Easy Gluten Free Cornbread Recipe

How to make a silk purse from a sow's ear...


Based on this recipe from AllRecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homesteader-cornbread/detail.aspx

Gluten Free Texas Sheet Cake Recipe

A special treat for a dear friend!

You've heard me mention from time to time about how we get our meat and eggs from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm.  Let me tell you - there is NOTHING that is so good as far as quality and taste.  This is the way things are supposed to taste!

Well, over the past couple of years that we've belonged, I've developed such a fondness and friendship for Farmer Dave and his beautiful wife, the lovely Robin.  It always does my heart good to spend a while chatting with them on pickup day.  We talk food, farming and gardening, kids, and just really enjoy some good fellowship!

Robin confided in me one Saturday that she was looking for a particular recipe.  Something she and her family have really missed.  See, they're gluten free, too.  So I promised I'd see what I could do.  I read bunches of recipes on allrecipes.com  Guess what - they all start with a CAKE MIX!  That's when I knew we could come up with something, and here it is.

SPH Gluten Free Texas Sheet Cake
1 Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devils Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup water
1 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 can milk chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients in a mixer bowl, and beat til well combined.  Line a jelly roll pan, or large cookie sheet with sides, with foil.  Pour batter onto foil, and place in oven.  Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or til tester inserted in center comes out clean.  When done, allow to cool for about 8-10 minutes.  You want the cake still slightly warm, but it also needs to cool a bit to maintain its structure.  You certainly don't want a crumbly mess!  Carefully plop bits of frosting on top of the cake and spread evenly.  This makes that shiny glaze-like frosting.  Feel free to use as much frosting as your heart or your family desires.  When completely cool, cut into big squares, and enjoy!

So when we were doing our taste testing, Princess added some chopped pecans on top of hers.  Super delicious!  Which got me to thinking...

Sprinkle the top of the frosting with chopped pecan pieces, then drizzle with some melted caramel sundae topping.  Now you have turtle sheet cake.

Or...

Instead of water, use coffee - espresso sheet cake.

Add peppermint extract, frost with white frosting and top with candy cane pieces - candy cane sheet cake.

See where I'm going with this?

You can do just as much with a Texas sheet cake as any other cake.  The possibilities are only limited by what's in your pantry!

And if you're interested, and live in Northern Illinois, be sure to click the Walnut Acres button in the right hand column.  This will send you straight to the CSA website for more information.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!



This recipe linked to Very Good Recipes.

Gluten Free Applesauce Spice Coffee Cake Recipe

Some cake to go with our tea today...

Yesterday was Applesauce Cake Day, so I thought it would be a nice treat for Tea for Tuesday to have some applesauce coffee cake.  Quick and simple, easy and delicious.  So wonderfully soft and moist!

SPH Gluten Free Applesauce Spice Coffee Cake
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix (reserve 1/2 cup on the side)
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter + another 1/4 cup, both melted
1 tablespoon homemade vanilla
1 cup applesauce (use whatever you have in the house - sweetened, unsweetened, mixed with other fruits, etc.)
1 teaspoon apple or pumpkin pie spice (I used pumpkin)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add cake mix to mixing bowl.  Beat in eggs, butter, vanilla and applesauce until batter is smooth.  In a separate bowl, combine reserved cake mix, 1/4 cup melted butter, and spices.  Mixture will be somewhat thin.  Pour cake batter into a greased 9" square baking pan.  Drizzle on the spice mixture and swirl into cake batter with a knife.  Bake for about 40 minutes, or til tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

This is delicious as is, or would be wonderful with a little whipped cream on top.  Make and take for a Sunday brunch, surprise your kids some cool morning, or have it for dessert one evening with the neighbors. It's sure to be a favorite in your house!

Enjoy!

Gluten Free White Chocolate Butter Bars Recipe

These are so rich and delicious!  And they put the mmmmmm in creamy!

Found this recipe for White Chocolate Butter Bars a while back on Cookies and Cups.  Shelly has the most AMAZING recipes!  The squares look so pretty on a plate, and have such a simple flavor profile, anyone will LOVE them!

SPH Gluten Free White Chocolate Butter Bars
1/2 cup melted butter
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix
1 egg
1 12-oz. package white chocolate chips
8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13.  In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and cake mix until mixture looks like crumbs.  Beat in the egg.  It will now be like sticky crumbs.  Press evenly into bottom of baking pan.  Sprinkle the white chocolate chips over cake mixture, and press in gently.  In separate mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Pour evenly over chips and be sure it reaches the edge of the pan.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or til center is set and tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  Dust with desired amount of powdered sugar.  Cut carefully into squares, and store in the fridge for up to 3 days, if any survive that long.

So I'm thinking I'm going to have to try this with chocolate cake mix and milk chocolate chips.  Maybe even make it a triple-chocolate-threat by putting some cocoa powder in the cream cheese layer?  Some other ideas are floating around, too, but I'll have to get back to you on those...

These would be a great addition to the dessert table at a ladies' luncheon or Bible study, a treat for a neighbor or friend who did something really special for you, or just because it's Thursday.

Give them a try, and ENJOY!

Gluten Free Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe

Light and lemony - a perfect dessert for Mother's Day!

Isn't it pretty with its little lemon peel rosette?  If I'd had fresh raspberries or strawberries in the house, I would have added them around the border of the plate.  This is a lovely dessert any time of the year, but especially nice in the spring.  It reminds me of lemonade, but in a cake.  With Mother's Day coming up, it would be a lovely addition to a special dinner for Mom, and it's really easy to make with a cake mix!

So let's get right down to it!

SPH Gluten Free Lemon Chiffon Cake Recipe
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil or melted butter
3 eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon (get organic if possible)
2 T. lemon extract
1 cup egg whites (I use the kind that come in a carton from the store - easier, and doesn't deplete my supply of regular eggs)
1/2 t. cream of tartar


Glaze
1/2 c. Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
juice of 1 lemon (use the lemon you zested for the cake)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom and sides of three 8" round cake pans.  Pour contents of cake mix into mixer bowl.  In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, oil/butter, 3 eggs, lemon zest and lemon extract.  Beat until lightly combined.  Beat liquid ingredients into cake mix, at medium speed, for only 2-3 minutes.  Be sure to stop and clean the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula FREQUENTLY, and beat only until everything is well combined and smooth.  DO NOT OVERBEAT, or your cake will be rubbery.  Definitely not a desired outcome.  In separate large bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks.  Gently fold in egg whites, just until mostly combined (if you have a few little bits of white showing, that's ok).  Don't stir them in - they will deflate, and that definitely will take away from that light and airy texture we've all come to expect from a chiffon cake.  Pour the batter as equally as possible into all three cake pans.  Place the pans on racks that are as centered as possible in your oven.  I place two cake pans on the top rack, and one on the bottom.  I also arrange them in sort of a vertical triangle to allow maximum air circulation in the oven for even baking.  Bake for about 45 minutes, or til tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Allow cakes to cool completely before removing from pan.

Meanwhile, make the glaze.  In a small bowl, combine the frosting and lemon juice.  Whisk until very smooth.  Drizzle over cooled cakes.

You can layer them to make a tall cake (be sure to make enough glaze to finish all three layers), or do individual layers, which is what I did in the photo above.  You can also do these as cupcakes.  If you want them really fancy, do the lemon peel rosette.  Just use a vegie peeler, and remove the yellow part only of a lemon rind.  Roll it up, starting at one end, then let it open on its own to form the flower.  Use more frosting if you want a thicker glaze, or add the lemon juice to the whole can for frosting instead of glaze. You can also make orange or lime chiffon - just use a different citrus fruit.

Try it - you'll like it!

Gluten Free Coconut Cookies Recipe - 4 Ways

Quick and simple.  Easy and delicious.  Using up leftovers!

You've seen the Irish Coffee Blondies and the Coconut Brownies.  Here's what to do if you have any leftovers.

SPH Gluten Free Coconut Cookies
1 box Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix
2 sticks butter, softened
1 egg
not quite 1 cup shredded, tinted coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla or coconut extract (to taste)
Leftover vanilla frosting/glaze
Leftover mocha frosting/glaze

Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Add cake mix to a mixer bowl, and combine with butter til it resembles coarse crumbs.  Beat in egg.  Stir in coconut.  Drop by teaspoonsful (I use a cookie scooper) onto cookie sheets and bake for about 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.  And warning - they SPREAD, so be extra careful how closely you place these.  Just sayin'.

So now the really fun and creative part - the four ways to fancy up these cookies:

1. You can leave them plain.  The leftover food color from the tint, plus the coconut, plus the extract of your choice will make these really good cookies.  And they will seem oh-so-fancy to whoever happens to lay eyes on them.
2. You can glaze them once, with either the vanilla or the mocha.  That's the cookie on the bottom right.  It was glazed with the vanilla.  See how the glaze sets up differently than regular frosting on a cooled cookie (the white one in the upper left)?  Put a small teaspoonful of frosting on while the cookies are still warm.  Let it get soft, then spread GENTLY.  A small offset spatula or the back of a spoon are your best choices for tools to get this job done.
3. Frost'em.  Let'em cool, then spread them with frosting.
4. Double glazed.  That's the one with the brown zigzags.  You can frost or glaze, then  drizzle with the mocha glaze.  Be sure the mocha is pretty thin so it drizzles well.  Also - another great tip:  be sure when you drizzle that you start a little ways off the cookie.  That way, you won't end up with those big blops.  And yes, that's a technical term...

This is a basic recipe that you can tweak how you want.  Use up whatever goodies you have leftover, like chocolate chips, chopped nuts, different flavors of extract or throw in some Jell-o.  If these aren't green enough for you, add some more food coloring.  After they are frosted or glazed, you could sprinkle them with more coconut or leftover colored sugars, too.  Let your imagination and your leftovers be your guide!

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Rolo Cake Mix Bars Recipe

These are so yummy...  Buttery rich cake.  Creamy caramel and chocolate.  A winning combination!

This quick, easy and delightful recipe is inspired by Cookies and Cups.  If you haven't visited the site, you should go check it out.  Bring napkins, because I promise you'll be drooling!

I know we've talked before about how certain types of candy are safe and some are not safe for a gluten free diet.  Fortunately, Rolos are safe.  And they do wondrous, magical things when you melt them in an oven.  And they play well with others.

So let's bake...


SPH Rolo Cake Bars
1 box Betty Crocker yellow cake mix
1 cup gluten free Bisquick
5 oz. evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
40 Rolos, unwrapped and cut in half (you may want to have some others on hand to snack on)

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease/spray a 9x13 baking ban.  In a mixer, beat cake mix, Bisquick, evaporated milk and butter until well combined.  Mixture should be thick and somewhat sticky.

Divide batter in half, and press one half into your baking pan.  Be sure that it's nice and even so it bakes properly.  Bake about 8 minutes, or just til set. Keep an eye on it, or it will get crispy in a hurry.

Remove from oven, and place Rolos on your cookie base, caramel side down.  To make sure mine were distributed evenly, I started by putting 12 on, the way I do cookies on a cookie sheet.  Then, I started filling in the spaces.  Drop remaining batter over top of the Rolos.  I did it by picking up little clumps and breaking them off by hand.  If you are squeamish about this, you can use a couple of spoons.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes, or til top just begins to brown.

Like all gluten free baking, you need to be sure to let these cool completely before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!



Recipe linked to Very Good Recipes

Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes Recipe

March 1 is Peanut Butter Lovers' Day, and I thought it would be fun to do a peanut butter filled cupcake inspired by one of my favorite treats - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.


Here's what we'll be baking today:

And here is the recipe:
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devils Food Cake Mix (you can use regular as well)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
2 eggs, beaten
2 t. vanilla
2 cans Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frosting, divided
1 cup peanut butter + 3 tablespoons, divided
2 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt (omit if your peanut butter is already salty)
1/2 cup Pamela's baking mix (or 1/2 cup Bisquick-type baking mix of your choice)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put cupcake papers in 2 muffin tins

Add cake mix to mixing bowl.  Beat in buttermilk, mayonnaise, eggs and vanilla until smooth.  In a separate mixing bowl, beat 1 cup peanut butter, butter and salt into 1 can of frosting.  Add baking mix, and be sure to combine well.

Now the fun part!  Measure 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) cake batter into each of the muffin papers.  Using a cookie scooper, gently place 1 scoop of the peanut butter frosting mixture into the cake batter.  This is a great project for a little sous chef.  Add another 1/8 cup of batter to each paper.

Bake for about 25 minutes.  A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean (you may have melted peanut butter).  I tested mine in the center, and also at an angle just to be safe.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, make up some peanut butter frosting.  In a mixing bowl, beat the 3 tablespoons peanut butter and remaining can of frosting together until smooth and creamy.  Spread or pipe as desired onto the cooled cupcakes.

Eat and enjoy!

Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes Recipe

Today is National Carrot Day - and what better way to celebrate than with carrot cake!

SPH Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes
1 Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake mix
cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to taste (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons because I like mine spicy)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
1-2 t. vanilla (to taste)
2 c. shredded carrots
8 oz. can crushed pineapple WITH JUICE, undrained
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins (I used yellow raisins because that's what I grabbed first out of the cabinet)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Frosting
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill two muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, spices and brown sugar.  Mix to combine well.  In a separate bowl, beat egg, oil, buttermilk and vanilla together.  Pour into dry ingredients, and beat until well combined and smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients, making sure to combine well.  No one wants clumps of carrots in their cupcakes!  Add batter to muffin tins, filling each one about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or til skewer inserted in center comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

Make the frosting by beating the cream cheese into the frosting.  Spread or pipe as desired on top of cooled cupcakes.  Eat and enjoy!

Princess and I thought these would also be amazing if you had some sugared pecans broken into bits and sprinkled on the frosting.  Just a thought...

Happy Carrot Day!

Gluten Free Maple Bacon Cupcake Recipe

You've heard of breakfast for dinner - this is breakfast for dessert!

So I found this recipe at Pressed Down, Shaken Together on a blog hop, and it just sounded so intriguing.  Maple.  Bacon.  Cupcakes?!  I decided I had to give it a go, and here it is, gluten free.

SPH Gluten Free Maple Bacon Cupcakes
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake mix (you could use regular cake mix, too)
1 3-oz. box Jell-o Vanilla Instant Pudding
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frosting
2 T. maple syrup
8 slices of bacon, snipped, crisped and drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In mixer bowl, combine cake mix and instant pudding.  In a small bowl, beat eggs.  Add oil and maple syrup.  Add to cake mix in mixer, and beat until smooth.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with cake batter and bake about 20-23 minutes.  Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, whip together maple syrup and frosting.  Spread over cooled cupcakes.  It's a little runny, so be mindful of that.  Sprinkle with crisped bacon bits.

After feeding this recipe to "the critics", it was decided that the cupcakes were better without the bacon.  Maybe it was the bacon I used?  We all agreed that the maple cupcakes were fantastic, so these would definitely be good "alone".

Try them for yourself, and see what you decide. Enjoy!