It's never too late for apple pie...Gluten Free! Part 2

I topped this with coconut "whipped" cream to lighten the dairy overload...but it would probably taste better with the real stuff. Everyone at our table used RediWhip - which looked very tempting...

We spent Thanksgiving in the mountains of North Carolina. Karl and I enjoyed plenty of opportunities to hike and work off all the delicious apple pie we ate. Making the pies the day before we drove up, I put them in the freezer unbaked and defrosted them Thursday morning. The pies baked while we ate the turkey dinner. They came out so well - no one even noticed they were gluten free.

I love hiking in the mountains. Especially with this guy ;)

This is a very normal looking stream. What I didn't capture was the stream running through the trail itself. That was not normal and we had to take some precarious jumps and sideways moves to get through the muck.

The hiking trail even had a ladder to get over the big rocks. We felt so hardcore.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

Topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced

Apple Filling:
6 cups thinly sliced apples
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375. Position rack in the center of oven. Make pie crust. Partially bake crust in oven for 10 minutes. Cool on rack while preparing apples and crumb topping. Turn oven temperature up to 400.

2. Combine flour, sugar, and xanthan gum for topping in medium mixing bowl and cut in butter. (I used the food processor). Topping should resemble cornmeal in texture. Set aside.

3. Mix apples with sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Fill prepared pastry crust with apple mixture, mounding it. Dot with cut up butter.

4. Spoon crumb topping over apples and pat it down into place. Cover entire pie with foil. Place in center of oven and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove foil. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 30-40 minutes more until filling is bubbling and top is golden. Cool on rack.

It's never too late for Apple Pie...Gluten Free! Part 1

Homemade apple pie, with crust and everything from scratch, is surely a glimpse of the awesomeness of heaven ;)

 My job for Thanksgiving this year was to make the apple pie. Since my hostess also eats gluten free, she sent me a cookbook to aid me in my task. What a happy discovery!

Baking pie from scratch is a lot of work! But soooooo worth it! Everyone raved about it - and leftovers were even better.

Traditional Pie Crust 

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. Brown Rice flous mic
2 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
2 tsp. orange juice or lemon juice

1. Spray 9-inch pie pan (I used the throw away aluminum foil since the pie was traveling) with cooking spray (I used a mister filled with olive oil). Generously dust with rice flour.

2. Mix flours, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt in large bowl of electric mixer (I used my food processor and it worked beautifully). Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.

3. Add egg and citrus juice. Mix on low until dough holds together; it should not be sticky. Form dough into a ball, using your hands, and place on a sheet of wax paper. Top with a second sheet of wax paper and flatten dough to 1 inch thickness.

4. Roll out dough between the 2 sheets of wax paper. If dough seems tacky, refrigerate for 15 minutes before proceeding. Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert dough into pie pan. Remove remaining sheet of wax paper, and crimp edges for single-crust pie.

**Gluten free flour blend:
2 parts (2 cups) brown rice flour, 2/3 part (2/3 cup) potato starch, and 1/3 part (1/3 cup) tapioca flour.



Stay tuned for putting it all together!

Flourless Oatmeal Raisin Cookies + A Sinful Frosting

My baked goods never turn out like the professional pictures, but these cookies were a hit! I did overcook some of the cookies, so I remedied that by adding some whoopie pie frosting from the following recipe (delicious but unhealthy frosting/filling).

Here is the oatmeal cookie recipe.

And because what is better than one oatmeal cookie with frosting, but two!!! Putting two oatmeal cookies together with this excellent frosting was delicious! Enjoy!

Two Chocolate Cupcakes For You (to try making on your own)

They may all look the same on the outside, but one is flourless and one uses coconut flour.

Last  week (I can't believe it was a week ago already!) was  long. And so was this week, surprisingly. But Thursday nights seem to find me baking lately, my favorite creative outlet.

I convinced myself of two things last Thursday:
    1. I needed  to make cupcakes (and why not chocolate!)
    2. I had two occasions that needed me to bake something (and why not cupcakes!)

The first was a glorious birthday party celebration with lots of fabulous women, wine, and nertz. The second was a beautiful trip to my in-laws for a weekend visit, and surely I needed to bring a gift of baked goods to my mother-in-law.

On a hike with Karl's dad in Boone over the weekend: the Elk Knob Summit Trail

In need of a simple and gluten free, dairy free (if possible) recipe, I searched the cupcake guru's, Elana Amsterdam's, blog. She just recently published a cookbook full of cupcake recipes (gluten free). I found two recipes that required ingredients I already had in my pantry. One was completely flour-less and one only used a slight amount of coconut flour. For my chocolate, I just used what I had on hand: Hershey's Baking Cocoa and Trader Joe's 72% Dark Chocolate One Pound Plus Bar. They worked very well. (I can't afford the expensive chocolate Elana uses, although I wish I could.)

The first batch I made with the coconut flour. I overcooked them a little and there was a black edge on some of them. Because of the coconut flour and the cocoa (the other recipe just uses straight up bar chocolate), they were also pretty dry. Next time I will increase the liquid (oil) ingredients.

Chocolate, with flour, Cupcakes

The second batch I made was flourless. Elana's recipe calls for almonds, but Karl and I have been wary of almonds lately so I used walnuts - and they worked well. These were by far the better of the two cupcakes. Karl thought they were too rich for him, but as my birthday-girl friend said, they are the epitome of a PMS treat - in other words, perfect for female chocolate lovers. The flourless cupcakes were moister and denser, almost having a brownie-like consistency. It was an easier recipe to put together too.

When I took them out of the oven, the tops still looked runny but I tested them and the knife didn't stick. If you make them, and I highly recommend that you do make them, beware that you don't overcook them; they might not look completely cooked when done.  I will definitely be making these again. These are even worthy of offering to gluten-eating people - and are an easy cupcake recipe. Well, easy if you have a food processor that can handle nuts.

Chocolate, flour-less, Cupcakes

And what is a cupcake without delicious frosting?

Karl is always willing to be my taste tester and utensil-licker. I feel this is either making up for being an only-child and not having younger siblings or preparing me for motherhood.

This, I have to say, is the most awesome frosting recipe. It is a feat of science, in my opinion. There is no butter in this yet it comes out with the consistency and taste of a chocolate buttercream. It is innovative, it is delicious, it is simple, and it is vegan.

Again, I used Elana's recipe:

Yes, that is the saucepan that I used to melt the chocolate with the oil. Then I froze it in the pan. Then I whipped it in the same pan. So cool.

All in all, this was a delightful cupcake adventure. I had fun making them, icing them, and of course eating them. I know the other gluten free ladies I shared with all enjoyed them immensely. And even if you aren't gluten free, this is a chocolate feast!