Gingerbread Buche de Noel—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Wait—before the year is over, I must post about this Tuesdays With Dorie recipe we made in the group over Christmas!  I’m a little late on posting it.  The date was for the Tuesday before Christmas, but I wanted to make it for Christmas Eve, so didn’t get it posted—until now—all the sudden it’s New Year’s Eve!  I did make this for Christmas Eve and I must say, though it was a huge labor of love and there were many steps to follow, I have learned that with Dorie’s recipes, if I do just that—follow all directions, the recipes always turn out great.  That said, I followed all the steps perfectly, except I decided to try making it gluten free and used organic cane sugars. 

Oh, look, two skinny little ends cut off.  I had to taste them for quality control!

I had high hopes that since the cake only called for 3/4 cup of flour that changing it to a gluten free flour blend would probably be okay.  I was going to retype the recipe as I made it, but I really didn’t change anything except the flour (I happened to have some Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix, so that is what I used) and I used organic cane sugar and organic brown sugar.  All the many involved steps to the recipe were not changed at all.  And though I say it was a labor of love and there were what seemed like many steps involved, it was SO worth it.  I would certainly make this cake again for a special occasion.

The gingerbread flavor was not too strong, so I think this cake could be made year round.  And even if it was a strong ginger flavor, I would not be against making this in the summer if I really felt like it.  ; )

The cake roll worked perfectly—that’s always a worry that it will not roll up nicely.  This rolled perfectly with not even any cracking.  The filling is a nice cream cheese/butter filling that isn’t sweet at all and then the delicious egg white/sugar syrup frosting is a perfectly sweet addition to the cake.  Also loved the pecan praline crunch that was in the filling and on the top of the cake. 

This cake was my big holiday splurge and I won’t tell you how many pieces of it I ate (not all in one sitting).  I took the cake to a family Christmas Eve celebration and it was well liked by everyone who ate some of it.  Nice thing about those big family get-togethers—so many desserts that I was able to bring a little bit of the cake home to enjoy later.

I wish you all a wonderful, Happy New year!  Thanks for still sticking around here with me.  It’s almost been seven years since I started my blog and while I’m not in it for the fame and money, I love sharing with my readers the happiness I get from baking and sharing with all those around me.  While how often I blog has changed over the years and even the kinds of things I blog, I’m happy you’re still here.  I wish you all health and happiness in the new year!

You are in luck if you want this recipe, it can be found on the internet from some of the promotions done with Dorie’s new book.  You can find the recipe HERE.  I think you should just get Baking Chez Moi!  My link at the top for Tuesdays With Dorie has everyone else in the groups’ posts for their Buche de Noel cakes.  Check them out!  We’ll be starting the year out more healthy with some granola bars, coming soon! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gingerbread Buche de Noel—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Just a quick note—Today for Tuesdays With Dorie  the recipe is Gingerbread Buche de Noel.  I plan to make it tomorrow for Christmas Eve, so my post won’t be up today, but I’m looking forward to making it! 

Stay tuned and in the meantime, check out the link for others in the group who have already made and posted about their cake!

Tuesdays With Dorie--Baking Chez Moi--Gingerbread Buche de Noel links

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY

HOLIDAYS!

Salted Mixed Nut Brittle

I’m here!  I know I haven’t been blogging as much and it makes me sad, but one can only do what they can do, right?  Before Christmas is here (it’s almost here!), I wanted to share this perfectly crispy, but not tooth-breaking-hard mixed nut brittle.  That’s right—mixed nuts.  Why not use other nuts and not just peanuts in a brittle?  I’ll never go back to just peanuts again.  In fact, this brittle doesn’t even have peanuts.  I used a mix that is peanut-free. 

My friend, Paige (chef extraordinaire), who blogs at For Love of the Table first introduced me to this brittle (the link to her blog is the recipe!) and I’ve made it numerous times since.  I used some Planters mixed nuts that have lots of pistachios as well as the usual cashews, almonds, pecans and some Brazil nuts.  Hazelnuts would be so good, too!

This brittle is easy (the stove does all the work).  Some sugar and water, a little corn syrup and butter are dissolved, then brought to a medium boil.  The only difference for me compared to Paige’s instructions is that she says it should take about 10 minutes to come to hard crack temperature and mine took almost 20 minutes.  Just make this when you have some time to hang around the kitchen and babysit it a bit, but you can plan to easily get a few other things done while it’s cooking away.  Check out Paige’s blog post for not only the recipe, but I love that her posts are always so full of the best instructions.  I have never had a “recipe fail” when I follow the directions in her recipes. 

I love Paige’s tip to have the nuts on a baking sheet in a low temperature oven to warm them while the brittle is cooking.  Once the mixture is at the right temperature, you need to quickly add the nuts, stir and spread it on a buttered sheet.  It begins hardening quickly, so to have the nuts warm, it helps the process, rather than if you add colds/room temperature nuts, it brings the brittle to a cooler temperature faster and makes it start hardening before you can even spread it on the baking sheet!  Here’s where I forgot (waaaahhh!) to salt the brittle while it was still soft enough to keep the salt on top, but definitely add it as soon as you spread it because the salt is a great addition, even if you’re already using roasted, salted nuts.  And it looks great with those little white specks on top.  Even though mine was a bit hardened when I remembered, there is still a little finer salt on the top.  I hurried and ground my pink Himalayan sea salt over it, so it wasn’t as course as it should be.  But this brittle sure tastes great!

You know how when you break it in to pieces and smaller bits and chunks break off?  I might have tasted a few of those, but only if there was a healthy nut in them.  ;  )

Here’s the link to the recipe again on Paige’s blog.  If you like or love brittle—make this!  It’s fun and perfect to give as gifts, too.

Apple Pie with Lucky Leaf Pie Filling and Pampered Chef Pie Plate (Giveaway)

 

Who would like a slice of Apple Pie?  ME!  I think apple pie is my favorite kind of pie.  Too bad I didn’t make this one gluten free.  I will admit to having snitched a bite.  (Living on the edge.)  My favorite pie filling folks at Lucky Leaf sent me a fun package with some pie filling and this awesome Pampered Chef pie plate.  My family convinced me to make a cheesecake for Thanksgiving.  They love nothing more than opening cans of pie filling, especially cherry and blueberry (which Lucky Leaf also sent me) and having it with cheesecake.  But even though I can’t and didn’t eat the pie, I had to make apple pie with the apple filling. 

Lucky Leaf’s canned pie filling is full to the top with apples. 

I love that and wish I’d had two cans of it for the pie, but since I didn’t, I cooked some apples and added it to the filling to make a fuller pie.  Another thing I love about Lucky Leaf premium pie fillings—no high fructose corn syrup.  Not only that, but there are just minimal ingredients, basically the same as you’d make at home—fruit, sugar, cornstarch, and spices.  Sure comes in handy in a pinch.

I chopped up 4 apples, added a little sugar, a touch of lemon and some cinnamon and cooked them in a pot for about 10 minutes.   Then I folded the Lucky Leaf filling in with the cooked apples.  I put that in my prepared pie crust in the awesome Pampered Chef pie plate, added a crust top and baked it for 35 minutes.

I think the pie turned out great!  I really like the already fluted edge of the pie plate. 

I have always had a hard time fluting the edge of pie and this really did make it easier for me.  And it’s a pretty plate!

Apple Pie with Lucky Leaf Premium Pie Filling, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 can Lucky Leaf Premium Apple Pie Filling

4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (use your favorite apple)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Homemade pie crust, ready for top and bottom of pie (I used Dorie Greenspan's Galette Dough recipe), chilled for at least 30 minutes

2 tablespoons cream, for brushing on the crust

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling over the pie

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Put the prepared apples in a saucepan, along with the lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar.  Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While the apples are cooking, roll out the bottom crust and put it in the pie plate.  Fold the pie filling into the cooked apples and put them in the prepared pie plate.  Roll out the top crust and cover the apples with it.  Tuck the top crust around  the edges slightly over the bottom crust and flute the edges.  Vent the top of the pie making slits with a knife.  (I always make a little pie crust cutout of whatever kind of pie I’m making to put in the center of the crust.) Bake for 35-40 minutes, if the crust is browning too much during baking, cover lightly with foil.  Let cool on a wire rack.

(I didn’t check the browning of my crust in time and would have covered it with foil a little sooner, it was almost done when I looked.  It was still definitely not too dark though.  It sliced nicely, too.

A couple of the boys had a slice of the pie, but Kevin wouldn’t want me to tell you he has eaten about 3/4 of it over a couple of days.  Every time he’s in the kitchen and wonders what he can eat, I keep telling him to eat the pie.  He’d want you to know he’s doing it just for me.  Besides that, it’s really good!

Did I mention a giveaway?  Yes—Lucky Leaf wants to give one of my lucky, randomly chosen readers a Pampered Chef pie plate and some of their premium pie filling, too!  I want to make it simple for you—just leave me a comment here about one of your favorite holiday family traditions.  The giveaway will be open to US residents only and will go until 12:00 p.m., Friday, December 12.  A winner will be announced on Facebook and other social media, so make sure you’re following Baking and Boys and Lucky Leaf!  Thanks and thank you Lucky Leaf!

Baking and Boys! on Facebook

My Twitter Account (@koismith)

Baking and Boys! on Pinterest

Lucky Leaf on Pinterest  Check out all their delicious pinned recipes!

Lucky Leaf on Facebook

Lucky Leaf on Twitter

#BakethisHolidaySpecial 

***UPDATE—GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.  WINNER SELECTED.  THE WINNER IS LISA BARRON!  LISA, PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL (kevnkoi@hotmail.com) ASAP WITH YOUR ADDRESS.  Congratulations! 

Cranberry Crackle Tart—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

I made our Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for Thanksgiving.  Normally we would post on Tuesdays, but since this one was so close to the holiday, we were given permission to post after the day.  The color is off on my photos as most of them were taken in a hurry while the tart was sitting at the dessert table.  I took a few at home right after it baked, too.    I should have taken more time for better photos because I loved the way the tart looked. 

First I made the crust with Dorie’s Galette Dough (page 420 of Baking Chez Moi).  I made this dough twice over the holiday and love how it rolled out nicely and didn’t stick to the counter.  The tart was easy to make, it was just a meringue with cranberries folded in to it.  Some raspberry jam was spread on the bottom of the tart before added the meringue.  The tart is then baked low and slow for an hour and it had a great crackled top.  I admit to tasting one bite of the tart and I really liked it.  I could have easily eaten more of this tart, but didn’t for  my health’s sake.  Now for fun, I want to make cranberry meringue cookies with raw honey. 

This was a perfect holiday tart and would be even better for Christmas, I think.  You are in luck, Dorie posted this recipe on her blog a couple years ago--Cranberry Crackle Tart.  I personally think if you like great baking, you should get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  We won’t be posting recipes in the group and they won’t all be available online.  Add this book to your wish list if you don’t have it yet.

Grain Free Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a hankering.  I’ve been so deprived lately.  ha  Part of my problem is I often don’t feel like making something.  I want to have something, but don’t want to go through the steps to make it.  Yesterday, I wanted chocolate chip cookies.  I could deny myself a treat no longer.  Nice thing is, I whipped these up in no time. 

Thinking of something similar to a flourless peanut butter cookie, I came up with these using almond butter.  I decided to add a little coconut flour when the dough wasn’t quite as firm as I wanted.  Easy peasy.  At first I thought I didn’t really love the flavor, but after I few hours, I think they’re great!  I added a little almond extract, which really brings out the almond flavor.

Grain Free Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup almond butter

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup raw honey

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon salt (only about 1/2 teaspoon if your almond butter has salt)

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the almond butter, coconut sugar and honey.  Stir together well.  Add the egg and extracts and stir to combine.  Add the coconut flour, salt and baking powder.  Once combined, add the chocolate chips and stir until evenly mixed.   Scoop cookie dough on to baking sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Let sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 12-16 cookies depending on size. 

These have a great soft, chewy texture and are a much healthier chocolate chip cookie!

Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi—Palets de Dames, Lille Style

Palets de Dames, Lille Style from Baking Chez Moi

Guess what?!  It’s Tuesdays With Dorie back on my blog again!  I have missed it after baking my way through Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook, Baking From My Home to Yours and participating in some of Baking With Julia as well as Around My French Table.  Well, now that Dorie has a new book out, Baking Chez Moi, I’ve decided to get back with the program.  Many others have still been baking and cooking their way through the other books, but I had to stop for a time.  I’m back!

The first recipe that was chosen from Baking Chez Moi was these simple little sugar cookies, Palets de Dames, Lille Style.  The recipe can be found on the link for the book on Amazon.  We won’t be posting recipes in the group.  We all think you should get Dorie’s book.

I love that these cookies were so easy and used just a few basic ingredients that are almost always in my home—butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour.  Mix up the dough, refrigerate it for an hour or more, then scoop the dough with a small cookie scoop, bake, cool and dip them in a powdered sugar lemon glaze.  You don’t have to, but you can also sprinkle a little coarse sugar on them—in any color you’d like.   Perfect cookies for a baby or bridal shower or just for easy entertaining or giving as a gift. 

I made the dough on Sunday morning and wasn’t able to bake the cookies until later that evening.  My boys have happily munched on them since and they are almost gone.  I’m sure my family…..and friends will be happy to receive a lot more goodies to come as I bake with the Tuesdays With Dorie group again!  The group will be baking twice a month.  See you for the next one right before Thanksgiving with a perfect holiday dessert, Cranberry Crackle Tart.

Candied Date Crispies, Almost Like Aunt Helga’s

It’s time for a sweet, healthy treat!  Remember in August when I posted my last Secret Recipe Club post?  And I got to cook and bake deliciousness from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch?

One of the things I made and posted about were her Aunt Helga's Candied Date Balls.  As much as I really did stick with the recipe, I did change it up enough that if you want her recipe, check it out, but here’s the recipe as I made it.  I swapped out the sugar and used a less amount of coconut sugar and some honey.  I also used coconut instead of butter and I used organic brown rice crispy cereal. 

These were a perfect treat for me for a good week or two when I’d just need a little something sweet.  I rolled some of them in chopped walnuts, some in unsweetened coconut and then of course, I had to add chocolate to the mix with some of them.

Candied Date Crispies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Shelby, The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

1/2 lb. (8 ounces) dates, pitted and finely chopped

scant 1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tablespoons raw honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 cups organic brown rice crispy cereal (or crisp rice cereal of your choice)

finely chopped walnuts

shredded unsweetened coconut

2-4 tablespoons Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (optional)

Simmer coconut oil, sugar, honey and dates in a saucepan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until dates have softened.  Remove from heat and stir in the cereal. Roll in to walnut sized balls.  Roll balls in finely chopped walnuts or coconut.  If desired, added some chocolate chips to some of the date mixture.  Since it is still warm, the chocolate melts and that is okay.  Then roll in nuts or coconut.  Set on baking sheet lined with waxed paper to firm and cool.  This made 6 walnut balls, 6 coconut balls and 5 with chocolate. 

Thank you to Shelby’s Aunt Helga for these yummy treats.

Peanut Butter Overload Chocolate Chip Cookies

You ready for these?  I mentioned in my last post about the Almond Joy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies that I also made some with lots of peanut buttery goodness.  Well, here they are.  I know, took me long enough.  Trying to get my blogging mo-jo back. 

The reason for these cookies was because I’d bought a couple bags of the mini Nutter Butter cookies and after eating so many of them, the boys decided they were tired of them.  So I watched another bag of them just sit in my baking cupboard.  I decided to chop them up and put them in My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, yes—these:

But that wasn’t enough.  I put an entire bag of peanut butter chips and Reese’s Pieces in them, too, along with chocolate chips.  Overload, I’m telling you.  If you are a peanut butter and chocolate fan, you’ll love these!  These were well liked at Kevin’s surprise 40th birthday party I had for him a couple weeks ago. 

Peanut Butter Overload Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

8 ½ ounces cake flour (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons) (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and swept level with a knife)

8 ½ ounces bread flour (1 and 2/3 cups) (lightly spooned and swept)

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

10 ounces (1 ¼ cups) light brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup Nutter Butter cookies, roughly chopped

10 ounce package peanut butter chips

10 ounce package mini Reese’s Pieces candies

8 ounces milk chocolate chips

3 ounces dark chocolate chips (you can use any combination and/or amount of chocolate you’d like)

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Then add the vanilla and combine.  Scrape the sides of the bowl. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Put the mix-ins in the bowl and carefully fold together with rubber spatula just until combined.  Scoop with a 2 ounce (1/4 cup scoop).  You should get 24 scoops.  Put them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Cover with foil and freeze (or refrigerate).

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and put the cookies on an air bake sheet, only 5 cookies per sheet.  Bake from frozen for about 12 minutes.  Check the cookies, remove from the oven and with the sides of a metal spatula, if any of the cookies are misshapen and not nicely rounded, push the spatula lightly on to the cookies where they need rounded around the edges.  Decide if they need another minute or two in the oven.  Sometimes I think they do, sometimes they are perfect.  Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool until you can’t stand it anymore and have to taste one.  (If you have a convection oven, you can bake 2 or 3 cookie sheets at a time.  Every oven is different, but even though baking on convection you should lower the temperature 25 degrees, I still leave mine at 350 for these.)  Test yours for best results.

If you haven’t before, try kicking things up with chocolate chip cookies, be creative, add things to change them.  Mmmm!

Here’s some others I’ve done before with the same recipe.  (It’s the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, I’m telling you!!)  These are a favorite by many when I have freeze dried raspberries available to put in the cookies.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almond Joy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sure wish I shoulda-woulda-coulda tasted one of these cookies.  Okay, I could have, but didn’t.  I made a big batch of these using My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe—you know—these--

I got this wild idea to make cookies with Almond Joy in them.  It was Kevin’s 40th birthday recently and I surprised him and had many friends over, some that he hasn’t seen for years and some of his favorite people, as well as some of his current friends.  He had no idea.  He just thought we were having our usual celebration of goodies with two of his sisters and their families.  It was such a fun evening and worked better than I thought it would. 

I also made some peanut butter overload cookies using the same recipe, but with lots of peanut buttery add ins, like chopped up Nutter Butter cookies, Reese’s pieces, and peanut butter chips as well as some chocolate chips.  Stay tuned for a post for those cookies!

Kevin loves Almond Joy cookies and likes pretty much anything with coconut, so I knew he’d like these and that others would, too.  

I’ve mentioned and posted before (link above) about my favorite chocolate chip cookies, they are my take on the famous Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies, I’ve made a few slight changes, but a few things that make those cookies so good is that instead of all purpose flour, they have cake flour and bread flour.  I really think that these flours make all the difference in how the cookies come out, besides using the best chocolate chips you can find (I use Ghirardelli 60% chips, which are bigger and flatter, like the disks of chocolate Jacques uses).  I have had friends and family rave about my chocolate chip cookies for years, so I’m sticking with this recipe.  It’s worth it to me to always have bread and cake flour on hand.  As often as I make these cookies, I decided it was time to try them with other things added to them.  Yep, they turn out perfectly!  So I’m telling you, try the chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Once you do, you’ll never go back to another recipe. ; )

Almond Joy Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

8 ½ ounces cake flour (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons) (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and swept level with a knife)

8 ½ ounces bread flour (1 and 2/3 cups) (lightly spooned and swept)

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

10 ounces (1 ¼ cups) light brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 ounces (1 cup) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips are what I always use)

11.3 ounces (1 bag of fun size, or the equivalent) of Almond Joy candy bars, roughly chopped

1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

(I was out of almonds, but would have added some more chopped, toasted ones if I’d had them)

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Then add the vanilla and combine.  Scrape the sides of the bowl. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Put the mix-ins in the bowl and carefully fold together with rubber spatula just until combined.  You don’t want to overmix the candy bars.  Scoop with a 2 ounce (1/4 cup scoop).  You should get 24 scoops.  Put them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Cover with foil and freeze (or refrigerate).

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and put the cookies on an air bake sheet, only 5 cookies per sheet.  Bake from frozen for about 12 minutes.  Check the cookies, remove from the oven and with the sides of a metal spatula, if any of the cookies are misshapen and not nicely rounded, push the spatula lightly on to the cookies where they need rounded around the edges.  Decide if they need another minute or two in the oven.  Sometimes I think they do, sometimes they are perfect.  Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool until you can’t stand it anymore and have to taste one.  (If you have a convection oven, you can bake 2 or 3 cookie sheets at a time.  Every oven is different, but even though baking on convection you should lower the temperature 25 degrees, I still leave mine at 350 for these.)  Test yours for best results.

These turned out just as I’d hoped they would!

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Apple Crisp

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Apple Crisp

After seeing Mary at Bunny's Warm Oven recently post her Crock Pot Apple Crisp, I NEEDED to make it gluten free so I could have some!  It wasn’t that hard to recreate with gluten free oats and a little gluten free flour.  I changed up a few other things and this made for a delicious treat for days.  I might have even had some for breakfast one day. ; )

There’s nothing quite like the fall aroma of baking apples with cinnamon and nutmeg!  I love that it was slow cooked, which made the smell go on longer.  The apples cooked perfectly to my liking, not too crisp and not too mushy.  Whether you make this with Mary’s version or my gluten free version, you will love it.  Of course all crisps are great with vanilla ice cream, but for me, it was perfect on its own and I didn’t need to make sure I had some ice cream I could eat.

Gluten Free Slow Cooker Apple Crisp, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

Apple filling:

5-6 large apples, or 8 small-medium sized (I used 5 large organic Fuji apples), peeled, cored and cut into chunks 

1/4 cup organic coconut palm sugar

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon non-GMO cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crisp topping:

1 cup gluten free flour blend

1 cup gluten free old fashioned oats

1/3 cup organic light brown cane sugar, lightly packed

1/3 cup organic coconut palm sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1/3 cup coconut oil, chilled for a few minutes if it’s not solid

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Put the cut apples in the bowl of a slow cooker.  Add the sugar, honey, cornstarch, spices, lemon juice and vanilla and stir to combine. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, sugars, spices and salt.  Work the coconut oil into the mixture, kneading it together with your fingers until it is all well combined.  Stir in the pecans.  Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the apples.  With the lid on the slow cooker, cook on high for 2 hours.  Remove the lid and cook for another hour.  Serve warm.  Or cold for breakfast the next day! ; )

So good, even right out of the slow cooker!

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to wish my friend Shelby from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch a Happy Birthday today!  You might recall at the beginning of this month when I participated in my last Secret Recipe Club assignment, I got to make something from Shelby’s blog.   And at that time, I decided to go all out and throughout the month since getting my assignment, instead of making one thing, I cooked and baked from recipes on Shelby's blog and made a dozen things instead of just one.  So I wanted to post another one of those recipes today in her honor. ; ) 

Who can resist a cinnamon roll?  Not my family.  Shelby’s cover photo on her blog are these cinnamon rolls.  It seemed wrong to not make them since they were right there every time I turned to her blog and seemed so right to try these because I knew they would be a big hit here.  While eating them, Sam could be heard saying, “These are the BEST cinnamon rolls ever.”  While that makes me feel a little sad because I already have a tried and true family favorite recipe for cinnamon rolls that I’ve been making forever, these ARE really good.  They look awesome and are huge, which is what makes them most like a Cinnabon roll. 

This Cinnabon clone recipe isn’t too far off from the size of ingredients of mine when I usually halve it.  But the reason they are like a clone is because the recipe only makes eight rolls!  I’ll definitely make these again because the boys all really liked them.  I made a few small changes (I used 2% milk instead of almond milk and butter instead of margarine) to the recipe Shelby posted, so I’ll post mine here. 

Big Fat Delicious Clone of a Cinnabon, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

For the rolls:

1 cup warm milk (I used 2%, you could use any kind you’d like)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup butter, melted

4  1/2 cup bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2  1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2  1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

For the icing:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1  1/2 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons milk

Put the milk, eggs and melted butter in the bowl of a mixer.  With the dough attachment, mix together.  Add the bread flour, salt, sugar and yeast (adding the yeast last).  Let the mixer stir the mixture together on low until all combined into a dough.  With the mixer set to about medium speed, knead the dough for 5 minutes.  Turn off mixer and let the dough stand for 10 minutes.  Turn mixer back on and knead for another 5 minutes.  Put the dough in a bowl that is lightly greased and cover it with plastic wrap.  Let rest in warm place until doubled in size, about an hour.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into about a 16-21 inch rectangle.  Spread the dough with the 1/3 cup softened butter.  Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar, then cinnamon.  Roll up dough and cut into 8 rolls.  (I rolled from the short side of the dough, but you could roll the long way and get even bigger rolls.)  Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan.  Cover and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake rolls for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.  While rolls are baking, beat together 1/4 cup butter, powdered sugar,  salt, vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk.  Add a little more milk until it is the consistency you want.  When the rolls are somewhat cooled, spread the icing over them.  Serve! 

Hope you have a wonderful birthday, Shelby!  I’m sure you will, since you get to be with your boys!

Peach Mango Cinnamon Ice Cream, Dairy Free and Refined Sugar Free

I made this Peach Mango Cinnamon Ice Cream, though it’s dairy free (made with coconut milk) and instead of sugar I used raw honey.  It might not be all that pretty, but it sure is tasty!  I have made peach mango “ice cream” before, but this one is a little different. 

I had recently bought some of those fruit pouches, that are perfect for kids lunch boxes.  My boys really like them.  Apparently their favorite is the plain applesauce or applesauce with cinnamon.  But I’ve got some of the other flavors here and there to see what else they might like.

Apparently these Fruit and Veggie ones from Del Monte are not a favorite.  The boys weren’t eating them.  I kept seeing them in the pantry.  They are all real fruit with juice and veggies added.  Peach mango, hmmm?  I checked to see what veggies were in them and it’s just a little pumpkin and carrot juice.  Ding!  These needed to be put to use.  This dairy free ice cream was created using seven pouches.  Here’s the recipe.  Get a box of them and try it out. 

Peach Mango Cinnamon Ice Cream, Dairy Free and Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

7 Del Monte Peach Mango Fruit + Veggie Squeezers (1 Box is 8 pouches, you could use all 8)

1/4 cup raw honey

1 can lite coconut milk (or regular is fine, I just had some lite on hand)

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (to taste—I added 1/2 teaspoon, but ended up putting in a bit more)

couple pinches of fresh nutmeg

Put all the fruit and veggie mixture from each pouch in a large bowl.  Add the honey and whisk to combine.  Whisk in the coconut milk, then add the almond extract, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk until all combined.  Pour the mixture into the frozen bowl of an ice cream maker and church according to manufacturer instructions, about 20 minutes.  Serve ice cream soft serve immediately or put in an airtight container in the freezer.  To serve frozen ice cream, let sit on the counter for 15 minutes for easier scooping.

Peach is definitely the dominant flavor in these pouches and in the ice cream.  The cinnamon is a perfect autumn addition.  You’ll love it!

Chocolate Fudge Cookies—Gluten Free

Gluten Free Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Who said gluten free can’t be good?  These cookies, while a bit of a splurge for me, were heavenly and so worth it!  I often change up lots of things in a recipe, like replacing the butter with coconut oil, using coconut sugar for granulated sugar, and using gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour.  This time, since it wasn’t that much butter, I left the butter.  I also used organic cane sugar, which is still a cheat for me, but it made these so good.  I won’t make cookies quite like this very often, but these sure made for a heavenly chocolate treat for a few days when I did make them. 

The recipe I adapted these from is on Anna’s blog, Cookie Madness.  She received the recipe from someone named David who told her these were the best cookies he’s ever had.  They looked so good.  When she mentioned that he told her they were also good gluten free, I knew I had to make them.  So glad I did.  These will be a definite splurge for me when I make them again. 

For the chocolate, which is melted with the butter (and I must say, that sure is a heavenly scent-chocolate and butter melting), I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips, which are dairy, soy and nut free and made with evaporated cane sugar.  So really, these are a healthy treat.  Right?

Chocolate Fudge Cookies, Gluten Free (optional), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

8 ounces Enjoy Life chocolate chunks (or any chocolate you choose)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons gluten free flour blend (or all purpose flour)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or any chocolate chips)

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the top of a double boiler, add the 8 ounces of chocolate and the butter and melt it over simmering water.  (This can also be done in a microwave safe dish in the microwave set at a lower power level, stirring every 30 seconds).  Let the chocolate mixture cool slightly.  Combine the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat until thick and pale.  Add the chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Stir it into the chocolate mixture.  Fold in the extra chocolate and nuts.  Let the batter sit until it’s completely cooled, about 15 minutes, but the batter can also be chilled for 30 minutes or so.  Using a medium sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon, put the cookie dough balls onto the baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Let cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack. 

You know you want a bite!

Ann Romney’s Peanut Butter Oat M&M Cookies and My Gluten Free Version of Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Over the weekend I made Ann Romney's M&M Cookies, which I’ve made before (linked here).  I made them for a family get together but I made a few slight changes and wanted to post my version of the recipe.  Though you can find the recipe on my first link here to Family Circle Magazine that has the recipe posted.  As well, you can find the recipe in Ann’s wonderful cookbook, The Romney Family Table.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—I sure love Ann and her family and all that they stand for in life.  Not to mention, she is an LDS mother of all boys who has MS—we are twins! ; )  Though I would die if my husband ever decided to run for president!

For this recipe, I used less sugar and I added salt.  I also used milk chocolate chips, though her recipes doesn’t say which kind, she probably uses semi-sweet.  The reason I decided to make these cookies was because I had a bag of mini M&Ms to use.  These came out a little thicker than the first time I made them, which is actually what I wanted and worked because I used less sugar.  Sugar melting in a cookie is one of the things that make them spread more.  Everyone who ate the cookies at the family gathering said they were great!  I felt a little jealous that I didn’t get to eat one.

Ann Romney’s Peanut Butter Oat M&M Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (not packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1  1/2 cups peanut butter (I used smooth, Ann uses crunchy)

1 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4  1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

2/3 cup mini M&M’s candies (or regular sized ones)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, peanut butter, sugars and corn syrup.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add the baking soda, salt and oats and mix until well combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and M&Ms with a spatula.  Drop dough (with a cookie scoop about 2 tablespoonsful) onto baking sheets leaving about 2 inches between each.  Bake for about 14 minutes, until lightly browned.  Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 3 dozen.

I decided these cookies would and should be made gluten free (after all, they don’t have flour in the first place).  So I made some for me!  I used coconut oil instead of butter.  I also used coconut sugar and a little organic brown cane sugar instead of granulated sugar and brown sugar.  Raw honey replaced the little bit of corn syrup.  Gluten free oats and organic natural peanut butter along with some Enjoy Life chocolate chips rounded out my version.  Yay, they’re good!

Peanut Butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup organic cane brown sugar

3/4 cup organic natural peanut butter

1/2 tablespoon raw honey

1  1/2 large eggs (for 1/2 an egg, whisk the egg then measure out 2 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/4 cups gluten free old fashioned rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chocolate of your choice)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, coconut sugar and brown sugar.  Mix together well.  Add the peanut butter and honey.  Stir together until well combined with a spatula. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Fold in the oats, baking soda and salt.  Next fold in the chocolate chips.  Scoop dough onto baking sheets.  Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown.  Let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes about 18 cookies.

Happy me!  Happy you if you make either one of these cookies!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter—No Sugar Added

If I wasn’t such a lady, I’d have eaten all 32 ounces of this apple butter by myself.  Who says apple butter has to be for spreading on bread?  I don’t eat bread anyway, or at least I don’t have any gluten free bread right now.  I’m sure it’s delicious on bread, but try not to just spoon too much of it in your mouth straight from the pot.

This couldn’t be any easier to make, the hardest part (though it’s so worth it) is waiting for it to cook in the slow cooker.  That is the main reason most of its cooking time was overnight and while I was gone to my  doctor’s appointment this morning.  Perfection when I returned! And sure smells great!  I’ve made an apple butter before, but also used some pears since I didn’t have enough apples.  So this one is pure apple butter, with no sugar.  It does not need sugar!  Chop the apples—I used my Vidalia Chop Wizard (As Seen On TV, but available in many stores now and only about $20).  Love this thing.  It has two different sizes for chopping.  I chopped these with the smaller one.  Added a little lemon juice, some yummy spices and a little apple juice and let it cook away.

Slow Cooker Easy Apple Butter, No Sugar Added, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

12 apples, your choice, but something like Gala, Braeden, red or yellow delicious, or Fuji, or any combination (if you use Granny Smith apples, you might need sugar), peeled, core removed and chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1  1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1  1/2 cups 100% apple juice

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a slow cooker, stir together until combined.  Cook on low 12 hours, perfect for overnight.  After about 10 hours (in the morning), blend the apples until smooth (I used a handheld blender right in the slow cooker, but you can carefully transfer the apples to a blender, in batches, too.).  If you don’t blend it too much, you can just call it applesauce, but keep blending until is a super-smooth consistency and it becomes a nice apple butter.  Once blended, you can let it cook another couple hours, but you don’t have to.   Let cool, store in jars in the refrigerator for up to a couple weeks.  Makes 32 ounces (4 half pints, perfect gift giving homemade item).

Applesauce-y

Almost there, blend a little longer.  It will become silky smooth.

Apple Butter, no sugar added

You will want to dive right in.  I’m planning for some of this to go in these Apple Betty Bars I’m going to make this weekend for a family get together.  But I’m also thinking this would sure make some delicious dairy free apple ice cream, maybe even with caramel (vegan, refined sugar free) swirled in, and some pecans.  Okay, yum!  Deal.  Working on it. 

*Note, the strange discrepancy in colors in the photos is because it’s quite a rainy day here today!  It does look most like the first and last photo here on this post. ; )

Brownie Biscotti (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

Brownie Biscotti, Gluten Free and Dairy Free

I recently posted about my Secret Recipe Club assignment where I got to make something from Shelby’s blog, The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch.  It was my last Secret Recipe Club assignment as I decided it was time to get out of the club.  I love Shelby!  So for fun, I made as many recipes from her blog as I could during the month, when for club assignments, you really just need to make one thing from that blog during the month.  It was a great month!  I linked all the recipes I made from Shelby’s blog in that post, now one by one over the next month or so, I’ll post the recipes as I made them, because for quite a few of the recipes, I changed things to make them gluten free so I could eat them, along with some other changes.

Up first is the brownie biscotti, which is the first recipe I chose to make from her blog.  Since biscotti is quite a crispy cookie that most people dip in coffee or tea, I’m not sure why I like it so much, but ever since we made the Lenox Almond Biscotti for Tuesdays With Dorie back in 2008, I have loved biscotti.  No dipping necessary.  This brownie biscotti could possibly be a new biscotti favorite, I mean, hello—it’s chocolate!  I loved the added walnuts because I am in the “nuts in brownies camp”.  In this recipes, I changed butter for coconut oil, all purpose flour for gluten free flour and I used organic cane sugar for the sugar, which is still a splurge for me, I plan to try unrefined coconut sugar next time I make this.  It will make me feel even less guilty enjoying these. 

Brownie Biscotti (Gluten Free, Dairy Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup coconut oil

2/3 cup organic cane sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (with xanthan gum)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

1 egg yolk, beaten

1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and sugar until well combined.  Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the gluten free flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together.  Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir together with a spatula until all combined.  Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Form dough into either a 12 by 3 inch log or you can do two smaller logs (I divided the dough into two logs about 8 by 2 inches) side by side on baking sheet.  Brush with egg yolk/water mixture.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Cool on baking sheet for 20 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, slice the biscotti log into one inch slices.  Set them on the baking sheet leaving space in between each one and bake for another 20 minutes or until dry.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container.

I just might have to go run into the kitchen and make these again right now so I can try out the coconut sugar.  I’d be doing it for all of you……..