If you’ve never heard of millionaire shortbread (or gluten free millionaire shortbread, for that matter), you’re in for a real treat. The fanciest, most indulgent treatiest treat out there (maybe not but they’re not called millionaire’s for nothing). The theme of these decked out shortbread bars is: why not? Why not slather half an inch of perfectly squidgy caramel over the perfect slab of shortbread, and why not, on top of that, smear the most luxurious dark chocolate you’ll ever snap into? Why not, as a millionaire would say. So why not be a millionaire for a day and make these incredibly rich, melt-in-your-mouth squares to complement your lavish post-college…
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Gluten Fre Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
These gluten free peanut butter & jelly bars are close to my heart. Quite literally, at the moment, they’re in my stomach. But more poetically, too – pb&j was my absolute favorite sandwich type in elementary school, so much so that I frequently made, brought, and ate TWO of them for lunch. It was always a thrill, crackling open the velcro lid of my 3rd grade lunch box to see a hefty tupperware squished full of whole grain seeded bread with thick layers of peanut butter and marionberry jam. Word to the wise, eating two pb&j sandwiches for lunch every day in 3rd grade can cause you to go off…
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15 Essential Baking Tools Every Baker Needs
Honestly, you can do quite a bit of damage with a fork and a cereal bowl when it comes to baking – the cake will still be a cake, just maybe one you wouldn’t laud on the British Baking Show anytime soon. You also have hands, which, as it turns out, are awesome tools not just for typing up that next blog post or grabbing handfuls of the free cookies at the company happy hour before the office manager notices; they work extremely well with bowls of batter and kneading butter into flour and all of that fun baking-related stuff. Never underestimate what you already have. So, if it’s imperative…
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Gluten Free Lamingtons for Australia Day
This recipe is bittersweet in light of the huge blow dealt by climate change to Australia and its animals, ecology, and people. Let this post be a a celebration of one of the most colorful, friendly, and wonderful countries and groups of people out there, and a digital hug from across the Pacific that might comfort those who’ve lost so much in the recent and ongoing fires and disastrous weather. Australia is dear to me for many reasons, not least of which is that Australia was the first country I traveled to outside of the US which left a cherished impact. When I was thirteen, I applied to be…
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Gluten Free Roasted Hazelnut and Chocolate Snow Cookies
One of my dearest friends now lives a million miles away in the fairy-tale land of Vienna, Austria. Her moving was terrible news, until I considered the fact that this undisputedly meant that I had to travel to said fairy-tale land to visit her at least once a year. Not a bad deal. The first time I visited it was the second week of December, and Vienna, let alone us, was entirely frozen. Nevertheless, the city has a marvelous way of distracting you from the bone-chilling cold by decking itself in heaps of holiday lights and decorations, and by constructing myriad Christmas markets (or Adventmarkt/Weihnachtsmarkt) that seem to magically appear…
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Gluten Free Brown Butter and Pecan Shortbread
When I was first diagnosed as Celiac in 2004, life as a 10 year old seemed immeasurably miserable: no more Oreos, sourdough toast, mac and cheese, Costco croissants, or hotel danishes. No more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! (my staple for packed lunches). It was a rough few months, to say the least, and those few months getting used to the new diet and figuring out what few items in the pantry I could still eat felt like a LIFETIME. Bowls of hot rice with butter felt like the best I could ever do, simply because the few brands in the US that were producing anything gluten free were woefully…
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Gluten Free Maple Hazelnut and Pear Upside Down Cake
If you’re like me, you’ve got two boxes of Harry & David’s “Fancy Gift Pears” sitting on your counter and you’ve already challenged your significant other to a competition for who can eat the most pear slices in one evening and there are still SO MANY PEARS LEFT. Thank you, mom, for these amazing pears, but what do we do with them now? We need to host a pear party. Or, look up recipes for pear desserts until inspiration strikes and you’re motivated enough to get off of the couch after work and toss this incredible cake in the oven. I promise you, it’s worth the effort. The main inspiration…
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Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cake Truffles
Ever develop a new recipe that you know will be a success, and then something goes terribly, horribly wrong? These truffles are the spiteful result of just that – though honestly, the only thing that was truly a disaster was the Italian buttercream frosting that I completely flubbed to top the chocolate peppermint cupcakes I had made. The cupcakes themselves were divine, the perfect mix of deep dark fudgey chocolate and crisp, winter peppermint that feels like candy canes and hot chocolate and everything lovely about the holidays. You’re more than welcome to make a dozen cupcakes out of the cake recipe below (or double it for a normal, two-dozen…
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Gingerbread Swiss Roll with Spiced Buttercream
This lovely russet Swiss Roll is a continuation of our Search for Delicious this holiday season, and the desire for soft (not rock-hard) gingerbread dessert items. Instead of heading in the direction of cookie-cutter vaguely-human shapes with limbs that may be harder to break than actual bones, we did a 180 and drafted a gingerbread version of our favorite (if you can’t tell from all of the other similar posts) recipe: the Swiss Roll. If you’re new to the blog, you may want to do a bit of background research on our burgeoning obsession with this light, aesthetically-pleasing sponge cake (see the Pistachio Rose roll, or the Chocolate Coffee roll,…
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Chocolate Birthday Cake Truffles
If you’ve ever looked longingly at the far-too-adorable-to-eat cake pops that adorn the pastry displays in most Starbucks, hoping one day that the international caffeine empire might realize that making them gluten free wouldn’t actually be that hard (hint hint), you’re not alone. Despite my (albeit tiny) share in Starbucks stock, they still haven’t answered my pleas for decent gluten free options in the sweets department, and so I am forced to make my own way in this cruel world. And thus, these nearly-as-adorable birthday cake truffles were born, and boy are they perfect for your next special-day shindig. Plus, one 9-inch cake makes over three dozen of these bad…
