Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

I'm a little slow at getting this posted. This was our favorite Christmas cookie this year. You can't go wrong when chocolate and candy canes are involved. :) You won't be disappointed.

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies:

• 1 bag semi sweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips
• 6 Tbsp ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup gf flour mix
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 or 3 crushed candy canes
  

Directions:

1. Melt bittersweet chocolate chips and butter in medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stirring constantly.

2. In large bowl with electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir in chocolate mixture. In small bowl , stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi sweet chocolate chips and walnuts

3. Refrigerate at least an hour or until firm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, place spoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft. Sprinkle crushed candy canes over top of cookies immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Sweet biscuits!!

Since I started cooking/baking gluten free, I have been on a search for a good biscuit recipe. I have tried countless recipes and none of them have been even remotely good. I was beginning to think that you just couldn't make a good gluten free biscuit. Think again!! I recently found a buttermilk biscuit recipe in Annalise Roberts cookbook, Gluten free baking classics that I had to try. It was AWESOME. Melt in your mouth goodness. My kids thought they were cookies...probably didn't help that I used a cookie cutter to cut them out. Ha!

I did change the recipe a bit to make it dairy free as well. That didn't seem to affect the taste or texture at all.



Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour Mix (see below)
• 1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon milk (or any milk substitute, I used almond milk)
  
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 5 slices
• 1 large egg white (or 2 small)
• 2 tablespoons water

• Brown Rice Flour Mix

• Brown rice flour (extra finely ground) 2 cups
• Potato starch (not potato flour) 2/3 cup
• Tapioca flour 1/3 cup

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Position rack in center of oven.

2. Mix brown rice flour mix, sweet rice flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in large bowl of electric mixer. With mixer on low speed, cut butter into flour mixture until mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Put mixture into a small bowl and set aside.

3. Beat egg white in the same large bowl of electric mixer until very foamy. Add water, milk and flour mixture all at once, and mix at medium-low speed for 1 minute. Use lightly floured hands to pat out dough into a large 3/4 inch thick round on lightly floured surface. Cut out biscuits with a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Press dough scraps together and repeat.

4. Place baking sheet on center rack of oven and turn oven temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake 15 - 18 minutes or until medium golden brown. Serve immediately.

I used a star cookie cutter to make things more interesting.

Watch out, these will go fast!! There were no leftovers. I better make a double batch next time. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Now that the weather is cooler, soup has been on the menu. Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of our all time favorites. I found this recipe on All Recipes and didn't have to do anything to make it gluten free. The soup is dairy free, but then you can add sour cream and shredded cheese to make it extra good. We have used plain soy yogurt or plain coconut yogurt in place of the sour cream and that worked great.

The soup is good without the extra toppings, but with the toppings it's awesome. You can use any corn chips that you choose, I use corn tortilla chips. Don't skip the diced avocados either, that adds so much flavor.

(I really need to work on my food photography, but you get the general idea.)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

• 4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
• 2 (14.5oz) cans chicken broth
• 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles
• 1 (10oz) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Combine the chicken broth, green chiles, tomatoes with green chiles, onion and garlic into a soup pot. Add the shredded chicken. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes.

Add the lime juice, cilantro, cayenne and cumin. Simmer for 10-15 minutes longer.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with shredded cheese, diced avocados, sour cream and crushed corn tortilla chips.

Go to Gluten-free Homemaker for more awesome gluten free menu ideas.

Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes

As a mom to 2 small children, I am always looking for easy recipes. I found this recipe on allrecipes and it has now been added to my stash of recipes. It's easy to prepare and it doesn't have a lot of special gf ingredients in it. We enjoy it, hope you do too!

Pork Chops with Scalloped Potatoes

• 3 Tbsp butter or olive oil, divided
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp gf flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour, but cornstarch would work well also)
  
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 4 pork chops
• 4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
• dash paprika

Preheat oven to 350F. In sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add salt, pepper and flour (or cornstarch). Pour in the chicken broth, cook and stir until mixture boils. Remove from heat and set aside.

In skillet brown pork chops in 1 tablespoon butter, making sure not to overcook. Grease a cooking dish with the remaining tablespoon of butter and layer potatoes. Pour mixture over potatoes and place browned chops on top. Sprinkle paprika on top. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

German Chocolate Cake

We celebrated my father in-law's 70th birthday at our house tonight. No birthday is complete without a birthday cake, so I happily made one. :) I recently got a new cookbook, Cooking with Coconut Flour which has a gluten free, dairy free german chocolate cake recipe in it. That recipe was what convinced me that I had to have this cookbook. I have been looking for a good gf german chocolate cake for a while, and this is it. This cake is awesome. Everything a german chocolate cake should be. The cake texture was perfect. Nice and moist, not the slightest bit crumbly. There were people at the party that do not eat gluten free, and they were raving about the cake. That's the best compliment ever when baking gluten free!!

I frosted the cake a little too soon, so a lot of the frosting started falling off. It still tasted good. :)

German Chocolate Cake
(Makes a double layer cake)

2/3 cup butter or Earth Balance Soy free buttery spread
1 cup cocoa powder
8 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted coconut flour

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and mix well. Remove from heat and let it cool. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, combine 2 whole eggs, egg yolks, coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in cocoa mixture. Add coconut flour and whisk in until there are no lumps. Fold egg whites into batter. Pour batter equally into 2 greased round 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cake. Let cool. Fill layers and cover top and sides of cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting

1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter or Earth Balance soy free buttery spread
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix coconut milk, cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks and butter in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla, flaked coconut and pecans. Let cool before frosting cake. (I doubled the frosting recipe)

Go ahead, take a bite. You know you want to. :)

Gluten free noodles

The weather turned really chilly the past few days, and it seemed like a good time to make some soup. Chicken noodle soup is an all time favorite around here. I used to make homemade noodles all the time, before going gluten free. To me, it just makes the soup better. I found a good gluten free noodle recipe at Cooks.com that has become my standby for noodles.

You can use your favorite chicken noodle recipe, and then just use these noodles instead. The first time I made them, my husband asked me if they were really gluten free. Yay! That was what I was going for. :)

Gluten Free Noodles:

• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons potato starch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1) In a medium bowl, combine flours, salt, and xanthan gum.

2) Beat the eggs lightly and add the oil.

3)Pour the egg-oil liquid into the flour mixture and stir.

4)Work the dough into a firm ball. Knead for 1 or two minutes.

5)Place the ball of dough on a potato starch-floured (rice flour turns noodles gray) breadboard and roll as thin as possible. This dough is tough and, when almost transparent, will still handle well. (I actually used my kitchen-aid pasta roller on the widest setting and that worked out very well.)

6) Cut into desired shape.

7) To cook pasta: Put pasta into the boiling soup and cook for 10-12 minutes.

This picture is a bit washed out, the soup looked much better in person. It definitely tasted delish!! For more gluten free recipes, go to The Gluten-Free Homemaker where you'll find all sorts of wonderful things to eat.

Bon Appetit!

Supper tonight

This is the first time I've posted on What can I eat that's gluten free. It's hosted by The Gluten Free Homemaker and a great place to find gluten free recipes. I'm always looking for new gluten free recipes, so thought I'd join in on the fun.

It's feeling like fall around here, and I use my crockpot a lot in the fall/winter months. This is one recipe that I use quite a bit. It's easy to make and my sometimes very picky kids love it. Win win for me! :)

I adapted this recipe from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. It's pretty much the same, with a few tweaks here and there to make it gluten free and dairy free.

Hungarian Goulash

• 2 lb. tenderized round steak, cubed

• 1/2 tsp. onion powder

• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

• 2 Tbsp Bob's all-purpose gluten free flour, or any flour mix of your preference

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 tsp. pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika

• 1 can tomato sauce, plus enough water to rinse out can, about 1/3 of the can

• 1 cup plain coconut milk yogurt (sour cream or soy yogurt can be used as well)

Mix the meat, onion powder, garlic powder and gf flour together in the crockpot until the meat is coated.

Add remaining ingredients, except plain yogurt and stir well.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Add yogurt about 30 minutes before serving.

Serve over brown rice or gluten free noodles (we prefer the rice).

Makes 8 servings.

Enjoy!