Chocolate Mini Donuts and 100 posts!

This is my 100th post!  I was really surprised when I saw that it was coming up - I kind of froze up a bit too because I started overthinking what I would do to celebrate it.  I decided in the end that I needed to just keep doing what I have been doing and keep baking :)

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have purchased a few new cookbooks on gluten free baking.  It seems that every one of them felt the need to tempt me with wonderful looking chocolate donuts.  I finally broke down and bought a mini donut pan so that I could give these little gems a try.  They did not disappoint!  They were perfectly cake-like with a light airy texture and rich dark chocolate

Cupcakes for Two

Now that my girls are both out on their own - one at college and the other navigating the challenges of her first job after college - there are times that we still need some dessert.  After all, I am a cake decorator, so cake is important to me.  I was ecstatic to find a recipe for just two cupcakes recently.  I've tried it twice so far.  The first time it was St. Patricks Day and my husband really wanted a Guinness to celebrate and I really wanted to try to make a Guinness cupcake.  So when I found out it only took a few tablespoons of a bottle he was opening anyway. . . well, it was like it was meant to be!  I could do this every night frankly.  I didn't try to use my gluten free flour, however, I mean, really what was the point when the Guinness already ruined it.  So these were just for experience - pain to deal with later.

They turned out great and it was a fun holiday time.  The next time

Magic Bars

For some reason I wanted to make a blondie type brownie really bad!  It was one of those things that I got in my head and it just wouldn't go away.  I was so excited when I found this recipe in one of my new gluten free cookbooks!  I've spent quite a bit of time going over recipes lately; in the store, online and in my own recipe box.  Trying to figure out how to rework what I already have into gluten free options and learning new recipes that have already been reworked by others.  This one comes from "Gluten-Free on a Shoestring, quick & easy" by Nicole Hunn. 

First, of course, I got all of my supplies ready - including the AP Flour mix that I made from Silvana Nardone's book "Cooking for Isaiah".

 

After that it pretty much worked out just like any other recipe or brownie style batter. 

Gluten Free Flour

One of the biggest challenges that I found when I first started baking gluten free was that everyone seems to have a different opinion about what flour to use. I looked at countless websites and spent hours in the cookbook isle at Barnes & Noble. The main thing I learned is that everyone seems to come up with their own formula. I really think that it comes down to personal preference and that depends on what you like in your end product. If you like things a little denser or lighter; if you've grown fond of the taste of certain flavors, etc.

Realizing that I was going to have to gather several different kinds of flours the obvious next question came up - how do you store all of them? I looked into some nice containers but I wasn't sure what sizes I would need and the nice containers (and let's be honest - the cute ones) are kind of expensive. Then I remembered that I had a bunch of mason jars in my craft room in various sizes and decided to use those.

After all that research I decided that for an all purpose mix I would go with Sylvana's recipe from her book Cooking for Isaiah.  It has been working great so far.  I'll have some of those results in upcoming posts :) 

Banana Pancakes

Sometimes there are just some things that have to be made - this was one of them!  I don't normally make pancakes, at least I'm not the one to do the cooking of them.  I get annoyed by how long it takes and then everyone always wants to eat them right off the griddle while I'm still making them.  And then when I finally want one I get the cold ones.  I solved this problem by allowing my husband the privilege of making them :)  He has become the pancake king to our youngest daughter and even though she is 18 and off to college, when she comes home and wants pancakes she expects them to be "Daddy's" pancakes.  Which includes a full amount of chocolate chips as well. 

Because Craig has been traveling a lot lately, a LOT, and Audrey is off to college - we haven't had pancakes in a very long time.  I actually missed them. 

Chocolate Banana freeze

It has been a new challenge learning to make things gluten-free.  It has already proven to be helpful but it is much more time consuming at this point.  Starting with the planning as well as the execution.  There are tons of websites and blogs on the subject and I'm researching as many of them as I can.  I like a challenge and I like to learn new skills so all of this is definitely something that has me excited.  Not to mention the health benefits! 

This dessert is one of those that came to mind from all of the web browsing that I was doing.  So many recipes "out there" talk about using frozen bananas and making some kind of ice cream or frozen dessert.  At the grocery store I found some coconut flavored dessert tofu.  I decided that it needed to be tried and this was the time to use it.  It tastes pretty well on its own actually which surprised me.  I didn't really have a recipe so to speak for this - I just tried to put things together that sounded good and I was craving some kind of ice cream like substance :)

I also didn't want to take too much time so I used the blender, then put it into a covered plastic container and into the freezer for a half hour or so. 

The coconut tofu was separated into 2 "wells" I guess you could call it within the package and I used about half of one of them.  Then I added 1 frozen banana, sliced up, 2 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, and coconut milk.  The milk was just enough to nearly cover the bananas in the blender.  Then I let it all come together fully.  It was a bit runnier than I expected so I might have added a bit too much of the milk.  But once it froze it was delicious.  It had a good amount of chocolate, however, I might add a little more next time.  The banana flavor was very strong and the coconut flavor seemed to come mostly from the milk.  I think the tofu was so light and mild that it added some thickening but not a lot of flavor. 

All in all, I like this and would make it again - I think it would be good as a popsicle in the summer!

Sweet sixteen with other odds & ends

I can't believe how long it's been since I've actually been able to be in the kitchen baking. It seems like January turned into a month of family obligations as well as unexpected travel.

I did get to drive all the way down the Eastern Coast of the United States helping my daughter move to Wellington Florida though and I'd be happy to see that sunshine again! It was a wonderful break from the cloudy skies of the Pacific Northwest in winter.

Here are a few pictures of some things I did get to bake in the middle of all the hustle and bustle: