gluten free foods of the month club

Wish you had someone who would go out, try gluten free products, and send the best ones to you?  Now you can!!

Taste Guru has monthly subscription pricing - 1 month, 3, 6, or 12.  On their site, you can see the contents of the magic packages for the past few months, and they say it's a 20% savings over buying the products at retail price.  It appears to be a nice sampling of the big brands you know and smaller companies you want to know.  Looks delicious to me!

Check out G-Free Laura's review, which opened my eyes to the possibility.

I'm not sure if it's better to try it out or to give myself a sample-new-products budget.  I'm signing up for one month at $24.99 to see what I think.

Happy eating!

happy & healthy 2013

Hello, Gluten Free World, and happy 2013!

I feel like I owe you, my lovely readers, an explanation for the delay.  In mid-December, I started a part-time job at a nearby pharmacy as a Beauty Advisor and Pharmacy Technician trainee in addition to my full-time government job & part-time coursework.  Whew, too much!  Now I'm working at just one of those jobs and have really started my career shift.  It's scary and exciting and exhilarating.     

I also filed my application for nursing school.  Fingers crossed!! :)

I've been making a little list of overdue blog topics to post, and they'll be appearing over the next few days & weeks.  

Thank you for your patience, and happy eating!!  

homemade gluten free samoas

Samoas (aka Caramel deLites in some regions) were always my favorite Girl Scout cookie to buy.  Since they don't make a gluten-free version, I've missed the chocolaty caramel coconut goodness for just over 3 years now.  Finally, I decided to try to make them myself, and they're freaking awesome.  This recipe was adapted from spabettie.  

Shortbread cookie dough:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Mix in flour 1/2 cup at a time, adding milk a little at a time.

Knead into a ball and cool in refrigerator for 10 minutes. (An hour will make the dough too cold!) 

Roll out the dough to 1/4 to 1/3 inch thickness and cut into circle shapes.  I used a glass about 2 inches diameter and a 1 inch cookie cutter for the center.  (If you do cut out a center, you'll get more cookies.  If you don't, you get bigger ones!  I made some of each.) 

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes. Keep in mind that, since there is no egg, they won’t brown much.  The surface will crack a little when they’re ready.

Cool completely. 

Caramel coconut topping – I wanted thick caramel on each cookie, so I ended up doubling this.

• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons butter

Spread coconut in a layer on prepared baking sheet and bake at 350° for 3-4 minutes at a time. 

Stir and repeat until the coconut is golden brown.  I baked mine for about 10 minutes total. 

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch, water, and milk, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to thicken.

Remove from heat.

Add the toasted coconut.

The mixture will thicken more as it cools.  If it’s too runny, add more coconut.  Otherwise, it will ooze off of your cookies, leaving only the tiniest bits of coconut.

Chocolate sauce:

• Dark chocolate – Keep in mind that morsels are coated to retain their shape.  I used most of a giant 6.8 ounce Hershey’s Special Dark bar. 
• 2 tablespoons of butter – You can add more to thin the chocolate.

Melt over low heat, stirring very frequently to avoid burning the chocolate.

Putting it all together:

Spread the topping on the cookies.  If it’s too thick, I found the best thing is spreading the goop by hand.

Using a big whisk, I spread the chocolate on the cookies in 3-4 stripes.  (A fork was way too small and tedious.)

Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom of each cookie in dark chocolate and allow to dry on parchment paper.  (Reheat as needed, since it thickens as it cools.)

Chill to cool completely and ENJOY!!

2012 gluten free cookie exchange

I'm happy to announce that the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group's Annual Gluten Free Cookie Exchange is coming!

Saturday, December 15

1:30 pm 

Wyoming Branch, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

500 Springfield Pike

Cincinnati, Ohio 45215

If you're in the area, you're welcome to bring some gluten-free cookies, your recipe, and a container to take some goodies home!  We'll also have cookie decorating.  It was a hit last year.  Hope to see you there!

peppermint brownie-cakes

Last night I made these peppermint brownie cupcakes.  They're so simple and got audible yum sounds :) 

I started with:

• A boxed brownie mix -- I personally prefer either Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownies or King Arthur Gluten Free Brownies.  This was made with the latter. 
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) melted butter
• 3 large eggs -- I used my parents' duck eggs
• Mini peppermint patties 
• Chocolate chips or chocolate syrup -- I'll explain in Step 7 :)
• 2-3 crushed candy canes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake wrappers in a muffin pan - either regular or mini in size.  I used both, just to test it out.  They both work.

2. In a medium bowl, stir the mix with the melted butter and eggs. 

3. Divide the batter between cupcake cups, leaving more room in the cup than you normally would.  Tip: Use an ice cream scoop to measure the batter.

4. Place an unwrapped peppermint patty on top of the batter and press it down about halfway into the cup.  If it's too near the top, the peppermint patty will puff out.  If it's on the bottom, the peppermint filling with stick to the bottom of the wrapper. 

 5. Bake 18-22 minutes if making full-size cupcakes.  I baked my minis for about 15 minutes.

6. Cool completely on a cooling rack for roughly an hour. 

7. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler.  I've heard the microwave for 1 minute will work, but my chips only became grainy, and I didn't have the time for a double boiler.  In a hurry, I turned to chocolate syrup, which doesn't harden the way I wanted. 

8. Drizzle the chocolate over the cupcakes and sprinkle with the crunched-up candy canes.


Happy eating!