Gluten Free and Fabulous

Oh gluten free, where do I begin? It seems to me that being allergic to gluten has become very prominent our society whether it be by choice or because you have an intolerance/allergy to it. Either way, I'm super glad I can eat it with no issues. For those who are less fortunate, you don't have to leave out dessert! The world has developed umpteen million different gluten free flours that you can make a million different more desserts with.

I was a little scared to try gluten free. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if my product would tasted different. I wasn't sure if  I'd have to adjust making baking time -etc etc. You get my drift, I had a lot of doubts and questions. Turns out, I didn't have to be worried, which means you don't need to be either!

All I did was take a cupcake recipe and switched out my regular flour to multipurpose gluten free flour. Then, I took my coconut cupcake recipe and adapted it to one of my favorite flavor combinations - coconut orange. I think I told you about my moms orange-coconut coffee cake that's out of this world before, but if not, it rocks my socks off :) I really wanted to mimic this delicious flavor into a cupcake and I wanted everyone at work to be able to try it. So I'd like to present to you gluten-free orange coconut cupcakes. And just as a heads up to you, if you don't want gluten free- just use regular flour.

Oh and as a disclaimer - I find gluten flour to be a little grainier tasting then regular flour. I haven't done enough experimenting to figure out how to remove that... Have you done gluten free baking? Do you want to make a cupcake using your flavor combination? What flavors would you use?

Cupcake:
3/4 C. Butter
1 1/4 C. Sugar
3 Eggs
1 C. Coconut Milk - minus 2 Tbs
2 Tbs Orange Juice
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp Coconut extract
1 1/4 C. All purpose gluten free flour (King Arthur)
1 C. Coconut Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 C. Shredded Coconut
Rind of 1 Orange

Preheat oven 350 line 12 muffin wells

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Mix together shredded coconut and orange peel,set aside.
Combine orange juice and coconut milk, set aside.
Beat butter till light then add sugar, combine until light a fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Scrape sides and add extracts. Alternately add dry and wet ingredients starting and ending with dry. Fold in coconut/orange mix. Fill wells 3/4 full (if you use gluten free ingredients it won't rise much) Bake 18-20 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool 5 minutes in pan then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Frosting -
8oz Cream cheese
1/2 C. Butter
3 Tbs Orange Juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract
3 C. Powdered Sugar
1 C.Shredded Coconut + 1 Orange rind + 1 Tbs Sugar combine (may need more depending on how much topping you like on your cupcakes)

Blend cream cheese and butter. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and extracts, blend. Alternately add sugar and OJ. Once frosting is to the consistency you like frost your cakes. Then sprinkle with coconut orange topping.

Eat your heart out.

Peace.

Happy late Thanksgiving

Hi there and Happy late Thanksgiving! I am very thankful for a lot of things everyday and maybe some days I forget that I am... I'm going to try not to do that anymore. I will remember to take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad and the roasted potato's with the prime rib... wait, what?
Yea, that was the best segway into me telling you what I did for thanksgiving. I don't have a personal recipe to share with you, just a few stories that can help you pass your time. What did you do for thanksgiving and what are you especially thankful for?

This year RJ and I stayed in and it was super fun. I made him wake up extra early and cheer me on at my 8k Turkey trot, whatta good guy. I finished in  45:43 which I am excited about since I didn't even think I would finish in 47 minutes. Yay for running! We came home and made a big breakfast - orange/coconut coffee cake, bacon, eggs and OJ (RJ also has a bagel.) Then we settled in to watch the Lions take on the Packers. As you know, I am a loyal Lions fan, and sometimes it's really hard to be dedicated to an inconsistent team, but every game I tune in, cheer and hope for the best. Thursday's game incase you missed, was a little rough... but there's always next time!

After the game we had prime rib, roasted potato's, rolls and salad - yummy! Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake, so easy and so simple. The recipe I used was one from Paula Deen. I used cinnamon graham crackers instead of regular ones for a special kick.

After dinner we relaxed until we took on Black Friday. I had never been shopping on Black Friday morning, it was kind of fun, but mostly it was fun because I found some super cute shoes at a ridiculous deal! How do you say no? - hint: you don't.
The rest of our long weekend has been pretty chill. I hope you had a fabulous weekend and I will get out a fabulous cupcake recipe soon oh and a funny story about my dog!

Honolulu Blue Velvet Cupcakes

I have a favorite football team, do you? I go to a bar every Sunday and watch them play. I am a fan even when their season is 0-16 (yikes!) I make cupcakes in honor of their first Monday night game in 10 years! I love the Detroit Lions*sigh* I'll admit, it's not always easy being a Lions fan. In fact, until this year, we always got heat for supporting them! But not anymore, they are 5-0, by the time I post this 6-0 (knock on wood) Their tickets have like tripled in price, every game is like the Super Bowl for us fans. I am loyal to them, but not as crazy as my brother about them, I bet he's probably close to being their number one fan. In fact, I bet I wouldn't even be the fan I am today if it weren't for him. So a little shout out to my brother, these cakes are for you too!

I have been waiting to make a red velvet cake just until I could make it for the Lions. Maybe a but dorky, but like I said, I'm a fan. All I did was take a red velvet recipe and switched red for blue. This is a traditional straight up velvet cake, no fuss, no muss.

I will admit, I was a bit scared to make these. I was intimidated by this oh-so delicious cake and I'm not embarrassed to say it. Hi, my name is Meghann and I am was scared to make red velvet cupcakes. As I  said I kept it traditional, even down to the cream cheese frosting. I just switched it up with a blue fondant lion with edible sparkle.

The blue I used was a combo of food gel and liquid dye, it really did make them look a little more teal than Honolulu Blue, but really it is the thought that counts.

OK-- let me just say, I'm watching the Detroit Tiger play game 5 in the playoffs against the Texas Rangers, and I swear these umps are paid... *ugh* but then again every time my team gets a bad call I think the refs are begin paid. But for reals, this game drives me nuts, they are pitching to people they should walk, pitcher keeps throwing balls (ha- cause it's a base ball) instead of strikes. I mean, c'mon man, this is your job, and this game is uber important, FOCUS!
Back to the cake... Make it, it's tasty and moist and a classic.

Velvet Cupcakes:
(Recipe from Joy of baking)
Preheat oven 350* line 8-12 cupcake wells.
1 1/4  C. Flour
1/4 tsp. Baking  Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 Tbs. Cocoa powder
1/4 C. Butter
3/4 C. Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 C. Buttermilk
1 Tbs Food Coloring of choice
1/2 tsp. Distilled Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

In a medium bowl sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder set  side.
In a small bowl combine buttermilk and food coloring set aside.
In the mixing bowl beat butter then add sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla then egg. Scrape sides then begin alternate adds of liquids and flour mixture. In a separate small bowl combine baking soda and vinegar. Let is fizz then quickly combine it into the mix, but do not over mix.

Line muffin wells and fill 2/3 full. Bake fore 18-23 minutes. Cool in tin for 5 minutes then transfer to rack to finish cooling. Once cooled frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 C. Butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Tbs Milk
3 C. Powdered Sugar

In a bowl combine the room temperature butter and cream cheese. Add the vanilla and one cup of the powdered sugar, mix. Next the milk and one more cup of the powdered sugar can be added, mix. Gradually add the final cup until it is spreading consistency, you may need more or less than this final cup depends on what you like!

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Sweet Strawberry Cake

Tada! I'm back. I have been working on my disappearing act, what do you think. I post a few, leave, post a few, leave, but hopefully I won't keep doing that. My magic is running thin, I can't keep throwing my tricks in one pot, if you know what I mean.

This past weekend my dear friend asked me to make a cake for her baby boys baptism, I accepted.I haven't made a cake for a really long time, maybe since the baby shower? Not sure. But I was super excited and honored that she wanted me to make the cake. I asked her for a few ideas since I had no idea what a baptismal (?) cake looked like. She requested a white cake with blue flowers and I accepted the challenge. I was up for challenging myself and seeing what I could do.

I knew for the actual cake that I didn't want to cover it fondant, but I was going to have to use some for the flowers. It took a hot minute to find the right cake flavor, especially since I needed a white frosting. I thought about going traditional with vanilla/vanilla, but BORING! Just kidding, I actually didn't have a good vanilla cake/frosting recipe. Do you have one you would like to share? I'll share with you the recipe I made (wink, wink) A little quid pro quo... a nice Chianti. Alright enough Silence of the Lambs.

I went with a strawberry cake with a Swiss Meringue Butter cream (SMB). Fun fact, there are 3 different types of butter cream: Swiss, French and Italian. I'm not certain enough with all the differences but when I figure it out I will share it with you. OR if you know the differences, you can share! SMB, is so super good it's crazy, and ridiculously easy to make.

Moving on, turns out making flowers with fondant is way more difficult than I thought. It was probably made more difficult with the fact that I used marshmallow fondant and didn't have any of the right tools. I attempted fondant roses- you can see those on the cake- and those are alright, nothing fancy and definitely not AWESOME, just pretty cool. I ended up doing a tile-like design for everything and I liked it. I also used a little food coloring, rum  and edible sparkle to "paint" the tiles to look mosaic-ish.

It was a lot of fun and her little boy is just too cute! Make this cake for any occasion, it's so good, even 4-5 days later, still tastes amazing.

Strawberry Cake (makes one 9 inch cake or a dozen cupcakes)

Pre-heat oven to 350*  line a dozen muffin wells or grease a 9in cake pan.

1 1/2 C. Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2/3  C. Strawberry puree (I used slightly thawed frozen berries, but you could use fresh)

1/4 C. Milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C. Butter

1 C. Sugar

1 egg

2 egg whites ( Whipped)

In a medium sized mixing bowl sift baking powder, salt and flour, set aside.

In another bowl combine pureed strawberries, milk and vanilla, set side.

In a mixing bowl start fluffing room temperature butter then add sugar and beat till a light shade of yellow. Add egg until combined then add fluffed egg whites. Alternately begin adding liquid mix and flour mix. Remember to scrape the sides as you. Stop mixing as soon as everything is combined. Divide amongst wells or pour into pan.

For cupcakes bake for 22-25 minutes.

For cake bake 25-30 minutes.

Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes in pan then transfer to rack to finish cooling. Once cooled frost!

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream:

Used from smittenkitten

1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
26 tablespoons butter, softened (3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.
Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. (Here’s a tip: when you transfer to the mixer, make sure you wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl so that no water gets into the egg whites. This can keep them from whipping up properly.)
Add the vanilla.
Finally, add the butter a stick at a time and whip, whip, whip.
To layer the cake I did a line layer of the frosting, layered with fresh strawberries then atop goes the next cake.

Seriously -- so good!

Piece!

Rootbeer Float Cupcakes

Note- My camera deleted all my rootbeer float pictures (bummer) And these photos were super awesome, so sorry about that. And I don't havea recipe on here... apparently I'm all sorts of disappointing, but I will get these last 3 recipes up, I promise! (I just don't know when)


I love a good rootbeer. I'm not much of a soda drinker, but I rarely say no to rootbeer. Do you call it soda or pop or even soda pop? I was raised saying soda, but then moved to the mid-west where it is called pop. I still call it soda, but some of my siblings switched to calling it pop. Its good that I call it soda becuase I moved south and in the south it's soda. In the south, a lot of things are different than the north. I'm leaving the statement at that, I don't want to start and animosity

Last week RJ and I  made rootbeer floats but didn't use all of the rootbeer. And you know how it goes, if you don't finish a 2-liter right after you open it, it goes stale, bleck, flat soda. So, what do you do with half a 2-liter? I decided rootbeer float cupcakes would be a good idea, afterall I have the vanilla ice cream to put in the frosting. I searched around for a recipe and found one I really liked, unfortunately I don't remember the website I found it from, but I do know that their version was adapted from the gentlemen at Baked.

Baked is (what appears to be) a super cool bakery in NYC. I am dying to check it out. OH but wait, they just opened a second store in Charleston, SC, so much closer than NYC for me. I'm going to go one of these days, it's a bucket list thing. Anyways, I've seen these guys on Food network and they look so hip and cool, kind of what I aspire to be, especially when it comes to my baking. They have printed 2 cookbooks and I am waiting to get my hands on a copy of them. I'm not sure if the recipe I used came from their first or second book, but it is fan-flippin-tastic. The frosting is my doing but the cake is theirs. It is incredibly moist even after 3 days, maybe even longer but I'm not sure.

The cake is a dark chocolatey- rootbeer and the frosting is a vanilla ice cream butter cream. There is a faint rootbeer flavoring, nothing over powering. But I think next time I will put rootbeer extract in the frosting to make it a bit more rootbeer-y. Or maybe I will drizzle some of the A&W icecream drizzle over the frosting...maybe. Anyways, I think this cupcake is a definate hit, a little obscure but really excellent. Enjoy it and let me know what you think.

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Caramel Bars

Do you every get bored with the same thing over and over again and agian? Ever feel like you are on  the movie Groundhogs day waking up to Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe"? No... OK,  just checking. But if you did, these little gems may get you out of your funk and into a groove!

There is a new blog I came acrossed in my readings, called Baked Perfection and it was here that I found this recipe. I really wanted to make something new, no cupcakes, no brownies, no cookies, no chocolate. I wanted, well I wasn't sure, but I thought these bars would be a good start and trust-you-me they were. I brought them over to my friends BBQ and left with less than half the tray, which is saying a lot because there was only 6 people there, 4 if you don't count me and RJ. 

I love going to BBQ's. I love the socialization that happens. Everyone is so at ease and relaxed, especially on holiday weekends, it's just fun. Anytime I go to a cookout I like  to bring something, anything that may help out the host. Sometimes it's dessert, sometimes it's a side dish and sometimes it's just the buns for the burgers. Anything I can do to help out, I like to try and do. I don't host many get togethers,our place isn't really big enough for it, nor do we have the sitting space to make people comfortable. That is something I would like to do.

Do you like to do cookouts/BBQ's? What are your favorite dishes to bring or make? Might I suggest these for your next one, you won't be dissapointed.

Caramel Crumb Bars
recipe slightly adapted from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Caramel Filling
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit with a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray, then line the pan with aluminum foil or parchment and spray again with cooking spray.

To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and salt on medium speed until soft and light, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low, add 2 1/4 cups of the flour, beating just until the dough is smooth and the flour has been absorbed, and stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle as necessary.

Transfer 3/4 of the dough into the prepared baking pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan to form the bottom layer. Transfer the pan to the refrigerator while you make the filling and top layer.

Add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to the remaining dough in the mixer bowl and work it in with your fingertips until 1/8 - 1/4-inch crumbs form. Set aside.

To make the filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, condensed milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally. When the mixture begins to boil, whisk frequently until it begins to thicken and darkens in color slightly, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the refrigerator and pour the filling over the bottom crust. Use an offset spatula to spread it evenly then distribute the crumb topping over the filling.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the filling is gently bubbling and a dark caramel color. Cool the bars in the pan on a wire rack until lukewarm, about 15-20 minutes. Use the foil (or parchment) to lift the bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Once completely cool, cut into 2-inch squa

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Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

What do you do with super ripe bananas? Do you eat them? I do not. I make cupcakes with them and then share the recipe with you!

Alight, you caught me... I also make banana bread with overly ripe bananas. BUT! Not this time. You see, I just made blueberry-peach buckle and I really didn't need another breakfast bread around the house, so cupcakes. Also I make things with browned bananas because I can't stand to actually bite into one. I'm not sure what it is maybe it's their overly sweet taste or extra mushiness, but I won't eat one.

Do you like your bananas on ther verge of browning or with a little green on them? Here's a fun little fact, my great-grandpa liked eating completely green bananas... gross have you every had a fully green banana? Don't do it, it's not worth the calories wasted. But you could do like my great g-pa and eat fruit loops with creamer...

Back to cupcakes. I found this recipe on a cool blog where the blogger only makes recipes using peanut butter and/or chocolate. She used a peanut butter cream cheese frosting, I used a peanut butter buttercream. Fabulous.

It's a really super fun combo because who doesn't love chocolate and peanut butter, or chocolate covered bananas, or peanut butter and bananas? I figured since they all pair well as seperates, why not together?!? Try it, bring them to your friends, you friends may like you more for it...maybe or maybe they already like you since you are super awesome...however you want to see it.

But for really-o, I dig these bites.

Banana Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes:

2 1/2 C. Flour
3/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 C Banana Mashed (about 2 bananas pureed)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
3/4 C. Buttermilk
1  C. Butter
3/4 c. Sugar
3 Eggs
3/4 C. Mini Chocolate Chips (dust with a little flour before addind)

Preheat oven 375*Line 12 muffin wells

In a bowl sift flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.Set aside.
In another bowl whisk together the mashed bananas, milk and vanilla. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl begin to fluff the butter, then add the sugar until butter is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the edges as you go/ as needed. Alternately add the lquid mixture and the flour. Once those are combined fold in the chocolate chips.
Evenly distribute amongst lined muffin wells. Bake for 18-23 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool for a few minutes inthepan thenlet them rest one a rack until sufficently cooled. Frost and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Butter Cream:
1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Peanut Butter (Creamy)
1 tsp Vanilla
3 C. Powdered Sugar
2 Tbs Milk

In a bowl mix butter and peanut butter unntil combined. Add Vanilla. Alternately added Powdered Sugar and milk until both are gone. Depending on how you like you frosting you will need more or less powdered sugar. Frost the cupcakes when they are cooled.

NOTE: This frosting tatses awesome,but it's hard to spread... if you have any suggestions,let me know!

Piece.