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 :)

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons - Gluten, Dairy, Egg and Soy Free

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Gluten, Dairy, Egg and Soy Free!

This recipe is a combination of 2 great macaroon recipes I have, a gluten free coconut macaroon recipe from The Flying Apron and a RAW chocolate macaroon recipe from my Aunt.  

Preheat oven to 350

In mixing bowl add the following

 6 cups shredded coconut 

(unsweetened if you want it healthier...I used sweeted because that's what I had)

1 cup cocoa powder or raw cacoa powder if you have it

1 cup Maple Syrup (real maple syrup!)

1 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt

2/3 cup gluten free flour (whatever blend you have or just use rice flour)

Combine all ingredients together until combined.  

Take a cookie scoop and pack with coconut mixture and then release onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Option- Press a raw almond into the top of each cookie, or press a couple straight into the cookie

Bake for about 15 minutes and then let cool completely on cookie sheet.

~My entry into {nifty thrifty sunday}http://www.niftythriftythings.com/ is sponsored by Appliances Online and their Fridges

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Gluten and Dairy Free

One of the things my kids and I share a deep love for is MUFFINS!  I have fond memories of my childhood going to the mall with my mom, smelling the wonderful smell of fresh baked muffins and sniffing my way to a MMMuffins! I chain in Canada where I always found my favorite treat...a big chocolate chip muffin!  I mean, just check out this muffin...wouldn't YOU want to dig in?  You have no idea how good these muffins are....unless of course you've had them...

mmmuffins

Then in my young adult years (up until I gave up gluten and got my joints back...I'm still 27...till my b-day in a week and a half...that's still young adult right??)  I would indulge in the chocolate chip muffins from Dunkin' Donuts when we made trips to the East Coast and then more frequently when we moved to Dallas.  Now....If I want to buy a good muffin, I'll pick up a 4 pack of Udi's blueberry muffins...but I'm not really allowed to eat them, my 4 year old will disown me  unless I sneak it, she's pretty possessive of her muffins....wonder where she gets that from!!!

Udi's blueberry muffins

So when it comes to having muffins enough to share, yummy enough to still want to hoard all 12 of them to yourself anyways, muffins that don't contain gluten or dairy and also don't break the bank we make our own.  We have a few good recipes we've shared previously such as

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin with Coconut Struesel
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

And our newest favorite ....

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

gluten free dairy free

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour gf flour blend*

3/4 cup sugar

1 TBsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 applesauce

3/4 milk (coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, etc)

2 tsp vanilla

1 large banana (mashed)

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (ghiridelli semi sweet are dairy free)

*I use Silvana Nardone's Gluten Free Flour Blend if you have another gluten free flour blend you like, just use that but if there is not xanthan gum already in your blend, add 1 tsp xanthan gum to recipe.  I just love the texture of Silvana's blend, just like regular flour, light and smooth.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl.

In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients

Mix all together, add chocolate chips and gently fold and mix till just moistened

Divide into muffin cups and bake for 22-25 minutes til slightly golden on top.

Dig in while still steamy and chocolate chips are melting all over your face and hands......dare I say....mmmmmmmm....muffins!!!

Before you go, enter my current giveaway HERE!!!

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Gluten Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Also Dairy Free

OK so maybe this isn’t the best recipe to be posting the first week of the new year when so many of use are trying to be healthier, but sometimes you need things like this to get through certain things….okay…yeah, we don’t NEED food to cope with things, but sometimes, if I can just eat something chocolate…I’m a much better person.  Anyways, the kids love ‘em too.  For some reason I got thinking about muffins and those jumbo chocolate chocolate chip muffins you can buy at Costco or other bakeries and I just really missed being able to have that.  So I pulled out the best muffin recipe I have ever used (including pre-gluten free days) and just made one change to it to make these delicious gluten free chocolate chocolate chip muffins or double chocolate chip muffins….however you want to say it!

Here is the gluten free muffin recipe, but to make them double chocolate, just like the ones from the store, you are going to subtract 1/3 cup flour and replace it with 1/3 cup cocoa powder.  Then add a cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet or 60% cocoa chocolate chips (they are dairy free and I use coconut milk when making these).

Gluten Free Homemakers Basic Muffin Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• 1 2/3 c. gluten-free flour mix
• 1/3 c cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1  Tb. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring
• 3/4 – 1 c. milk, juice, or water
• up to 1 c. chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar.  In a smaller bowl, or measuring cup, combine the oil, eggs, vanilla and milk.  Add that to the dry ingredients and whisk together until moistened.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Divide into lined muffin cups and I like to sometimes sprinkle a little sugar on top like the bakeries do.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.  Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.  Usually best served warm.

(note: I use Silvana Nardone's GF blend and leave out the xanthan gum when making this recipe since her blend already has the xanthan gum in it.  I just love her blend and all her recipes!  

I love this recipe because it is so versatile!  I've also used this gluten free muffin recipe to make

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins

Gluten Free Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Coconut Streusel

Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Maple Frosting

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo Game

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo Game

Walnut game for kids

I don't know what this game is called or should be called.  My mother-in-law made it for J and today she was teaching it to her 18 month old brother.  They were having fun, it was nice having them play so nicely while I made Gluten Free Cinnamon Banana Pancakes from the Cooking For Isaiah cookbook.  

Gram painted the walnut shells each a different color and then put ladybug stickers on top.  There are 7 shells and she put 7 little surprises to go under each one, like little jewels, a character noodle, a bean, a button, etc.  So here is how to play....it's so easy, there's really nothing to it but the kids like it.

Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a piggy by the toe, if he hollars let him go, eeny meeny miny mo!  

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 Cinnamon Belgian Waffles

Cinnamon-Toasted Belgian Waffles

Gluten free and Dairy Free

From Cooking For Isaiah

This past weekend we had another great success from our Cooking For Isaiah cookbook.  We made the Cinnamon Toasted Belgian Waffle and it was SO delicious, the cinnamon in the waffles with classic waffle texture, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, it was hard to remember I wasn't actually eating cinnamon toast.  These gluten free cinnamon waffles topped with real maple syrup was the best saturday morning breakfast we've had in a long time.  So far, Silvana Nardone's Cooking For Isaiah Cookbook of gluten free, dairy free recipes has yet to dissapoint...everything we have tried has been awesome and I've even used her flour blend in other recipes like the gluten free blueberry muffins with coconut struesel, chocolate chip muffins and strawberry muffins and I love it.  This is my favorite cookbook, the only other cookbook I have used so much (and not even as much as Silvana's is the big BHG cookbook.

If you are not feeling brave enough to make you own flour blend and get cooking from this awesome book, well, first of all, there's nothing to be afraid of, it's super easy although I was intimidated about the different flours and everything at first...I don't know why it's really not a big deal...ANYWAYS, if you'd rather stick with the gluten free bisquik mix, or if you not gluten free and making normal waffles, make according to package directions and add 1-2 tsp cinnamon to the batter and a bit of brown sugar.  

I'm not working for Silvana or her book, but I just can't help but rave about it every time I make something out of it!  I think she is a genius.

Chocolate Chip and Strawberry Muffins- Gluten Free Dairy Free

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Gluten Free Dairy Free

Strawberry Muffins

Gluten Free and Dairy Free

We are muffin lovers, that was one of the hardest parts about changing our diet to gluten free dairy free...no more muffins. Until we found the yummy Udi's muffins but they are pricey!  My daughter and I used to always bake muffins together, and we have been finally enjoying more muffin making together again.  We have been using the Basic Gluten Free Muffin Recipe by Gluten Free Homemaker that we used to concoct our amazing Blueberry Muffins with Coconut Topping.  We most recently used the basic recipe to make chocolate chip muffins (using ghiradelli mini chocolate chips they have no dairy) and  strawberry muffins by adding cut up strawberries to the batter.  We sprinkled sugar on top to make our muffins more like the ones from the bakery.  These are so good they do not last very long at all around here!

Basic Gluten-Free Muffin Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• 2 c. gluten-free flour mix
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1  Tb. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring
• 3/4 – 1 c. milk, juice, or water
• up to 1 c. additions (see note)
• optional ingredients (see note)

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a smaller bowl, or measuring cup, combine the egg, flavoring,  and liquid.  Add that with the oil to the dry ingredients and whisk together until moistened.  Stir in additions.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes.  Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.  Usually best served warm.

(note: I use Silvana Nardone's GF blend and leave out the xanthan gum when making this recipe since her blend already has the xanthan gum in it.  I just love her blend and all her recipes!  

Silvana's Banana Bread

Mom's Banana Bread

Cooking for Isaiah - Silvana Nardone

Banana bread is just awesome!  And I hadn't had banana bread since going gluten free and I missed it!  I made my favorite banana bread recipe for my husband recently and it was torture not to eat it!  So when I saw the gluten free dairy free banana bread recipe in Silvana Nardone's cookbook  we had to try it!  And man, my husband had a bite, got a goofy smile on his face and said "THIS is GLUTEN FREE???"  it was so good, it did not last nearly long enough and I'm hankering to make this again SOON!  This cookbook has not steered me wrong yet!

And we thought we couldn't make good banana bread without gluten or butter....

Meringue Layer Cake w/ Fresh Raspberries and Lemon Curd

Another heavenly recipe that came out of the Cooking For Isaiah Cookbook: Gluten Free and Dairy Free recipes by Silvana Nardone.  The picture of this dessert in the book is actually what compelled me to purchase it over other cookbooks I was looking at.  I could not WAIT to try this!  I made this at my moms house which was perfect timing because we picked the first batch of raspberries from her immaculate garden and they were TO-DIE-FOR!  I never knew raspberries could be THAT good and I'm determined to plant some raspberry bushes at our home next summer!  I give this recipe a round of applause!  The meringue is the kind your would have atop a lemon meringue cake...light and crisp on outside but super soft on the inside.  The only thing I didn't do was sprinkle with icing sugar...it didn't need it.  This gluten free dairy free layer cake is the best summer dessert I have ever had and will be using this recipe again and again!  Although I'll have to find fresh raspberries...I've never had store bough raspberries taste like these.  Anyways, I am still loving this book...maybe one of my most useful favorite book purchases ever! (along with natural baby and childcare)

 Picture of cake is not that great because it was night...by the next morning there was only the piece left in the first picture.

 A snapshot of mom and dad working on their weeds section...getting it ready to be planted with who knows what...they already have everything!

 The Produce Garden is hidden behind the arborvitaes....on the other side their yard looks like this....well...this is just a little peek...