Cooler weather....

...means cookie baking time!

Sunny days and pizza

Today was a nice day - sunny and seasonably temperate - I should have taken advantage of it and gone out for a quick walk around the block. But sometimes when I'm at work, I don't want to go outside. I feel like if I walk out the door, I'm just going to want to keep walking until I get to the subway and then the bus station and then home. I like home. I don't get to spend enough time there....................

Quite a while back I bought some Bob's Red Mill G/F Pizza Crust mix. It's been sitting in my freezer - until recently it was too hot to turn on the oven. I was kind of nervous to make this mix, since it would be my first foray into baking with yeast. Plus, the directions aren't that specific. I wrote this to my friend Stephanie the other day while I was waiting for the dough to rise...

"My dough still doesn't look like it's rising and it's been more than 20 minutes. I'm wondering if I didn't proof the yeast long enough? The directions on the bag said "for a few minutes" what the fuck does that mean? I thought baking was a precise science?"

I probably should have photographed the rising dough and the whole first part of the baking process... you have to bake the crust first and then take it out and put on the toppings and then bake it again.



The first batch didn't puff up too too much, and I took a chance by putting it on my pizza stone and it turned out okay. It was a good color when I removed it from the oven although I should have smoothed it out a bit more... it was a thicker crust than what I really like... but I topped it with sauce from Vic's, chevre and fresh basil from Kate's garden.

When it came out of the oven the second time all nicely decorated, I couldn't wait to eat it. It has been months since I've had pizza! MONTHS! It's one of the few things I miss most about not eating gluten any more. And now I don't have to miss it any longer. I CAN MAKE MY OWN AND IT WILL BE DELICIOUS!!!



I am a happy girl.

Delicious!

For our party I made two different kinds of mini cupcakes. I forgot to photograph the Chocolate Cupcake with Mocha Icing before I served them - there were none left. There were also Ginger-Vanilla Cupcakes with Rosewater Frosting. Again, I got the recipes from The Gluten-Free Goddess, Karina Allrich.

For the Mocha Icing recipe, click here.
For the Chocolate Cupcake recipe, click here.

I used Karina's recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes as the jumping off point for the Ginger-Vanilla Cupcakes... Instead of using rice milk, I used a combo of Almond milk and Coconut milk. I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder and a good amount of ginger pulp - which I got from juicing ginger in my Breville juicer.

The recipe for the Rosewater Frosting is adapted from VCTOTW. I took the original Vanilla "Buttercream" and instead of using vanilla, I added rose water. To make the icing pink, I added about three to four drops of red food coloring.

Audrey helped me frost the cupcakes - we did it with knives instead of piping bags. Next time I'll try my hand at piping - it could be messy, good fun!

baked goodness

Labour Day weekend the weather had cooled significantly and it was time to fire up the oven. I hadn't baked anything in months - it was too hot - and if I'd even dared to, M would have divorced me on the spot. No baking in the house when it's hot.

I woke up Sunday of the holiday weekend (before anyone else in the house had stirred) and decided to make the following two recipes: Summer Peach Cake and Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing both by Karina Allrich of Karina's Kitchen.





The peach cake was only supposed to bake for thirty minutes. Mine took two hours. Yep, TWO FREAKIN' HOURS!!! It was my mistake for not actually measuring out how many fresh peaches I'd peeled and sliced and then my 9-inch round pan wasn't exactly nine inches. It was more like 8 3/4. Let me tell you what a difference that little quarter of an inch makes while you're baking!



The cake exploded over the sides, littering the bottom of the oven with gooey peaches. I couldn't open the door to put a cookie sheet down until the first thirty minutes were up. I didn't want the cake to fall. So I sat and watched through the window as the batter and peaches oozed over the sides. At thirty minutes it was painfully obvious the cake was nowhere near done. The center was still molten. I slipped a cookie tray on the bottom rack, turned the temp down to 325 degrees - watched and waited. (By this time everyone in the house was awake and they even left to go to breakfast at Frank's - I stayed behind - I wasn't about to abandon my cake!) Every 20 minutes or so I would stick a wooden skewer in the middle of the cake and it just wouldn't come out clean. I waited some more - checked some more - turned the cake - and finally - close to the two hour mark the cake was finally done!!! I didn't even burn it! It was a miracle.





After averting the near disaster with the peach cake, I popped the cupcakes into the oven and those baked without issue. However when I was making the icing I got a little sloppy and spilled too much coffee into the bowl with the sugar and shortening. The only way to make it stiffen was to add more sugar, which I didn't want to do, so I ended up with glaze. We made a little hollow part in the cupcakes and poured the glaze in. DELICIOUS!!!! I would have drunk the glaze straight from the bowl if that wouldn't have been so gauche.

There's a new site in town

There's a new food website out called Good Bite. It's a collaboration of food bloggers showing food & recipes as "...delicious made easy." The little bit of browsing I've done has already proven fruitful (pun intended). I've already got a new quick-dinner recipe lined up for a night when I'm too tired/lazy after my commute to get elaborate (hint, it's the recipe by Shauna James Ahern). I'll be going back for more, no doubt.



Good Bite is brought to you by Deca TV. Go check them out!

I heart Chocolate

We went to the Lake for Father's Day. It was a laid back, pot-luck affair. (Thankfully it did NOT rain!! I'm beginning to think we live in the Pacific Northwest and not NJ) My contributions were a quinoa dish and brownie bites - both vegan and gluten-free. My recipes came from THE Gluten-free Goddess herself, Karina Allrich. I have to say, her blog is one of my all-time favorite places to visit and I go there almost daily. Karina is a fount of knowledge, not to mention a hilarious and witty story teller. You're not only guaranteed great recipes but also a hearty dose of laughter.

I had to modify the brownie recipe to exclude the blueberries. Otherwise, there is no way on this green earth that M would have ingested a single one. He's not a fan of blueberries, to say the very least. This allowed me to up the chocolate chip content though, and I don't think anyone complained about that. Plus, instead of using a half-cup of water, I added some left over coffee and it was more like a half-cup of coffee water - to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Here's my endeavor...



I copied the recipe onto some scrap paper - but I'll be printing this out to add to my binder - it's most DEFINITELY a keeper!















Not the most beautiful photos to illustrate such a tasty treat, but I did my best. And, of course I forgot to take photos of the quinoa dish - but if you want to see how lovely it can be - please skip on over to Karina's when you're done here. You won't be sorry.

Memorial weekend baking

I made some cookies and cupcakes over the Memorial Day weekend. The cookie recipe is from Elana's Pantry. I modified it by using almond meal instead of almond flour. The cookies were good (or "not bad" according to M - and you don't even know what a HUGE compliment this is considering the past disasters that are my gluten-free cookies) - they had a distinct texture from using meal over flour. I would bake them again and try it with the almond flour. Next time they'll be better.








Then I made cupcakes for Tini's birthday... THESE were DELICIOUS!!! Tini said they were the best I've ever made. I used the Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and subbed out the All-purpose flour with Gluten-free Bob's Redmill blend and added some Xanthan gum. I also used almond milk and not soy. I added a few other ingredients in the form of spices - but I'm keeping that a secret. I made ganache for the frosting but I forgot to take a photo of it and I also forgot to photograph a finished cupcake. I was traveling with them and didn't do the final assembly until much later at a party - and by that time I was drunk, so there you go.

i guess this is really birthday week

When I got home from work the other night I found all this amazing stuff on the kitchen table complete with a beautiful hand-made birthday card from Kate and Christina. It's a whole bunch of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flours, a bag of dairy, soy and gluten-free chocolate chips and a little piece of paper telling me that the new Babycakes cookbook has been ordered for me. What a birthday it's been!


Photo courtesy of www.babycakesnyc.com

When I went to SF last month, Stephanie had given me an early b-day present of a powdered sugar shaker and patterned templates for when I bake cakes, like my recent favorite, from Karina's Kitchen.

I have the greatest, most thoughtful, most loving group of friends that a girl could ever hope for. Lots & TONS of Happy Friday love to all of them. (And I'm not even drunk!)

Now I'm off to finally write Stephanie that email I've been trying to send all week...

Food blogs

The Times Online has a story titled "50 of the World's Best Food Blogs"
I've been clicking through it, being familiar with a few of them, but I have also found a slew of new blogs to add to my own list and to click on when I'm looking for something to read. (Wow, can you say run-on sentence?)

Interesting stuff... check it out for yourself.
Orangette starts off the list at Number One...

(photo courtesy of www.orangette.blogspot.com)

A new magazine

I'm curious about this new magazine that's just come out.
Here's what they have to say about themselves -

"Delight Gluten Free is a NEW fun food & lifestyle magazine for people with Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance and food allergies. It hosts not only delicious gourmet recipes but easy semi-homemade as well. Plus - don't miss the Gluten-Free Meals on a Budget. Whatever your food allergy, you should be able to find something that fits your household. In their February issue they offer gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, soy-free and even some rice-free recipes. Not only that, DGF magazine will have a travel section coming in May, hosting lots of fun ideas and good advice for when you head out on the road. Personal stories, inspiring articles on Autism, Q & A with the Doc are among the many other features of this new venture."

I need this...

Well, I don't NEED it per say, but I really, REALLY want it.
It would just make baking SO much easier, now wouldn't it?

Scrape-A-Bowl 5-Qt. Mixer Attachment
(photo courtesy of Williams-Sonoma)

Happy Holidays

Why can't this be out now ????

It's the new BabyCakes cookbook.
It comes out in April, just in time for my b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y!!!
I guess I'll just have to be patient.

*sigh*

jelly donut cupcake masacre

This is what happens when you fill the cups too high and forget to put a cookie sheet under your cupcake pan (Thankfully fixed half-way through baking when I smelled the overflow jam burning the bottom of the oven).
The recipe for these cupcakes (which I made in a mini-bundt pan & added cocoa powder) comes from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Finished product:

grilled cupcakes

I wanted to try baking on the grill. It's something I've been talking about to Stephanie for months now.
I finally decided to do it Friday night and invited Kate over to join me.
We didn't bake a whole dozen on the grill in case the experiment was a disaster. The rest of the was batter baked in the conventional oven in the house.
This is what we came up with;


I think they came out pretty good.

Our recipes came from Veganomicon (those cupcakes are not pictured) and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

r.i.p. strawberry iced cupcakes

Today I went to lunch with my friend Liz and on the way back to my office we decided to get a treat. So we walk by The Little Pie Company and much to our dismay it was boarded up. I peaked through a tear in the paper covering the windows and saw that everything was torn out, which confirms that it's gone. How sad.

i love my friends!!!!

I have some of the greatest friends on the planet! This is what Stephanie (and Sadie) made me for my birthday and sent to me in a lovely box all the way from California!!

It includes: Personalized sugar cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Brownies. Plus Stephanie was thoughtful enough to include beautifully printed recipes for everything she made. AND!! It's all vegan (except the choc. chips, since all she had was milk chocolate).

This is one of the greatest gifts ever and I love it!!
Thank you Stephanie and Sadie (and Peter too!) xoxo

a lovely new blog

My friend Stephanie has joined us in the 'blog world with one of her own! She's only just begun, so check back often and see what she's got cookin'.
Pun completely intended.

http://yumyumkidcupcake.blogspot.com/