Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins by the GF Kid

So here’s an unexpected bonus from that whole celiac thing running in families. My daughter has decided she’s going to be a master gluten-free baker/bakstress. So we had a rollicking weekend filled with experimental gluten-free baking, mixing, and general “adding pink food coloring to milkshakes” in hope of finding her signature baked good.

These gluten-free chocolate chip muffins are not it.

They are, however, super easy to make and she learned the importance of reading through a recipe.

Yep, that’s a Thomas Train tattoo. She’s a lil’ bad ass.

Still, these muffins were great right out of the oven, but they suffered that gluten-free fate that so many gf baked goods do: a day later they’re bleh. These banana chocolate chip muffins had a much longer shelf life. As did this gluten-free mix of chocolate chocolate chip muffins.

So if you need a quick muffin fix, you can take this recipe and add in the fruits, nuts, and sweets of your choice. Or if you need a basic recipe to practice on if you’re a 7-year-old celiac, this is your go-to.

Gluten-Free Corn Dogs Are a Beautiful Thing

Oh yes. These beauties made an appearance in my home this weekend, and I’m trying to figure out a way to justify making these on a regular basis. Homemade gluten-free corn dogs, you guys. CORN DOGS. Now, I just have to find out where I can buy those rectangular cheese bars so I can fry those up as well. Then I’ll be setting up my own Gluten-Free Hot Dog on a Stick booth in front of my house and leaving my day job behind. Because everyone will want in on this action and will drive all over LA to get them, amiright? Or maybe it’s just me.

Either way, we threw down some of this action this weekend and it was super delicious. I found a recipe on Gluten-Free Baking and then came home to realize I had gluten-free corn bread mix from Bob’s Red Mill, so I upended the recipe and it wound up looking, and tasting, yum to the yum yum. The GFB also offered some tips that were incredibly helpful no matter what recipe you’re using.

1. Dry your dogs then roll them in gluten-free flour to help everything stick correctly.

2. Use a very tall glass to hold the batter and then dip the dogs inside and swirl.

3. One tip the GFB had that did not apply to me, was to use tongs and don’t touch the sticks because they’re hot. My skewers were not hot at all. Either way, don’t test that theory by wrapping your paws around the sticks as soon as they’re out of the deep fat fryer.

4. One tip from me, be sure your deep fat fryer is well-filled so the dogs don’t hit the bottom or sides and stick.

5. Last tip: Enjoy the hell out of these gluten-free corn dogs.

Gluten-Free Rainbow Cake in the House!

Nope, I can’t believe I did this either. Although when I show you the full-on photo you will see how I jacked it all up and realize that oh, yes, that seems more like April’s style. But let’s just bask in the amazingness of this gluten-free six layer rainbow cake that KICKS ASS. And actually is not that hard to throw together, believe it or not. That is, if you’re a normal person with loads of patience and realistic expectations of the hours in the day and such. But even if you’re like me and expect to whip up this masterpiece in a few hours before company comes over, it can be done. The first thing you do is head to the store and buy up all the gluten-free vanilla cake mix they have to offer.

I LOVE XO Baking Co.’s cake mixes, pancake mixes, buttercream frosting mixes—basically everything they do I am a huge fan of eating in mass quantities. Tragically, they did not have enough left at the gluten-free store so I had to use two different kinds of cake mixes. Which is fine, it’s just not as easy and I’m all about making things as easy as possible for you people (and of course, for myself.) You will need three regular gluten-free cake mixes for this recipe, or use one of your favorite cake recipes and triple that sucker. Now, let’s talk about frosting.

You can also go with three gluten-free frosting mixes from XO Baking Co., or you can triple one vanilla buttercream recipe (see below). Buttercream is so freaking good, and naturally gluten-free, but when you’re talking about this quantity you should really use a KitchenAid stand mixer. Says the girl who burned the motor out of her Cuisinart hand mixer whipping up this butter and powdered sugar magic.

Why yes I have been waiting until the last moment to discuss food coloring. Let’s all just work with the assumption that food coloring is not good for you. Apparently there are some food colorings out there that have gluten as well, though I have not yet stumbled across those vials of poison. McCormick’s food coloring is gluten-free so go forth and dye those vanilla cakes.

Now, let’s talk about how you can avoid this situation -

It looks like I took that cake for a ride around Mulholland in a roadster. Much less exciting, I simply could not wait for one cake to cool before baking the next (I only have two 8″ rounds) and then started slapping that icing on way too soon. Hence, my crazy cake. So here’s what you need—it’s called patience. Always allow your cakes to cool completely. Level the top of each cake with a serrated knife, and add a crumb coating of icing to every layer and the top of the cake and allow the thin layer of icing to dry completely before you do the big final icing situation. Sure this kind of waiting means you’re hanging out with rainbow cake all day, but you get to hang out with rainbow cake all day.

Rather than be intimidated, just know this: You’re making three two-layer cakes and icing them. You simply divide these three cakes six ways, and dye each layer a different color. Sprinkles optional (but highly recommended). It really is that easy. Also note, if you allow the cakes to cool completely before leveling, icing and stacking it will look perfect. But even if you go all slap-dashery like I did, it still tastes magical.

Get your rainbow on.

Lessons in Gluten-Free Meringues

Well, hello cookie! Which is what I said to these meringues after they hung out in my oven for 6 hours. That’s a long time, guys. And why I now respect people who make these naturally gluten-free sugar and egg white delights. Because even though these are light, fluffy, delicious, and decorated appropriately for St. Patrick’s Day, or Easter if you want to throw in some other pastels, there are a few tricks here to make your gluten-free meringues much better.

1. Use super fine sugar, white sugar. I’m more of an ‘organic chunky’ kind of sugar haver, so that’s why my meringues do not look nearly as smooth as the ones you find in those French pâtisseries.

2. Be patient. Not my strong suit, especially when I was ready to bake a potato for dinner. Your oven has to warm up then stay closed for at least six hours. Plan accordingly.

3. Have fun. I did the green color in honor of the day I made them, but you can also add in chocolate chips, nuts, or a variety of colors.

Here’s how to whip up this sugary gf cookie like you’re a Frenchie. Except those found in the Paris are like, as big as your head. See, like this.

Crazy, huh?

Gluten-Free Bourbon Joe Brownie Cake

Bourbon Joe sounds like your friend, doesn’t he? Someone who meets you at the bar and says, “Take a load off, honey! What can I get ya’?” In this case, however, Bourbon Joe is a name I made up for some freaking delicious gluten-free brownies, that actually seem to be more like gluten-free cake. Probably because I only had a 12″ square pan, but still, oh man, YUM. I don’t care what you call them, they are rad.

Sometimes I feel bad when I make treats that the kids can’t have. Then I totally don’t because those little whippersnappers can eat all the gluten they want at birthday parties and wherever they go to get their cupcake on.  Also, I’m wondering if you cook alcohol, is it still a thing? Like maybe I’m keeping it away from my kids and I don’t even have to. Still, more for gluten-free me!

So yes, this brownie cake has coffee and bourbon on the inside, which makes them un-freaking-believable. I adapted this from an Irish Coffee brownie recipe, and changed it when I realized they meant Irish whiskey, not Bailey’s Irish Cream. Der.  All I had in the whiskey family was bourbon, and it totally worked. ‘Cuz bourbon rules.

Make a pan of these delish bourbon and coffee flavored brownies/cake—I mean, they call it brownies, but it looks like cake, so . . . — and hoard them. You deserve it. Yes, you do!

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Roll Pancakes = Hells Yes

I simply can’t tear myself away from the Pinterest. So when I saw this beautifully illustrated cinnamon roll pancake situation, I was all, “I’ll nail that!” So I woke up the kids, told them the good news and we proceeded to have the most amazing Saturday morning of all time.

Cinnamon. Roll. Pancakes. While there are a few steps here, if you grab your favorite gluten-free pancake mix you can knock out a few of them. I also was thanking the maker I’d made an impulse buy so I had these icing bottle things to put my cinnamon mixture and my icing into for easier pancake distribution -

You can use a Ziploc bag with a small cut in one corner if you don’t have this random plastic in your home, but be sure everything has cooled as not to melt the bag. But once you’ve mixed up these two add-ons, you just throw your g-free ‘cakes on the griddle, let them find their space, and make a cinnamon swirly, like so -

Cute, no? Recipe Girl suggests you steer clear of the pancake edge when you’re adding your cinnamon mixture, otherwise it could wreck the whole thing. But I’m guessing, even if wrecked, these would still be totally delicious. Although we have decided the amount of sugar means we can only eat these once a year. Only 363 more days before we can enjoy the crap out of these dessert pancakes. Yes, I am counting the days.

You too, can o.d. on sugar in the morning!

Gluten-Free Burrito Night!!!!!

Oh yeah, I had a burrito. My whole family had burritos. We wrapped ‘em up, and chowed down like none of us have a gluten problem. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed beans, meat, and cheese in a giant wrap. So I drooled all over these new Udi’s gluten-free tortillas that everyone agreed, “Tasted like flour!” It was weird, you guys. Burritos.

It’s been so long since I’ve done this, I actually looked up “how to roll a burrito” on YouTube. It’s okay, you can stop and take a look at that doood if that’s your thing. I couldn’t quite get through the whole tutorial, no matter how badly I wanted to, so my husband decided to do the gluten-free burrito roll in our house. But first, the ingredients!

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes

This is what happens when you see something on Pinterst you want right now, and then try to create it with gluten-free baking supplies already in your cupboard. Really, I should stay from Pinterest. Still, I thought these would make great Valentine’s treats for the kids and when they learned there were Oreos inside a cupcake and peanut butter, well, they weren’t very concerned with how pretty they were, or were not. Also, there wasn’t exactly a recipe on this pin, so I harkened back to my most favorite peanut butter buckeyes, and instead of just using peanut butter slathered on the gluten-free Oreos (Or K-Toos, as they are actually called), I did a mix with butter, sugars, and vanilla. YUM. Check it. Here’s the other thing that is highly suspicious in this pin, these Oreos are stacked two per brownie cake. My gluten-free versions are even smaller than the regular Oreos, but I had a feeling when I stacked them inside my cupcake pan that one would be way better than two. I was totally right about that. Check this. Watch out for that Franken-cupcake, people. That is not cute. Now sure I used cupcake batter instead of brownie mix, and sure I might have poured too much in fear of it not covering my faux-reo, and sure I’m not the world’s most craftiest gal. Still. That cupcake looks like a crazy boob!!!!

And this is why I am convinced Pinterest is a lie! A great big, huge, adorable, delicious lie. Still, you can try this with a gluten-free brownie mix, my peanut butter mixture, and faux-Oreos. Do let me know if yours turn out better than mine.

Here is the Gluten in Your Neighborhood

So people, about six weeks ago I started a job in an office. As opposed to my working in my comfy chair in my living room where I’ve been firmly ensconced since I moved to LA and also, ever since I got the old celiac diagnosis. This meant controlling my food environment from my chair was pretty easy. Now? I’ve got these treats to contend with on a pretty regular basis. I know! Isn’t my office awesome, unless you have a gluten problem? Look at what else is going on here.

A Gluten-Free Food Truck TOTALLY HAPPENED

When life is getting you down, people, here’s a fantastic example of “it gets better.” You see, last Friday night I got gluten’d while dining out. I was not a happy lady, and the next day I had promised my daughter we were going to do something awesome, just the two of us. Even after my nap I was all, “Sweetheart, you know how mommy has this gluten thing?” But her big ol’ sad eyes made me get my shit together and take that kid ice skating. Sigh.

A funny thing happened on the way to the skating rink. This skating rink -

I stumbled upon that beautiful SweetWheels food truck and almost Roker’d my pants. In case you can’t read the up close it says, “Gluten-Free Churros.” Yes it does. After my little lady and I took a skate around the rink, we stopped by again and the truck was totally open! Here’s what a gluten-free churro looks like.