Jamie’s Recipes

Does your special someone have a gluten allergy? Are they unable to enjoy tasty Valentine’s Day treats because of this allergy? Don’t leave them out this Valentine’s Day, make them some gluten free red velvet cupcakes.

The first time I tried this recipe was last year for Valentine’s Day, and it was my first attempt at making anything gluten free before. We invited friends over (who also have young children) for a Valentine’s dinner party. Being Valentine’s day and all I knew I wanted to make a dessert. I found the recipe on Gluten Free Cooking School’s website.

This year instead of making a whole cake I made little heart shaped cupcakes for my husband to bring to work. I am assuming everyone liked them, because the cake pan came back empty.

You could make this in two round cake pans, and have yourself a beautiful red velvet layer cake. I however, chose to make mine into heart shaped cupcakes. My mom bought me some silicone heart shaped cupcake molds and I was excited to use them for the first time. Needless to say, some of the cupcakes got stuck in the mold. Looks like I am not the only one that has had an unfortunate experience with silicone cupcake molds. There is a whole discussion at The Kitchn about baking with silicone molds –they actually made red velvet cake in theirs too. Maybe it is the cake and not the mold?

GLUTEN FREE RED VELVET (CUP)CAKES
from Gluten Free Cooking School

1 3/4 c. canola oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten (room temp)
1 c. brown rice flour
3/4 c. sorghum flour
3/4 c. tapioca starch
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp cider vinegar and 1 c. milk substitute)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. red food coloring (this is one of the McCormick’s bottles) *I used just enough to give the batter a reddish color. Less than 1/4 of the bottle.
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together oil and sugar. Add one egg making sure it is completely mixed in before adding the other egg.

Sift together all the dry ingredients (leaving out the cocoa powder) in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture to the oil, sugar, and egg mixture in FOUR parts. Alternating the flour and buttermilk. Make sure the last one added is the flour mixture.

Make a paste out of the vanilla, red food coloring, and cocoa powder, and stir into the batter.

Pour batter into two greased and floured (GLUTEN FREE) round cake pans OR fill cupcake molds 2/3 the way full.  Bake for 25 minutes for the cake pans OR about 18 minutes (turning pans about half way through) for the cupcakes. Test the cakes and/or cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness.

Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, room temperature
2-3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped nuts

In mixing bowl beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add the sugar while mixing on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy.

You can stir in the chopped nuts or sprinkle the nuts on top of the frosted cupcakes. ENJOY!

OTHER RED VELVET (not gluten free) CREATIONS:
Red Velvet Cupcakes from Rue le Sel
Red Velvet Macaroons from delectable deliciousness
Red Velvet Bundt from Recipe Girl

This recipe is a first for me, it is the first time I was successful making candy. The last time I tried boiling sugar I burned it. I burned it badly. I actually had to throw away the pot because the sugar had scorched the bottom. This time around I did not leave the room, I did not quit stirring, and I actually used a thermometer which my eyes never left. As soon as the temperature reached 300 degrees F, I turned off the burner and removed the pot promptly.  Heath Bars are one of my favorite candy bars, and I really wanted to succeed in making them at home. I may have actually danced with joy when I sampled these. Delicious chocolate and buttery toffee meet, and it is love.

Have faith dear reader, you can make these yourself. You need to be patient and keep a watchful eye on the candy thermometer. Some people (more experienced than I) can do this without the trusty thermometer. If that is you congratulations. The sugar mixture will turn a lovely caramely brown when it is done. Or if you are like me and prone to burning sugar when you try to do it by “eyeing it” it is done when the thermometer reaches 300 degrees F.

These toffee bars should be added to your holiday treat platter. Make them for your family, make them for your friends, make them for your neighbors, and snitch some for yourself. Wrap them up in pretty paper and give them as gifts.

CHOCOLATE COVERED TOFFEE “HEATH BARS”
1 c butter
1 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T water
1/2 c chopped pecans
2 c chocolate chips

Line a jelly roll pan with foil. Lightly grease the foil, and set aside. Melt butter, sugars, and water in a heavy sauce pan over a medium high heat. Using your candy thermometer monitor the sugar temperature. Stir constantly until it becomes a carmely brown color and the temperature reaches 300 degrees F, turn off burner and remove pan, stir in pecans (I forgot this step so I sprinkled them on top once they were covered in chocolate). Pour sugar mixture onto jelly roll pan and spread out. Wait a couple minutes as the sugar cools and the toffee begins to set.

Using a pizza cutter slice toffee into desired size. Let cool completely. (As you can see in the top left corner my daughters and I had to sample the plain toffee. It was amazing )

Once toffee is completely cooled and hard, gently break apart into individual pieces. Put chocolate into a double broiler and melt gently. Drop one piece of toffee in at a time, cover completley with chocolate, shaking excess off, and place onto parchment paper to cool completely and have the chocolate set.

If you want to sprinkle with chopped nuts do so before the chocolate cools. ENJOY!

Becoming a food blogger has caused my children to want to pose with the food. They are some silly girls!

My children love helping me in the kitchen. They both like to help with the cleaning and the cooking, I’m lucky. Sasha has started figuring out that certain foods combined together can make a specific dish. When I grab celery, carrots, and onions she asks if I am making soup. If I put a big pot of water on to boil she asks if I am making pasta. One day I picked up a few browned bananas off the counter, and Sasha asked if I was making chocolate banana cake. I have never heard of chocolate banana cake before, but this continued all summer long whenever she would see browned bananas she would ask about chocolate banana cake. I finally have given in. I made her chocolate banana cake while she was taking “quiet time”. When she woke up, she came out of her room saying, “What is that great smell coming from.” I told her I made a surprise for her, and cut her a slice of the cake. Without telling her what it was I gave it to her.  She took a bite, and said the chocolate banana cake was delicious. I’m not quite sure how she knew that is was chocolate banana cake, but it made me so happy to hear her say how much she liked it.

I found my recipe on a delicious site called Baking Bites. Head over there to check out what other tasty treats Nichole is baking up.

MARBLED CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE
from Baking Bites
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe, medium bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream (*I used light mayo)
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 12-cup bundt pan (12-inch diameter).
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one by one, waiting until each has been incorporated to add the next. Beat in vanilla extract and mashed bananas.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and stir to combine. Add in the sour cream (or mayo), followed by the remaining flour mixture.
Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter into a small bowl and stir in cocoa powder.
Pour 2/3 of the plain batter into the prepared bundt pan, top with cocoa batter and spoon the rest of the plain batter on top. Run a knife through the batter gently to swirl.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Serve plain, or dusted with powdered sugar.

*Mayo provides a slight tanginess, and can be found in other chocolate cake recipes.

Food is such a wonderful thing to me. It tends to our physical/nutritional needs. We need to eat if we want to live longer than  four to six weeks, which is about how long the average person can live without food. It tends to our emotional needs. After a bad/stressful/depressing/happy/wonderful day we may turn to a specific food or meal that makes us feel better or helps to celebrate. It tends to our memory. Have you ever eaten something that has brought you back in time? Food can trigger memories, reminding you of when, where, and whom you were with when you first ate or drank something. Food definitely does this for me. Food can also help us relate to others. With the popularity of blogging, specifically food blogging, I probably could find a food blogger from every country. It is fun for me to see in my stats that someone from Malaysia, Philippians, Romania, Pakistan, Slovakia, Greece, and the list goes on came to read my recipes (if you are reading this, let me know what you tried). Many people are now wanting to get their food from local growers. This allows us to know who is growing our food, and possibly get involved in the process. See how wonderful food is?

Five Generations: my Mom & Sasha, me & Penelope, Great Grandma Dorothy, and Grandma Bonnie

I recently received a ton of apples that grew on my Great Grandma Dorothy’s tree. Over the years I am sure she has made thousands of pies, crisps, crumbles, and gallons of applesauce and apple butter. As I was peeling and coring apples yesterday I thought about my 89 year old great grandma standing in her kitchen. I began to wonder if she was doing the same thing. Maybe she was, I know she has a lot of apples to use up.

This apple pie was a complete experiment. It was inspired by a baked brie I made for our housewarming party. I sauteed apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnut together until the apples were soft. I then poured them over a wheel of brie and baked it until the brie was soft and gooey. It was wonderful, and a perfect appetizer for fall. I thought to myself “hey people put cheddar cheese in or on their apple pie, maybe brie would be a good substitute.” It was. I am happy I tried it.

This pie triggers a lot of memories. I think about my adorable Great Grandma Dorothy, about my successful baked brie I served at our housewarming party, and it warms my heart in that cozy kind of way that signals the changing of the seasons.

APPLE BRIE PIE
for the crust:
makes enough dough for a double crust pie plus scraps
2 1/2 c AP flour
2 tsp salt
1 c butter, cold and cubed
1/2 c ICE cold water

In a large enough bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in butter with forks or pastry blender until the flour looks coarse and crumbly. Stir in ICE water one tablespoon at a time, until combined and flour clumps together. You may or may not use all the water depending on the humidity level. Dump dough onto plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Refrigerate overnight, or at least an hour.

for the filling:
6 medium size apples
lemon juice
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
3 T corn starch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
7-8 oz Brie

Peel and corn all the apples. Cut apples into thin slices and toss with a little lemon juice. Stir in sugars, corn starch, and cinnamon. Remove the rind from the brie, and cut into slices. Toss with apple mixture. Set aside while you roll out your dough.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the dough from the refridgerator. Let it rest for about 5 minutes (it makes it easier to roll out). Divide dough in half and roll out each section so it is pretty thin. Transfer one sheet to into your pie dish. Poke holes into the dough with a fork. I did not pre-grease my dish before putting the dough in. I had no problems with the dough sticking to the pan.

Drain off majority of the apple juices. Dump the apple mixture into your pie dish.

Place the second sheet of dough on top of your pie. Crimp the edges to seal.

I used this neat-o pie crust crimper thingy that I got a couple years ago for 10 cents at a thrift store. It is a pretty useful tool.

Slice vents into your crust. I used a leaf shaped cookie cutter and cut out a vent. Beat one egg. With a pastry brush, brush the egg over the entire crust. This makes your crust golden and beautiful.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the crust is a lovely golden brown color. After the first 15-20 minutes of cooking cover the edges of your pie with a pie crust shield. Or you can use foil like I did. Avoid all temptations to cut into your pie as soon as you remove it from the oven. Try to wait at least an hour before digging in. Enjoy!

P.S. Just in case you were curious this pie pairs well with coffee, I tried it out this morning (for research purposes) and it was very good.

Two years ago Penelope was a newborn. She is 24 hours old in that photo. In the last two years she has grown and changed so much. She is a very sweet, loving, funny, opinionated, wonderful toddler. She loves penguins. For Sasha’s birthday we had a fiesta theme, and I thought it would be fun to go with a penguin theme for Penelope. Little did I know that it would be impossible to find penguin party supplies. Who would have thought? I called several large party supply stores in the area, and none of them had any penguin stuff. Happy Feet wasn’t released that long ago, and The Penguins of Madagascar is a popular cartoon so I thought I was going to have to settle for having one of those penguins featured at our party. How wrong I was. So we didn’t have any penguin plates, napkins, or balloons. Instead I made cute little penguin appetizers and a giant penguin cake. Penelope loved them both.

I took the easy way out when it came to Penelope’s cake. I used two cake mixes (devil’s food and funfetti) to make the penguin’s body and wings.

The penguin’s head was baked in a 6 inch round cake pan, and the wings were baked in a 8 inch round cake pan then cut in half. I used the funfetti cake mix to bake a 8 inch round cake for the body, two regular sized cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes which were used for the feet and beak. I actually used 3 mini cupcake per foot and I turned one mini cupcake upside down to make the beak.

I frosted the cake using  vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream.

When assembling the penguin’s feet, I found it to be easier to secure the cupcakes together using toothpicks, then frost each foot as one unit.

My penguin loving Penelope had a great second birthday. Thank you to all who helped us celebrate.

My mother-in-law just celebrated a monumental birthday on July 5, she turned 60. For her birthday I wanted to make her her favorite cake, it was no surprise that she requested a chocolate cake with a chocolate fudge frosting. I wanted this cake to be out of this world good. I stumbled across Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate cake, and I knew this would be the “one”.  After all, Hershey has been doing the chocolate thing for at least a hundred years. The cake was so easy to make, bake, and assemble.

Between the chocolaty layers of cake I used a delicious vanilla butter cream, once assembled I covered the cake with Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate frosting.

The added decorations are made from vanilla butter cream and a chocolate butter cream. This cake was out of this world good. I can’t wait until I have an excuse to make this cake again.

HERSHEY’S “PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE” CHOCOLATE CAKE
from Hershey.com

Monster cookies. What’s not to love? Oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips and M&Ms baked into a ginormous thin and chewy cookie, sounds like love in cookie form to me. I made a batch for my friend Michelle’s 25th birthday. I know how much she loves these cookies, and I knew she would love receiving a package of them in the mail. The first time I made them, and the first time Michelle had them was when we were in college. Being the great best friend she is, she gave me a huge ego boost by raving nonstop about how delicious these cookies were.  She asked for the recipe, I had to tell her it was a “family secret” since I used my great grandma Nona’s recipe. She begged and I caved. I wrote down the recipe for her and she tried her hand at baking. I never saw her cookies, but heard that it was a failed attempt.  (I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing this)

This recipe isn’t difficult. I am going to blame Michelle’s failed attempt on the crappy, ancient, unmaintained stove, in the crappy high-priced rented apartment she was living in at the time. Now that she has a nice home of her own, I am sure she can whip up a batch without any problems. This recipe is for you Michelle.

Michelle and I at The Wild Hare in Wrigglyville, Chicago getting ready to see Toots & The Maytals.

MONSTER COOKIES
adapted from Great Grandma Nona’s recipe

3 eggs
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp soda
1 stick margarine
1 1/2 c peanut butter (I used creamy)
4 c quick cooking oatmeal
1 c chocolate chips
1 c M&Ms.

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate for 1 hr or overnight. Use 1/4 c dough per cookie. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 12-15 minutes. ENJOY!!

P.S. These cookies freeze great too, so don’t feel like you have to eat the whole batch immediately. If you do eat them all at once, I won’t judge you, promise.

MORE OF MY COOKIE RECIPES:
Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie Bars
Giant Crunchy Choc Chip Pecan Cookies

WHAT OTHERS ARE COOKIN’ UP:
Butterscotch Marble Blondie Drops @Technicolor Kitchen
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies @have cake, will travel
Flourless and (almost) Sugar Free Cookies with Peanut Butter and Chocolate @Kalyn’s Kitchen

Check out Cookie Madness for tons of baked goodies baked daily!

This cake was so much fun to make. It provided two challenges for me, the first being it had to be gluten free, and the second was it had to be cut into a specific shape. I enjoyed taking on both challenges! I found a fabulous recipe on allrecipes.com, and topped it with a yummy butter cream. We sampled a bit of the cake, and I don’t think anyone would ever know it was gluten-free. It was a delicious dense chocolate cake that you could serve to all your friends regardless of their level of gluten tolerance.

This was my first time ever cutting a cake into a specific shape. I have made cakes with shape in the past, but I used an Elmo pan and a heart-shaped pan. I shaped this cake into the Apple logo. I think I was successful in completing the challenges — unless John Henry got sick (I hope not!). John and Denise are both artists and Denise totally rocks at decorating cakes, so I was a little nervous shaping this cake. I am happy how it turned out and hope they really enjoyed it!

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE
from: All Recipes
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut parchment paper to fit into two 9 inch round pans. Grease the pans and set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the sorghum, tapioca, and rice flours with the cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, and baking soda. In your mixer bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the sugars; whip until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. On low speed, alternately combine the buttermilk with the flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
1 c Vegetable shortening
1 c butter, softened
8 c powdered sugar, sifted
4 T milk

In your mixer whip together shortening and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly (1 c at a time) add your powdered sugar. Once all the powdered sugar is added the mixture will look dry. Add milk 1 T at a time until butter cream looks soft, smooth and fluffy. Use right away or store covered in the refrigerator. Set out on counter to soften up a bit before using.

Assembling your cake:

Once the cakes are completely cooled place one cake on a cake board, spread about 3/4 c frosting, top with other cake (placing top side on the frosting so the flat bottom is now the top). Cover your cake and place in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight — it will be much easier to cut. Cut your cake into desired shaped. In order to stabilize the apple leaf I inserted a wooden skewer from the bottom side. Dust off all crumbs with a pastry brush.

Cover the cake with a thin layer of butter cream. (I thinned my butter cream with a splash of milk) This is called the crumb coating, which in theory will provide a foundation for your frosting, so you can finish it smoothly. Refrigerate your cake another 15-20 minutes so the crumb coating can set.

Finally using an offset spatula, evenly spread your butter cream over the top and sides of your cake.  ENJOY!!

Do you remember Soft Batch cookies from your childhood? These were an essential item at slumber parties when I was a teenager, along with Nacho Cheese Doritos, Pizza Hut stuffed crust pepperoni pizza,(or the Big Foot), Coca-Cola Classic, and peanut butter M&Ms –it is a wonder how I graduated high school weighing 100 lbs soaking wet. I like cookies pretty much any way I can get them, I do not discriminate between soft & chewy, thin & crispy, or dense & cakey. I like them ALL!

I do not have a soft & chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe in my database, and every girl needs a variety of chocolate chip cookie recipes, so my research began. I scaled down this recipe from recipezaar. These cookies were flat, soft and chewy –thanks to all the butter in them.

SOFT & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
yield: 3 dozen cookies

2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs
1 T molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 T water
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 c AP flour
6 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream together butter, eggs, molasses, vanilla and water. In another bowl sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls, placing 1 1/2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, keep your eye on them, you do not want to over bake these cookies.

*I baked my first batch 8 minutes and as you can see it wasn’t long enough. Ten minutes seemed to be the perfect time for my oven.

Cool a couple minutes on your cookie sheet, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. ENJOY!

What others are cooking up:

Phe/MOM/enon: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy: Chewy, Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Smitten Kitchen: Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookie Madness: Crunchy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sasha finally arrived after almost 12 hours of labor and over 2 hours of pushing (seriously).

This past Saturday Sasha turned three. I can not believe how the time has just flown by. At times I miss baby Sasha, but watching her grown and learn has been so much fun. Everyday I am impressed with what she has learned or what she has figured out to do. I am slightly biased, but I think she is the smartest little three year old.

Last year Sasha wanted an Elmo cake, and I created an Elmo cake for her. This year she wanted a fiesta. She gave me a theme and I ran with it. We started out with various dips for appetizers. I made pico de gallo, guacamole, black bean & corn salsa, and a layered bean dip. For our main dish I made chicken tamales, Mexican rice and my own “refried” beans. Everything was so delicious (check back for recipes). To a three year old the most important parts are the cake and the presents. Awhile back I saw this AWESOME cake and I knew I had to make this for Sasha’s birthday cake. She loved it, and it was fun hearing the ooo’s and aahh’s when we sliced in to it, no one had a clue what was under that whipped cream frosting. We surprised Sasha with a piñata, something she specifically asked for. It was fun watching her trying with all her might to break it open.

RAINBOW “FIESTA” CAKE
seen on Omnomicon
2 boxes French Vanilla cake mix
2 cans diet Sprite
1 box sugar free White Chocolate pudding
2 8 oz containers Cool Whip
food coloring

I had to bake the cakes separately because Sasha wanted a heart shaped cake and I had only one heart shaped pan (luckily!).

Preheat oven according to directions on box. Mix together 1 can Sprite with one box cake mix. Divide cake mix into three different bowls. Stir in red (we had pink) in one bowl, yellow in another and orange in the last one. Place the red mix down first, then orange and finally yellow. Bake according to directions, I think mine took about 29 minutes. Mix together the other can of Sprite and cake mix. Divide batter into thirds, mix in blue in one, green in another and purple in the last one. Layer green, blue and finally purple. Bake.

Mix together 1 container Cool Whip with pudding mix (save a little if you want to write on the cake). Spread on top of the first cake, stack second cake on top. Cover both cakes with the remaining container of Cool Whip. ENJOY!