Gluten Free · Treats - GF

Pie Crust

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

Well it is really summer where I live. Normally we are in 100 degree temperature by middle of June (no I’m not in Arizona, but close) but this year it’s been cooler and so I’ve been able to continue baking. However, I did this pie crust the other day and the oven heated up my house so much I was miserable. So… posts until the temperature go down might be sparingly.

But keeping with the summer theme I wanted a fruit tart. So I decided to make a pie crust. I had never made a Gluten-Free crust before and I had heard it is quite hard. My local bakery I eat at does not do them and they do almost everything, so it made me wonder if it was possible. TO THE INTERNET!

I found several recipes but the one that looked the best was this one that used sour cream. It is from the blog Gluten Free on a Shoestring and it ended up working quite well. The original recipe makes a 10 inch pie crust. I like mine really thin, so it ended up making, 2 6-inch crusts and allowed me to roll 8 hot dogs to make pigs in the blanket.

To me, it was a pretty straight forward recipe. The only thing I did not do that the original stated was flatten the butter with my hands. I had never done this before in making pie crust, I always mashed it with my whisk or in a food processor. Which is what I did in this instance. Also, my house was so hot at the time, it did not need the heat from my hand.
One tip I will say it it really does need to be ice water. I put a 1/2 a cup in the freezer and let it get cold before I made the dough.

On rolling it out. It is really sticky at first and it will crack. I almost cried thinking I had done something wrong. But as I continued to roll it out and fold it up, it stopped being sticky and did not crack. In the end it looked and felt like normal pie crust I used to buy from the store pre-made.

Tiny dough ball, this is the amount of dough I used for the pigs in the blanket

I ended up making a fruit tart and a quiche with my 2 6-inch crusts. Both were delicious. So I highly suggest if you are needing a pie crust, to use this recipe.

Pie crust done and out of oven
Fruit tart w/ strawberries & raspberries
Egg & sausage quiche

Pie Crust

Ingredents

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose Gluten-free flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if flour blend includes it, read ingredients 😉 not all say it right on the front)
  • 1/4 teaspoon Gluten-free baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons of very cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
  • 1/2 cup natural sour cream, cold
  • ice water (will add a tablespoon at a time, I chilled 1/2 a cup which was more than plenty)

Instructions

  • Dough
    • In a large bowl whisk flour, xanthan gum (if using), baking powder and salt. Add the small chunks of butter and toss to coat in the dry ingredients.Take whisk grind butter until it is flattened into mixtureAdd sour cream and mix until the dry ingredients are moistenedAdd a Tablespoon of water and mix into dough with hands. Repeat until a dough ball forms. (Took about 3 Tablespoons for me)Chill for 45 minutes
  • Rolling out
    • Place chilled dough on floured surface and taking a floured rolling pin start rolling out the dough to about a 8 inch round piece.
    • Fold dough to make a square and repeat rolling out dough. This step will need to be completed until not sticky about 4 times.
      Note: It may crack and also stick to the surface even with flour. Making folding it into a square impossible. That is okay. Just ball it up again and roll it out.
    • After it is less sticky and not cracking, it is ready for making whatever you choose.
      Roll out to desired width and depth and follow your pie recipe from here on out.
  • Enjoy!
Cakes - GF · Gluten Free

Boston Cream Pie

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

I finally got to bake! I say that because my work has kept me so absolutely crazy and I have been working about 12 – 15 hours a day. Baking is one of my stress reliefs so when I don’t get to, I am a little cranky.
So even on one of the hottest days we’ve had this year, I decided to bake a cake. I had been watching the Greatest British Baking Show and they were doing some sort of cream pies. So that prompted me to want a Boston Cream Pie. No idea, it’s not really a pie, but it sounded really delicious at the time (and was when I ate it).

So first thing you do is make the pastry cream. This time I used real milk.
I say this because if you haven’t noticed, I normally use Soy. That is because long time ago my doctor told me to switch and I now rarely use milk. I have been asked if I’m a vegetarian or semi Vegan. No, I’m not. Just over the many years of baking, I actually came to realize I get a moister cake by using Soy as well. So normally, that’s what I use.
Anyway… I used real milk this time because I’m horrible at making pastry creams and I was already substituting the sugar so, I wanted to try to make it easier for me. It’s fairly simple, but you need to make sure you don’t scramble your eggs. You can do this by taking a 1/2 cup of the hot liquid and put it into the eggs, whipping it while you add it. Then add it to the rest of the milk mixture. I still seem to fail at this step quite often (after walking baking shows… I see I’m not the only one).

Once it is all mixed, put it into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and chill in fridge.

Now time to move onto the cake. This is done right after the pastry cream, no need to wait. The cake is a straight forward vanilla cake baked in 2 9-inch round pans. The only thing I noticed that the original recipe (gotten from: Live, Love and Sugar: Easy Boston Cream Pie) is that it called for a ton of butter and oil. I cut that down to save calories, fat, and a worry of my cholesterol. I didn’t notice any difference in the moisture or taste by omitting a couple tablespoons or butter.

Cake after it’s out of oven

Cakes need to fully cool before you put them together and start making the ganache. Took about 30 minutes (even in 98 degree weather, my air conditioner is not that great).
After they are cooled, start making the ganache. It’s easy, boil the cream and add it to chocolate and Karo syrup. Let the cream melt the chocolate for 90 seconds then whip it together. Done!
Now to assemble the cake. Take the pastry cream out of the fridge, using a large knife or spatula spread the cream on top of one of the cakes.

cake covered with pastry cream
ganache after whipped

When all used and spread evenly, put the 2nd cake on top. Then take the ganache and spread it over the top like frosting. Let it drip down the sides. There is no need to be super careful, make it as neat or messy as you like. Then chill for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Boston Cream Pie

Ingredents

PASTRY CREAM

  • Pastry Cream
    • 4 egg yolks
    • 1 cup Stevia
    • 4 tbsp cornstarch
    • 2 cups milk
    • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Vanilla Cake
    • 2 1/2 cups Gluten-Free all purpose flour
    • 3 1/2 tsp Gluten-Free baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 10 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 2 cups Stevia
    • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
    • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
    • 4 large eggs
    • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • Choclate Ganache
    • 6 oz (1 cup) dark chocolate chips
    • 2 tbsp corn syrup
    • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

  • Pastry Cream
    • Separate egg yolks and put into a small bowl. Gently beat them and set aside.
    • Add Stevia, cornstarch and milk to a medium sized sauce pan and whisk until smooth. Stirring constantly, over medium heat, bring to a simmer and simmer for 2 minutes. (When you start the 2 minutes is when it barely begins to bubble).
    • Remove from heat.
    • Take 1/2 a cup of milk mixture and whisk it into the eggs. This helps you not to get scrambled eggs (they say ensures, but I know they can still scramble, so I say helps)
    • Once they are mixed and the eggs are smooth, pour into the rest of the milk mixture and whisk together.
    • Put pan back on medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for 2 minutes.
    • Remove from heat and pour into a medium sized bowl.
    • Whisk butter and vanilla into the egg mixture.
    • Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  • Vanilla cake
    • Prepare pans by spraying with oil and lining with parchment paper
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside
    • Beat the butter, Stevia and oil in a large bowl (either with a hand mixer or electric) until light in color and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
    • Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until combined and smooth. Add 1/2 the dry ingredients and mix until combined
    • Add milk and mix until smooth
    • Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Do not over mix.
    • Divide batter evenly between the cake pans and bake for 25 minutes (it took the entire time and they are very pale. But they are done if the toothpick come out clean)
    • Remove the cakes and let cook in pan for 5 minutes
    • Move cakes from pan to cooling racks and let cool completely (about 30 minutes)
  • Chocolate Ganache
    • Put heavy whipping cream into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.
    • While heavy whipping cream is coming to a boil. Place the chocolate and Karo syrup in a small bowl.
    • Take the heavy whipping cream and pour it over the chocolate and Karo syrup. Let sit for 90 seconds.
    • Whisk the cream and chocolate together. It will become dark and shiny.
  • Assembly
    • Take pastry cream out of the refrigerator
    • Whisk pastry cream until less clumpy (still will be a little, that’s okay)
    • Using a spatula or large knife spread pastry cream over one cake
    • Once all cream is spread evenly across the one cake take 2nd cake and place on top.
    • Spread ganache like frosting over the top of cake, dripping down the sides (no need to be neat)
    • Refrigerate for 30 minutes
    • Serve and enjoy!
Donuts - GF · Gluten Free

Buttermilk Donuts

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

Well, illness finally caught up to me. However, I don’t think I can catch what my friend has 😉 But alas, I did not feel well enough to bake last week, so I missed my normal Thursday post.
I am happy to report that even though Amber and I were not able to get together to bake, we were able to hang out. I hope that she gets feeling better soon.

So, no cupcake wars again this week. But I got a huge hankering for donuts, so I decided the best way to get some was to make them. Great idea right? In my search for a good recipe I found several, so for the next few weeks there might be a donut theme going on. The recipe that won out for this week was buttermilk donuts (Adapted from donuts: recipes for glazed, sprinkled and jelly-filled delights). Mainly because it is a cake based donut and I am pretty good at making cakes. I figured due to that fact, it was probably the best one to start out with.

The reciepe is pretty simple. Mix dry ingredients, then mix wet ingredients, then mix them together until a dough ball forms. Simple enough. Chill for an hour… Got it.

Dough Ball

Now here is where I failed:

I obviously do not know what a 1/2 inch thick is. When I first rolled out my dough I rolled it way to thin. My first 5 ended up being more like like donut crackers than donuts. Still tasted great, but a cracker. I also forgot to cut holes in the middle. Yes I knew I was making donuts not crackers… I swear.

By the time I took the picture… I figured out what 1/2 inch thick means and that donuts need holes

Now I don’t have a deep fryer because I normally air fry everything, so I had to use a heavy duty skillet instead. That worked fine, I just made sure the temperature of the oil hit 360 degrees.
The finished donuts/crackers were very good but need to have sugar or some sort of glaze on them. They are not insanely delicious by themselves. So I sprinkled sugar on mine and it was a great treat! Even if it was a donut cracker.
Also, these are another recipe that needs to be heated up. I know it seems like most of mine do, I just haven’t found the trick of gluten free/sugar free with it not needing to be warm.
Although, I’ll post soon a lemon cake recipe I LOVE and you can eat it warm or cold or in the middle of the night after drinking…

Normal donuts on the left, donut crackers on the right…

Buttermilk Donuts

Ingredents:

  • 1 cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Gluten Free Cake Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Gluten Free Baking Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup Stevia
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Canola oil for frying

Instructions:

  • In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients together (Flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt). Set aside
  • In a large bowl with a hand mixer (or standing mixer) beat the egg and sugar together until pale in color and creamy
  • Add the rest of the wet ingredients (buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract) and mix together until just blended.
  • Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until a soft dough forms.
    • Note: This takes longer than you think. It stays in clumps for quite some time and then all of the sudden blends together. Keep going, it will make a dough ball.
  • Cover and chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour
  • Once dough is done chilling. Start heating up oil in either a deep fryer or heavy skillet. Oil needs to be 360 degrees
  • Take the dough out and roll it out to be 1/2 an inch thick (do not do less than a 1/2 inch thick, you will get crackers)
  • Cut out as many donuts as you can using a 3 inch circle cutter (I admit, I used a drinking glass… it’s all I had)
  • Cut out one inch circle in the middle (I am so high tech… I used a large decorating tip)
  • Repeat rolling out dough and cutting them out until no dough is left. Makes about 11 donuts and holes.
  • Fry donuts in hot oil until golden brown. Takes only about 3 – 4 minutes.
  • Once done, transfer donuts to a paper towel lined cooling rack. Cool 5 minutes.
  • Sprinkle with Stevia and enjoy!
Cakes - GF · Gluten Free

Orange Poppy-seed Cake

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

My local gluten-free bakery makes this delicious orange poppy-seed cupcake. It is my favorite treat that I can eat every once in a full moon (they still use regular sugar, so I have to limit it). So, my friend and I decided to do this as one of our cupcake tests for the cupcake wars. Well… that is what was supposed to happen. However, illness still seems to plague the land and I ended up just making it as stated in the recipe, a bundt cake.

One thing to note about this recipe, it calls for cake flour. I’ve never found Gluten-Free cake flour in the stores. So I’ve always made my own. I simply take out one tablespoon of flour for every 1/2 cup I use and replace it with cornstarch. However, for this recipe I took out 2 tablespoons of flour and didn’t replace it. The dough was looking really dense and I felt adding more would make it inedible.

The cake ended up needing to cook for an hour. 15 minutes more than the original recipe (from Real House Moms) called for. Gluten-Free baking, what do you do? I also thought it was going to come out super dense. When I spooned it into the bundt pan it was, I felt it looked closer to cookie dough than cake dough. However, it came out super moist and delicious. I also found it is a recipe that is still delicious at room temperature, no warming it up via oven or microwave. If you like ice cream, I highly recommend this cake with vanilla ice cream. Such a great treat!

I have come to realize I’m horrible at taking pictures. I think it is sometimes when I am baking I just want the finished product because I’m hungry… then I realize I am blogging about this and I didn’t take pictures! So sorry. All I have is the finished cake.

Orange Poppy-Seed Cake

Ingredents

  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups Stevia
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • 4 tablespoons orange zest
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 1/4 cups natural sour cream
  • 2 1/4 cups Gluten-Free cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons Gluten-Free baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 teaspoons poppy-seeds

Instructions

  • Prepare bundt pan by greasing and flouring it.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a small mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds and salt, set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, using either a hand mixer or stand mixer; cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes)
  • Add in the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to mix in fully before adding the next egg.
  • Stir in the orange zest, orange juice and sour cream.
  • Reduce the speed to low and stir in the flour mixture until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
  • Spoon in the batter into the prepared pan. (It will look very dense). Spread out batter out evenly using a spatula or knife
  • Bake for 50 – 60 minutes. Until cake is light golden brown and cake tester comes out clean in several areas.
  • Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes
  • Remove cake from pan and transfer to wire rack. Let cool for another 15.
  • Enjoy!
Bread - GF · Gluten Free

Cornbread

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

Well spring weather is supposed to be here. But instead we are still having winter… in May. Our mountains got a new coat of snow and my plants are still in my house because the poor dears would freeze at night. This insurge of winter has also meant illness. So my friend and I haven’t been able to get together recently to do our cupcake wars. That doesn’t mean I have stopped baking, so here is a comfort food that I adore, cornbread.

Now one of my issues with food is everything is enriched. I cannot process some of the vitamins they put into these enriched foods. I realized the last time I went to by yellow corn meal, the bags now say enriched. Grrr… so now what, I’m way to lazy to make it myself. Luckily, I found some of the whole food stores in my area still sell yellow corn meal in bulk that hasn’t been enriched. So I was ready… wrong.
I hadn’t realized that cornbread actually wasn’t all corn meal but had flour in it as well. I have made this recipe at least a dozen times, I was shocked I didn’t remember that. I also have never made it with Gluten Free flour, only 100% whole wheat, so this was going to be a new experience. However, I was out of Gluten Free flour, so back to the store I went.

Once I actually had all the ingredients in hand I started to make my dinner (yes, my entire dinner was cornbread, don’t judge). This recipe doesn’t take long and you can basically use any pan you want. I’ve made it in an 8X8, 9 inch round, 9X9, and a bread loaf pan (pictured). The baking time honestly does not change that much. Just make sure the toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Making the dough
In the pan, I used a bread loaf pan this time

In the end, I really enjoyed it. And plan on making it again soon. Just a word to the wise, it does have a weird taste cold. I think it is just too dense. So if you don’t plan on eating it all at once, simply pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds and heat it up a little. Then it goes back to being delicious and tasting like I just baked it.

Finished product, minus a piece… I was hungry

This recipe is adapted from the Betty Crocker’s Cooking Basics cookbook.

Cornbread

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/4 un-enriched yellow cornmeal
  • 1 cup Gluten-Free flour
  • 3/4 cup Stevia
  • 1 tablespoon Gluten-Free baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
  • Grease the bottom of the pan you decide to use. (As I mentioned before I’ve used an 8×8, 9×9, 8 inch round, 9 inch round, and loaf pan. It really is up to you)
  • Beat the milk margarine and egg in a large bowl with a whisk until well mixed.
  • Stir in the cornmeal, flour, Stevia, baking powder, and salt just until moistened. The batter will be lumpy.
  • Pour batter into prepared pan
  • Bake between 30 – 35 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.
  • Serve warm (even leftovers heat up).

Cakes - GF · Gluten Free

Chocolate Cravings

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

I’m not a huge chocolate fan. I’ve just never really cared for the stuff. However, there have been a few recipes that I have really enjoyed the chocolate in them. This chocolate cake is one of them. Everyone to whom I have made it for has always had more than once piece. Up until this past week I had not had it in 2 years, since I was forced to change my diet. I knew it was going to be an adventure and it was. Although, I’ve had this cake explode in the over before and that didn’t happen, so it was one of my less adventurous times.

Another thing, I forgot to take pictures! I was so in the zone of making it, I only took a picture of the finished product. But it’s pretty straight forward. Follow the instructions and you’ll be fine.
One other thing… for this cake you need a LARGE bundt pan. I tried making it once with a smaller one and it well… ended up all over my oven. Also ensure that you spread it out evenly throughout the pan and there are not any air pockets. I’ve not done this twice (you think I’d learn) and had explosions in my oven.

What I learned from making it with Gluten Free flour and sugar free chocolate is that it takes 30+ extra minutes to cook. At the hour and 20 minutes the recipe calls for it was still raw. At an hour and 35 minutes it was gooey, but still raw. At an hour and 50 minutes it was brownie texture, which is when I took it out. Although, I wish I had left it in longer. The friend I shared it with loved it at the brownie texture, so it is up to your preference. So next time I make it, I will cook it for at least 2 hours.

But if you are a lover of chocolate and cake, this is one of the best recipes I have ever had. It is adapted from one of my favorite baking blogs Lemon Sugar. Lemon Sugar: Chocolate Syrup Bundt Cake.

Chocolate Syrup Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

  • Cake
    • 8 oz dark chocolate or sugar free chocolate chips
    • 2 cups sugar free chocolate syrup
    • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
    • 2 1/4 cups Stevia
    • 4 large eggs
    • 2 1/4 cups Gluten Free all-purpose flour
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup buttermilk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pan Prep
    • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
    • 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Instructions:

  • Pan Prep:
    • Mix together butter and cocoa powder
    • With a pastry brush, spread mixture around the Bundt pan until it is completely covered. Set aside.
  • Cake Prep:Preheat over to 325°.
    • Melt chocolate in a double broiler (if you do not have a double broiler it can be done in the microwave, checking it every 30 seconds).
    • Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat and whisk in chocolate syrup. Set aside.
    • Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer (or hand mixer) until creamy, about 2 minutes.
    • Gradually add the Stevia, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy.
    • Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
    • In a medium bowl. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
    • Add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.
    • Stir in vanilla and melted chocolate just until blended. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan.
    • Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 50 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
    • Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and let cool until completely cool.
Cakes - GF · Cupcake Wars · Cupcakes - GF · Gluten Free

Strawberry Wine Cupcakes

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

After a week off, we are back to doing cupcake wars and deciding which cupcake recipes will be the 4 we will do on our “competition day”. This week was strawberry wine.

With spring coming up we were trying to find something with fruit. We have realized this one does not tie into our theme of Harry Potter. So this one or our next fruit one will be the first cupcake we do in 45 minutes, not one of the themed ones.
We started off doing great. Amber (my best friend) got started on the cupcake batter and I worked on the strawberry compote. We got the cupcakes in the oven after 20 minutes.

Compote
Makes only 10 cupcakes
Batter


Then the frosting. We were doing the same Swiss buttercream recipe we used on the Bacon Maple Cupcakes but all we had was problems. First, we ended up scrambling the eggs. Second, we used the wrong sugar. Third, it turned blue/purple? That one we have no idea what in the world happened. And finally, some ended up on the floor. It did not taste good. But it ate up the rest of our time. Well, that and the last step…
While Amber was wrestling with the frosting… I took the cooled cupcakes, cored the center and filled them with strawberry compote.

In the end… we decided to only frost a few to taste all together and for a picture. The rest I just filled with compote and ate throughout the week. The cake is absolutely delicious! It is moist, spongy, and so good. The frosting we know is good, we just had an off week.
A few days later I was asked to make a strawberry creme cake. I used this same recipe using a 6 inch by 2 inch round cake pan. For the frosting, I simply used whipped cream beat into extremely stiff peaks. It was just as good as the cupcakes. So I highly recommend.

Cake Version
Finished Cupcake


Below is the recipe for the Gluten Free/Low Sugar Cupcakes/Cake. It was adapted from Beyond Frosting: Strawberry Rose Cupcakes

Tune in next week for Chocolate Bundt Cake

Strawberry Wine Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • For the cupcake:
    • 1 1/4 cup Stevia
    • ¼ cup vegetable oil
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ¼ cup natural sour cream
    • 1 ¼ cup Gluten-Free all-purpose flour
    • 1 ½ teaspoons Gluten-Free baking powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ cup sparkling Strawberry Moscato
    • 3 tablespoons Soy milk
  • For the strawberry compote
    • 10 ounces strawberries, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon Stevia
    • 1/2 tablespoon Gluten Free all-purpose flour
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

  • For the filling: (can be completed while cupcakes are cooking)
    • In a medium-sized sauce pan, combine the strawberries with the sugar and flour, stir well. Add lemon juice. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture starts to breakdown, boil and bubble, stirring frequently.
    • Reduce heat and simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the strawberry sauce starts to thicken. (Keep watch, this can burn quite quickly)
    • Remove from heat and allow the sauce to cool completely, refrigerating to help speed up the process. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.
  • For the cupcake: 
    • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. (Makes about 10 cupcakes)
    • In a large mixing bowl, combine the Stevia, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, 2 minutes.
    • Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
    • Add half the flour followed by the baking powder and salt. While still beating on low speed pour in the Strawberry Moscato and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate.
    • Add the remaining flour until just incorporated
    • Finally add milk one tablespoon at a time, beating until combined before adding the next one. Scrape down sides and ensure batter is well mixed.
    • Take the batter and fill each liner 2/3 full.
    • Bake for 18 – 20 minutes. Test the doneness of the cupcakes. These cakes tend to need more oven time than you would think.
    • Cool Completely
    • Take a cooled cupcake and core the center of the cupcake using a knife or a cupcake corer. Fill the center of the cupcake with the cooled compote. Repeat until all cupcakes are done.
    • Frost if desired.
Gluten Free · Treats - GF

My favorite… Rice Crispy Treats

MiKoBerryLeave a comment
However it didn’t go so well…

My bestie and I couldn’t get together for a week, so I went rogue and tried to make something I used to love… Rice Crispy Treats. What is funny about this is I hate marshmallows, which is one of the main ingredients of rice crispy treats. However, when they are mixed with the snap, crackle, and pop I love them.

Now I can’t have normal rice crispy treats for 2 reasons. The normal rice crispy treat cereal has a vitamin I’m allergic to (or my body can’t process, however you want to put it) and marshmallows are all sugar (something I have been told to avoid as much as possible). Even the Gluten-Free ones they sell in the store have way to much sugar for me to handle. So, alas, I haven’t had my favorite treat in 2 1/2 years. I decided that had to change.

First step, find sugar free marshmallow recipe. Second step, find gluten-free rice crispy cereal and ensure the vitamin has not been added. I was able to do both, now to get started.

Now I did the marshmallow recipe pretty close to how it was written. Which I got from Wholesome Yum: Sugar-Free Marshmallow Recipe without Corn Syrup. I’ve made homemade marshmallows before to use in rice crispy treats. I was fairly confident in my marshmallow making abilities. Which they didn’t fail me.

I used my electric mixer. Because as much as I love holding a hand mixer for 15 minutes over a bowl while it becomes light and fluffy, I had other things I could be doing. Now it is no joke that the volume will double, as the recipe says. There were a few times I worried my bowl wasn’t going to be large enough and it would spill over. Luckily, it didn’t and it tasted like marshmallows.

Finished Marshmallow fluff
Isn’t my 30 year old mixer just so cool
But it’s mixing nicely!

Now I’ve done this before… made homemade marshmallow fluff and putting it into the rice cereal almost immediately after. I’ve never had to let the marshmallows set and then melt again. So I let it harden in the fridge just enough to have the consistency I wanted and mixed it with my box of organic brown rice cereal. Then I let it set overnight (mainly because it was 10pm at night and I fell asleep).

They look the part, don’t they?
I don’t endorse any brands.
This is just the one I used. I don’t like how they lightly sweetened it. I know others who do. It’s a personal preference.

What did work… well they looked like rice crispy treats. The marshmallow fluff tasted fine before I mixed it with the rice cereal.
What didn’t work… the taste after I mixed it all together. I am sure it was the cereal and will try this again with a different brand. I had a coworker try it and she agreed, that cereal was the issue. I know different areas have different options. I will most likely go to Whole Foods and see what they have. I just went to my local grocery store who sells health foods, probably wasn’t the best idea.

But if you want a good marshmallow fluff recipe and have a favorite rice cereal you like to eat. I say give this a try.

Next week… Strawberry Wine cupcakes.

Rice Cripsy Treats

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp Gelatin (2 pouches)
  • 1 cup water (warm, divided)
  • 1 1/2 cup powdered erythritol
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla liquid Stevia
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 1 box gluten free rice cereal

Instructions

  • Pour 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl of your electric mixer (or a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Sprinkle gelatin over the water and whisk immediately. Set aside.
  • Meanwhile, add remaining 1/2 cup water, powdered erythritol, stevia, and sea salt to a large saucepan. Heat over low to medium heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is hot, but not boiling, and sweetener dissolves. You will know when this happens because the color will go from a white to translucent. If the sides start to bubble, take it off the heat immediately.
  • Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract. Pour the hot liquid into the bowl with gelatin, while whisking constantly.
  • Using your electric mixer (or hand mixer) on high power, beat the mixture for 12 – 15 minutes, until the volume doubles and the mixture looks very fluffy, like stiff egg white peaks.
  • 2 options:
    • Put the marshmallow mixture into the fridge and let set until it is marshmallow fluff consistency. About 45 minutes.
    • Or immediately move onto making the treats, while the mixture is still a little warm.
  • Take parchment paper and line 8×8 pan or a 9×13 jelly roll pan
  • Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.
  • Take the entire marshmallow mixture and mix into the rice cereal.
  • Flatten out the rice mixture into the pan chosen until they resemble treats
  • Let set for at least 3 – 4 hours or over night.

Cupcake Wars · Cupcakes - GF · Gluten Free

Bacon Maple Cupcakes: The Journey

MiKoBerryLeave a comment

I have discovered that gluten-free/sugar free baking is A LOT of trial and error with few successes. I do believe I have finally come up with a ratio for the flour/sugar for cakes and success is becoming more and more popular. Cookies, however, still allude me.

So for our 2nd cupcake (as you need 4 for cupcake wars) we attempted a bacon maple one. Maple to me just screams fall coming and who doesn’t love bacon? We are going to tie it in to Harry Potter with a decoration of a golden snitch with maple flavored chocolate in the middle. We have high expectations to be able to do all this in 45 minutes don’t we? Lets just say… it didn’t happen, but we are getting faster.

For this recipe, we adapted it from Will Cook For Smiles: Maple Bacon Cupcake recipe and from Natasha’s Kitchen: Swiss Meringue Buttercream

As I mentioned before… errors. The apple streusel cupcakes were good the first time we made them. The topping not so much, but at least the cupcakes turned out. These, well… didn’t. Neither the frosting nor the cupcake turned out tasty. So we had to attempt this recipe in two sessions.
Our first attempt.
The cupcake… Moist, but no flavor. We decided that the cake recipe was good and probably delicious as it is written, but we needed to make some more changes to make it gluten free with low sugar.
The frosting… well our first frosting tasted like sheer butter, we dumped it. The second frosting tasted like chemicals. We tried to follow the recipe just like it was written and substituting Stevia for the sugar. No matter what we did, the frosting was gross. In the end, we frosted the cupcakes for pictures and decided to go back to the drawing board.
The decorations… now my best friend is amazing at drawing. Me not so much, I can take photos and edit in Photoshop, but to hand draw is another story. So she is in charge of decorations and decided to make a snitch out of chocolate. I think she did a great job for our first attempt. The wings to me looked better than anything I could do and she got the chocolate into a ball, then cracked it. But it was a ball for a second.
Times and other things… We realized from our Apple streusel attempt, one needs to work on batter and the other on frosting to make things go faster or we would never get done in the 45 minute time limit. This time we were actually ready to frost in 45 minutes! If we hadn’t had to throw out the buttercream, we might have at least had a cupcake. Decorations not so much done in that time, but we are pretty proud of how quick we did get the baking done.

Our Golden Snitch
It’s leviOsa, not levioSA!

Our second attempt.
The cupcake… Was delicious. Since the last time the cake was moist but no flavor, we decided we needed to add more bacon and more maple. The original recipe calls for maple extract as optional, it is not. They needed that extra oomph. We also omitted the vegetable oil called for in the original recipe and went with only bacon grease. It did make the cupcakes a little bit more dense but not enough that they were not delicious.
The frosting… was delicious the first day. Was not good the next day on the left over cupcakes. After watching Cake Wars, I saw a lot of their American butter-creams did not turn out. The judges said it tasted like butter or had a bad after taste and that was with regular sugar. All the bakers then switched to Swiss buttercream, so I thought why not. Ran it by my bestie and she also suggested we use the Stevia/Sugar mix, which we did. We halved the original recipe but did add a 1/4 cup more Stevia than sugar called for. It was good first go around, which we both thought was amazing. However, this really needs to be done same day you plan on using it. The next day I wanted one for breakfast (don’t judge) and it tasted pretty chemical.
The decorations… we didn’t do. we have decided to dedicate an entire session to working on these alone.
Times and other things… We both had had stressful days at work when we did our second session. Much venting and bestie time happened. We completely didn’t try to rush but get something delicious to eat, which we both devoured. So it took a good 90 minutes to get these to serve. We didn’t care, it was a good time had by all.

Done Baking
Finished Cupcake
Frosting actually looks good

Next week: An attempt at Rice Crispy Treats

Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

  • Cupcakes
    • 4 egg whites, room temperature
    • 1 1/2 cup Stevia (my favorite sugar substitute)
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 1/2 cup bacon grease (made from cooking the bacon)
    • 1 pound of bacon
    • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
    • 2 cups of Gluten-Free all purpose flour
    • 1 tsp Gluten-Free baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 1 cup buttermilk
    • 1 tsp maple extract
  • Frosting
    • 3 large egg whites
    • 1 1/4 cup Stevia/Sugar blend
    • 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
    • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • 1/8 tsp sea salt

Instructions

  • Cupcakes
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
    • Line pan with cupcake liners or spray
    • Fry the bacon in a pan. Measure out a 1/2 cup of bacon grease, discard the rest of the grease. Crumble up the bacon and set aside.
    • Sift flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder together and set aside.
    • Combine bacon grease, vanilla extract, maple syrup and maple extract
    • In a bowl of an electric mixer (using paddle attachment) or a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat egg whites for about 30 seconds and slowly start adding in the sugar. Beat for 2 – 3 minutes until white and fluffy.
    • Pour in oil mixture slowly while still beating eggs on medium speed
    • Alternating, add flour mixture and buttermilk to batter (2 times flour, 2 times milk). Mix until just combined, scrape sides and then mix until everything is incorporated.
    • Take 3/4 of crumbled bacon and put into batter. Mix just until bacon has been incorporated into batter. The rest will go to garnish after frosted.
    • Fill cupcake liners 2/3rds full (makes about 16 – 18 cupcakes)
    • Bake for 18 – 22 minutes or toothpick comes out clean.
  • Frosting:
    • Note: These instructions use a double broiler, I don’t have a fancy metal bowl that comes with an electric mixer. Both my electric mixer and my double broiler are probably 30 years old, but still work great. So if you like to use your electric mixer bowl and put it on top of a pot to keep it all in one thing, that works too.
    • In a double broiler heat up water to a simmer. Wash the top pan of the double broiler right before using to ensure no grease is there.
    • Add the eggs and sugar to the top pan of broiler and whisk together. Place pan on top of the bottom pan. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees (takes about 4 minutes). Sugar should be fully dissolved and mixture will fell hot to the touch.
    • Take mixture and pour into bowl of electric mixer or large bowl. Beat with whisk attachment on medium-high for 15 – 20 minutes (it sucks with a hand mixer, but if that’s all you got, you can do it. I did in college) or until stiff glossy peaks form and the bottom of the bowl feels room temperature.
    • If you have a paddle attachment, switch to that, or if you don’t. Change from whisk to normal beaters on what you are using. Start adding the butter 1 Tbsp at a time as fast as it is absorbed by the meringue.
    • Once the butter is in scrape down the sides and continue beating until it reaches a thick whipped consistency (about 3 minutes)
    • Add vanilla extract and sea salt and mix until incorporated.

Cupcake Wars · Cupcakes - GF · Gluten Free

First Attempt: Apple Streusel Cupcakes

MiKoBerryLeave a comment
Cupcake Wars Theme: Harry Potter

So… Cupcake Wars…. When we decided to do this, I started looking up anything and everything about the show. I then came to realize that more than likely they knew the theme and mystery ingredients ahead of the show. Practice was happening. We decided if they get to practice, we get to practice.

Also like the show, we will have a theme to go with our “show day”. We also plan on having 3 – 4 judges (family and friends) to give us feedback on our cupcakes and finishing everything in those crazy time limits!
Our theme for our cupcake wars this time is… Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter and she likes Harry Potter, so we are going for it. In case anyone is wondering I’m a Gryffindor and she is a Hufflepuff.

Since we are doing Harry Potter we are going with a fall feel. Apples work great for that and decided to try an Apple Streusel Cupcake. I realize now, I probably should have taken more pictures… but hindsight is 20/20. I will in the future, but probably not for a few posts.

We started out thinking we had everything. Started our time and came to realize… we didn’t… we didn’t have a lot of the stuff we needed, including cupcake pans. So off to the store we went. 20 minutes later… we were back and decided we were going to start the time over again.
In my defense on the cupcake pans… I have jumbo, I have muffin top, I have mini, I have Easter and Halloween, who would have thought I lost my regular pans.

Now, the recipe we used is adapted from the Joy of Baking Website and can be found here. We also thought, psh… 45 minutes is plenty of time to make a batch of cupcakes. We took our time, we chatted, we worked on the batter together and finally looked at the clock and realized… OMG it’s been 40 minutes and we haven’t even gotten the cupcakes in the oven. These things need to bake for at least 20 minutes. Yup, we failed in time and realized next time one has to do the topping and the other has to do the batter.

The results:
The cupcake itself was delicious. Moist and full of apples. The streusel topping however tasted of gluten free flour, as what happens so much in gluten free baking. You had to spit it out, it was so gross. We do not have that perfected yet, so I’m leaving that off the recipe below. But if you are looking for a great apple cupcake, this is wonderful.

Before Baking
After Baking

Apple Cupcakes

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Gluten-Free baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup Stevia (this is the sugar substitute I like, it seems to work the best in baking)
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup soy milk (can use regular, I am lactose intolerant and like soy as my substitute)
  • 2 large firm apples (I use Gala, but any work)

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners (makes about 15 – 18 cupcakes)
  • In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  • Cut apples into tiny bite size cubes. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer (using paddle attachment) or a large bowl and hand mixer, beat butter until creamy smooth (about 2 minutes).
  • Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
  • Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated
  • Take the flour mixture and the milk and alternate between the to starting and ending with the flour mixture. (3 flour and 2 milk), beat after each addition until just incorporated
  • Fold in apples until they are all mixed into the batter.
  • Take batter and fill cupcake liners until they are 2/3rds full.
  • Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Due to the apples inside the batter, this does take longer than normal cupcakes.
  • Enjoy.

Tune in next week… as we plan on doing Bacon Maple.