Valentine's Day

"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics 

so important a biological phenomenon as love?" 

- Albert Einstein

I still imagine Valentine's Day as it was in grade school when it was just about hearts and flowers and giving cheesy valentines. In that tradition, I made some cookies to bring into school. They are simple sugar cookies with pink vanilla buttercream frosting. They were an excellent tool for procrastination Monday night! 

a beautiful bouquet from my dad :-)

Sugar Cutout Cookies

1 1/4 cups icing sugar

225 g butter, softened

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or flavoring of your choice)

1 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups gluten free all purpose flour

1 tablespoon xanthum gum

Beat the sugar, butter, egg yolk, and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour, salt, and xanthum gum slowly and mix until the dough comes together. It will seem dry at first, but it stays too dry just add about a tablespoon of water. Divide the dough in half, pat into round disk, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove the dough from the fridge and let sit for 20-30 minutes, or until it is soft enough to roll out. Prepare your rolling surface by sprinkling flour on the surface and your rolling pin. I use baking parchment to roll out on and wrap cling film around a wine bottle for my rolling pin. Cut out your cookies using any shape cookie cutters. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet (they can be close together, they won't spread too much). Bake at 190 C for 10-14 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Transfer the baking parchment from the cookie sheet to a wire rack and allow to cool before frosting.

My mom's buttercream frosting:

It is hard to write a recipe for this as it is mostly done on feel, but you can loosely follow this...

115 grams butter, softened

1 box icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste

milk

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the milk in increments until the desired consistency is achieved. Add the vanilla last, mixing until combined. Taste and feel should govern this recipe! Color with food coloring, or leave white. This recipe is great on cakes as well! 

New Year, Same Us

New healthy diet for the new year? Nah. Honestly, chocolate cookies are better than greens...especially these cookies. An improvement on the chocolate cookies from our housewarming party, they really keep their chocolate chunks and taste incredible! I couldn't even get a picture of them before they were all gone!

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
115 g butter
24 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (or you can buy chocolate chips)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 190 C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment baking paper. In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and xanthum gum. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the butter and half the chocolate until melted (on 30 second intervals, stirring between each). Whisk the sugar, eggs, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Slowly add this to the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in the remaining chocolate. Let cool for 15 minutes. Scoop in heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, placing 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the edges are hard and the tops have cracked. Cool on wire rack (though best eaten warm and gooey!).

It's a Wonderful Life

Over the last couple months, Jen and I have had more than a couple reasons to celebrate. Our Thanksgiving feast took all day to make, but it was well worth it! I love Thanksgiving - I see it as one of the only holidays that you get nothing out of other than spending time with friends and family. Jen and I brought friends together for a dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, squash, corn pudding, two types of sweet potatoes (one with bourbon, one topped with marshmallows), sweet potato biscuits, and three types of pie (apple, pumpkin, and chocolate pecan)! I think everyone was full for days.

Back home in the States, the Christmas season officially starts after Thanksgiving. To celebrate the most joyous of seasons, Jen and I had the most wonderful;y festive Saturday. We walked to our local Sainsbury's to get all of our tree decorations, stopped off for gingerbread and eggnog lattes, then went to get our tree! We went with a 6 1/2 foot frasier fir that we somehow managed to carry on our shoulders back to our flat. While the branches on our tree fell and the fire blazed (on our tv), we baked some Christmas cookies. Known by many names - snowballs, russian tea cakes, mexican wedding cakes - these are some of my favorite cookies for the season. After our cookies were out, we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation followed by It's a Wonderful Life (possibly my favorite movie of all time). It was such an amazing day! 

A week later I made a coconut cake for Jen's 24th birthday. It was one of the largest cakes I've ever made (not exactly on purpose)...it turned out to be more of a coconut pound cake, but it was delicious nonetheless. It was also topped with coconut buttercream made with desiccated coconut and a secret ingredient - Malibu coconut rum! 

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Christmas on Mill Lane

Jen turns 24!!

Snowball Cookies

225 g butter, softened

1/2 cup icing sugar

1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste

2 1/4 cups dove farm organic gluten free plain white flour

1 tablespoon xanthum gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups finely chopped pecans (or nuts of your choice)

Heat oven to 205 C. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla thoroughly. Work in flour, xanthum gum, salt and nuts until the dough holds together. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until set but not brown. While still warm, roll in icing sugar. Once cool, roll in icing sugar again. Make about 36 cookies. 

Happy Holidays!

A Halloween Treat

I hope you will all indulge my inner (okay, not really inner) history nerd while I give you a little background on the history of Halloween from the history channel website:

"Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats."

What concerns us most here are the sweet treats :-) This weekend I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. It's hard to find pumpkin puree in London (I got mine at Whole Foods in Kensington), but I promise it's worth it to make these cupcakes - they are the perfect autumnal treat. Jen and I decorated them for Halloween with a monster army!

Jen and Jenny as a Pirate and Jessica (from True Blood)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 1/4 cups dove's farm gluten free flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup milk

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 190 C and line your muffin tin. Mix the oil and sugars until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Next, stir in the milk and pumpkin. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthum gum until just combined. Distribute the batter into the muffin tin (this recipe makes 24 cupcakes). Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make the frosting, whisk the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Slowly add the sugar and  then the vanilla. Frost the cupcakes once they are completely cool.

Happy Halloween!!!

Best. Muffins. Ever.

If you love cinnamon, you will love these muffins. They are kind of like a cinnamon roll masquerading as a muffin - a little bit of goo, some crunchy crumble topping, and the perfect amount of warm cinnamon flavor!

Cinnamon Muffins

Recipe:

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup gluten free oats
1/2 cup dove's farm gluten free plain white flour
40 g butter, softened

Filling (or "goo" as I like to call it):
40 g butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Batter:
115 g butter
3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups dove's farm gluten free plain white flour
1 tablespoon xanthum gum
1/2 cup gluten free oats
3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons corn flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 200 C and prepare a muffin tray with liners. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl until crumbly and set aside. Mix the filling ingredients in a separate small bowl and set aside as well. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, milk and eggs. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Equally distribute half the batter into the prepared tray. Top each muffin with 2 teaspoons of the filling mixture and then cover with the remaining batter. Sprinkle on the topping and lightly press it in. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Place on a rack to cool, but best enjoyed hot!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Churros are right up there tied for first as my favorite food in the world (with Corolla Pizza steak and cheese subs yum). Growing up I always had them in Disney World, but when I was diagnosed with celiac I knew I wouldn't be eating them in Frontierland anymore. Sooo I just had to make them myself! This wasn't my first attempt, but it was definitely the most successful. The recipe is quite labor intensive, but I promise it's worth it if you have a craving for churros! The chocolate sauce is delicious too and could be used for other things like ice cream topping, etc. It was fun to make - almost like making a potion or something wizard-y (which obviously was awesome because I am a huge nerd). Although it was great, honestly I think I would have preferred just straight dark chocolate - personal preference for sure, I've always liked pure chocolate better than mixed with spices and citrus.

Churros Recipe:

125 ml water

125 ml whole milk

110 g butter

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/4 cup dove's farm gluten free plain white flour

3 eggs

oil for frying (I used sunflower, but vegetable would work just as well)

cinnamon sugar for coating

Bring the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar to boil in a medium saucepan on the stove. Once it is boiling, add the flour in one go and stir until the mixture comes together into a ball. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and stir until most of the steam has escaped, then add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each. Prepare a plastic baggie by cutting a corner to about a half inch opening (or use a pastry bag). You can pipe the dough straight out of the corner, or use a piping tip (star shaped) to get the ridges on the churros. Transfer about 1/3 of the dough to your bag. 

To heat the oil: Pour your oil into a large saucepan, about 3 inches deep. Heat on medium high heat until you think it is hot enough - to test it, put a 1-inch cube piece of bread in the oil, if it fries in about 1 minute, the oil is ready. Be careful to tend it the whole time you are frying and don't let it get too hot.

Cover a plate with cinnamon sugar, ready for rolling the churros once they come out of the oil. Pipe the dough into the hot oil, cutting with scissors at about 4 inches. Cook until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and roll in cinnamon sugar. To keep them warm, you can put them on a tray in an oven preheated to about 70 C. 

Chocolate Dipping Sauce:

500 ml heavy cream

200 ml whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean pod, split

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

zest of 1/2 an orange (or up to the whole thing, to taste)

3 slices fresh ginger

1 tablespoon instant coffee

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

6 egg yolks

135 g dark chocolate, chopped

In a medium saucepan, bring the cream, milk, sugar, vanilla bean, star anise, cinnamon stick, orange zest and ginger slices to a boil. After it boils, turn the heat off and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Return the pot to a boil, then whisk in the coffee and cocoa powder and turn the heat off. Separate the eggs and put the yolks in a large bowl. Slowly add the cream mixture to the egg, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan on low and stir until it thickens slightly. Put the chopped chocolate in a large bowl and place a sieve over the bowl. Strain the cream mixture through the sieve into the chocolate and mix until the chocolate melts. Serve hot or cold, it's delicious either way!

First Day of School: Take Two

Monday was my first day of class at Camberwell and when I got home, exhausted and a bit overwhelmed, Jen was there to make me the most homey dessert - pear and apple crumble topped with vanilla ice cream. The photo doesn't even do it justice- I wish you could have smelled it! Butter, brown sugar, oats and apple baking in the oven, mmmmm. 

Recipe:

filling:
4 pears, peeled and sliced
2 apples, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup dove's farm gluten free plain white flour
pinch of nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
30 g butter

crumble:
40 g butter, softened
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
handful of chopped walnuts
1-2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 190 C. Mix all the filling ingredients excluding the butter and place in a square baking dish. Lay the butter on top of the mixture. In a separate bowl, mix all the crumble ingredients with your hands (or a pastry cutter if you have one on hand) and sprinkle on top of the pear and apple mixture. Bake until bubbly and the topping is golden brown, about 20 mins. Serve with vanilla ice cream.