Apple crisps are one the easiest gluten-free desserts to make. All the results will wow you every time. To make this recipe, start with the topping. This way it’s ready to sprinkle over the apple filing before the apples turn brown on you. The combination of gluten-free oats, melted butter, and brown sugar pairs perfectly with the apples. 

Speaking of apples, use a variety of sweet and tart apples for a filling that flavorful but not too sweet or mushy.

What you need to make a gluten-free apple crisp.

An apple crisp is made up of two parts: the apple filling and a sweet, gluten-free oat topping. Here are the ingredients you’ll need.

• Apples. The best apple crisp starts with good apples. I’m particularly fond of a blend of granny smith apples honey crisp, and McIntosh. The granny smiths are tart and firm. The honey crisp brings a bright, sweetness while remaining pleasantly firm, and the McIntosh melts into an almost applesauce-like texture. The combination makes a delicious gluten-free apple crisp.
• Lemon. One fresh lemon adds a bit of freshness to the apples. If you don’t have a lemon on hand, omit it.
• Brown Sugar. There’s a little brown sugar in both the filling and the topping. If you prefer a less-sweet apple crisp, you can skip the sugar in the filling. 
• Butter: Metled butter is stirred into the topping to give it body and richness. If you’re dairy-free, use a dairy-free butter replacement. 
• Gluten-Free Flour. The gluten-free flour thickens the filling and helps hold the topping together.
• Gluten-Free Whole Oats: Gluten-free oats add a nice crunch to the topping. As always, be sure to use gluten-free oats. If you avoid oats, replace them with quinoa flakes. 
• Cinnamon: I keep the spice simple when it comes to apple crisp: I use ground cinnamon. However, if you prefer a blend of apple pie spices, like nutmeg, clove, and ginger, go ahead and use them. 
• Salt. A pinch of salt brings out the flavors in the filling and the topping. 
• Nuts, optional: Some folks love their gluten-free apple crisp with a nutty crunch. You can add up to one cup of chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans) if you’d like. 

How to make a gluten-free apple crisp.

Step One: Turn on the oven and prepare your pan.

Before you start peeling apples and measuring ingredients, turn your oven on to 350℉. It’s also a good idea to butter your baking dish. This way, it’s ready after you make the filling.

Step Two: Make the Topping.

Whenever I make a fruit crisp, I always prepare the topping first—even though it goes on last. This way, the apples don’t sit around and turn brown while I make the topping. To make the topping, stir together the gluten-free oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. If you notice lumps of brown sugar, break them up with your fingers or a fork.

Add the melted butter and mix until the topping looks crumbly. If you’re adding nuts, add them now. Set the bowl aside until the filling is made. If you want to make the topping ahead, place it into a zip-top bag and refrigerate for up to one week.

Step Three: Make the Filling.

You need about five pounds of apples for this recipe. That’s usually seven large apples or about 10 cups of peeled, sliced apples. For the best texture, I like to slice some apples thin and chop others into thick chunks. Right after cutting the apples, stir them together with the lemon zest and juice, brown sugar, gluten-free flour, cinnamon, and salt. After all the apples are evenly coated, spread the filling evenly into the prepared baking dish.

One of the great things about making a gluten-free apple crisp is that you can add more filling. If you look at your pan and want more filling, add more.

Step Four: Top and Bake.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling. Place the uncovered pan into the oven and bake until the filling bubbles. A pan of gluten-free apple crisp usually takes about an hour to bake. And those bubbles are important: the filling must come to a boil to thicken. If you don’t see a few bubbles, keep baking the crisp.

How to Serve a Gluten-Free Apple Crisp.

Gluten-free apple crisps taste best when served warm, not piping hot. Wait about 15 minutes after baking to serve the crisp. If you aren’t serving it right away, re-warm it in a 250℉ before serving.

Optional but Tasty Toppings

• Ice cream, vanilla or caramel flavors are especially nice.
• Whipped cream
• A drizzle of caramel sauce or maple syrup.

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Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

This easy gluten-free apple crisp recipe is made with sliced apples and a crunchy and sweet gluten-free oat topping.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 250kcal

Ingredients

Topping

• 1 cup gluten-free old-fashioned whole oats, see note 1 (3 ½ ounces; 100 grams)
• ¾ cup gluten-free flour (4 ounces; 115 grams)
• ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar (3 ¾ ounces; 110 grams)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter, melted (1 stick; 4 ounces; 115g)

Filling

• 5 pounds apples, cut into thick slices (about 7 to 8 large apples, 10 cups sliced.)
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• ¼ cup packed light or dark brown sugar, see note
• ¼ cup gluten-free flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350℉ (177 ℃). Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with softened butter or nonstick cooking spray.

Prepare the Topping

• Whisk together the gluten-free oats, gluten-free flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in melted butter with a wooden spoon until crumbly. Set aside.

Prepare the Filling

• Stir together the apple slices, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, gluten-free flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until all the apple slices are evenly coated.
• Spread the apples into an even layer in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apple slices.
• Bake until the apples are soft and the filling bubbles, about 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Allow apple crisp to cool for about 15 minutes before serving.
• Store leftover apple crisp covered in the refrigerator for up to four days. Reheat before serving in the microwave on low heat for about 30 seconds.

Notes

Note 1: As always, be sure to use gluten-free oats. If you avoid oats, replace them with quinoa flakes. 

The post Gluten-Free Apple Crisp appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Gluten-Free Chiffon Cake

This gluten-free chiffon cake is a showstopper. Light and airy, it’s angel food cake’s richer cousin.

Gluten-Free Chiffon Cake Recipe

Baked Gluten-Free Chocolate Doughnuts

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts. You know who loves this recipe? Everyone!

Gluten-Free Baked Chocolate Doughnuts Recipe

Gluten-Free Multi-Berry Muffins

Blueberries, Strawberries, and Raspberries are packed into these light and airy muffins.

Gluten-Free Multi-Berry Muffins

Gluten-Free Shortcakes

It’s strawberry season! Celebrate with these sweet and rich shortcakes.

Gluten-Free Shortcake Recipe

Gluten-Free Lemon Bars

A rich and tender shortbread base with a thick, lemony topping. Not too tart; not too sweet! Lemon lovers will adore these bars.

Gluten-Free Lemon Bars Recipe

The post 5 Gluten-Free Desserts for Mother’s Day appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

It happens every September. I want a little taste of fall but I’m not ready for serious fall baking. Happily I am always in the mood to pop popcorn. (And even happier: Popcorn is naturally gluten-free.) One day I decided to toss popcorn with white chocolate, dried apples, and some spices. Success! I had a little taste of fall and I didn’t have to turn on the oven.

There are only two ingredient notes for this recipe. I use air-popped popcorn because its plain flavor really allows the white chocolate and spices to shine. And I found peanut-free dried apple slices. If you are peanut-free, you know how challenging it can be to find safe dried fruit.

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Apple Pie White Chocolate Popcorn

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 10 cups

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1 (12 to 16 ounce) bag white chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 cups popcorn, air or oil-popped
• 1 cup chopped dried apple slices
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries, optional

Instructions

• Melt chocolate in large bowl set over pot of simmering water, stirring frequently until smooth. Add cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Stir to combine. Add popcorn and toss using two wooden spoons until well coated, about 30 seconds. Add apples and cranberries and stir to combine..
• Transfer mixture to to a parchment paper-lined rimmed baking sheet, using back of spoon to spread evenly over entire surface. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour. Using hands, break into small pieces and serve. Store for up to 3 days in covered container.

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Recently, I realized I was stuck in a summer cobbler rut. If it wasn’t blueberry or peach, I simply didn’t make it. Now, this realization didn’t come to me during a meditation session or anything like that. It occurred to me as I flipped through Lisa Fain’s The Homesick Texan’s Family Table: Right in the middle of the sweets chapter is a recipe for plum cobbler.

Plum cobbler?

I’ve never made plum cobbler. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever baked anything with plums. Don’t get me wrong, I love plums; I just always eat them raw. Suffice it to say that I was intrigued.

The original recipe calls for an easy cobbler topping, made even easier because of how Fain handles the butter: Instead of cutting cold butter into the flour mixture, she melts the butter and stirs it in with buttermilk. I grabbed some sorghum flour and a little sweet rice flour to replace the wheat flour and within minutes, the topping was ready.

Except…I made a mistake. I sliced the plums too thin. The result? A cobbler topping sitting atop a filling that had the texture of jam. All of the plum slices melted down during baking. All. Of. Them.

While not what I wanted, it wasn’t too terrible. We spooned the jammy cobbler over vanilla ice cream and it tasted fabulous. Without the ice cream? Meh. But we all loved the flavor. Seasoned with lemon zest and cinnamon, the baked filling tastes almost like cherry—enough so that a few friends thought that cherries were precisely the fruit I’d used.

I wanted to make another cobbler with thicker slices to see if I could avoid the jam-like texture and better highlight the juicy plums. So, for the next batch, I quartered the plums. Going into the oven, the dish looked almost ridiculous. Big hunks of plum sat under what seemed like not nearly enough cobbler topping. Now I was sure I’d swung to the other extreme: I’d sliced the plums too thick. But forty minutes of baking handily proved me wrong. The plums baked down a lot. They still softened considerably, but they didn’t turn to jam as they had on my first attempt. The cobbler still tasted great with ice cream, of course. Only this time, it tasted pretty great on its own, too.

And, because I’m a creature of habit, I made a peach cobbler, too. This time, however, I used half plums. Amazing. The peaches hold up a little better to the heat than the plums. So you get a cobbler with juicy peaches and soft plums all held together with a sweet, lemony sauce. Summer fruit cobbler perfection.

this piece first appeared on SeriousEats.com

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Gluten-Free Plum Cobbler

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

For the Filling

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams)
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (1 ounce; 28 grams)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest from 1 lemon
• 3 pounds ripe black plums, pitted and quartered
• 3/4 cup sorghum flour (3 ounces; 85 grams)
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (1 ounce; 28 grams)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams)
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (4 ounces; 113 grams)
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (1/4 cup; 2 ounces; 56 grams)
• Ice cream for serving (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. 
• Prepare the Filling: Spray a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a 9-inch square cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, combine granulated sugar, sweet rice flour, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Rub mixture together with your fingers. Add plums and stir with a wooden spoon. Transfer mixture to the prepared skillet or cake pan.
• Prepare the Topping: In a small bowl, whisk together sorghum flour, sweet rice flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Add buttermilk and melted butter to the dry ingredients and stir until a batter forms. Drop the batter over the plums; the batter won’t totally cover the fruit filling.
• Bake until topping is set and golden and the filling comes to a boil, about 40 minutes. Remove pan from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with or without ice cream. Store leftover cobbler covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

The post Gluten-Free Plum Cobbler appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

You know those recipes you mean to get around to baking? And then you…don’t? That was my relationship with the classic Christmas yule log.

Last year, while I was testing recipes like a mad woman for my new paleo baking book, I thought, “Eh. I’m baking nine recipes today. Why not add another?” So I made a gluten-free yule log. It wasn’t grain-free but it was a flop. Not just a flop. A floppity flop. A big ‘ol FLOP. Then I got busy with the book. The holiday season came and went. And then, funny thing, the entire year came and went. I’m not joking when I say that it feels like just last week, not 12 months ago, that I made the failed yule log.

But here we are. A year later. And, I don’t know about you, but it’s been kind of a rough year, hasn’t it? The news lately has been absolutely dreadful. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed or short of time or just plain tired, don’t make this recipe. It’s not a terribly hard recipe. It’s just involved. You need to make a sponge cake, a fluffy vanilla filling, and a chocolate icing. Oh, and you need to roll the whole thing up. If right now you crave something easy and comforting, I get it. And this isn’t the recipe for your right now. (Give my easy Christmas butter cookies a try if you want easy and comforting.)

If, however, you’re in the mood for a long kitchen project, the type the will drag your attention away from Facebook for a few hours, then, my friend, this is the holiday recipe for you!

Gluten-Free Yule Log: The Cake

The whole affair starts with a simple chocolate sponge cake. After whisking together the dry ingredients, you whip whole eggs until they get light and very thick, similar to how you’d make a meringue. Not to stress you out, but the entire success of the cake depends on whipping the eggs to the correct consistency. To do this, start with room temperature eggs. Add them to the bowl of your mixer and whip for about one minute. Then, in a slow and steady stream, add the granulated sugar. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you’re going to want to use an electric handheld mixer. (Unless you have Thor-style arms. Then go ahead and whip the eggs by hand!)

Once the eggs are light and thick, it’s time to add the flour mixture. With the mixer running on low speed, add the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time. Adding the flour mixture this way allows it to incorporate without deflating the eggs.

Then spread the batter into a pan that you’ve both lined with parchment paper and greased generously. This is not a cake we want sticking to the pan! Actually, that said, we never want a cake sticking to a pan. The reason for both parchment and vegetable oil is because sponge cakes tend to LOVE to stick to a pan. They’re worse than a regular butter cake when it comes to sticking to the pan.

Once the batter is in the pan, it bakes for a few minutes and then…

Gluten-Free Yule Log: The Reckoning (aka The Rolling)

Rolling up a cake like a cigar isn’t something you do everyday. And, let’s face it, the whole thing is a little weird. Imagine the first person to ever look at a cake and say, “IMMA ROLL THAT UP!”

(Of course, the second I wrote that sentence, I actually wondered who did invent the rolled up cake. Turns out, the first written account of a rolled cake occurred in 1852 in Utica, New York. Note: It is not known if the person exclaimed, “IMMA ROLL THAT UP!” before making the cake. )

To roll up a sponge cake you need two things: 1. The courage of your convictions. 2. A warm cake.

I’ll let you attend to number one on the list. We’ll tackle #2 together. After removing the cake from the oven, allow it to cool for three minutes. Set a timer! Three minutes goes by WAY faster than you think it will.

When your timer goes off, flip the cake, in one fast motion, onto a towel that you’ve dusted generously with powdered sugar. If, when you flop the cake onto the towel, it folds onto itself, don’t panic. Quickly pick up the cake and smooth it out. Sponge cakes are surprisingly forgiving. Once the cake is flat on the towel, pull off the parchment paper. Dust the entire cake with powdered sugar and then, working from the longest side, roll up the cake, along with the towel.   After you’ve rolled the cake, place it seam side down on your counter and allow it to cool.

While the cake cools, make the filling and the icing. (See, I told you this was a day-long project!)

Gluten-Free Yule Log: The Filling

Many recipes for yule logs call for a whipped cream filling. Others use vanilla buttercream. I decided that I wanted something a little different in my cake. So I looked to my favorite, slightly over-the-top cake: whoopie pies! That’s right. I filled this baby with a classic snack cake filling. It.was.amazing.

To make the filling, cream butter together with a little powdered sugar. Then add an entire small jar of Marshmallow Fluff. Cream together until it’s bright white and fluffy. Done!

Gluten-Free Yule Log: The Unrolling

Now that you’ve made the filling, it’s time to unroll your cake. First, make sure that cake is totally cool. If the cake still feels warm to the touch, go hang out until it cools. (I don’t recomend making the icing while you wait because the icing is best used as soon as you make it.)

Slowly unroll the cake. Admire it. Then grab a spatula and slather the cake with the filling. Be sure to cover the entire surface of the cake, side to side, edge to edge. Then, using the towel as an aid, lift up the long edge of the cake. Roll the cake, this time WITHOUT the towel, into a log. Once the cake is rolled, run your hands down the log, squeezing gently as you go. This ensures the cake and filling stick together.

Now you need to make a decision. Do you want to leave the log as-is? There’s no shame in that! Or do you want to go for a more traditional log-look? If it’s the former, simply lift the roll onto a large cake platter. If it’s the latter, grab a serrated knife. First, cut off each end of the log. (Cook’s treat! Enjoy those scraps. You’ve worked hard for them!) Then, cut a three-inch piece of cake off the log at a 45-degree angle. Repeat this. Set those slices aside. Sadly, those are not a cook’s treat. We need those slices in a minute.)

Transfer the log to a cake plate.

Gluten-Free Yule Log: The Frosting (or Not)

Confession: I didn’t want to ice my yule log. Occasionally, and this all depends on the heat of your cake, the humidity, and magic, the powdered sugar that you put on the towel before rolling up the cake kind of melts into the cake. This makes the yule log look like a real log. It’s amazing. If that happens to your cake, go ahead and leave it alone. In fact, if you don’t want to bother with icing at all, no matter what your cake looks like, go ahead and skip this step. (If the powdered sugar didn’t melt into a bark-like look, sprinkle a little extra sugar on the filled and cooled cake and call it a day.)

If you’re like my husband, however, and the thought of an uniced cake feels wrong, then it’s time to make the icing!

For this icing, melt some unsweetened chocolate and add it to a simple buttercream. Warm chocolate + butter can equal melted mess. So after melting the chocolate, allow it to cool for a minute or too. You don’t want it to cool for so long that it thickens; you just want it cool enough not to melt the butter immediately on contact.

As soon as the frosting looks smooth and shiny, spread it on the log. If you want, run the tines of a fork down the log to make it look more log-like.

Then…and this part is KEY…step back and admire your work. Smile at it a little! You did that, yo!

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How to Make a Gluten-Free Yule Log

Be sure to whip the eggs until light and pale yellow. They help give this cake it's wonderfully light texture.

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 4 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 1/2 cup white rice flour (2 ounces; 57 grams)
• 1/4 cup sweet rice flour (1 ounce; 28 grams)
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (3/4 ounce; 22 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 5 large eggs, room temperature (about 8 3/4 ounces; 250 grams, out of shell)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces; 150 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces; 170 grams)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
• 1 (7 1/2 ounces) jar marshmallow crème (I used Marshmallow Fluff)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 cup; 8 ounces; 226 grams)
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar (16 ounces; 453 grams)
• 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half, or milk (1 1/2 to 2 ounces; 42 to 56 grams)
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 18x13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper, and then lightly spray the paper.
• Whisk together white rice flour, sweet rice flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Whip eggs in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until thick, about one minute. After one minute, add the granulated sugar in a slow and steady steam. Continue to whip the eggs until they are very thick, about 6 minutes. (This takes about 4 minutes on a stand mixer and up to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer.)
• Reduce mixer to low. Add flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Mix until just combined. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.
• Bake until the cake is aromatic and springs back to the touch, about 14 minutes.
• While the cake bakes, place a large, clean kitchen towel on your counter. Dust it generously with powdered sugar.
• Remove pan from the oven and immediately run a knife around the edges of the pan. Then, carefully, flip the cake out onto the prepared towel. Slowly pull the piece of parchment off the cake.
• Starting from the long end, roll the cake into a snug log. Allow the cake to cool for about one hour.
• While the cake cools, prepare the filling: In a medium bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. (Use high speed on a handheld mixer or medium-high speed on a stand mixer.) Add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add the marshmallow crème and vanilla extract. Mix until fluffy.
• Slowly unroll the cake. Spread filling over the cake, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around the cake. Re-roll the cake (without the towel this time). Using a serrated knife, trim the edges. Discard or eat as a cook's treat. Cut off two slices at a diagonal, about 2 to 3-inches each. Get creative with this! I like them to be different sizes. Set slices aside.
• Transfer log to serving platter.
• Prepare the frosting: cream together butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add two tablespoons heavy cream. In a slow and steady stream, add the melted chocolate. Beat until smooth. Add one tablespoon heavy cream and vanilla extract. If icing is too thick, add remaining heavy cream. Use at once.
• Frost cake with prepared chocolate frosting. Place icing on each slice and stick it to the cake where you'd like. You can place the pieces on either side of the log. Or stick one on top and the other on the side. Frost the slices. Serve.

The post How to Make a Gluten-Free Yule Log appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Let’s get something out of the way: this isn’t a traditional trifle recipe. Trifles, a classic English dessert, usually include layers of fruit, pastry cream, and sponge cake. While traditional trifles aren’t hard to make, they do take some time to put together, especially when you make gluten-free sponge cake from scratch.

This simple trifle recipe mimics the layered dessert but takes only a few minutes to make. You simply layer soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and a fluffy blend of cranberry sauce and cream cheese. That’s it! The cranberry-cream cheese mixture whips up light and, like pastry cream, it isn’t too sweet.

Since the recipe is so simple, it’s easy to add other ingredients to suit your tastes. Sliced fruit, chopped nuts, or a splash of your favorite liquor, work well sandwiched between the layers of cookies and cranberry cream. As for those chocolate chip cookies, they pair really well with the cranberry filling. However, if you’re allergic to chocolate, replace the cookies with soft-baked gluten-free snickerdoodles.

No matter how you make it, this is one holiday gluten-free dessert you can enjoy in minutes. And there’s something wonderfully sweet about that.

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4 Ingredient Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Cranberry Trifle

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons jellied or whole berry cranberry sauce divided
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (regular, low fat or no-fat)
• powered sugar optional
• half and half, as needed
• 6 soft-baked gluten-free chocolate chip cookies crumbled (Enjoy Life brand suggested.)
• 1 cup sweetened whipped cream
• Mini-chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

• In medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup cranberry sauce and cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. If the mixture is thick, add a tablespoon of half and half to thin. Adjust as needed. Taste. If cranberry cream isn't sweet enough, add powdered sugar to taste.
• Place about one tablespoon of cranberry sauce on the bottom of six dessert cups. Spoon in two to three tablespoons of cranberry cream. Layer with a sprinkle of crumbled chocolate chip cookies. Add another layer of cranberry cream and chocolate chip cookies. Top with whipped cream and, if desired, a sprinkle of mini-chocolate chips. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve. Store up to two days in the refrigerator.

The post 4 Ingredient Thanksgiving Cranberry Trifle appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake OR Where the Heck Did I Put That Recipe??

As always, there were too many hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator after Easter. Unlike prior years, however, I knew what I wanted to do with them: I wanted to try a cookie recipe that used hard-boiled egg yolks, a technique I had once seen in a recipe. The recipe was in…wait. Where was that recipe?

I couldn’t find the cookie recipe anywhere. But during my search, I managed to find another recipe that called for hard-boiled yolks: James Beard’s strawberry shortcake.

With the exception of the hard-boiled eggs, the ingredients were fairly standard for shortcake (flour, butter, lots of baking powder), but the method intrigued me. It called for chilling the dough for an hour before baking—usually I whip it all together and pop it immediately into a hot oven.

The dough came together easily. In place of the flour Beard calls for, I used white rice flour and potato starch, cut the butter into the flour, and added the egg yolks and cream, as directed. Other than some small pieces of cooked yolk that speckled the dough, there wasn’t a big difference between this dough and others I’ve made for shortcakes. So far, so good.

The shortcakes baked up light, tender, and rich (thanks to the generous amount of cream). The only problem? Those specks of yolk. Since I stirred the yolk into the batter along with the heavy cream, it didn’t really incorporate evenly into the dough.

I doubted the shortcakes were supposed to be dotted with yolk the way chocolate chip cookies are dotted with chocolate chips, so I set out to fix the problem. For the next batch, I added the egg yolks earlier, working them when the butter was almost fully cut into the flour. Once the butter and yolk were incorporated, I added the heavy cream. This time, no more bits of egg yolk dotted the batter.

Once again, the biscuits baked up light, tender, and rich. But this batch was wonderfully sturdy, able to maintain its texture after being split and topped with macerated strawberries. These shortcakes, in fact, are so tasty that I ate some with no topping at all. Oh, and that cookie recipe? I finally found it. With both those recipes in-hand and strawberry season coming into full swing, I have a feeling my refrigerator will once again be filled with a whole lot of hard-boiled eggs.

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Gluten-Free Shortcakes

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 42 minutes minutes

Servings 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

For the Shortcakes

For the Shortcakes

• 2 large hard-boiled eggs
• 1 1/3 cups white rice flour, plus more for dusting (5 1/3 ounces; 152 grams)
• 2/3 cup potato starch (2 2/3 ounces; 66 grams)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces (3 ounces; 85 grams)
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 3/4 cup cold heavy cream or half-and-half (6 ounces; 170 grams)

For the Topping

• 1 quart strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cold heavy cream (8 ounces; 226 grams)

Instructions

• For the Shortcakes: Remove the yolks from the hard boiled eggs. Press the yolks through a sieve or chop very finely. Whisk together white rice flour, potato starch, 1/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and xanthan gum in a large bowl. Add cubed butter and, using either your hands or a pastry cutter, cut into flour mixture until pea-sized pieces form. Add egg yolks and continue cutting until flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in heavy cream with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Let dough stand for 5 minutes.
• Generously dust work surface with white rice flour. Turn dough onto work surface and dust with more white rice flour. Gently knead the dough a few times, then pat into a large rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut out four dough rounds. Gather up dough scraps, pat into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, and cut out 4 more dough rounds; discard remaining dough scraps. Place dough rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar on top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• For the Topping: Stir together strawberries, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Using the back of a fork, gently mash a few of the sliced strawberries. Allow strawberries to stand for 1 hour.
• In medium bowl, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and beat until stiff peaks form.
• Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from baking sheet and bake shortcakes until edges just turn golden brown, about 12 minutes. Let shortcakes cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve shortcakes warm or at room temperature, topping with macerated strawberries and whipped cream.

The post Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

On Monday, I set out to make a batch of “Church Windows,” marshmallows held together by chocolate-peanut butter ganache. For years I’d seen pictures of these colorful confections but I never got around to making a batch.

As I stirred the ganache, inspiration struck. The sauce would be perfect (perfect!) spooned into jars and given as gifts to friends. The combination of chocolate, peanut butter and butter makes a tasty chocolate-peanut “hot fudge” sauce. Imagine a melted down peanut butter cup poured over ice cream or stirred into milk for a peanut butter hot chocolate. That’s how good this sauce tastes.

The inspiration for these easy gifts never would have stuck if I hadn’t made those simple marshmallow “church windows.” Sure, I know how to make ganache but I never thought of making a peanut butter ganache.

Don’t you love it when this type of culinary inspiration strikes? When you are busy making one thing and you think, “You know…I could…”

I often forget that for me action creates inspiration. Too often, I get distracted by life. Tending to other things and not moving creatively. Does that happen to you? If I’m honest, I’m rarely– if ever–inspired by sitting on the couch, checking e-mail, or chatting on Facebook. But when I get moving, the ideas come.

Sometimes the inspiration is simple, like spooning peanut butter ganache into jars for holiday gifts and sometimes it’s complex, like the nugget of an idea for a cookbook. But if I don’t get myself moving, I deny myself all of those creative “what if” moments.

As we move into the darkest days of winter, I’m really curious: how do you find inspiration? Or, should I say, how does inspiration find you?

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3 Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce

Use creamy peanut butter for this recipe.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cup

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (6 ounces; 170 grams)
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (4 3/4 ounces; 134 grams)
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons; 2 ounces)
• salt, to taste

Instructions

• In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Turn on heat to low. This is important. You need to treat this sauce gently or it might scorch. Stir with a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula until ingredients are melted and smooth. Sauce should be shiny. Add salt to taste. 
• Pour sauce into a small jam jar. Allow to cool. Sauce will harden.
• To serve warm: remove desired amount of sauce from jar. Place in a small bowl. Warm in microwave on low setting for 30 seconds. Stir. Return to microwave if sauce isn't warm.
• Store sauce in the refrigerator for up to one month.

The post 3 Ingredient Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

I know that the combination of apples and chocolate sounds weird. But throw in some caramel and salt and, trust me, it’s a winner. These apples are one of my favorite fall treats! Be sure to use crisp apples, like honey crisp or granny smith.

Here’s how to do it:

Wash and dry your apples. You want to remove all the wax so the caramel sticks. Pierce the candy apple stick.

Roll out a piece of caramel or buy gluten-free caramel sheets. I prefer the taste of block caramel. It’s a little more work but totally worth it.

Wrap the caramel around the apple. Pressing as you go so that caramel sticks to the apple.

Okay, you could just stop here. But…chocolate is waiting!

Oh, yes. Dip the apple into melted dark chocolate.

Rotate the apple to evenly coat it.

Sprinkle with coarse sea salt or kosher salt.

Done! Allow the chocolate to harden at room temperature.

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Salted Caramel Chocolate Apples

Firm caramel makes the best caramel apples. Look for Merckens block caramel. It's wonderful!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

• 6 large apples, washed and dried. (Water causes chocolate to seize. Be sure to dry the apples completely.)
• 6 candy sticks
• 8 ounces block caramel or 6 caramel sheets
• 1 pound dark confectionery coating
• Kosher salt

Instructions

• Pierce apples with the sticks. Be sure the sticks don't wiggle. You need to hold onto the stick while you dip your apple and you don't want the stick to slip out of the apple.
• Find a small bowl or 2-cup measure. "Test" each apple by placing it into the bowl. Do they all fit? Is there room around the apple? If yes, you have found your bowl! If not, find another bowl.
• Roll out the caramel and cut into six 4 x 6-inch rectangles. Wrap the caramel sheets around the apples. Set aside.
• Place the confectionery coatings into a glass bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave. Stir. The chocolate won't be melted at this point. That's fine. You are removing "hot spots." This prevents the chocolate from burning. Return the chocolate to the microwave and repeat, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is melted.
• Dip each apple, one at a time, into the melted chocolate. Rotate the apple in the chocolate to coat completely. Slowly pull the apple out of the chocolate, shaking off excess chocolate.
• Place dipped chocolate on a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Allow to set.
• Spread selected toppings on a plate(s). Dip apple again in the chocolate. Either roll or place the toppings onto the apple. Covering as much or as little of the apple as you want.
• Return the dipped, coated apple to the parchment paper.

The post How to Make Chocolate-Covered Salted Caramel Apples appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.

The other day, I got the BEST e-mail from a friend! She wanted to know how to make chocolate-covered apples. YES! Are you as excited as I was? Let me say that again, chocolate-covered apples. If you’ve enjoyed a chocolate-covered apple before, I bet you know two things: 1. They are delicious. 2. They cost a fortune! Seriously, I’ve seen some of these treats going for $15.00 per apple. The good news? They are easy to make at home!
Here’s how to do it:

Get some candy apple sticks from a cake shop (or craft store). You want the ones that are sharpened on one end. Twist the stick firmly into the apple. The stick becomes your dipping tool. So you don’t want it to be loose.

I used honeycrisp apples because I love honeycrisp apples but any crisp apple will do.

Find a small bowl or measuring cup and stick the apple into the cup. Why you ask? You want to make sure the apple fits in the bowl. Who wants to melt chocolate only to find out that your apple doesn’t fit into the bowl. See how there isn’t much room around my apple? That’s great. If the bowl was too big, I’d need lots of melted chocolate to fill the bowl for dipping. With a smaller bowl, I don’t need to melt as much chocolate.

Slowly dip your apple into the melted chocolate. Here I’m using milk chocolate but white or dark chocolate work just as well.

Oh my…

Twist the apple to cover it completely.

Slowly pull the apple out of the chocolate. (YUM, right?)

Allow the excess chocolate to dip off the apple. You can give it a gentle shake to help this process. (This is important because the excess chocolate pools around the apple while it cools. And if you want to do a second coat, which, trust me, you do, the pooled chocolate becomes a pain to deal with.)

Allow the chocolate-dipped apples to set up on a piece of parchment paper. (See the little pool of chocolate around the base of the apple? Imagine how much would be there if I didn’t allow the excess chocolate to drip off.)

Now you could stop there. Of course you could! But why would you want to?

I wanted to coat my dipped apple in marshmallows. Whenever you add “goodies” (M&Ms, marshmallows, chopped nuts, crushed cookies) to a chocolate apple, you need to first apply a base coat of chocolate. If you don’t the weight of the “goodies” will drag the first coat of warm, melted chocolate off the apple.

Be sure your first coat of chocolate has set before re-dipping the apple.

After dipping the apple again,  I slowly rolled the coated apple in marshmallows. There were a few bare spots. So I hand-placed some marshmallows. This goes quick.

If you don’t want the outside of any of the marshmallows to be coated in chocolate, you can always hand-place all of the marshmallows. It’s up to you. I like this kind of homemade look but if you want white marshmallows on a dark apple, I understand.

I wasn’t done. Oh yes! Time for more chocolate!

I decided that I only wanted a ring around the bottom coated with M&Ms. Therefore, I only dipped about 1/3 of the apple in chocolate.

Since M&Ms are heavy, rolling the apple in the plate of M&Ms produced a so-so result, many of the candy pieces fell off. Pressing each M&M onto the apple, one at a time, worked much better. And, surprisingly, went pretty quickly.

Now, you could dip the entire apple in chocolate and place M&Ms all over the apple. That wouldn’t be bad. At all. At all. 

But what if you don’t want candy (or cookies or nuts) on the outside of your apples? How about doing a triple dip?

First I coated the apple in melted white chocolate and allowed the chocolate to firm before dipping it into melted milk chocolate. (This is key. Whenever you are dipping multiple kinds of chocolate, always start with the lighter chocolate first. So you’d want to dip white—>milk—>dark. Or milk—>dark or white—>dark. You get the idea.)

Next up? Dark chocolate!

After the milk layer set, in went the apple.

Done!

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Gourmet Chocolate Covered Apples

Making homemade chocolate-covered apples isn't only delicious, it's budget-friendly!

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

For Chocolate-coated Apples with Candy

• 6 large apples, washed and dried (Water causes chocolate to seize. Be sure to dry the apples completely.)
• 6 candy sticks
• 1 pound milk, dark and/or white confectionery coating
• about 2 cups small candies or chopped nuts

For Triple Chocolate Dipped Apples

• 6 large apples, washed and dried (Water causes chocolate to seize. Be sure to dry the apples completely.)
• 8 ounces block caramel or 6 sheets caramel wraps, optional
• 6 candy sticks
• 8 ounces white confectionery coating
• 8 ounces milk confectionery coating
• 8 ounces dark confectionery coating

Instructions

• For the Candy-coated Apples: Pierce apples with sticks. Be sure the sticks don't wiggle. You need to hold onto the stick while you dip your apple and you don't want the stick to slip out of the apple.
• Find a small bowl or 2-cup measure. "Test" each apple by placing it into the bowl. Do they all fit? Is there room around the apple? If yes, you have found your bowl! If not, find another bowl.
• In your selected bowl, place half pound chocolate. (or more depending on the size of your bowl. The chocolate should fill the bowl half way.) Microwave your chocolate for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave. Stir. The chocolate won't be melted at this point. That's fine. You are removing "hot spots." This prevents the chocolate from burning. Return the chocolate to the microwave and repeat, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is melted. (Note: If your apple bowl isn't microwave-safe, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and transfer the melted chocolate to the bowl. If you don't have a microwave, place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Heat over medium heat (there should be water in the bottom of your double boiler.). Stir until chocolate melts. Transfer melted chocolate to the bowl you'll be dipping the apples in.)
• Dip each apple, one at a time, into the melted chocolate. Rotate the apple in the chocolate to coat completely. Slowly pull the apple out of the chocolate, shaking off excess chocolate.
• Place dipped chocolate on a piece of parchment paper.
• Spread selected toppings on a plate(s). Dip apple again in the chocolate. Either roll or place the toppings onto the apple. Covering as much or as little of the apple as you want.
• Return the dipped, coated apple to the parchment paper.
• For the Triple Chocolate Apples: Pierce each apple with a candy apple stick. Be sure the stick is tightly inserted into the apple.
• Roll out caramel, if using a block. Wrap caramel around apple.
• Place half pound chocolate. (or more depending on the size of your bowl. The chocolate should fill the bowl halfway.) Microwave your chocolate for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave. Stir. The chocolate won't be melted at this point. That's fine. You are removing "hot spots." This prevents the chocolate from burning. Return the chocolate to the microwave and repeat, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is melted. (Note: If your apple bowl isn't microwave-safe, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and transfer the melted chocolate to the bowl. If you don't have a microwave, place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Heat over medium heat (there should be water in the bottom of your double boiler.). Stir until chocolate melts. Transfer melted chocolate to the bowl you'll be dipping the apples in.)
• Dip apple. Rotate apple in chocolate to coat completely. Slowly pull apple out of the chocolate. Shake to remove excess chocolate. Place dipped apple on a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with salt. Allow to set.

The post How to Make Gourmet Chocolate Covered Apples appeared first on Gluten-Free Baking.