Strawberry Cupcakes for #33

Dave turned 33 this week and deemed it his Larry Bird birthday as Mr. Bird boasted the number #33 during his carreer with the Boston Celtics. (I'm not into basketball but rolled with it.)

His request was strawberry cupcakes so I pulled out the Bronski's Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcakes Cookbook which I had picked up and loved since June and the kitchen aid whirled into action. I've become a huge fan of measuring flours using my new scale and my baking has been spot on.

Thankfully the Bronski's also included high altitude adjustments for cupcakes in the cookbook as well.

 I picked a great quart of strawberries up at the local grocer and added them to this beautiful batter.

which became a stunning cupcake after a stint in the oven..

a bit of vanilla frosting and green food coloring added the Celtics flare that Dave was looking for...

as well as a few nicely placed #33's and a good group of friends who helped us mark the occasion at Oak's.

a bit of cookbook love... Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcakes

My number one cookbook Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking now has a bff, the kind of friend that likes to stay in on a Friday night and make sweet treats that make you feel like it's a special occasion- even when it's not. A friend that will skip one of the biggest festivals of the year in Telluride then tell you that your baked goods are wonderful (thanks Dave).
Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking now shares my cookbook stand with Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcakes which are both by Peter and Kelli Bronski. Team Bronski developed my favorite flour blend which I rock in 24 cup batches (tightly covered and stored in my fridge) which I tend to fly through during my baking extravaganzas.
Dave even ventured out of the baked goods section of AGFC and made the Lime Cilantro Chicken last week for dinner.

He made the marinate the night before and let the chicken swim for 24 hours then after bit of time on the grill and a pairing with little green trees and our gabo gato and it was confirmed- the Bronski's are not just good bakers but great chef's as well. (and Dave is good at following directions)

They've also converted to the popular "bake by weight" method. I ordered a scale last week and it came in handy for both this baking venture but even more so for measuring out my latest batch of AGF Flour. I've never mixed 24 cups up so quickly. The scale was so much fun to bake with and blend flour with.  Good thing as I was excited to measure out 403 grams for my first batch. Kellie and Peter even though ahead and added altitude adjustments for those of us living at 9,000 feet, that's the bonus of cook book authors who also used to live at altitude.

 My first venture was the Snickerdoodle cupcakes. Dave and I both love the Bronski's cookie version and thought the cupcake would be fun. My kitchen aid whirred into action as I mixed the wet then combined with the dry. The batter was fluffy and I spooned it into the cupcake tins, put into the preheated oven and forgot to set the timer... disaster on my first batch didn't sit well with me or my sweet tooth but thankfully I recalled the fuzzy photo I had taken as I put them in the oven. I took a quick shot to gauge the camera clock then set a timer. They were a touch overdone but a cupcake fiasco had been adverted thanks to my Nikon.

These cupcakes were WINNERS among my gluten eating friends that enjoyed them the next day. Dave wanted to try vanilla frosting but since I wielded the knife I grabbed a can of chocolate (yes, Betty helps me cheat and save a few steps.) Dave and I had even cheated and each ate a warm cupcake with frosting and the cinnamon flavor made me feel like I was eating a happy memory.
These snickerdoodles were a great start to a beautiful friendship. I'm looking forward to making friends with the mojito, strawberry and mocha cupcakes as well. It's a simple and straightfoward book that agrees with my baking style and uses my favorite flour blend. 
I was feeling such a rush after a few cupcakes that I didn't let my good times stop there... I pulled out AGFC and flipped to the cookie page and whirled the kitchen aid back up and made up a batch of...

Chocolate Chip cookies. It was as bad as "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but thankfully I cleaned up the kitchen a flopped into bed so I could wake up to this the next day...

what is this "saturday" you speak of? I'm ready for my walk now.

Mayhem and his more reserved old brother Chaos have been on morning wake up duty each day at 7am. We're back in summer mode with a daily walk on the trails behind our condo. The boys love this and hate to miss it- especially for something as trivial as a Saturday.

angel food cake

Last week I found our fridge hosting an abundance of eggs and my sweet tooth aching for a dessert... I pulled out the Bronski's Artisanal Gluten Free Cookbook and flipped for a bit before landing on the angel food cake recipe. Perfect.

I measured everything and waited for the egg whites to come up to room tempature... and waited and waited... this was hard.

When I was able to start whipping I had to pull out the kitchen aid book to remind myself of what settings to whip the egg whites into stiff peaks (high on 8).

and whipped.... almost ready but not quite...

 after a bit in the oven I pulled it out and enjoyed the intoxicating smell of angel food cake. It was so pretty in the bunt pan that I really hated trying to take it out after letting it cool. (I don't have a angel food pan so I just subbed the bunt pan)

I managed to get it out of the pan but it wasn't pretty. Thankfully it tasted great and Dave and I managed to polish it off in just a few days. As always the Bronski's recipe didn't disappoint, I'm looking forward to their cupcake book which is due out this June 1.

gluten free cake balls- let the sugar shock begin....

I've read a few blogs about people making cake pops- both glutenous and gluten-free and was motivated to give it a whirl as I needed a sweet treat for a friend's baby shower that I knitted this hat for.

I followed the basics from this blog and set to work. My first cake was a FAIL as I attempted a chocolate cake from scratch via the 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes book. I made no adjustments for 9,000 feet of altitude and subbed one flour mix for another, just enough adversity to create an epic failure of a cake. Thankfully my Pamela's Yellow cake mix yielded better results.

The next day I shook off my failure and crumbled my pretty yellow cake and mixed it with frosting. It didn't take me long to figure out that my cookie dough scoop made pretty little balls without the messy cake covered hands. When I reached the last third of the mix, I added some coconut and small chocolate chips for variety. I let them chill out and planned my coatings. I first melted Nestle Milk Chocolate chips (about a cup) and dipped away. I worked in small batches of chilly balls and melted chocolate for better results. I added flair to the still warm chocolate before setting them back in the fridge to firm up. I also did a small batch of white chocolate with a dab of green food coloring added for some extra flair.

I tested my work to make sure they were worthy and almost went into sugar shock. These little balls of goodness went over well at the shower and also with a few other folks I made try them. They were almost like a small donut covered in chocolate. They aren't an everyday snack but they will be back for another special event, like a Saturday or something.

Homemade Pasta

I'm not the least bit Italian although I felt it last week as I pulled out the brand new pasta roller attachments for the kitchen aid mixer last week. Brand new and will NEVER be touched by gluten- such a wonderful feeling. I cracked open my trusty copy of Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking and flipped to the Bronski's pasta dough recipe. It's similar to this that they posted on No Gluten, No Problem in 2008 and I did make one tweak- my dough was very dry so I added water a tablespoon at a time until it was pliable. I had to work it a bit by hand until I could feed it through the roller.

xanthum gum, eggs with bit of salt and artisanal flour blend

getting ready to mix together by hand....

and now the toys come out...

and the pasta cutter....

the finished pasta- I'm a bad direction reader and over boiled- but a good first attempt

I was a bit nervous but the simple ingredient list put me at ease and the Bronski's had some good tips for using a machine in the book. It was a meditative recipe to work with as I played with the dough then fed it through the machine. I bagged some of the uncooked pasta and put it in the fridge for Dave to try. He's a gluten eater and LOVED this, in fact he loved it more then I did. It was a fun project with a tasty finish and the four servings were huge. I think it took me about an hour for this first attempt- it's hard to keep track on Thursdays as I get a bit preoccupied by Grey's Anatomy.

Artisanal Brownies

Our food bill has been insane this winter. It seems like prices have gone up at the store but also we've been eating more partly due to the cold weather and additional exercise with skiing, Dave's snow making and playing in the brisk mountain air with the pups. We're working on cutting it back without depriving ourselves of good food. Instead of buying a mix for upwards of $5 we're baking more from scratch and using real food. I pulled out the Bronski's cookbook and gave the brownie recipe a whirl. I have made homemade brownies before- years ago when I was a gluten eater and made the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook a few times. I really need to start marking the book with all the things I've tried, last month we were enamored with the snickerdoodles and I am now smitten with brownies.
See....

Next time I'm going to pull them a smidgen earlier as I like a gooey brownie....
I'm also trying to go back to being 96% dairy free. I've been cheating with Dairy during the holidays- eating real butter for cookies, gluten free pizza loaded with cheese and sour cream in mashed potatoes- and I feel it. My energy is low and I've gained back a few pounds... blah! So back on track I go which is going to be hard as my baking was happier with butter and the pizza has become more accessible thanks to Crazy Elk. I've started to clean it up but had pizza last night and felt the congestion hitting soon after leaving me to wonder- is it really worth it?

1.1.11

My younger sister has also joined our fabulous group of glutards and it was fun to be able to welcome her to the club this past year. It's been fun going over the changes with her, since we have many of the same genes our experiences have been similar. We both lost weight, became happier and more balanced and a slew of other issues. She also tends to notice more then I do as she's still fairly new to the club.  It must have been the year for that as Gluten Hates Me also had a sibling join the Glutard club.

For Christmas I sent her a copy of Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking for her Kindle via amazon- it was really fun to sit on my couch in Colorado and have her wake up to an email on the east coast telling her about the gift. We also gifted her Gluten Free Girl for her kindle as well. I love instant gratification.

I'm still a fan of book version for cookbooks and haven't committed to a Kindle at all- but I did get the Kindle app for my droid. It's been fun for light reading but I really like making notes in cookbooks. 

The final part of her gift required more work then a few clicks, as I made her a batch of the Artisan Gluten-Free flour in a functional container and managed to get it in the mail a few days after the holiday. (I work in the ski industry, I can't even get holiday cards out at all as I'm stupidly busy from mid-November until April) 


Today she sent a photo of her first creation from her new cookbook.

From Droid think outside

Last night we kept things mellow as there was a cold snap of -10 here in Telluride and I had to work this morning. We went up to Mountain Village a put the pups in my office while we watched some fireworks and a torch light parade of skiers come down the mountain then walked home with the monsters.

Dave laughed when I bought the dogs jackets but I know they don't mind wearing them as the mercury drops.
They also have super light up collars and lights for winter walks. It must be fun for the people watching from the gondola above to see the two flashers bounding down the slope.

 

They needed the walk- Mayhem had quite of bit of energy to burn and tried to wrestle with Chaos the whole way home.  Chaos just turned six while Mayhem will hit his terrible two's at the end of March. Mayhem has brought renewed puppy energy into our house in the last year and really brought Chaos back to a second puppyhood at times.

Sweet Saturdays for Christmas in July

Last Saturday we had a nice rainy day so we invited some friends over for a Sweet Saturday. We started the day with homemade OJ and gluten free donuts and watched some Christmas movies to celebrate Christmas in July. We made a homemade glaze for the donuts and used a meat injector to make jelly filled donuts.

It was a pretty sweet morning and Dave and Jess ended up in a sugar coma while Jared and I pulled out this new Whoopie Pie Book to create Mocha Flavored Whoopies. We even took it a step further when Jared made our frosting coffee flavored too. It was a great change from a "plain" whoopie and made a rainy Saturday go by much too quickly. The book is great and even has a GF whoopie reciepe but I just subbed GF flour and xanthum gum in for the Mocha Whoopies.

The jelly donut was a winner as was the bacon wrapped donut... however it was hard to touch the...

Gluten Free Oreo Filled Donut with Glaze and Sprinkles.

Life here in Telluride is pretty sweet...

Time to make the Donuts, take 2

The last time we made donuts there was snow on the ground and winter was just beginning. Now as summer is in full swing and we suffer from a heat wave of  temperatures in the high 80's

(ok, it's kind of a joke but when you live in the mountains and at 9,000 feet this is HOT)

We were home after a busy weekends of playing with the dogs and enjoying the Food Network. Kid in a Candy Store was at Kick Ass Cupcakes and they were showing decadent deep fried cupcakes and we were motivated.We were not motivated enough to make cupcakes but we did pull out the Gluten Free Gourmet and revisited the donut recipe. Doesn't everyone want to make donuts when it's hot out?

This time we cut the recipe in half and whipped the eggs in faster to create a better dough.

I also finally picked up a cookie dough scoop which rocked our donut world. It made perfect scoops and reminded me of Dunkin Donut Munchkins.

We also now have a fondue pot that doubles as a donut fryer.

(thanks Kendra, come visit and we'll make you donuts to thank you in person)

It kept the oil at a perfect 375 degrees and had a good shape for making small donuts in.

After letting them cool we shook them in a mix of Cinnamon, sugar, powdered sugar and cocoa then enjoyed. Next time I make cupcakes I may have to coat in this mix and try my hand at deep fried cupcakes but for now I was pretty happy with our second attempt at homemade donuts.

YUM!

skcations (ski vacations) with friends

We were very lucky this last week to have three fun friends visit us from Maine. I was able to show off my glutared culinary skills and make them let them sample the goodies.  Dawson got to try a monster batch of street noodles  then we also had pizza and while they did use balls of gluten dough (yuck) I quickly whipped up a thin crust pizza dough (version 2) from The Bronski's Cookbook.

I've been making up jars in big batches and labeling them so when I want to make pizza or pancakes I just grab a jar of all the dry ingredients mixed together. It saves a good amount of time and makes life pretty simple.  I divided the dough in two and par baked each then frozen one and decorated the other for that night with parm cheese, pesto, peperoni and pineapple.  I'm able to tolerate small amounts of cheese and even had a soft montz on a pizza last week and didn't suffer like I had been. I'm still aiming to be 96% dairy free but sneak in a bit every now and then.

Sara and I also whipped up a batch of strawberry whoopie pies. I made one small correction to the posted recipe. I had written baking powder instead of baking soda and realized this while making this last batch. Betty Crocker is also officially labeling frosting's as Gluten Free!

I even used my last bit of Udi's Bread on some gluten free french toast before a day of skiing. I lucked out and Dave made it for me. Breakfast always tastes better when it's made by someone else.

We took a ton of ski photos as we had some great sunshine and even a few powder days but they were more amazed at how many food photos I take. It's a lot of planning to blog each week and I need to ensure I have lots to work with.

Artisanal pancakes

Made a batch to help get me through days number 12 and 13 of work in a row.... Yummy!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless crackBerry
Pancake Recipe from Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking

holidaze

Living in a ski town means that the holiday week is far from a vacation... I am on day 11 straight and am not sure when I can break that streak. And by 11 days I don't mean ski days in a row... that's work days in a row. Thankfully I got ready for the holidays early and began mixing my flour blends before the madness hit.

Good thing too because I'm really messy at flour blending....

Lately I've been keeping Artisanal Flour Blend in addition to the Featherlight. I like both for different things. The artisanal makes a great pizza dough and the featherlight is great for crepes. 

I had picked up Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking and I have to say that I really liked their pizza recipe... ok they have a few but so far I've enjoyed just one.

my gluten free, dairy free, pinapple and peperoni pizza

Did I mention that? I gave up dairy for the holidays and am feeling good. The breakout on my chin as also disappeared. I had some small amounts earlier this week and it is thinking about returning. It was a lot easier to give up gluten then dairy. It once again changed my eating habits. I've been subbing in almond and soy milk. I can't have a lot of soy milk but it's great for baking.

I also tried my hand at a frosting... it was pretty good all things considered! Thanks to Marlow for the idea and to my nautral food store for having "fake people" cream cheese!

Plus here's a few shots of the donuts we made... and need to make again... these were from

The Gluten Free Gourmet as was the frosting.

I think the poor kitchenaid is going to take issue as we got an immersion blender and I'm hoping to use that when I make my next foray into the kitchen again... someday soon when the holidaze are over....

plus I got the 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes and that's a lot to go through....

Happy Gluten Free and Mostly Dairy Free 2010!