New Favorites

Nowadays there are SO many gluten free products out there.  Sadly, not all of them are fully allergy friendly.  And too many of those products use soy flour.  Not good. 

Between following a bunch of bloggers, scouring the food aisles each time we go to the grocery store, Jess and I actually find a bunch of new products.  And of course we try them all!

Jess introduced me to Manini's products.  They make allergy safe breads, pastas and mixes.  First, these are not just any pastas.  It is fresh pasta.  The kind you buy in the refrigerator section.  And oh man is it good.  I think I have eaten more pasta in the past month than I have since going GF 2 years ago!  I have yet to try their bread... but the mixes are just plain amazing.  I have used the Peasant Bread mix to make an Irish Soda Bread.  It came out of the oven -- hubby and I ate the whole loaf in about 5 minutes!

the peasant bread mix

Even better is the Multi-Purpose GF Flour mix.  It is a 1:1 substitute for regular all purpose flour.  It already has xanthum gum in it -- it is the perfect flour mixture.  I just made ginger cookies following a regular recipe, used the Multi-Purpose Flour and they turned out great!  Hubby didn't even realize they were gluten free!

the multi-purpose flour

Another great product is Jovial pastas.  They are dry pastas but so far my favorite ones!  They are actually made in Italy which is just awesome!  They do have other GF products but they have soy in them.  Sad.  But at least I can have the yummy pasta!

brown rice pasta

Finally, something sweet!  Enjoy Life Foods have really perfected their cookies over the past couple of years.  When I first started eating allergy-free, Enjoy Life were one of the only companies that made cookies.  However, they were not so great!  But I recently discovered these:

yummy cookies

They are vanilla honey graham cookies.  They taste like sweeter graham crackers and a little like 'Nilla Waffers (which used to be my favorite).  I have recently tried the chocolate version and they are also awesome! 

Lucky for me, and everyone else who has food allergies -- there are many new products coming out each day!

Crazy Cupcakes

So now that you know how to make the middle part of the cupcakes.... on to the actual cupcake!

The Chocolate Chip Cookies:

I used the recipe straight from Cybele’s book: here (I wasn’t about to try and mess with a recipe for this experiment!)

¾ cup palm oil shortening

½ cup + 1 T granulated sugar

½ cup + 1 T brown sugar

2 ¼ t vanilla

2 ¼ t egg replacer mixed w/ 3 T rice milk *

1 ½ cups + 3 T gluten free flour mix

¾ t xanthan gum

1 1/8 t baking soda

½ t salt

1 cup + 2 T chocolate chips (again used the Enjoy Life ones)

1.   Cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy; then add the egg replacer with rice milk and vanilla

2.   Add the flours and other dry ingredients to the already mixed sugar, shortening, “eggs” mixture.  Mix until just combined

3.   Fold in chocolate chips

4.   Press about 1 ½ T of dough into a GREASED and FLOURED muffin pan**

Now place one finished Abby’s SunButter Cups into the middle of the cookie dough.

Finally the Brownies – again taken straight from Cybele (same book as above)

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate – chopped up

½ cup palm oil shortening

2 cups granulated sugar

8-10 ounces of prune puree or apple/plum puree – aka, baby food (I promise, you won’t taste it)

1 T vanilla

1 ¾ cups + 2 T gluten free flour mix

½ t xanthan gum

1 T baking powder

sadly, the only pictures of the brownies.... Karli chopping up chocolate!

1.    Preheat oven to 350 F

2.    Combine chocolate and shortening in a bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until melted, stirring after each 30 seconds.  Add in sugar and baby food when chocolate is melted.

3.    Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.

4.    Spread about ¼ cup of brown mixture over the Abby’s SunButter Cup – just use your clean fingers, it works much better

Bake for about 20-25 minutes  -- I had trouble figuring out if they were done because you can’t just stick a toothpick in to see if they are done… you hit the gooey SunButter Cups!  Just do your best J

Let cool in the pans – they will be easier to get out that way!  (If you can get one out warm, then go for it, if not -- microwave for 10-15 seconds to heat up!)

*yes, I did make these 100% vegan as well since I was taking the left overs to my niece’s 2^nd birthday party and some of her little buddies are allergic/don’t eat eggs (plus you can eat the dough raw this way!)

**I learned about this AWESOME way to grease your pans -- stay tuned for next post!

Abby's SunButter Cups

I had seen these on Pinterest.  My co-worker had seen them too….  I decided I should try and make them!

First up – the Reese’s “Peanut Butter” Cups or as I call them Abby’s SunButter Cups

I adapted to recipe from here (after a quick Google search, this recipe seemed to be the best)

1 cups original SunButter (no crunchy or flaxseed kind)
¼ cup futter
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 cups powdered sugar

2 T gluten free graham cracker crumbs (I used: Kinnikinnik brand)
4 cups milk chocolate chips (two 11.5-oz bags)* (I used: these)
¼ cup palm oil shortening

1. Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. Line a baking with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the SunButter, futter, and brown sugar over medium heat. Heat until completely melted and starting to bubble a little, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Add graham crumbs then the powdered sugar a ¼ cup at a time, stirring until completely combined with the SunButter mixture after each addition. Set aside and let cool.

the sunbutter mixture - looks nasty but tastes so good!

3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in the microwave in 30-second increments, until completely melted, stirring after each burst.

4. Using a small cookie scoop or a couple of teaspoons, spoon melted chocolate into the bottom of each lined muffin cup.

it gets a little messy

5. Use a heaping teaspoon to scoop out the SunButter mixture. Roll it into a ball, and then flatten it slightly into a disk. Place on the prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once finished with all of the peanut butter mixture, refrigerate both the muffin tins and the SunButter patties for about 30** minutes.

6. Place a SunButter patty on top of each chocolate-lined muffin tin. Then use a scoop or spoon to add more melted chocolate on top and around each SunButter patty. (If the melted chocolate firmed up, just pop it back into the microwave for 30 seconds or so to re-melt.)

I did make "big" versions for work

7. Refrigerate again for 30** minutes, then they’re ready to serve! Store in the refrigerator or freezer. You can keep at room temperature in an airtight container if you’re going to serve them the same day, but they’ll start to get soft if not at cool room temperature.

These were a HUGE hit with my friends, neighbors and co-workers.  I am already getting requests for more!





*I actually probably used A LOT more chocolate than called for -- when I make them again, I will figure out a way to use less chocolate and more SunButter per cup

**I don't know if my fridge is super cold, but it probably only took about 10 minutes for my cups to get cold