Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Remember that 4 pound bag of Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix I brought home the other day? (I know Ginger remembers, lol.) I basically gave that bag to Andy, telling him he could make just about any recipe with it and using it as the flour. “Just this? Nothing else?” Yes, just that.

(I did tell him that he was required to give me the recipe, and take pictures of his baked goods, for my blog, lol.)

Tonight he experimented with a recipe from the back of the Argo Corn Starch box. They were thoroughly enjoyed (I enjoyed all 2 bites of mine, lol).

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups Pamela’s GF pancake and baking mix
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tablespoon sugar

Beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla thoroughly using an electric mixer. Gradually blend in flour and corn starch. Add chocolate chips.
Form into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Pour sugar on a small plate; dip bottom of drinking glass in sugar and gently press down on each cookie to flatten. Press center of each cookie with tip of a teaspoon.
Bake in a preheated 300°F oven for 25 to 40 minutes, or until bottoms begin to brown.
Cool for 5 minutes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I found my camera! It was hiding in some otherwise-empty bag on the floor of my bedroom. Now how did it get there? Oh, well. It’s found.

To celebrate, I have a lovely picture of a pineapple upside-down cake.

I made a cake for my support group meeting today, and only brought home 2 teeny tiny pieces. This picture, however, is for the half-cake I baked for dinner tonight with my parents. I didn’t feel like having cake hanging around my house anymore. (I had cake from Braden’s party for a few days last week, until Andy completely gorged himself on it.)

For the 9×13 cake, here is what I did. Melt one stick of butter, add 3/4 cup of brown sugar, and cover the bottom of a greased cake pan. Then lay out your pineapple rings (let them sit in a strainer for a bit first, to let the excess juice run off) - I used 10, a whole can, on the 9×13, with the last one being broken in half. Then stick your maraschino cherries in the hole of the rings, and anywhere else you might like. Cover with yellow cake batter (I used my favorite, from Roben Ryberg’s new cookbook), and bake according to the directions.

After you take it out, sit it on a cooling rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Then turn it over onto whatever you want to put it on (lol). Don’t pull up the pan yet. Play the drums on the pan for a few minutes. This helps everything come out nicely together. Then you can lift the pan. Ta-daa! Let’s eat.

Fake Dessert

After making the cakes for Braden’s birthday party, and not getting sick from the smell (because of my great meds), I decided to have some.  Well, apparently this baby does not like sugar.  I guess I can live with that.  It was easy enough over the last 2 months, because the smell made me sick.  But now I really wanted something sweet.  So here’s what I did:

I whipped up 2 blocks of fat free cream cheese (less guilt), a few scoops of peanut butter, and 6 packets of Splenda.  This was not very sweet - I was afraid if I added any more Splenda I’d get that horrible aftertaste.  I did add a few semi-sweet chocolate chips.

It was not quite cheesecakey, but was a nice little “dessert” of sorts.  It could be a good spread.  It had enough peanut butter to taste the peanut butter, but you could still taste the cream cheese, too.  Carter was very upset when I put it back in the fridge.

By the way, I can’t find my camera.  That’s why you did not get pictures of my canadian bacon and pineapple pizza last night.  Too bad, it was good.  Andy left the table during dinner to answer a phone call - his bad.  Braden ate 6 pieces, and Andy only got 1 & 1/2.   I’m starting to worry about when these boys become teenagers.  What will I do?

Cake Decorating

Decorating a cake can seem like a very daunting task. But I say, not so! You can have a wonderful cake without putting tons of time into it. Or you can spend your time and make intricate cakes. I’ve done both. There can be pleasure in viewing the cake that took you 4 hours to decorate. However, I no longer long for that pleasure, lol. I want something that looks nice, uses perhaps a little creativity, and doesn’t take forever.

I would like to show some pictures of the cakes I have made in the past. The majority of them are gf cakes. I’m not a spectacular artist, and these definitely aren’t the work of a professional cake decorator. That’s my point. You can do this, too.

This cake was for Andy’s graduation from the fire academy. Unfortunately, that’s all I remember about it. (Pre-gf)

This was for Braden’s birthday, right after I went gf. So the cake was not gf this time, but it could have been if I had known what to do.

I can’t remember if the bride was gf or not. I do remember that I found that not only is fondant hard to work with, it is also extremely disgusting. I made this cake for my little brother’s wife’s bridal shower. It’s the Wonder Doll mold from Wilton. You could make something like this without it, though, by baking a cake in a bowl. However, the Wilton pan for this has a tube that runs through the middle to help the middle cook. This doll was just a half doll with a pick (from the cake pan set). You decorate her body with the icing, too. This cake required three different types of icing: the fondant, the buttercream, and a royal icing (I think) to make the flowers. Those I made ahead of time and let dry, and then pasted them on with the buttercream (including for her hair and bouquet). I have since said if I ever do one of these again, I will either make bumps on the skirt out of buttercream, or find some candy to make them out of and then cover with buttercream. But this was such a beautiful cake, it was a shame to eat it anyways.

My dad’s birthday falls between Father’s Day and Independence Day. So I kinda combined it for this cake.

Now, I know this one isn’t gluten-free, because it has Oreos and Twizzlers on it. But, it could be made gf, with Mi-Del gf chocolate sandwich cookies and some gf licorice. This was the last birthday of 2004 that I made a cake (Andy ends our streak in July). I started really baking gf that fall, and it didn’t take long before I considered myself fairly proficient at gf baking.

I made a gf red velvet cake for my Grandma in January of 2005. Unfortunately, I only have pictures of us consuming it, lol.

Bob the Builder was gluten-free, as are all cakes from here on out. Bob took me 4 hours to decorate by myself. It was the last time I made a cake that I had to pipe a thousand little stars.

And because Bob wasn’t enough cake for everyone, and my mom loves chocolate cake, I made another one for that party. Not fancy, but I made ocean waves out of the icing and put Shark Tale sprinkles on top.

2006 - I took the more laid-back approach to cake decorating. instead of spending 4 hours making a Thomas-shaped cake, I bought (for a couple of dollars) a Thomas train on a track from the Wal-Mart bakery. So, totally cool, right? A toy on top of the cake. Also, the tradition of Peeps on Braden’s cake was born. You will also notice a sun made out those candy orange slices.

I made my own baby shower cake. Not very exciting, but I was 9 months pregnant.  :)  It’s decorated with gummy bears and pacifiers.

Braden’s 5th birthday party was a bug party. So the peeps were chasing the gummy worms. The green flakes are coconut.

We held Carter’s 1st birthday party at the fire station, because Andy was working that day. This is one of those peel-apart cupcake cakes. It didn’t really take that long to decorate, because I was not concerned with making perfect stars (like I was with Bob or Blues Clues). I saved some more time by decorating with Skittles.

Now that Carter is a little bigger, and “helps” me in the kitchen, I have a little more time luxury than I had last year in creating cakes. Also, I had a dream (in January) detailing Braden’s birthday party, including the cake. That was nice - I was creative in my sleep. On Saturday, I realized there might be too many people for the 2-layer 9×13 cake I had made. So at 11:00 am, Braden and I raced to the kitchen and made a 2-layer 9 inch round cake (this one chocolate). We thought we would have enough time to let it cool for awhile and then decorate it before heading to the park to decorate for the party. Well, not so. My oven was being totally stupid, and I had to bake the cakes for an extra 25 minutes! So, we took warm cakes to the park and I iced them there. About a half hour into the party, I decorated the cakes (there wasn’t room for the decorations with the lids on). I’m well pleased with these cakes. I had bought some pirate toys from the Dollar Tree, and made eye patches (with chocolate fudge frosting) on the Peeps. So, I had Pirate Peeps! They were a hit, and so were the cakes. When Roben Ryberg’s new cookbook comes out, you will want it. These cakes are from that book. And let me tell you, they are the best cakes. The only reason people know they are gluten-free is they know I wouldn’t be making something that isn’t.

It’s surprising, to me, how many times I have failed to take pictures of the cakes before they got eaten. There should have been lots more to show you, but I think you’ve gotten the idea. Anyone can decorate a cake. You can do a lot or a little - have fun and use your creativity. If you’re making the cake for a child, utilize his or hers favorite candies or a toy on the top.  Even some adults love toys (my husband included).

Pudding Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes, and it is so versatile. It comes from Mireille, over at the On-Line Celiac Support Group.

We’ve made these using all sorts of variations. Pick a pudding and pick some chips, and you’re set. If you want a great chocolate chip cookie, use vanilla pudding and chocolate chips (or chocolate chips and peanut butter chips). Or try chocolate pudding and chocolate chips. Or how about butterscotch pudding and no chips, or chocolate pudding and white chips, or vanilla pudding and macadamia nuts and white chips. Use your imagination. We love to make them with cheesecake pudding and cherry chips (Loghouse Foods brand was gf as of last year). As you can see, you can make a ton of different cookies with this one recipe.

You can make your cookies soft and chewy, or you can bake them a little longer and make them crisp. If you use vanilla pudding and no chips and bake them crisp, I think they taste like vanilla wafers.

Pudding Cookies

1 cup soft butter (not melted)
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or you could use a different flavoring, even)
1 pkg instant pudding (small box)
2 eggs
2 & 1/4 cups GF flour mix*
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
Chocolate (or other flavor) chips and/or nuts (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 325°. Combine butter and sugar. Add vanilla and pudding; beat until smooth. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour, xanthan gum, and baking soda (at the same time). Add chips and nuts. Roll into balls and press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8 minutes.

* The flour mix I use for this is made from:
6 cups white rice flour
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch

Andes Cheesecake Supreme

This is being posted early by request. I try to post recipes when I have pictures to go with them, but yesterday I was informed that this needed to be on my blog - pronto!

I found this a couple of years ago on the Tootsie Roll website. It is a huge hit with everyone! (Hopefully their picture will work out for us, lol.)

Andes® Cheesecake Supreme

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (use Mi-Del chocolate mint sandwich cookies for extra minty goodness)
3 tablespoons sugar (this is unnecessary if you use the Mi-Del cookies, as they are so sweet)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
4 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 package (4.67 oz.) Andes® Crème de Menthe Thins chopped (28 candies) or 1 cup Andes® Crème de Menthe Baking Chips
Andes® Crème de Menthe Thins (28 candies)
3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Crust: Mix crumbs and 3 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 325° F, 10 minutes.

Filling: Beat cream cheese and 1 cup sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; mix on low speed just until well blended. Stir in 1 cup Andes Baking Chips or 1 package of chopped Andes Candies (28 pieces); pour into crust.

Bake at 325° F, 1 hour and 5 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife between rim of pan and cheesecake. Cool to room temperature.

Topping: 4 Set aside 10-12 candy pieces, for decorating top of cake. Place remaining Andes Candies and whipping cream in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high 45 seconds. Stir until candies are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over cheesecake, spreading to cover surface and drizzle down sides of cheesecake. Decorate with reserved Andes Candies.

Set: 5 Refrigerate cheesecake 3 hours or until serving time.

Yield approx.: 12 servings.

Like Oatmeal Cookies

I could hear them calling from the back of the cupboard. “Help us. We’ve been forgotten. We long to be enjoyed.” It was the quinoa flakes, all alone since certified gluten-free oats were brought into my life. I could no longer stay away from these little flakes that gave so much to me long ago. Pull out the KitchenAid - it’s cookie time.

This recipe is brought to us by Bobbie of the Delphi Celiac Group. You will notice there is no xanthan gum - it is not needed. This recipe is also egg-free.

Like Real Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar (you can use brown sugar)
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup nut butter (I use Jif peanut butter)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup quinoa flakes, or poha
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins, nuts, or minced dried fruit (I used almost 1 cup raisins)

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat honey, sugar, margarine, nut butter and vanilla until creamy. Mix rice flour, quinoa flakes or poha, baking soda and salt. Add to mixture and beat until well blended. Add fruit or nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes (I only did 10 today).

These cookies are even better the next day.  So save some for tomorrow!

Chunky Applesauce

To accompany our lunch today, we decided to have some apples. I used the peeler/slicer and got a little creative (just a little).
Chunky Applesauce - Quick and Easy

Peel and slice an apple or two (or more!) and place in a microwaveable bowl
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the apples, to your heart’s content
Microwave on high for 2 or 3 minutes (or more if there are a lot of apples)
Stir the apples, crushing them as much as you want.

We used some granny smith apples, and not too much cinnamon sugar today, so the sauce was a bit tart (so good). After we ate a little, we thought we might turn it into a dessert. Out comes the whipped cream. This will satisfy a pretty good hankerin’ for pie, I think. Some vanilla ice cream would be really good on this hot applesauce, too.

Cheesecake Brownies

I thought I had already posted this, but alas, I haven’t. I didn’t realize there had been such a huge gap in my last two posts.
I thought I was having serious problems with Blogger, but it turns out that something is interfering with running scripts on my computer (I think it’s XP). So, I write over here and save, and then I go into Andy’s office and edit and add my pictures in there (his computer is slower than mine, so I don’t like to type on it - I type faster than it can think).

So I have been wanting to make cheesecake brownies for a very long time using the saucepan method, but I just could never seem to remember to do it. Well, I remembered (finally!)! Andy had to work the Sunday before Christmas (he’s a firefighter), so we made the brownies after church and took them up to the station later in the afternoon. They were still warm when we got there, so they really weren’t set. But they were quickly devoured.

Cheesecake Brownies

One recipe saucepan brownies, prepared as directed, and poured into 9×13 pan.

*Cream together:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/3 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Drop cheesecake mixture by tablespoonfuls onto brownie batter, then swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until sides pull away from pan and top of brownie parts start to crack.

*The cheesecake portion of this comes from Roben Ryberg’s The Gluten-Free Kitchen.

Peanut Butter Cookies for Newbies

This is an old standby for peanut butter cookies for us gluten-freers. But I am not kidding, this actually makes the best peanut butter cookies. The other firefighters always have Andy make these. They call him Keebler, and they tell him to go Keeble (it’s their verb for make cookies).

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. Place drops of dough on cookie sheet (size is up to you). Use a fork to make crisscross patterns (this is easy to do without sticking if you will keep your fork in a glass of ice water when not using it). Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes. Watch them, so you will know when it’s best to take them out. When they start to brown, and just barely give off a smell of burning peanut butter, then they are done. Let cool partially on cookie sheet, then twist to remove, and put on cooling rack.

Additions:
Chocolate chips go great in these cookies, without having to change anything else. You can also use 1/2 chunky and 1/2 creamy peanut butter. In the past, I have made “trail mix” cookies using half chunky peanut butter (and half creamy), and adding some chocolate chips and raisins.