Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal

 Cookie Bars

Gluten Free & Dairy Free

So My aunt posted a healthy paleo recipe for chocolate chip cookie squares on facebook the other day and I really wanted to make them, but when I went to the recipe I didn't have the right ingredients, but at that point I was already craving cookie bars so badly so I made up my own version, they aren't a healthy recipe but they ARE gluten and dairy free :)

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Bars
1/2 cup gluten free oats
1/2-1 cup gluten free flour (add more til you are happy with consistency)
(I used a premixed gluten free flour blend that contains xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan gum if your flour blend doesn't have it)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup shortening or palm oil (or butter if you aren't dairy free)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli, the ones I buy don't have milk in them)

In mixer blend peanut butter,shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla.  Add gluten free oats, gluten free flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips.  Press into a 8x8 inch baking dish and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. (baking time may vary as I used the convection setting)

So no these aren't paleo or sugar free or anything awesome like that, but I did add the peanut butter and oatmeal to make them a little more hearty and satisfying :)

Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Maple Frosting

Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Maple Frosting

So what do you get when you take the Gluten Free Homemakers Basic Muffin Recipe and combine it with Silvana's sticky cinnamon pancake recipe and put it in a 9x9 inch square cake pan?  A wonderful coffee cake that is almost identical to my favorite coffee cake I can't have anymore, the Krusteaz coffee cake mix from the box.

The kids and I had decided to make muffins and we normally use the gluten free homemaker's basic muffin recipe and make chocolate chip muffins but this day I was craving a Cinnabon or something like that.  On thanksgiving we had really enjoyed the gluten free sticky cinnamon swirl pancakes with maple frosting shared by Silvana Nardone... So... I decided to put those recipes together and we got this yummy scrumptious coffee cake!  So now I'm calling it....

Candace's Gluten Free Dairy Free Coffee Cake with Maple Frosting

2 cups gluten free flour (I use Silvana's Blend from her book, it already has the xanthan gum added)

if you are using a different gluten free baking mix just add 1 tsp xanthan gum

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cups milk

8 tablespoons softened(1 stick) butter (I use best life or vegan buttery sticks to make it dairy free)

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Line a 9x9 in cake pan with parchment paper (or you can lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray) and preheat the oven to 375.

In a medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a seperate bowk, mix the wet ingredients and then add to the flour mixture and stir til combined.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 8 tablespoons of butter softened to room temp, sugar and cinnamon and mix together. (if butter is out of fridge just nuke it for a several seconds to slightly soften but do not melt).

Pour half of your coffee cake batter into you cake pan and spread around.

Drop spoonfuls of the brown sugar mixture over the top and spread around, reserving some for the topping.

Plop the remaining cake batter over the cinnamon sugar and spread around.  Take a knife and swirl it through the entire thing a few times and the smooth out the batter so it is evenly distributed in the cake pan.  

Top with the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

For the Maple Frosting combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 tablespoon water and mix together.  Drizzle over the top of your coffee cake and you would never know you were eating something gluten and dairy free!

Gluten Free Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Coconut Streusel

Wow, my kitchen smells glorious right now!  I want to capture this aroma and bottle it or put it into a candle so my kitchen can smell like this all the time!  Something's in the oven...

Gluten Free Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Coconut Streusel

I was inspired to make these because we had a big box of blueberries in the fridge and 3 of my husbands favorite things are blueberries, lemons, and coconut so I wanted to put it all together.  I found a basic Gluten Free Muffin Recipe over at Gluten Free Homemaker that you can see here.  It's a great basic muffin recipe with options so you can play with it to make any kind of muffins you want.  I pretty much followed her recipe except I didn't add xanthan gum because I already have xanthan gum in my Silvana's all purpose gluten free flour blend that I made a big container of. For my version on the  basic recipe I left out the xanthan gum and used 1/2 cup sugar, about 1-2 Tbls lemon juice, lemon zest of 1 lemon, and 1 cup blueberries.  The coconut streusel topping is as follows:

3/4 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup all purpose GF flour

1/4 cup sugar (50/50 brown sugar and granulated sugar)

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp Bestlife buttery baking sticks

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and cut together using a fork or your hands till you get a crumbly mixture, mine had quite a few clumps, it wasn't as crumbly as a typical crumb topping. Drop the clumpy, crumbly coconut mixture over the tops of the muffins before baking, then bake as directed in the Basic Gluten Free Muffin Recipe.

I am really happy with the height these muffins have, must be from the amount of baking powder! I've never used that much baking powder in a recipe before, but it's awesome, these muffins don't have the typical flat tops that most gluten free baked goods have.  Now...time for the taste test...

OH MY!!!!  I have been searching and baking my way to find the perfect muffin recipe for years, long before going gluten free.  I am in heaven.  These are by far the best muffins I have EVER made, and they are gluten free and dairy free!  MMMMMMmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Is all I can say right now! Go get some blueberries, a lemon and some coconut flakes quick and get baking right now! I can't believe how good these are!  I'm sure non-gluten free bakers could make this same recipe just using regular flour in place of gf flour and leaving out the xanthan gum!  The crispy coconut topping really sent these lemon blueberry muffins over the edge. Now I just need to have some will power to not eat anymore till hubs and daughter get home! I made the muffins for them! lol!

ps- and the verdict from my husband is...they are REALLY good...although he says he can still tell they are gluten free.  He thinks I just haven't had gluten for a long enough period of time I maybe don't remember how much better everything is with it.  He definitely thought these muffins were really good, but just said the texture was different than regular muffins, the texture was nice though, more like angel food cake.

Silvana's All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend can be found on page 15 of Cooking for Isaiah

Brownies - Gluten Free, Dairy Free of Course!!!

Chewy on the outside and velvety soft on the inside!

and did I mention...very chocolaty!

I have been on a chocolate and potato rampage lately! (not together...but one after the other...like McD's fries and then a chocolate muffin) lol!  We have some major changes going on and it has been CRAZY! We recently accepted a job change for my husband and are moving 10 hours away and we just bought our first house, and it's all happening in like a 3 week time frame! So big changes but exciting as well!  I am SOOOO ready to have my own room! (no I didn't kick my husband out, but baby B is finally going to get his own room after more than12 months of never ONCE sleeping through the night!)  But when stress,changes, being extra busy,  and hormones come calling...that's when those cravings kick in! lol!  We spent the last week up in Omaha (yes I cried about it...leaving Dallas to go to Omaha didn't sound that appealing) and it was so frustrating trying to figure out what to eat since I can't have dairy or gluten...it's like extra sucky!  So anyways, now we're back home and I don't feel like spending $8 on a 4 pack of muffins and I remembered this brownie recipe that I adapted to be gluten free for my sister a few years ago...so I just adapted it even more so it is now gluten free and dairy free.  These are dense and super chocolaty and aside from the vegan butter sticks, don't need a much of special ingredients like most gluten free baking recipes. Even if you have no dietary restrictions, you'll enjoy these, just substitute the vegan butter for real butter. 

Brownies

No Gluten, No Dairy....Totally Delicious!

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

1/4 cup of Hershey Cocoa Powder

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Gluten free Corn Starch

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Ghiridelli Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Double check to make sure they are still dairy free as sometimes products change

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium saucepan, melt the vegan buttery sticks and stir in cocoa powder.  Stir in the brown sugar and vanilla.  Break eggs into a separate bowl and whisk in a little bit of the warm chocolate mixture to temper the eggs, then add to saucepan and whisk all together.  Mix in the corn starch and salt and then stir in the chocolate chips and mix till melted and you have a smooth consistency.  

Pour the brownies into a greased 8x8 inch dish and bake for 25 minutes.  The Brownies will seem like they are not done when you check because of all the melted chocolate in there, so do not be tempted to let the brownies bake more than 25 minutes, just remove them from moven when the timer goes off and let set on a wire rack.  ENJOY!  

Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting! Happy Birthday SweetPea!

Gluten Free Cupcakes with Dairy Free Buttercream Frosting

Well, we got home from our trip late a night and the next day was J's birthday! She is now FOUR years old and I can't believe it, although now that she is officially 4, she feels very big and has been acting as mature as possible.  Such a cutie.  Anyways, I had a box of better crocker Gluten Free cake mix to make up, (I use earth balance vegan buttery sticks instead of butter when making it) but then I had no clue what to do for frosting.  It was a crazy day, I didn't have time to go to the store, I was out of everything plus every recipe I have for frosting calls for milk, butter, heavy cream, whipping cream, ect.  I was SO happy when I found this recipe which only used shortening, water and confectioners sugar and luckily I had just enough of everything to make half of this recipe.  Which was the perfect amount.  The Sprinkles weren't really sticking so I poured them all into a bowl and then rolled the frosted cupcakes in the sprinkles after I had already stuck on the M&Ms (I just took the M&Ms off when eating for the baby and I to make it dairy free again).  Anyways, this frosting was super good and it made me so happy when J saw her cupcakes, she looked at them and her eyes got real big and then she asked "Are those gluten cupcakes for other kids?" and I said, "No, honey, they are your birthyday cupcakes made special for you. They have no gluten at all!" She was SO excited!  And as far as taste, these were just as good as any other box cupcakes with frosting, no one felt deprived in this house!

Chocolate Ganache with Coconut Milk - Dairy Free

Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake with Dairy Free Ganache

I recently had a birthday, but my 3 year old had the flu so we didn't end up making the cake, so today was the 10 year anniversary of my first date with my hubby so we finally made the cake.  We used the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix we found at Walmart and then made a dairy free Ganache frosting.  I LOVE chocolate Ganache so I was hoping I would be able to make a dairy free version.  It was SUPER good!  None of us felt like we were missing out on anything, the ganache with coconut milk was equally as good as the traditional ganache but probably a lot healthier considering coconut milk is very low calorie and you normally make it with whipping cream! The cake mix was great too, I used a Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks to substitute a stick of butter called for on the mix directions. You would never know this cake was gluten free or dairy free, texture and taste was like the real thing!  

Dairy Free Chocolate Ganache with Coconut Milk (Low Fat Ganache)

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips they are dairy free)

Use a double boiler, or makeshift one by filling a medium size pot with water and bringing to a boil.  Place a medium size glass or metal bowl over the water and add coconut milk and chocolate chips and stir with a spatula as the chocolate chips melt.  Once the chocolate is mostly melted, stir smooth with a wire wisk.  Remove bowl from boiling water and let cool and begin to set a little so it is not TOO runny.  Once the ganache starts to cool and thicken, pour over your cake.

Now, I think I need to go sneak another slice!!!

Chocolate Crispie Cookies From Central Market

Two weeks ago I went to Central Market and found these awesome gluten free cookies in the bakery called Chocolate Crispie Cookies, they were shiny and crispy on the outside, and chewy with pecan pieces on the inside and super addicting.  So addicting that for the past 2 weeks I have been looking for the recipe so I can make them because going to Central Market isn't good for my checkbook! 
I found the Chocolate Crispie Cookie Recipe through google search on THIS BLOG. 

I double the recipe because I signed up to bring "something chocolate" to my MOPS meeting tomorrow.   I'm sitting here waiting to finish making them all since I double the recipe and made a mistake on my first batch, I made them too big so it took FOREVER to cook them!  Anyways, I did sample on of the first ones and it is very much like the Choclate Crispy Cookies at Central Market, however, I think these ones are sweeter, so maybe next time I'll leave out some of the sugar.  Mine also look lighter in color then the ones at Central Market.  To make these gluten free I substituted 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch for the 2 Tablespoons of flour.  Well, anyways, I'm sitting here waiting for one of the batches in the oven to come out and then there will be another, I already  have 3 batches done...I'm making 12 at a time.  *sigh* So much for going to bed early tonight!!!

Pecan Chewy Chocolate Cookies
8 ounces chopped pecans
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecans on a cookie sheet and toast them for about 8 minutes. Let cool completely.

Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.

Place sugar, cocoa, flour and salt in mixer bowl and stir together. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, scrapping bowl. Beat in vanilla and continue beating at high speed for 1 minute. Stir in cooled, toasted chopped pecans.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies for spreading. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, turning sheet halfway though baking time.

Easy Go-To Gluten Free Dinner

 

We love Peppers and Onions!

We are pretty busy most weeknights and like to eat healthy dinners that are fast and easy.  Often we will cook a bunch of chicken early in the week and then eat it throughout the week in different ways to save time,  This is one of our favorite go to dinners that is really tasty, refreshing, and gluten and dairy free!

Peppers, Onion, Chicken and Rice dish

4 bell peppers (a combo of at least 2 colors)

1 yellow onion

olive oil

Jasmine Rice

Cooked Chicken, cut up in smaller pieces

1 lemon

• Dice the bell peppers and onions. (I usually do this earlier in the day so dinner making time goes super fast) 
• Cook Rice like THIS
• While rice is cooking, in a large frying pan, sautee bell peppers and onion until tender.
• When Rice is finished, add to the bell pepper mixture along with cut up cooked chicken.  
• Cut a lemon in half and squeeze both halves of the lemon over the entire mixture.  Toss together and serve with salt and pepper.

If the chicken and veggies are prepped before, this dinner will be ready in a little over 20 minutes.

Coconut Ice Cream - Dairy Free!

What's better than a bowl of ice cream?   A bowl of homemade dairy free coconut ice cream!  YUM! 

This is my favorite, I like it so much and when I have it I don't feel like I'm just having to be content with some non-dairy alternative.  My husband isn't dairy free and he likes this better than regular vanilla homemade ice cream. (And all homemade ice cream is 100x better than store bought!) 

you know I can't help myself!!! I keep the chocolate chips in the freezer and put them in/on everything possible!

1 can Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk

1/2 cup sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like it.

1-2 tsp vanilla to taste

empty the can of coconut milk into a metal mixing bowl, add sugar and vanilla and mix together.  Taste test and add more vanilla and sugar if desired, Cover with seran wrap and chill in fridge.  Pour into ice cream maker and make according to ice cream machine directions.  we use this one 

Now, as I'm enjoying this heavenly, easy to make dairy free ice cream, I'm listening to this song I love that we sometimes listen to at the end of my BodyFlow class during final relaxation.  I need to learn this song and sing it to my kids at bedtime.  

A Hundred Thousand Angels by Bliss

                    

      

Gluten Free Diet 3 days in...

Gluten Free (and Milk Free) Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Alright, it's been crazy around here with sleep issues, then sick kids, but here's the update!  :)  My sister has Celiac Disease which is genetic and has been Gluten Free for about 5 years or so.  My younger brother, a Freshman in college was starting to have some issues and after going to specialists who couldn't figure out what was wrong with him gave up and said, you are fine you are just weird...basically.  But then my mom took him to her doc who has an integrative practice and is great at getting to the root of the problem.  He discovered B vitamin deficiencies and irregular thyroid and advised him to get some testing done by Entero Labs.  It came back he also has a genetic gluten intolerance, however it does not show up as celiac in the typical blood tests.  I've wondered if my daughter had gluten sensitivity for a while and even had her do a blood test for celiac a while back which came back negative.  But with the new info from my younger brother's lab work, it indicated that he has genetic gluten sensitivity inherited from both parents and the lab work said any siblings probably have it as well.  Then I started coming across all this info on gluten intolerance and Hashimotos and am learning that a lot of thyroid problems are caused by gluten intolerance!  I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in highschool, which is pretty young to get diagnosed for that.  I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when I was trying to get pregnant with my second and it wasn't working.  Once I switched from levothyroxine to Synthroid and got my dosage up a lot higher, I finally got pregnant.  ANYWAYS.....So we are trying a gluten free diet, my daughter and I.  She sometimes wakes up with horrible stomach pains, screaming like a woman in labour at night and I've started to notice the correlation between those episodes and a dense gluten dinner, such as pasta.  Dietary changes aren't super easy but we're going to give this a try.  Thankfully I have my sister to refer to to know good alternatives!
Here are a couple of our gluten free things we had this week so far.  The plan is to test by elimination and then have some in a few weeks and see if there is a reaction.  It's a lot cheaper test to start out with than the lab testing.

Gluten Free Pizza

 Mini gluten free pizzas!  A corn tortilla topped with some pasta sauce and shredded mozarella cheese.  Baked in oven at 400 until cheese was bubbly.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies....smothered in chocolate!

 This is the easiest cookie recipe I've ever seen.
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup sugar
bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes!  That's it.
Then I melted some dark chocolate in the microwave (dairy free) and dipped the cookies in covering both sides.  Placed on parchment paper and let set in the refridgerator till set.  Oh my goodness this was some good stuff!!! I haven't had a reese peanut butter cup in forever and this was awesome!!!

Awesome dairy free chocolate you can find anywhere!

Dairy Free Dessert Recipe - Tiramisu

Dairy Free Tiramisu

 

 So, ever since I have gone dairy free, I have had some moments where I have craved tiramisu or cheesecake, my favorite desserts, and the frustration of not being able to have them has been driving me crazy at times!!! lol.  I mean, I am a dairy lover, I love drinking milk and all my favorite foods are dairy based.  (which makes sense when you learn about food intolerances...you usually eat and crave the most of what you are sensitive to.) Anyways, my husband recently went to Maggiano's (one of my favorite places with the BEST Tiramisu) and I couldn't take it anymore, I had to find SOMETHING I could have that was similar.  I found this Free Dairy Free recipe for Dairy Free Tiramisu here.

This recipe is actually SUPER easy and really good!  I was nervous about Soy Pudding because I use soy milk but I'm not a total fan.  Anyways, this was better the next day after setting in the fridge a while.  The first day I thought it was just OK, but after letting is sit for a while, it just got better and better...and the good quality crumbled dark chocolate on top really made this dairy free desert super good!  I use Ghiridelli dark choclate because you can get it dairy free and it's really good.  

So here is mainly what you need to make this awesome milk free recipe!

 

Dairy Free Chocolate

 

Soy Milk

Add to that a bit of sugar, salt, vanilla and cornstarch and you've got the makings of a tasty dairy free tiramisu! (I left out the liquors because I didn't have any).

For full recipe, go HERE.  You won't be disappointed!

ENJOY!