Annie's Birthday Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes (gluten free and dairy free)
Makes about 12 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup millet flour
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk substitute (I used rice milk)
• 2/3 cup sugar (I used half/half coconut sugar and raw sugar)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

 Preheat oven to 350

 prepare muffin pan with paper liners, or grease well.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then combine wet ingredients in a 2nd bowl - combine.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3s full, bake for 20-25 mins, check with a toothpick and cool before frosting ..

Speaking of frosting..

I frosted these cupcakes with coconut oil frosting - i combined about 2 cups powdered sugar and 3/4 cup coconut oil to make a coconuty frosting. It was super easy to make, but not very easy to spread, it has to be hot to be workable at all but once you've got it on the cupcakes it tastes great and its nice to know its not just shortening ..

COOKIES!!

 

I have hardly done any baking this summer, between the morning sickness and the heat - i just couldn't do it... but now my cravings are overtaking my practical side and I had to turn on the oven to bake some cookies on a 95 degree day..  





First up...
Cashew Maple Chocolate Chip cookies (Vegan!) 

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 Tsp baking powder
• 1 Tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 Tsp salt
• 1/3 Cup coconut oil
• 6 Tbs maple syrup
• 3 Tbs coconut sugar
• 2 tsp water
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
Place the nuts in the food processor and pulse until you get a powdery /coarse flour-like consistency - Mine was more coarse than floury but it worked.
In a medium bowl, combine the processed cashews, brown rice flour, tapioca, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt, set aside.
In another mixing bowl, blend the oil, maple syrup, sugar, and water. 
Mix in the flour mixture until you get a nice dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.
The dough may seem oily/messy - if it won't shape into balls, you can put it in the fridge for 10 mins and it will firm up.  
Dough will not flatten much at all, so shape into cookies, not just balls..
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes at 350. Remove them to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Oatmeal Fudge Cookies 

• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (or about 4oz dark chocolate) 
• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 Tbs brown rice flour
• 1/2 tsp tapioca flour
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• additional 1/2 cup chocolate chips/chocolate chunks
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/8 cup millet 

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Melt 2/3 cup chocolate chips and oil and stir to combine
3. Let the chocolate cool a bit and then stir in the egg, sugar, flour, starch, baking powder, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Add the chips or chunks, oats and millet.
5. Scoop the dough by the tablespoonful into mounds on your prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake the cookies for 10 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are firm and the tops lose most of their shine and look a bit cracked.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet, or pull the parchment paper off the pan directly to a wire rack - don't try to remove cookies from paper while they are hot, they will crumble.  

Rice milk!

I found a great new Rice milk recipe! I modified it slightly to work with what was in my pantry, for the original recipe click here...  This milk is GREAT for baked goods - our pancakes browned so much better with this milk than with store bought rice milk or almond milk. 

Rice Milk
7 1/2 c. water (distilled is best)
1 c. brown rice flour or white rice flour
1 tsp. guar gum
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 cup oil, I used grapeseed
1 c. honey

1. Over high heat, bring six cups of water to boil in a large saucepan.
2. In a small bowl, combine rice flour and 1 1/2 cups water, mixing thoroughly.
3. While you are waiting for the water to boil, in a large, heat-safe mixing bowl, whisk to combine guar gum and xanthan gum.  Add the oil, and stir thoroughly.  Add honey, and mix with an electric mixer or immersion blender until well-combined.
4. Once the water in the saucepan boils, stir in the rice flour mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Turn down heat to medium-low and boil at least five minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and no longer gritty.
5. Then, pour the brown rice mixture to the mixing bowl, using a silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the saucepan.  (Be careful, as the brown rice mixture is very hot.  Alternately, cover the rice mixture and cool it until it is easier/safer to handle.)  With an electric mixer, beat on high until ingredients are thoroughly combined. 

This recipe makes a concentrate - to serve, mix 1/4 cup concentrate to 3/4 cups water and stir or shake to combine.  (I make this 2 quarts at a time, with 2 cups of concentrate) - Store mix and milk in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze if you prefer. 

The best gluten free pancakes..

yes, they are the best, and trust me - we've tried a lot.  this recipe was originally published in Living Without magazine.. I found it here.

We usually quadrupedal this recipe, left overs are wonderful. 

¾ cup brown rice flour or millet flour
½ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup almond milk

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon oil (coconut, olive etc.)

Mix together dry ingredients, then add eggs, vanilla and sugar. Next add milk slowly, until batter is desired thickness. Do not over-mix!
 

The batter is thick, but should be bubbly and you will probably have to spread batter out in pan. Cook until pancakes have bubbles throughout and bottom is lightly browned. Flip with a spatula and cook briefly until done.


UPDATE:  we LOVE these pancakes!!!! They also make GREAT waffles! We make them with homemade rice milk now, and they seem to brown better than with the almond milk.

 

Summer baking..

Baking in the summer? Truth is, i just can't do it.. not in the house anyway.  It is just too hot.  

So last week, we decided to try out baking on the big green egg and it was a huge success!

We made my favorite muffins. 

Pumpkin Bread!

and a summer favorite, Chocolate Zuchinni cake!

next time, we're going to try making bread ...

Its not that i don't have anything to say...

Things have been so crazy busy around here! There just hasn't been much time for the blog thing..  

I need to bake bread, and make coconut milk for ice cream, and mayonnaise based on this recipe.. and granola bars..  I need to post the Mayo recipe - once i try it one more time and get it down.  cause it is fabulous and now i understand all those people who say once you try homemade mayo you won't go back.. 

Our garden is doing great,  we're about to be overrun with squash, carrots, and tomatoes - with beans, peas and okra to follow...

Now i know why we don't have school in the summer!! There is just no time for it - we have to play outside, take care of the garden and flowers and do all the summer time activities - there will be plenty of time for school when it cools down and things get boring again.  Plus, Grandpa is visiting from Hawaii. 

so this might be all i have to say for June.  Sorry! 

 

Flats Challenge - The Last Day.

It is day 6 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge !!!

 As you may have noticed, I am taking part in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  For the past 6 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them.  This year there are over 450 participants from all over the world!   

To see what I've been up to check out Day 1,  Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5 and Day 6.

 

Today is the last day of the Flats Challenge -  Really? the last day?  

I've had a busy week -  like every other busy week (every week?) it has gone by lightening fast! 

So, here are my thoughts about all this ..  random thoughts. 

• I love that I've blogged every day! (and about something other than cooking!!) 

• I don't feel worn out - I don't feel like I'll be relieved that it's over, but no, i will not continue hand washing.  

• This has inspired me to come up with a way to change up my diaper washing/drying routine so it is not so time and energy consuming. 

•  I am seriously considering packing most of my pocket diapers away for a rainy day. (like, winter when line drying isn't so fun, or a babysitter)  I think it would extend their life if i gave them a break. I think if i were using only flats and my cloth napkins/wipes I could cut down on the wash cycle.  Maybe use a wetpail with borax like i have been this week and do the pre-wash that way and not need to use the 3+ hour wash cycle.  I'm going to experiment 

•  I'm going to try to figure out an efficient way to line dry my cloth napkins (seriously, we use about 30-50+ every 2 days, they take FOREVER to hang up on a clothes line.)

•   I really enjoy hanging up laundry on the clothes line - but it is just too time consuming. 

So, I'm not going to keep handwashing flats, that is not a big surprise - but i do think that every time i do this, it gets more do-able - with the weather this week it was EASY - today, i didn't even put any effort into wringing out my diapers and in the wind and warm air they were dry in 2 hours, i could have been doing that all week. If I did this full time, i would be motivated to work more on potty training, but i don't think i'd go as far as really trying EC - Hand washing diapers just isn't THAT hard.  Now if i had to hand wash dishes, that would be another story..