Mar 11, 2015 | Desserts, Egg Free, Nut Free, Sauces & Seasonings
This is about what it should look like once you’re ready to start cooling.
Typically a chocolate ganache is used to enrobe a cake in a sweet chocolate frosting that hardens into a smooth glossy shell. It’s really simple to make a ganache, making your cake look pretty and easy to decorate if that’s the way you want to go!
This recipe utilizes Bailey’s Irish Cream or any other Irish Cream instead of whipping (heavy) cream. Additionally if you decide to use cream, you could technically use any other type of chips such as white chocolate or butterscotch – just keep the proportions the same.
Irish Cream Ganache
3/4 cup (188 ml) Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 cup (180 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Heat the cream in a sauce pan until it just starts to boil. You’ll want to stir it regularly since you don’t want the cream to burn onto the bottom of the pan.
- Once it boils, add in the chips and remove from heat. Stir until the chips melt and the mixture is smooth.
- Give it a few minutes to cool and then pour over your cake!
Oct 10, 2014 | Desserts, Egg Free, Nut Free
So as you might have guess from an earlier post, I currently live north of the border (American 
border into The Great White North). And that leads to not having one, but two of my favourite holidays – Thanksgiving! Or as I call it Turkey Day. For some reason, I almost never do turkey any other time of the year even though it’s one of two meals I look forward to in the fall.
Since I was diagnosed with Celiac’s there were a lot of things I had to give up. But I was determined that Turkey Day would not be one of them. Thus the Cajun Rice Stuffing and this recipe for a pumpkin trifle – again, not sure why I never do it any other time of the year. Maybe it’s ingrained that I would be cheating on Turkey Day? But I digress …
This was one of those things that I was determined that I would be able to have. My wife found a recipe and I altered it to fit into my GF lifestyle. And it rocks – thanks to those all important GF graham crackers! The good thing about this recipe is that it can be made either in one large batch or as individual servings.
GF Pumpkin Pie Trifle
16 oz, (440 g) GF Graham Crackers (such as S’moreables by Kinnikinnick Foods)
1/2 cup (125 g) butter
16 oz (500 g) cream cheese
2 cups (500 ml) pure pumpkin
1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla
1 cup (240 g) sugar
2 tbsp (30 g) pumpkin pie spice
2 tubs (30 oz) Cool Whip
- Crush your graham crackers before combining with the melted butter. I found that if you leave it with smaller chunks instead of just dust, that the desert actually has a nice texture. Layer the bottom of a cup with about 2 tbsp (or the trifle bowl with about half your base).
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add all of the ingredients except your base and the Cool Whip. Once the ingredients are smooth add in about two/thirds of one tub of Cool Whip and beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Layer about 2 tbsp of the pumpkin mix and 2 tbsp of Cool Whip followed by another coat of the base and repeat with the pumpkin and Cool Whip. If you’re doing the trifle bowl, use about half of the pumpkin on the bottom and the other half on the top. You could be more ambitious and do multiple layers, but that’s up to you and how thin you want those layers.
- If you have enough crumbs left or you want to save some to put on the top, the effect is nice.
- Chill and serve. You can make this ahead of time, it will be good for even a few days before serving.
Sep 29, 2014 | Desserts
There’s not a lot that you can say about a cake that involves veggies. I have loved a chocolate
This was a single recipe with walnuts only. I had to fight to take leftovers home from the party!
zucchini cake before, but carrot cake with cream cheese icing is the stuff that rabbit’s dreams are made of. And I need to stop typing right there and compose myself for this family friendly site!
Ahem.
I have a friend of mine who told me that the only way he likes to eat carrots is in cake. He has tried this cake and has told me that I can make it any time for him. While I’m at it, I can make a cake for the rest of my family and myself as well. It really is that good!
Carrot Cake
2 cups (480 g) GF flour
2 cups (480 g) sugar
2 tsp (10 g) baking powder
1 tsp (5 g) baking soda
1 tsp (5 g) salt
1 tsp (5 g) cinnamon
1 cup (250 ml) veggie oil
5 eggs
3 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup GF certified walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
- Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. Beat your sugar together with the oil on high and then add the eggs one at time.
- After scraping down the sides, add the dry ingredients sans the carrots, walnuts and raisins.
- Add the carrots and mix well. Scrape down the sides a number of times to ensure that the wet mixture is thoroughly combined.
- At this point, I typically pour the cakes into parchment lined 9″ round pans and mix the walnuts in one half and the raisins in the other half. You could mix it all together and just bake it as one in a 9″ x 13″. I like the walnuts, my wife likes the raisins – as I’ve said before, I typically cook two different meals, sometimes two different desserts as well.
- Bake for about 60-65 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for about 20 minutes before trying to ice it.
Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz (250 g) cream cheese
3 tbsp (45 ml) veggie oil
3.5 cups (840 g) icing sugar
1/4 tsp (2 g) salt
2 tbsp (30 ml) vanilla
- Cream the cheese in your clean blender before adding in the oil.
- Once that is thoroughly blended add in the other ingredients besides the sugar, combine and then add the sugar.
- The icing will be easy to use, almost sliding off the cake if it’s too hot. So either wait for the cake to cool completely or ensure that your icing is a bit colder before you start to ice the cake.
Sep 3, 2014 | Desserts
So a post featuring a cookie shaped as a Wookie should be a clear indication that I like “Star Wars.” But in case you weren’t clear, I grew up on “Star Wars”, I have twins that are not named Luke and Leia (my wife’s fault) and we will all be trick-or-treating next year as the Skywalker clan!
At any rate, I was crazy enough to just pull this together because my wife and daughter went to a concert leaving my son and I together for the evening. We had a “Star Wars” day featuring a Wookie Cookie, SW Trouble and Episode I (his choice). That said this peanut butter cookie and the frosting can obviously be made separately or together and do not have to be Wookie shaped. But if you did that, it would not be a Wookie Cookie – and that’s just nutty! 😉
Peanut Butter Cookie
2.5 cups (600 g) GF flour
.5 tsp (2.5 g) baking soda
.5 tsp (2.5 g) salt
1 cup (250 g) butter
1 cup (250 g) peanut butter
3/4 cup (180 g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (180 g) sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp (15 ml) vanilla
- Cream the butter and peanut butter together in a blender.
- Blend in the sugar followed by the eggs and vanilla. Ensure that you are scraping the sides to get everything mixed well.
- Add in the flour and other dry ingredients, again scraping the sides to ensure even mixing.
- Roll it out as one big sheet on a piece of parchment paper atop a cookie sheet.
- Cook at 350 for about half an hour. The edges will be slightly browned and the middle just about the height of the rest of the cookie when it is done. As a note in a convection oven, it takes about 20-22 minutes.
To assemble the Wookie Cookie
- Make one recipe of Chocolate Frosting.
- Cut the baked cookie to in a head shape with no discernible neck – like it was just a girl with long hair. Then cut small pieces out of the bottom to form the head fur bottom.
- With a star tip, pipe on the hair.
- For the teeth and eyes use primarily white chocolate chips with milk chocolate chips for the irises and the nose. Add a cut pink marshmallow for the tongue and there you have a wookie!
Sep 3, 2014 | Desserts, Nut Free
Chocolate Frosting
1 cup (250 g) butter
1 cup (176 g) milk chocolate chips
3 cups (720 g) icing sugar
3/4 cup (180 g) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
- Microwave your chips for about 30 seconds at a time until they are just melted and stir after each session to get all of them melted. Try to make sure you get all the chips melted so they don’t form unnecessary clumps.
- Cream the butter and then add the cocoa and icing sugar blending it all well.
- Add the melted chocolate quickly blending it and then adding the milk. The mixture will suddenly become dry if you take too long between adding the chocolate and the milk.
Jul 30, 2014 | Appetizers, Dairy Free, Desserts, Egg Free, Nut Free
I have a number of friends who are bacon fanatics – more so than I. However, I’m not sure how 
many of them have tried this delectable and hard to limit treat. The cayenne candied bacon is simple to make and goes great with a ton of stuff as a garnish (read four to five pieces for a sandwich)!
1 lb (500 g) bacon
3 tbsp (45 g) cayenne
1 cup (225 g) brown sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a broiler pan with aluminum foil. Lightly spray the pan.
- Combine the brown sugar and cayenne, stirring to mix well. Press both sides of bacon firmly into the spiced sugar to coat – but shake off excess, don’t press down – a lot will be wasted if you pack it on. Arrange the slices of bacon on top of the broiler rack in a single layer, sugared-side up. If there is any sugar remaining in the dish, sprinkle it on top of the bacon slices evenly.
- Bake until the bacon is crisp and the sugar is bubbly, 15 minutes. Transfer to cookie racks to drain briefly, then to a plate or serving dish to cool.
