Udi's Blueberry Muffin Copycat Recipe

My son says, "Mommy call them better than Udi's.  No, call them better than Perkins."  After so many failed attempts I had him try, I am flattered by his eagerness.

So why the copy?  I had a reader ask me to duplicate Udi's Blueberry Muffins recently.  To tell you the truth, I NEVER ever tried Udi's Blueberry Muffins.  Truth!  Why?!?!  I already have the best blueberry muffin recipe ever right here on my blog!!!!  (laugh)....  In fact, I would have to drive an hour into town to even purchase those Udi's muffins.  But I live to serve so when our local tiny whole foods type store received in some of those muffins I squealed!  LITERALLY!!!    B~L~U~E~B~E~R~R~Y.......  Everybody in the store turned around to look at me.  I politely smiled right on through.

Upon trying the first muffin, all that sugar that I don't usually eat went right to the delight center of my brain!  So good!!  LOL..  So much sugar....  :-D.   I ate another one, hey its for the blog right? It's work!!!! I did a mini workout after to make up for it.  You guys KNOW Im on that diet right?!?!?  I literally gained 3 pounds during this experiment so back to the old diet drawing board. See how much I love my small niche of readers?  I gained 3 pounds for you guys!!!

The Udi's Blueberry Muffin texture reminds me of their white bread.  Same flour combination, proportions, measurements.  That same mostly tapioca starch type of chew balanced with the right amount of brown rice flour.  Not too much brown rice flour or it would get too dense. These muffins were not dense, but rather chewy and sort of light.  No light like their bagels are, where you can imagine them floating off your counter.

I dove right into the ingredient breakdown and trial baking.  At the store, I picked up the large package of blueberries, something told me I was going to need it.  Oh about 7 way too crumbly muffin batches later (where the muffin literally sucked the moisture right out of your mouth).... I finally got it right.  Moist, stays together without crumbling apart, just the right chewiness.  Is finally right and I can share it with you.

A few additional notes I wanted to mention.  Udi's uses a bit of dried blueberries.  A real true copycat would also use dried blueberries.  I THOUGHT I had dried blueberries at home.  Somebodies belly is now full of them instead.  I got to thinking.  Why the mixture of fresh and dried?  Is it to help alleviate costs of the fresh blueberries?  Is it to help ward off molding?  These muffins won't last long enough to mold, TRUST ME! LOL. I am not using dried blueberries in my muffins because I did not have any.  If you wish to do an exact copycat, go ahead and add a few tablespoons.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Oil
1/2 cup Water
3 eggs
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1-1/4 cup Sugar

1 cup Tapioca Starch

3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/4 cup Potato Starch
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Xanthan Gum

1 generous Cup Blueberries (plus a few extra for the side)
    (a few tablespoons of dried blueberries to dulicate Udi's exactly)
1 Tablespoon Sparkling Sugar for topping on each muffin



Preheat Oven to 425 degrees.
Grease Jumbo muffin tin well with butter.
     Alternatively line standard muffin tin with papers or greease muffin tin well.

• Add moist ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl.  Mix until fully combined with a fork.
• Add dry ingredients and continue to stir until lumps are dissolved and gum pulls the batter together nicely.  Don't need to overdo it here
• Add blueberries and stir gently.
• Scoop 1/4 heaping cup into a standard sized muffin tin. Muffins cups will only be 3/4's full.  If you are using a mini muffin tin or a texas sized jump, same rule applies, 3/4's full.
• Bake muffins at:
• Jumbo at 425 for for 5 minutes then 350 for 25 minutes.
• Standard at 425 for for 5 minutes then 350 for 18 minutes.
• Mini at 350 for 12 minutes.

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Vanilla Ice Cream (paleo, gluten free)

The Elf on the Shelf on facebook told me it was National Ice Cream Day today (July 21st) so I figured I would share my newest creation.

Oh my..... this was the best vanilla ice cream I have ever made (so says my kids). The base was so good, it could have been a rock your socks vanilla pudding, which I may modify to be a pudding in the very near future.  I am having visions of making pudding up ahead of time for back to school snacks.

I am going off the beaten trail with the heavy cream and agave in this recipe. We are a coconut/almond milk using house but we do occasionally use Heavy Cream and have no issues with Dairy. I have tried replacing the heavy cream with Coconut Cream and the result is also a very nice recipe. As I stated before on my blog tho, I do not like all coconut milk in my ice cream!!  I find that all coconut cream ice creams sort of coat the tongue in an odd way that I just don't like.  Cutting it with the Almond Milk does the trick!

While I mainly use honey as my sweetener of choice, I used Agave in this ice cream because I actually ran out of Honey. Agave is what I had.  I just had to post the resulting recipe, tho, because of the raves I received from the children. My son says he prefers this recipe to the one that I use honey in because he does not like the taste of honey in an ice cream. You can't trick him, he notices it every time. Honey (in our opinion) takes on an odd taste once cooked on the stove top in items like marshmallows and ice cream that my children just do not like. We are, however, ok with it in slow low temperature items like baked goods. My recommendation for using honey in ice cream?  Honey burns very easily so the method I would recommend with a custard ice cream dish made with honey is to cook the cream, egg and arrowroot until thickened and then add honey once thickened (off of the heat).

This is the ice cream recipe I would use for special guests and holidays. Try it with the heavy cream and agave and see for yourself.

2 cups Heavy Cream (or coconut milk for paleo)
1 cup Almond Milk (unsweetened)
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
6 tablespoon Light Agave Nectar (or honey for paleo)
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
tiny pinch of salt

• Combine the coconut cream, milk, egg, arrowroot powder, agave, vanilla and salt in a saucepan and slowly bring the mixture to a light boil.  You will just start to see bubbles erupt through the thickened mixture.
• Let mixture cool for 5 minutes, and refrigerate until cooled.
• Add to your ice cream maker and follow instructions according to your machine.

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Paleo Chocolate Cake

Do you know how you can tell if a "specialty diet" cake is good?  Take it to the superbowl party full of wheat eaters and look to see half eaten cupcakes laying around.  There were none.  Maybe they were too drunk to tell if the cupcake was good or not?  LOL.  No... Try the cupcake.  It is good.  I promise.

1/3 cup Coconut Flour
1/3 cup Almond Flour (Honeyville)
1/3 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup Arrowroot Starch
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

4 Eggs
1/3 cup Honey
1/3 cup Coconut Oil, melted (or butter,softened)
2/3 cup Almond Milk
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 tablespoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Combine dry ingredinets and mix well. 
• Add in wet ingreidnets and fully combine.
• Add 1/3rd cup into regular sized muffin papers.
• Bake at 350 for 20 to 22 minutes.

 

 

Frosting

Modified from a recipe found at Elana's Pantry

 

1 cup Dark Chocolate chips

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons Honey

2 Tablespoons Coconut Nectar Sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8th teaspoon Salt

 

Melt, Chill, Whip

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Paleo Pumpkin Pie Recipe

For Pumpkin Week on the Gluten Free Menu Swap I whipped up a pumpkin pie that is suitable to our new diet!  I just used my old recipe and swapped out the questionable ingredients.  My picky children especially liked the crust.  Gluten free crust is never going to be quite the same as the crusts we enjoyed as wheat eaters.  This nut crust, though, is so good in its own right.  The flakiness is being replaced by the tad crunch of the tiny nut bits.  We think it is a nice switch-off.

Crust
1 cup Raw Walnuts
1 cup Raw Pecans
1/2 cup Raw Cashews
4 Tablespoons Grass Fed Butter
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Filling
1 pie crust (above)

1 can of Pumpkin (or 2 cups fresh)
2/3's cup Granulated Coconut Sugar
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Tablespoon Arrowroot Powder

3 eggs well beaten 

3/4 cup Almond Milk 

1 cup Coconut Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Puree nuts in food processor until just about butter.
• Add butter and salt and fully combine.
• Press crust into an 8 inch pie plate.
• Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.  Careful not to over brown.
• Take out of oven and set aside to cool while you make the filling.

Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

• Combine pumpkin, sugar and the next 4 ingredients in your stand mixer with whip attachment. Beat well. 
• Add in milk and eggs. Beat until combined well. 
• Pour into an 8 inch pie crust.
• Bake at 325 degrees for one hour

Other great Paleo Pumpkin Pie Recipes on the Web:

Everyday Paleo's Pumpkin Pie Video
Mark's Daily Apple Ultimate Walnut Pie Crust

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Paleo Custard Ice Cream Base

Shall I call this Paleo?  Technically it is NOT paleo with sweetener in it.  I add sweetener for my children because......well.....lets just say that I am again imposing my ideas of childhood on them!!!  What is a childhood without sweets?  So I like to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of some kind of sweetener to any of my desserts just for my kids!  I have grown so far from tasting and enjoying sweet foods that I find the taste of sugar overpowering beyond 3 tablespoons.

First, a little history.  My daughter has radical reactions to wheat,  not only Celiac but hives like a full blown allergy. Don't even let her breath next to wheat or she will get red circles under her eyes and gut issues exactly an hour later. For the most part this does not affect ice cream.  My son, however, is the silent sufferer. He has the just-mild-enough-to-not-have-radical-reactions sort of intolerances and allergies.  He suffers with a mild gut pain that builds over time and can suffer for 2 days to a week once the issue has reached its height.  But, immediately after taking in a toxin-to-him, he is fine. His issues are intolerances to Wheat and Casein but RAST tested mildly allergic to beef, corn and shellfish as a baby.  Keeping him away from beef and shellfish were easy.  The corn, however, was not so easy.  I am afraid I did not know enough about corn and its use as a sweetener back then.  He has outgrown the beef and shellfish allergy but now his allergy to corn is worse than ever.  He would literally rather starve then to eat a corn related product and suffer.

So ice cream...... lots of it is sweetened with corn syrup!  Not to mention that its main ingredient is dairy,  LOL.  So I have been tinkering with various substitutes lately.  I want something that suits our Paleo lifestyle while addressing our various other issues.  So first I start with these recipes:

3 Vegan Almond Milk recipes using Banana from Bay Area Bites

While I adored the banana ice cream the kids were offput by the underlying banana taste.  See....I close my eyes and think of the chocolate covered bananas I enjoyed as a kid.  Maybe my kids would enjoy these recipes better once I mastered a more exact replacement for the ice creams they liked from the store.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream recipe using strictly coconut milk

I thought the high fat content of the pure coconut milk was odd.  The ice cream sort of coated the tongue sort of like a heavy cream ice cream would.  So I mixed them.  The end result I really enjoyed the texture of.  I am re-introducing the egg as a thickener because while we have to eliminate a lot of items in our house, eggs were NOT one of them.  THIS is the recipe that works for us.  Best yet, its a base.  Use it to create your own master piece!!!

1 1/2 cups Almond Milk (unflavored or home made)
1 cup of Coconut Milk (equal parts cream/milk)
3 Tablespoons of Raw Honey (or Agave which is not paleo)
3 egg Yolks

• Heat over medium low in a saucepan both milk products and honey until coconut cream and honey are both dissolved and fully incorporated. Mixture is hot but not boiling.
• Place egg yolks in a bowl and whisk.  
• While whisking, slowly add a ladle full of hot milk into egg and continue to whisk.
• Slowly add egg mixture into hot milk mixture in sauce pan, whisking constantly.
• Mixture will slightly thicken and coat the back of your spoon (about 5 minutes).  Using a candy thermometer make sure your custard reaches 160 degrees!!!
• Turn heat off and allow to cool.  A sink with cold water half way up sauce pan will quicken the process if need be.  Just make sure to stir.  
• Place covered in fridge until ready to use.  If you have a fine mesh strainer, pour mixture through it and into ice cream makers bowl.
• Operate machine according to your manufacturer's instructions.
• Enjoy!

Add vanilla bean, coco powder, nuts, fruits.....whatever suits you!! 

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Paleo Chocolate Almond Milk Ice Cream (Gluten Free, Casein Free and Corn Free)

Paleo Chocolate Banana Almond Milk ice cream that is!  That sounds like a mouth full I know.  Look at this picture.  Doesn't it look fudgy?

When I close my eyes and taste this ice cream it reminds me of the chocolate covered bananas that I used to enjoy as a child.  It also makes me wish I could eat peanut butter again. I think it is this ice cream's destiny is to be with peanut butter.  I think I may have to order some SunButter, which is the closest thing to peanutbutter I have tried, and give that a whirl though the ice cream in the end.

My hubby would tell me that trying to replace too many of our old sugary sweets is trying too hard to eat sugar.  LOL.  But.....EVERY childhood should include ice cream!  I LOVE my Gelato electric ice cream maker.  In 20 minutes from start to finish we could be enjoying ice cream any time we like. It is almost easier and cheaper to just toss the ingredients together rather than run out to the store (which is not so close in my neck of the woods).

There are only 4 simple ingredients, why don't you give it a whirl?  Go ahead and make it your own by changing it up!  Add almond chunks, whirl in sunbutter, heck even toss in some dark chocolate shavings!!!  You won't be sorry!

1-1/2 cups Almond Milk
2 (or 3) Tablespoon Raw Honey
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 large Ripe Banana, pureed until liquid

• In a saucepan over medium low heat, whisk almond milk, cocoa powder and honey until fully incorporated. 
• Place bananas into a food processor and puree until fully liquid. 
• Add Banana puree into the sauce pan with the cocoa mixture and stir to combine. 
• Place mixture in the ice cream maker and process for 20 to 30 minutes or until thick.
• Enjoy!

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Lemon Glazed Pound Cake

Coffee Shop Lemon Pound Cake

This recipe was actually my attempt to make a Paleo Pound Cake.  I am not sure of the lemon. The folks I served it to at home liked it, tho when I tried it I felt a modification of this recipe was in the near future.  I am not sure this recipe is done evolving but for those who tried it and waned the recipe.... here it is!

2 cups Almond Flour
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2/3 cup Raw Honey
5 Eggs
3/4 cup Almond Milk
2 Tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

6 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Raw Honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and line 9 x 9 baking dish with parchment.

• Combine first 4 ingredients into a small bowl and fully combine.
• In a food processor or stand mixer, add next 4 ingredients and fully incorporate.
• Add dry ingredients into mixer/processor and mix for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Pur into prepared dish and bake for 40 minutes or until cake passes toothpick test.
• Meanwhile combine Lemon Juice, Vanilla and Honey in small saucepan over medium low heat.
• Stir until honey is dissolved and ingredients are combined.
• Pole some holes in the cooled cake and pour glaze over top.

Note:

I ground my own almond flour for this dish and we enjoyed the little bit of a bite the freshly ground almonds gave this cake.

Inspired by:

Best Lemon Cake Ever by Paleo Table

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Paleo Lemon Bars

These lemon bars are addicting.  Our family loves the bitter sweet taste of this lemon curd.  Sweet and Sour is what my son calls them.  At first bite you think maybe its not to your liking, but once you are finished your slice you almost need to eat the whole tray!  The bottom has  bit of a coconut taste to them that reminds me a bit of Almond Joy without the chocolate!!

You may notice that this curd is a bit eggy in ingredients compared to the traditional lemon curds.  I did this because traditionally lemon curd uses a grain of some sort (wheat flour) to help with the thickening.  I was figuring extra eggs = extra thickening power. This dish does not, however, taste eggy.  I do love how the eggs bring extra protein to the party to help offset the pure sugary goodness of the honey.  Very rarely do I use more than 2 Tablespoons of honey in any dish, but this time I did for the pungent lemon's sake.  1/3'rd cup equals 5 Tablespoons!  So take small slices. ;-)

For the Lemon Curd:
6 Eggs
1/3 cup Raw Honey
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Coconut Oil

For the Bars:
1/2 c. Pecans (or walnuts)
1/2 c. Almonds
1 cup finely shredded Unsweetened Coconut
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Raw Honey
1 Tablespoon Almond Butter
1 Tablespoon Oil
1 Tablespoon Almond Milk
pinch of Salt

Grease an 8 x 12 glass dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• In a small sauce pan, place all the Lemon Curd ingredients.
• Start to whip up and combine ~ this part is done off of the heat in a cold pan.
• Place fully whipped ingredients in the sauce pan over medium-low heat.  
• Whip Constantly for approximately 15 minutes.  Sauce will start to thicken to the consistency of pudding.
• Take off heat and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile add pecans/walnuts and almonds into food processor.
• Puree until the loud clanking of the nuts subsides and the almonds look like they are just about to be butter.
• Add all remaining ingredients for the bars into a food processor.
• Puree until fully combined.
• With a spatula scoop out bar batter and spread out onto glass baking sheet.  You may need your hands for this part because batter is not easily spread!
• Bake for 15 minutes.  
• Once bars are done, take the dish out and cool.  
• Once both top and bottom are fully cooled at room temperature, scoop lemon curd onto top of bar and cover.  
• Place in refrigerator to cool for several hours.  These bars NEED to chill to set up.  

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Baked Lemon Cake with Pudding Sauce

This dessert is simply incredible!  It is light and fluffy just like you would expect from a Souffle.  In this case, like a no fail souffle.  The cake like top is light and fluffy and the custard bottom is smooth and creamy.  Since I love HOT desserts this one tops my favorites list.  Serve it right out of the oven and put some fresh cream or powdered sugar on top.  Make it in individual sized dishes for when you have company over you want to impress. 

3 Eggs, separated
1/4 plus 3/4's cup Sugar
1/3 cup Butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/4 plus 2 Tablespoons Gluten Free Flour Blend
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place your UN-buttered 2 quart round casserole dish or Souffle dish inside a 9 x 13" dish.
Boil some water.

• Beat egg whites until they are foamy.
• Add in 1/4 cup sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form (When you scrape the sides of the bowl, the egg whites will stay in formation).
• Set egg whites aside in a separate bowl.
• Add in remaining 3/4's cup sugar and butter to mixer. 
• Beat until creamy.
• Add in Lemon Juice and egg yolks and fully incorporate.  (Mine looked broken when the lemon juice was added but the cake still turned out well).
• Turn mixer to low and add the flour and salt.  Fully incorporate.
• Slowly add in milk.  Batter will be very loose.
• Put egg whites into mixing bowl and mix on very low, just until incorporated.
• Add to your dish of choice (the one you placed inside the 9 x 13" dish earlier) and place into oven.
• Add water to 9 x 13" dish about 1" up the sides.  This helps the pudding bottom. 
• Cook for 45 to 50 minutes. 

Notes:
I noticed that the higher side souffle dish helped the top not brown so much.  If you are using a starndard 2 quart casserole keep a look out for the top browning too quick.  If this happens cover it with foil whit it reaches the desired color.

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Gluten Free Gingerbread Men Cookies

These cookies are a tad soft. Not too soft though, still keeps its crisp bite.  I made 75 of these for our Cub Scouts Christmas party this year.  I was too exhausted and lacked motivation to put the decorations on it so I picked up a can of spray frosting and set it next to to the tray.  Nobody knew they were gluten free and loved the spray frosting idea.  The dough is rather sticky still and it is difficult, once the cookie was pressed into shape, to to remove the shaped cookie safely.  I ended up cutting a cookie and flipping the oiled parchment over a bit so the cookie would fall onto my hand.  Then I safely placed them on the cookie sheet. 

Make them up, take some spray cans of frosting with you to decorate them and have a cookie decorating party.  The kids will LOVE it! Happy baking!

2 1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
2 teaspoons Ginger

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, room temperature

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Molasses

1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line baking sheets with Parchment Paper.
Line Counters with Parchment Paper sprayed with Olive Oil.

• Mix dry ingredients (flour, gum, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, soda and tartar) in small bowl and set aside.
• Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg and beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.  Sometimes I skip this step, its harder to work with the dough but still do able.
• Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly oiled parchment paper.  An oiled marble rolling pin works well here.
• Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter.
• Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 9 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown.
• Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• Decorate cooled cookies as desired.
• Store cookies in airtight container up to 5 days.

Use Royal Icing Recipe here to decorate.

Notes:

1. Make sure your butter is ROOM temperature. Otherwise the resulting chunks of butter will cause a dimpled surface.
2. Make sure your dough is mixed throughly to incorporate all ingredients.
3. Dough is extremely sticky to work with. If you are skipping the refrigeration part (helps with stickiness of dough) you will either have to use lots of flour on your surface and rolling pin or use an oiled piece of wax paper to roll your dough out on.

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Our family's favorite Rice Pudding Recipe

We have made rice pudding many ways before we come upon this method.  This is our family's favorite rice pudding recipe.   It might even be our favorite dessert recipe.  We like to eat it warm and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.  I originally started making this dish with an added beaten egg at the end but the egg would thicken it so much that the rice pudding really was not very good for the next day.  And rice pudding for breakfast is AWESOME!!!  So I started leaving the egg out and just cooking it longer to thicken.

2 cups of Water
1 cup Rice
1 cinnamon Stick, broken in half
1 12-ounce can of Evaporated Milk
1 14-ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Milk (just regular old milk)
1/2 cup plump cooking raisins (Optional)
Sprinkle of Cinnamon for topping

Place water, rice and cinnamon stick in saucepan and bring to boil.
Cover and reduce to low.
Cook for 15 minutes or until water is fully absorbed.
Remove cinnamon stick pieces (if using).
Stir in milk, canned evaporated milk, canned sweetened condensed milk, raisins if using.
Bring back to a slight simmer, stirring constantly. (Note: add egg at this point if using)
Otherwise, reduce heat to low and cook until the milk mixture is slightly absorbed and thickened; about 20 minutes.
Be sure to watch the pot and stir.  Nothing worse that burnt milk on the bottom!
Sprinkle with Cinnamon before serving!


Notes:

Start this while you are making dinner and have a warm dessert ready when you finished dinner.

Cinnamon sticks can be costly.  Omit if necessary.  If I am out of cinnamon sticks I would just add a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon to the milk mixture instead.

If you are in a hurry and/or wish to try your pudding with the egg, just temper your beaten egg first with a bit of the hot rice milk (stirring fiercely).  Next stir the egg mixture back into the rice, mixing constantly and cooking for 2 minutes.

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Coconut Cream Pie

Lately I have gotten it into my head that I NEED to make a Coconut Cream Pie.  I think it has something to do with the Coconut Cream Hershey Kisses I had been eating over Easter break.  Man, are those things good.

My mom never really made deserts growing up.  My first ever real super awesome dessert experience was at Emeril's restarant!  Banana Cream Pie. How could I ever forget, its like he used magic in the recipe.  Remembering that experience, I went on over to Emeri's to see if he had a Coconut Creme Pie recipe.  Next I searched on the internet.  Most of the recipes I found had thousands of comments!   I took some time and read through the comments from all the various recipes.  I kept note of the comments, for example: use egg yolks only to thicken properly, no thats too custardy use the whole egg, 2 eggs, 5 eggs, all milk, no all milk has no flavor, all coconut milk, make your own coconut milk, use sweetened coconut, no use unsweetened coconut or it will be too sweet, use more sugar, no thats too sweet use less sugar, butter, no butter.  So many comments and decisions to make for what started out to seem like a simple recipe.

This recipe below is what I ultimately decided on, based on the thousands of comments I read though. This recipe below turned out A~W~E~S~O~M~E!  Even my super picky kids loved it. In fact my son has asked me to make this on a weekly basis now. Enjoy!

Filling:
1 8-inch Pie Crust, Baked
3/4 cup Sugar
1 14 oz. can Coconut Milk (in Asian section of supermarket)
1 cup Half and Half (liquid total should be 2-1/2 cups)
1/4 cup Arrowroot (or corn starch)
3 Egg Yolks
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Coconut Extract
1 6 ounce package of Birds Eye Fresh Frozen Coconut

Topping:
1 16 ounce Carton of Heavy Whipping Cream
3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Coconut Extract

• Add Coconut Milk and Half and Half into a measuring cup or bowl and stir to combine (coconut milk comes separated in the can and the creme part will be slightly solid.
• In a saucepan combine 3/4 cup sugar, and 2 cups of coconut milk/cream mixture. 
• Simmer on medium low until mixture is bubbling just a bit round the edges and steamy in the middle.
• Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup milk and cornstarch (or arrowroot) together until cornstarch is fully incorporated. 
• Next, whisk egg yolks with salt in medium bowl.  Make sure Bowl is big enough to whisk properly.
• Get out your 1/2 measure cup ladle ready (not plastic).
• Keep bowl and whisk ready and near the simmering saucepan, this next part is a bit tricky. 
• By now your hot milk should be ready.  Temper yolks by adding 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the yolks while whisking fast and furious with a fork or whisk.  
• Add yolk mixture back into the hot milk mixture that is currently simmering on the stove. Whisk vigorously while adding.
• Now add the milk/starch mixture into saucepan.  
• Continue to whisk vigorously over medium heat until thickened, about 2 minutes. 
• Filling will be finished cooking approximately 2 minutes or until bubbles are able to come though the mixture in the saucepan.  
• You will have to eyeball it from here but do not take it off before its thick enough. Remove from heat and add coconut. Whisk until uniformly incorporated.
• Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell. 
• To Make Topping:
• Next add whipping cream, sugar and extract in stand mixer until stiff peaks form.  Careful not to over mix.
• Cover the pie with whipped topping and place in the refrigerator. Chill the pie completely, about 2 hours.

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Other Great variations you may enjoy:

Emeril's Coconut Creme Pie Recipe @ FoodNetwork
Old Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie @ Allrecipes
How to make Coconut Cream Pie

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Gluten Free Home Made Chocolate Cake Recipe

Have you ever tried Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe as a full fledged gluten eater?  Well I have not but it was supposed to be one awesome cake.  My friend Alison from Under the Big Oak Tree told me a story of how somebody baked her this recipe once for her birthday and how good it was.  My Friend Pam says she has successfully used the recipe on the back of the cocoa powder container with Tom Sawyer's Gluten Free Flour Blend.  It was only logical then that when I went about searching to make my own Home Made Gluten Free Chocolate Cake I start with the Hershey's recipe.  I have had enough conversion mishaps to know just what changes to make.  I find the best Gluten Free recipes start out as the gluten filled ones I used to know and love.

This recipe turned out so incredibly chocolaty, it was light and moist, had a great texture and kept very well.  So without further adieu, the home made gluten free chocolate cake recipe I will use forever:

2 sticks Butter
1 cup White Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar

4 Whole Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1 cup Boiling Water
1/4 cup Chocolate Bits, chopped fine (Semi Sweet or Dark)
1 cup Sour Cream, ButterMilk or Yogurt

1/2 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
2 cups of My Preferred GF Flour Blend
   (1 cup Tapioca Starch, 3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour, 1/3 cup Potato Starch)
1/4 cup Sorghum Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Cream Butter and Sugars together until light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes.
• Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.
• Add in Cocoa Powder and mix well.
• Meanwhile mix boiling water and chocolate bits together until chocolate melts.
• Add milk to chocolate/water mixture.
• In a separate bowl mix Salt, Gum, Flours, Baking Soda and Baking Power.
• Add flour blend and Chocolate Milk into stand mixer and mix until fully incorporated.
• Pour into either Prepared 13 x 9 baking sheet, 2-8" or 2 9" baking pans, or cupcake pans lined with papers.
• Bake cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, round pans for 30 to 35 minutes, and Sheet Cake for 40 to 45 or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Frost with canned or Homemade Chocolate Frosting.

Other Great Recipes similar to this one:

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake over at Hershey's

Chocolate Cake Recipe over at Gluten Free Homemaker

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Gluten Free Birthday Cake Recipe

I was so excited to give this project a try and find out that the resulting cake was great.  LOL.  Half the sheet was gone before it cooled.  It was created out of desperation on Birthday Week where I had to make birthday cupcakes for school, for church dinner, and little chef's party of 30 something kids. Add to the mix one GIANT PEEP CAKE for Cub Scouts and you are officially out of mix.  Now add surprise visitors to the mix and a new cake recipe is born.   

Growing up a "home made" birthday cake came from a box and that was pretty darn special for us.  Most folks from our station in life purchased made cakes from the store.  My mother was a single parent who worked 3 jobs so taking the time to bake a cake was a labor of love that we really appreciated.  I'm not sure I even realized growing up that cakes could be made from "scratch" or without a boxed mix.  

I generally like to add jello or pudding to any cake mix that uses a large portion of Brown Rice Flour because I find BRF to be very grainy and unappealing.  Starchy mixes need BRF in the blend though or I find it gives off a strange taste.  This flour blend (which happens to be my favorite) is starchy enough to not need the jello or pudding but not all starch either.  If you use the pudding in this recipe, it will give your cake a very good flavor but in turn make it chewy upon refrigeration.  My whole point of creating a cake recipe was that it kept well.  I am coming to learn that not all recipes or flour blends need the gelatin. 

I gathered comments from the "wheat eaters" who fell victim to my taste testing.  Some of their comments included: good moisture and great texture.   My own personal favorite part? This cake keeps well on the counter or in the refrigerator over night.

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons) Butter
2 cups Powdered Sugar
4 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla (good quality gluten free)

1 1/2 cups Tapioca Starch *
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Brown Rice Flour *
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Potato Starch *
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder


Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray either two 9" baking pans
     or one 9x13 can pan

• Combine Butter and Powdered Sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and whip until light and fluffy and light yellow in color.
• Add one egg at a time and beat until fully incorporated.
• Mix in vanilla.
• Add Flour, Xanthan Gum, Baking Powder, Salt, and Milk and mix until fully incorporated.
• Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.

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Perfect Birthday Cake Frosting Recipe

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Shortening
1/4 cup Milk
2 teaspoons Clean Vanilla Extract
1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract
4 cups Powdered Sugar

• Whip Butter and shortening until fully combined, about 5 minutes.
• Add milk and extracts until fully combined.
• Add sugar one cup at a time and mix well until all sugar is added.

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Notes:

1. The flours I use are from Bob's Red Mill.
2. The flour blend used is the same mix that I use for the Udi's copycat bread.  I am not one to keep various different flour blends around. I pretty much develop my recipes based on this same blend, which I keep mixed up in BIG batches.

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More Gluten Free Cake Recipes and tips:

5 Tips for a Gluten Free Birthday Cake from the Kitchen

Gluten Free Yellow Cake (with mayo) from All Recipes

White Birthday Cake with Italian Meringue Icing from My Recipes*

     *This is not a GF recipe, but it is where I started 
           the basis of my own GF version.

I linked this recipe up over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

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Only the best Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin in the whole wide world....

My husband and little chef made these for me on Mothers day.  They were so good that I could not wait to tell you all about them.  Taking my first bite of this muffin was reminiscent of the ones we used to eat in the school cafeteria.  You know the ones, right?  The texture of these muffins were a bit lighter than your ordinary muffins.  It shocks me to tell you this but they did not add any Gelatin, jello or pudding to these as I usually do with baked goods.  I am surprised to say that they did not need it.   The absolute best part is they stayed fresh and soft on the counter in a ziploc for several days.  Next time I go away on a road trip, these muffins are going along with me.

4 Eggs (3 separated)
1 3/4 cups Sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, room temp.
12 oz. frozen Blueberries
3 cups gluten free Flour Blend
½ teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 cup Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 2 six slot Texas Sized Muffin Pans.

• Separate 3 Eggs.
• Place Egg Whites in stand mixer and whip until soft peaks form.
• Add ½ cup of the Sugar, continue to mix until Stiff peaks form.
• In another mixing bowl, cream butter and 1 ¼ cups of Sugar until light and fluffy.
• In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of reserved flour with blueberries.
• Combine remaining dry ingredients.
• Add vanilla, 1 egg and egg yolks to creamed butter mixture. Beat until well blended.
• Using a wire mesh strainer, sift add dry ingredients into batter along with 1 cup milk, mix until thoroughly combined. Batter should be the texture of softened and whipped cream cheese, if it is too thick, add extra milk one tablespoon at a time.
• Gently fold in whipped egg whites.
• Fold in blueberry mixture.
• Pour into prepared pans.
• Bake for 50 minutes for Texas Sized Muffins or 30 minutes for regular muffins.

Note:

These muffins use egg whites for a portion of its leavening.  Therefore, you must bake them completely (they will be medium brown in color) in order for them not to collapse.  The mid brown color will NOT affect its awesome taste.  If the dark color turns you off, use baking paper cups and use a cinnamon sugar topping.

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Check out these other Blueberry Muffin Recipes for inspiration:

Martha Stewart's Blueberry Muffin Recipe
Patti Cakes Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
King Arthur Flour's Blueberry Muffin Recipe

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Lemon Meringue Ice Box Pie

Have you seen Paula make this on Food TV?  She is awesome right?  She is most certainly not the first one to make Lemon Pie this way but she does it with southern style right?  LOL!  I love her.

My mother is a Lemon Meringue Pie traditionalist.  She wants the old fashioned Lemon Curd style pie.  Please do not put that condensed milk in her pie thankyouverymuch!!!!  LOL.  But for us, we are perfectly happy with our pies made this way.  I find it much easier to do.  So if you are coming to our house and Lemon Pie is on the menu, expect it to be this one.

Pie Filling:
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 egg yolks

Crust:
1 (8-inch) prebaked pie shell or crumb crust
     or
1 box of Lemon Cookies
4 Tablespoons Butter/Margarine, melted
4 Tablespoons Sugar

Meringue:
4 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

• If you are making your own cookie crust, puree cookies in mixer until finely ground.  
• Add melted butter and sugar until mixture stays together when pressed between your fingers.
• Dump crumb mixture into greased pie plate and press to sides.
• Bake for 10 minutes.  Take our and cool.
• Note: Use any cookie you like.  Pamela's Lemon Shortbread is nice, I have used Mi-Del Pecan or KinniKinnick has Graham Crackers that would work nicely also.  

• Next, the filling.  In medium bowl, combine milk and lemon juice
• Add in egg yolks and combine well. 
• Pour into cooled crust.

• Finally the meringue. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add egg whites and whip until soft peaks from. Soft peaks are when the eggs become white in color and when you pull beater out of eggs the egg pulls out to form a peak and then bends back over slightly.
• Add in the sugar and continue to whip until stiff. Still is the peak is able to stand up straight on its own.
• Spread over filling making sure to seal to the edge of the crust.  I actually seal mine to the pie plate itself because its difficult to do so with a cookie crumb crust sometimes.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown.

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Gluten Free Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

The idea for this cookie originated from the Gluten Version over at Betty Crocker.  I wanted to see if a cake mix would do in place of the pre-packaged cookie mix.  It did.  The tint is not really necessary but we tinted these cookies green so they would be festive for Saint Patricks Day!  That and the fact that they look and taste JUST LIKE the ice cream.  Man, were they good.  Only two made it though the night from the whole dozen and a half batch.  Now THAT is a good cookie!  I am thinking next time to add some frosting between two cookies to make a sandwich.  The best part is they taste just like a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie.  Just close your eyes and bite into the cookie and recall just how good they were!  :-)

1 box (15 ounces) Yellow or White Gluten Free Cake Mix
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Instant Jell-O Puidding
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter or Margarine, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon Mint Extract
7 drops Green Food Color
1 egg
1 cup Creme De Menthe baking chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Like Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper.

• In bowl of stand mixer, add mix, butter or margarine, extract, food coloring and egg.  
• Mix until incorporated.  Batter will still be very crumbly.
• Take bowl off mixer and continue to kneed batter with your hands until mix just starts to stay together on its own.
• Add baking chips and mix well, again with your hands.
• Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet 2 inches apart.
• Flatten balls of dough slightly.
• Bake for 11-12 minutes or until set.
• Cool 3 minutes on baking sheet.  

Recipe Inspiration: Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Recipes

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Today is Pi Day (3.14), so she let them eat Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie!

I am most certainly not a mathematician and the only reason I know its Pi day is because my dearest husband told me so!  Any excise I have to make dessert, though, I grab it!

This recipe is a cross between a Martha Stewart recipe and the one I received in my in box today from Pillsbury.

Enjoy!

Crust:
1 3/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (one pack of Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with middles removed)
3 Tablespoons Light Olive Oil

Truffle Filling
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup  plus 2 Tablespoons Whipping Cream
1 package (8 ounce) Cream Cheese
1-1/4 cups Peanut Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar

Topping:
Melted Peanut Butter
Melted Chocolate or chocolate sauce


To make the crust: Combine chocolate wafers in a food processor and pulse cookies are crumbled.  Stream in oil until crumbs appear most and old together when pressed between two fingers. Press mixture firmly into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

Meanwhile, heat 1/2 cup whipping cream over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and the vanilla until smooth. Spread filling in bottom of crust. Refrigerate while working on remaining topping.

Make the filling: in medium bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Next, beat cream cheese, confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in peanut butter.  Add the extra 2 tablespoons of cream to the mixture if it looks too stiff and crumbly.  Fold the whipped cream gently into the cream cheese/peanut butter mixture. Carefully spread over chocolate filling. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

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Gluten Free King Cake

We had a celebration last Wednesday at Church in honor of the upcoming Fat Tuesday (today).  In an attempt to copy what was being served for my daughters sake, I came up with my own version of King Cake.  I noticed that the "cake" portion of the wheat filled King Cake was thin and very cake like and was rolled up like a cinnamon bun. I would not say an actual King Cake was exactly like a cinnamon bun though since the cinnamon bun batter ends to be more dense. Considering how sticky Gluten free cake mix is, I don't think there was any way I was going to make it cake-like.  This is what I finally came up with.  It is a nice compromise between the two.  The recipe is not too bread-like, not too cake-like and has lots of cinnamon goodness!

Fresh out of the Oven!

1 cup Warm Water
2 1/4 teaspoons Yeast
3 Egg Whites
2 Tablespoons Oil
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 cups Flour Blend*
2 teaspoons Xanthan Gum
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Vinegar

Filling:
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 T Cinnamon

• Add Warm Water into measuring cup and add yeast.  Allow to sit and fluff up.
• Meanwhile add eggs to stand mixer with whip attachment.  Whip lightly.
• Add the Yeast/Water mixture, Oil, Sugar, Flour, Gum, Salt and Vinegar. 
• Whip on low until fully incorporated, scraping down sides as necessary
• Spread out a sheet of parchment paper on the counter top (about 14 x 18 piece) and spray with oil.
• Spread batter out as thinly as possible to form a rectangle.  
• Evenly distribute Brown Sugar and Cinnamon.
• If you are adding an additional jelly filling as traditionally found in king cakes add it in a straight "thin" line along long side of roll.  
• Using parchment roll up jelly roll style starting at jelly lined edge.
• seal as well as you can and make sure seam side is down.
• Connect ends together to form a circle.
• Place on Parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
• Fully cool and frost with vanilla frosting. 
• Sprinkle with green/ yellow / purple sugar sprinkles.

My preferred Flour Blend:
4 parts Tapioca Starch
2 parts Brown Rice Flour
1 part Potato Starch

I will be sharing this with:
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
Gluten Free Wednesdays

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Gluten Free Shortbread Cookies

I remember well how much my daughter loved those Shortbread cookies you would buy at Walmart.  You know the ones immediately to your right as you walked though the threshold.  Those cookies would torment her when we first went Gluten Free.  She would often ask me to make them for her.  I promised her when she first went gluten free that I would copy anything she missed and a deal is a deal!  Right?

These wonderful little cookies melt in your mouth just like a good shortbread cookie should.  They also keep the same exact shape you cut them into which makes them a great candidate for a royal icing decorated birthday cookie.  I brought them into her class one day and the children LOVED them!  They were a real hit.  Im am sure your family will love them as well! ;-)

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, Room Temp
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups Flour Blend
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

• Beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute, do not over mix).
• Beat in the egg and vanilla (just a quick spin until egg is incorporated).
• Gently hand stir in the flour, salt and gum (mix until just incorporated).
• Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour.

Once Chilled:

• On a lightly floured surface or between to sheets of oiled plastic wrap, roll out dough into a 1/2 inch thick circle.
• Cut out into desired shape using a cookie cutter dipped in flour.
• Place onto parchment lined baking sheet and place into refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Take out of refrigerator and place into preheated oven.
• Bake for 15 minutes (cookies will not brown).
• Cool completely on wire wrack.
• Top with frosting or Royal Icing.
• Enjoy!

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