Anyone else remember the old Bananas in Pajamas routine? I have a vague memory of the “Bananas, in pyjamas, are coming down the stairs…” theme song and the animated intro, but after looking it up just now to refresh my memory, it seems I completely missed the actual show. Human-sized teddy bears and bananas have every-day adventures in brightly-lit homes and sunny backyards. The episode I happened upon was “Pink Spots,” a rather timely short about one of the teddy bears coming down with a case of, you guessed it, pink spots. Alarmingly, neither teddy bear was wearing a mask, and even after proclaiming “you must be sick, Morgan!” the…
-
-
Gluten Free Chocolate Hazelnut (Nutella) Cupcakes
I have many more thoughts on hazelnuts now than I did three years ago. Despite growing up in Oregon, a region that proudly proclaimed this fragrant tree product its official state nut in 1989, I had little dealings with hazelnuts until I was about 17 and tried one of my all-time favorite ice creams at Zoey’s in downtown Ashland – the “Oregon Trail” (dark chocolate swirled with roasted hazelnuts and marionberry jam). My relationship to hazelnuts grew when, in college, I’d often scoop whole spoonfuls out of Costco-sized Nutella jars sitting temptingly in the dorm dining hall. But as many food relationships do when you become an “adult,” mine with…
-
Gluten Free Cookies n’ Cream Cupcakes
Anyone else remember the scene from Lindsay Lohan’s “Parent Trap” when one of the double-Lindsays says she loves Oreos and peanut butter? I just realized that, after 15+ years of thinking about this seemingly-brilliant choco-pb combination, I STILL have not tried it…so these gluten free cookies and cream cupcakes are a half-way point. For those of you chocolate + peanut butter lovers – check out our other heavy duty Reeses-inspired cupcakes here. Cookies and cream has been a saving grace in the gluten free ice cream world since I can remember (so has peanut butter and chocolate but hey). When I was first diagnosed, I was also lactose intolerant (a…
-
Gluten Free Peaches and Cream Cupcakes
Fruit trees are simply the best. Food, on trees! Easily accessible (usually), and bursting with ripe globes of peach or plum or cherry in the summer. Of course there are so many other arboreal foods, but I’m talking about temperate orchards of stone fruit or apples or pears, the kind with literal low-hanging fruit and that pepper the valleys of southern Oregon each summer. Picking peaches in late July or early August was like a holiday for us kids. I remember what I think was the first year we brought home our haul – dusty from the dry, hot orchard haze, covered in a fine peach fuzz ourselves, and warm…
-
Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
I have a close relationship with peanut butter. In second and third grade, I packed my own lunch. Both of my parents grew up with the necessity to make most things themselves – their parents were broke students and young parents, trying to make ends meet by donating blood, as my Grandpa John did, and betting the other guys at the Red Cross that he could fill the pouch faster than they could (he won most of the time). When my parents were, as their parents had been, broke, raising two kids and post-dating checks at the grocery store so that they wouldn’t be cashed until after payday, they taught…
-
Gluten Free Browned Butter Blueberry Cupcakes
Food can be a small, or a big, comfort. There’s something about warm bread or flavors of childhood favorites or family recipes that envelope us in something akin to a culinary hug – holding us in the realm of blurry nostalgia or in a space where no harm can befall us. There are so many families hurting right now – from the effects of police brutality or the unrelenting COVID or other loss, or just day to day struggles. To any and all of you who are hurting now, we send our support and love, and hope that tomorrow feels a little lighter, or holds you a bit tighter than…
-
Gluten Free S’mores Cupcakes
If you also have childhood memories of summer camping trips complete with seemingly endless (one hour) drives into the mountains, squished into the backseat with your sibling(s) and one of the handful of dry goods boxes or coolers meant to sustain you and your family for a weekend inn the woods, then this post is for you. S’mores were a particular favorite for us and our many cousins on family reunion campouts where we all hovered around ember-stage fire pits with roasting sticks in hopes of getting just the right golden tinge around our fluffy white glob of sugar. There were those, of course, who insisted that they loved their…
-
Gluten Free Strawberry Hibiscus Cupcakes
Doing what you love and contributing to something bigger than yourself is always a good mix. This post, and these cupcakes, are part of a bigger thank you to chef and pastry chef, Rob Rubba, and Paola Velez, for organizing what has become a worldwide coalition of #BakersAgainstRacism. If you haven’t heard of this yet, check it out here! It was started in early June by the two aforementioned professionals in the baking space, in hopes of gathering other bakers across the country to participate in a virtual bake sale, from which fundraised dollars would go to any number of foundations and organizations in need of support to continue the…
-
Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes
Food means so much to my family, and to most families around the world. We store traditions in the food that we have, whether it’s $1 strawberry milkshakes at the diner in downtown Eagle Point, Oregon that I thought were huge as a kid, or pimento cheese that mom would make in big batches to bring to potlucks and Fourth of July family gatherings, or the nostalgic combo of a can of V8 and a Nature Valley granola bar that my dad stashed in his classroom and that I would munch on in kindergarten after school while I waited for him to finish grading before we walked home together. Food…
-
Gluten Free Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes
There is nothing quite like chocolate. The sensory flourish that envelopes you when taking a bite of chocolate ice cream, or the incredible nuance of the unfolding flavor in a snap of a thin dark chocolate bar. Or the other-worldly dreaminess of a truffle. If you’re already nodding in agreement, check out these other recipes too in addition to making these gluten free chocolate truffle cupcakes! Our German Chocolate cupcakes, or jammy strawberry brownies, or coffee chocolate cupcakes, or this criminally-easy magic chocolate pudding cake. Chocolate is a favorite of nearly everyone in my family – but perhaps most-notable is my Grandma Avis’s penchant for keeping cupboards and freezers well-stocked…
