WhenI first was diagnosed with Celiac – even before, actually – I thought I’d never eat a candy bar again. In 6th grade, we embarked on a “what’s wrong with Amelia” crusade that involved thesis-worthy research into the myriad syndromes, allergies, or intolerances that could possibly stop me from growing or gaining any weight at age 11 or that could be the culprit for the seemingly endless number of quotidian digestive issues I faced. It was a fun year y’all, let me tell you. Though my mother was the real hero – not taking “I don’t know” for an answer from any doctor, always demanding we take the test or…
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Gluten Free Coconut Lime Lamingtons
These insanely delicate, perfectly-sized cubes of coconut cake, filled with homemade lime curd and coated in silky white chocolate and more desiccated coconut are a gorgeous blend of treats from two very different countries! Lamingtons, as we all know (maybe), are a classic Aussie treat, especially around Australia Day, which is fast-approaching! (January 26th, everyone, get your “g’days” and bbqs ready!). The coconut + lime combo harkens back to one of THE best drinks (non-alcoholic, though very easily the opposite!) I’ve ever had in my life: the creamiest, dreamiest limonada de coco in Colombia. I was with the ever-impressive Laura Jimenez – a former colleague and dear friend – in…
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Gluten Free Pink Lemonade Bars
Today is the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden Jr. and of Kamala Devi Harris – both titans in their own right, and people who will put the needs and hopes of a country before their own. It’s been a long four years, an even longer four years for those who do not look like me – I’m one of the lucky ones, despite Trump’s (and the entire GOP, let’s be honest) attempts to disenfranchise and demean women wholeheartedly. Today is a new day, one that will not mark immediate change, but one that will put us on a path to righting so many of the egregious wrongs that have occured,…
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Gluten Free Vietnamese Pandan Honeycomb Cake – Bánh Bò Nướng
This cake is one of my new favorites, and has me asking “why have we never been to Vietnam?!” because there are so many naturally gluten free desserts that are absolute dream boats of buttery, gorgeous, flavors and textures. Let’s back up. My dear friend and former roomie, Leslie Nguyen-Okwu (who happens to be an incredible journalist, speech writer, and all around amazing human – check her out here) sent me a recipe for Vietnamese Pandan Honeycomb Cake ages ago because it’s one of her favorites (her mother is Vietnamese and her grandmother still makes this occasionally) and because, lo and behold, it only requires tapioca starch which, as you…
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Gluten Free Black and White Cupcakes
Racism is baked into the bones of America. Even after perceived progress due to the courage, tirelessness, and perseverance of so many, including Dr. King, racism persists in the very systems that this country is built on. In all the ugliness of 2020, thousands marched for the same injustices, the same changes that Dr. King wrote and spoke about over five decades ago. Because racism never left; it’s been twisted and reformed to fit into what we think are socially acceptable channels today. The saying, “they tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds” applies to racism and racists as much as it applies to those who are…
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Gluten Free Strawberry Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream
There’s something about cream cheese frosting. For all of you lactose/dairy-free folk out there, I feel your pain – as a weird and twisted side effect of Celiac disease, I also lost the ability to digest lactose for years before and after diagnosis, so I’m quiiiiite familiar with the array of nut, rice, and soy mylks and cheeses out there, and Kendra, the younger taller sister of Sisters Sans Gluten, is still dairy free to this day! (she makes a mean dairy free cheesecake too). This cake, however, is definitely heavy on the dairy. Gotta love swoops of silky, slightly-tangy cream cheese buttercream wrapped around summery strawberry cake layers, billowy…
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Best Gluten Free Canelés
The first time I ever saw a canelé was on the menu of Dominique Crenn’s new upscale wine bar in Cow Hollow. San Francisco has a number of fantastic wine bars, but this one was particularly special because Dominique Crenn is a local, and now global, celebrity. After wowing restaurant-goers at her original Atelier Crenn, she graced the screen in an episode of Chef’s Table with her ethereal and utterly perfect dishes of ginger foam and lobster tartar, caviar with cream sauce and the tiniest slivers of pickled pearl onions, seared abalone under a crackling shell of seaweed and so many others, she opened a second stunning locale, and a…
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Gluten Free Vanilla Bean & Chocolate Layer Cake
Sometimes you save a very-ambitious baking project for the day-of and sometimes it takes a biiiiiit longer to pull it all together than anticipated and sometimes that means you end up taking photos of it after the sun has DEFINITELY set (thanks Winter) so they turn out a bit grainier and darker than you planned. And that sometime was THIS time, but I’m still excited because it was the first time working with edible gold powder and doing this gold drip layer cake! Don’t let the outside deceive you, this cake is dark as night inside with velvety chocolate cake layered with bourbon cherry preserves (just add bourbon to anything…
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Gluten Free Pavlova with Raspberry and Jasmine Cream
Today is my 28th birthday! For those of you new to the blog, I’m Amelia Farber, the older, shorter sister of Sisters Sans Gluten (check out more about Kendra – the younger, taller one – and myself on our About Us page!). Twenty eight always felt like that shining age, emblematic of a settled, confident adult. Maybe because my parents got married at 28, or when a few friends back in college turned 28 it felt so foreign to all of us 20 year olds. Whatever it is, I’m now that age and feel thoroughly…the same – though closer to 30 than I’ve ever been and THAT, my friends, is…
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Gluten Free Toasted Coconut Butter Cookies
Anyone else remember dark blue round tins filled with rustlely paper cups holding heaps of differently-shaped butter cookies? I do. They were incredible. They were the most perfect, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, each piped into delicate swirls or rolled in sugar or printed with a stamp. And they were impossible to eat just one of, in fact, it was customary to eat a quarter of your body weight both before and after the family dinner, resulting in greater rotundity and probably a stomach ache. I did push this limit one year and ate nearly an entire tin all on my own which had the disastrous consequence of feeling queasy everytime I saw…
