Crownies

In a brief moment of indecision, I made brownies, rolled them into balls, and stuffed them into cookies. They're really tasty. I recommend Ms. Field's mixes for both so that they come out with the same amount of sweetness.


- Jezebel

Peppermint French Silk Pie

Village Inn makes candy cane French silk pie around Christmas, and it makes me believe that Santa does love me.

There are no Village Inns in New York, to my infinite sadness.

So I made my own.

And it was awesome.

It was my first pie, and I've totally caught the bug. Now I will make ALL THE PIES.

So, recipe.


Crust:
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 stick unsalted butter
4 - 6 tablespoons cold milk

Preheat the oven to 400. Mix flour and salt, cut in butter. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time. Everything should be moist but sticky. Transfer to a pie pan, and form a crust along the bottom and sides of the pan. It will slide down the sides, so make sure to overcompensate there.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, and then let cool.


Filling:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup mint chocolate chips (or just extra chocolate chips and peppermint)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
2 eggs

Melt chocolate chips-- in a double broiler if you're snazzy, in the microwave if you're not a tool. For microwave melting, go in 30 second increments, stirring in-between. Let the melted chocolate hang out when you're done.

Cream the butter and gradually add sugar with a mixer until well-blended. Stir in the melted chocolate, add vanilla. Crack and mix one egg in at a time, beating 5 minutes on medium speed each time.

Add mixture to cooled pie crust.




Whipped Cream:
1 cup chilled heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner's or powdered sugar
Crushed candy cane and chocolate chunks for flair :)

You'll want to wait on this until you're going to serve-- otherwise it gets sad and deflated. Whisk heavy cream and sugar until it comes to stiff peaks.

Spread, fluff, add flair, and dig in.


It's the most wonderful time of the year...


- Jezebel

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

I have been jonesing for pumpkin something fierce this fall, so pumpkin cookies sounded perfect. AND THEY WERE.

Fair warning-- these yield HUGE portions. I accidentally wound up with 50 cookies. Whoops.

Also, this is from a regular recipe that I then made gluten-free--- turned out really well, so I might try that more often. Thank you Sweet Pea's Kitchen for the recipe.

Ingredients (there are lots):
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt-- set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla; beat until creamy. Stir in dry ingredients by hand until combined.

Drop on cookie sheet in heaping tablespoonfuls. Bake for 13-15 minutes.

While they're baking, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. I recommend using the paddle attachment stand mixer from before, unless you're really looking for an upper arm workout.

Ice cookies when ready to eat.

So, so good.




- Jezebel

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

There are few things as fantastic as the cheddar bay biscuits from Red Lobster. They are heaven. They are grace. They are beauty.

They are FULL OF GLUTEN.

There's a couple versions online-- haven't found the right one yet but here's the initial pass.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup potato starch (sub cornstarch if you don't have a Kosher food aisle)
3/4 cup cornstarch
1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp honey
1 1/4 cup corn flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Blend everything except the cheese and butter. You should wind up with something soft and a little sticky.


I dropped the biscuits for time, but you can cut them too-- they'll probably rise better. Add /lots/ of cheddar. It bakes in, so really overcompensate.


Bake 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned.



Tasted good, but not life-changing. Might try this recipe next time. Or this one.


- Jezebel

Slapdash Cornbread

This adventure taught me the importance of test batches. And also that you cannot substitute corn flour for cornmeal.

Recipe:

1/4 cup softened butter
3 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup gluten-free flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Instead of cornmeal, I just used extra corn flour. That was a poor choice.

Directions are at the link if you'd like to make a go of it. I'm sure it works better when you actually follow the directions. Leaving out the cornmeal will give you flat, rock-hard, tasteless beige cardboard.

Since I was trying to be thorough, I made a 9x9 batch AND a batch of cupcake sized ones.


So that would be two terrible batches of flat, rock-hard, tasteless beige cardboard. I cannot express to you how bad they were. They did not rise... only harden.

I figured I'd run out the next morning, pick up some cornmeal, and make another batch. No problem.

Except there was no cornmeal. Anywhere. There was canned corn. There were mashed potatoes. There was no cornmeal.

I recall thinking, "You know what kind of has the same consistency as cornbread? Butternut squash. Well... they don't have butternut squash... but they do have butternut squash soup..."

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, I made cornbread with butternut squash soup. I can only plead insanity ... or, you know, possession. I was throwing in vanilla, rosemary, everything I could flipping think of.

And, you know.... it came out pretty damn good! A little moist, but whatever.


So, believe in yourself, kids. And you too can achieve ... cornbread.


- Jezebel