Gluten-Free Baked Donuts

Gluten-free cake donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Apparently it is National Donut Day. But don't be grumpy, my celiac lovelies. I've got a gluten-free donut recipe for you, from the friendly archives of Gluten-Free Goddess.



For those of us born and raised on the East Coast- specifically, near Boston, Massachusetts- a certain coffee BF with a hole in the center is spelled donut. Not doughnut. Why so not-snobby casual, you might wonder? Why switch the ough to o when Boston's rep is more of a Paul Revere and cobblestones conservative town than say, oh I don't know-- maybe, rainbow flag flying West Hollywood? Dunkin Donuts is the culprit, I suspect- that ubiquitous New England coffee and doughnut chain from Quincy, MA, infamous for the tag line, Time to make the donuts! muttered by Fred the Baker in television ads for a good fifteen years.





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Triple Chocolate Muffins

 

Muffins = legally sanctioned cake for breakfast.  

{Please don't tell the First Lady.}

These Triple Chocolate Muffins may not be the most gorgeous, but, oh baby....warm from the oven with two kinds of melty chocolate chips?   They are pure decadence.



The day I made them, I ate one for breakfast, one for a mid-morning snack, 1.5 for lunch and one mid-afternoon.  {Muumuus will be all the rage this summer, right?}



Triple Chocolate Muffins



1/2 c. (1 stick) salted butter

1 and 3/4 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour

2/3 c. dutch-process cocoa (such as Hershey's Special Dark)

1 and 1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. instant espresso powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

1 c. milk

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 tsp. white vinegar



Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cups. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 425.



Melt the butter; set aside to cool.



In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.



In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar until blended. Stir in the cooled, melted butter.



Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir with a rubber spatula, just until blended.



Spoon into the prepared muffin liners...the cups will be very full. {Be sure to lick the spoon...this batter is SO yummy!}



Bake for 15-20 minutes until the muffins bounce back when pressed with a finger.  Cool on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes.





Remove from the pan and let them cool just a bit longer.  Serve warm.



Confession: I have one small white plate. Once we started, kiddo would.not.stop.eating to let me take a picture of the melty insides of his on the pretty white plate.  Note to self: buy more white plates.

Homemade Strawberry Pop Tarts

 

One reason I like running errands with kiddo is that, well, I just like having him with me. The other is that when I talk to myself in a store, it looks like I'm talking to him.



This is a big problem in a store like Williams-Sonoma.  I find myself "oooing" and "ahhing" and "isn't that cute-ing" all over the place.



When I saw this....



I ooo'd and ahhh'd and isn't that cute'd...and IMMEDIATELY picked up two (one for you, one for me). I think I might have startled the salesclerk working in the area.



These homemade pop tarts are really easy to make...and there is a recipe right on the back of the box.  My only tip for you is...make them the day before you want to serve them. There's a lot of chilling time and waiting time...so plan ahead. You do NOT want to start these when you are trying to get your kids off to school.



Homemade Toaster Pastries (Pop Tarts)

{adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchens}



2 & 1/2 c. flour

3/4 tsp. coarse salt

2 TBSP sugar

2 sticks salted butter, cut into chunks

6-8 TBSP ice water

strawberry preserves or jam

1 egg beaten w/ 1 tsp. water

1 & 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 TBSP milk

pink food coloring

sprinkles



(If you don't have a food processor, combine these with a pastry blender.)  In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and sugar a few times, until combined.



Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Add 6 TBSP of ice water and pulse until the mixture holds together when squeezed.  Add more water, a teaspoon at a time, if needed.



Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight.



On a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/8th thick. Cut pieces with the large cutter (you will have 10-16 overall depending on how thin you roll the dough).  Place half of the cut pieces on cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment.

 

Spread 1 TBSP of preserves onto each piece, leaving a 1/2" border.  Brush the egg mixture along the edges.  Top each piece with one of the remaining pieces of dough.  Using the toaster pastry mold, press down with the small mold to seal.



Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for 25 minutes or so, rotating the sheets in the oven halfway through.  Let sit on the sheets 10 minutes, then remove to wore cooling racks to cool completely.



Meanwhile, mix the powdered sugar and milk.  Adjust the thickness with more milk or sugar.  Add the pink food coloring.  Spoon onto cooled pastries and spread with and offset spatula.  Add sprinkles.  Let the icing set before serving.

It's like having frosted pie for breakfast.  Just look at those flaky layers.

Do you want one?  I know you do!  How about a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card to go with it?  

OK....here' s whatcha have to do to enter:

Giveaway closed....congrats to a_manda!!! Look for an email in your inbox!

We're having a BLOGGY SCAVENGER HUNT!

To enter, leave a comment answering the following questions about some fabulous bloggers. (NO PEEKING at the comment above you! The winner will be chosen from the CORRECT entries on Monday, May 23rd at 8pm CST. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you!!!)

(Giveaway closed....congrats to a_manda!!!)

1. Teresa from Blooming on Bainbridge has a darling doggy.  What is his name?


2. Amy from She Wears Many Hats, well, wears many hats.  How many hats is she wearing in her header?


3. Amanda from i am baker recently made _____________-decorated cookies for the Share Our Strength Bake Sale. (fill in the blank)

Ready....GO!

{This giveaway is not associated with Williams-Sonoma...they only know me as the crazy lady who talks to herself in the store.}

Gluten-Free Whole Grain Strawberry Muffins - Summer Goodness

Gluten-free whole grain strawberry muffins. Tender and fabulous.

Just in time for the weekend- a lovely new muffin. And not just any ordinary, ho-hum, run-of-the-mill, starchy, gluten-free muffin. Nope. A tender, whole grain, vanilla scented muffin that bursts with fresh strawberry flavor. Warm from the oven, these pleasantly grainy breakfast treats were pull-apart soft, with hot bites of juicy strawberry. Sweet- but not too sweet. I used pure maple syrup for the primary sweetener, and a mere quarter cup of organic cane sugar. And now for the best part.



No xanthan gum!



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Gluten-Free Pineapple Coconut Muffins

Warm and tender pineapple muffins with toasted coconut.

April first has arrived. But you won't find any tricks up my sleeve. Unlike the greater, broader world beyond my kitchen that apparently harbors a few individuals contemptuous of living gluten-free. This was a tough week to be a celiac. Assaults ranged from the merely mean-spirited to the stunningly ill informed. There was the alleged Chef in Colorado (I say alleged, because it turns out this nudnik may have only been a waiter) ridiculing gluten-free diners (the term he favored was "idiots") and crowing on Facebook that he passes off regular pasta as gluten-free (join the lively discussion here). There was the Dr. Oz show calling gluten-free a "fad diet", asking is it "just a myth?" (in full disclosure, I believe he meant as a weight loss tool, as a certain gluten-free celebrity has been claiming in her g-free book- ironically, featured on Dr. Oz last year). And finally, there was a food blogger turned author whose envied blog-to-movie deal has apparently not cultivated much compassion for those of us stricken with gluten sensitivity. She barked on Facebook, "If I have to read one more thing about going gluten free I'm going to stomp on someone's face." And more than one person agreed with her. One of her fans (a food blogger) added, it's "too precious".



Strap on your helmets, Campers. There's not a lot of love out there.



I know this. You know this. Some of you have even shared stories about not only eye-rolling waiters and could-care-less food preparers, but family members sneaking gluten into what they feed you, just to "see what happens". Just to test you. Let me repeat that.



Family. Feeding you gluten. On purpose.



No wonder strangers feel they can openly spout contempt. If we are not respected within the bosom of our own clan, our flesh and blood, how can we expect random strangers to care?



The truth is, they don't.



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Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

Fresh baked gluten-free dinner rolls- warm and tender.

We've been slurping lots of soup this Spring while the temperatures hover well below my chilly bones preference of 72 degrees. I hate to complain about 52 degrees, but, honestly. I'm shivering like a kitten in a Steve Martin movie. This is L.A. not New Hampshire. Where is my sunshine and technicolor blue sky?



Hiding its good humor behind wrinkled duvets of fuzzy gray clouds, that's where.



So we make gluten-free soup.



But the soup needs a companion. Our potage is lonely. And so I play matchmaker. I've been inviting gluten-free roll recipes to come and play. I've been flirting with their quirks and grainy idiosyncrasies, trying to be a good host. Coaxing their prickly little batters into behaving. As in, taste GOOD. And I've had some almost there success. But nothing to brag about. Nothing blog worthy.



Until today. These rolls are a balance of whole grain flavor and softness. Just crusty enough. These were tender and lovely warm from the oven. Not gummy. Not heavy. Not too grainy.



Just right.







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