon whipping cream.

No-Bake Homemade Sandwich Cookies

These taste just like miniature chocolate covered candy bars and are ridiculously easy. Also can be made dairy free! Picture shows pb filling.



Serves 3
-parchment paper
-small pot
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
40 Envirokidz vanilla animal cookies .. the flat square ones.
1/4 c. (or more) chocolate chips*
1 tsp. shortening (NOT butter)
*I used Enjoy Life dairy free chips
Filling:
Peanut butter or any jam/fruit preserve of choice; perhaps strawberry or cherry or orange marmalade-- I've also used fresh fruit in between, too
I bet caramel or marshmallow would also be good!

DIRECTIONS
1. Place animal cookies out on parchment paper over a large plate or small cookie sheet.
2. Spread your favorite filling on 20 of the cookies. Use remaining cookies as the top half of the sandwich. Be sure to press down well. I found the fruit cookies didn't stay together as well as the pb ones.
3. Pour chocolate chips out into small saucepan or pot. Begin melting chips over low heat, stirring in the shortening until smooth and silky. This does not take too long.
4. Remove from heat and place cookies carefully into chocolate until well coated. If the fruit ones fall apart, just drizzle chocolate over them (and down the sides) instead of dipping.
5. Once fully coated with chocolate, let them firm up in the fridge or freezer.