Rhubarb Cookies

It took me a couple tries to get these cookies just right. The first time I tried them they were dry but this time was perfection. These cookies aren't too sweet and the tart from the rhubarb is a nice surprise. They are a hit in my house and if you like rhubarb they are worth a try.



Rhubarb Cookies
Adapted from Allrecipes


1 C shortening
1 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
3 C GF flour*
1 t xanthan gum
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C diced rhubarb
1/2 C shredded coconut


Preheat your oven to 350 F.

In a mixing bowl cream together the shortening and brown sugar. Add the eggs beating well. In a seperate bowl sift together the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

Add the rhubarb and coconut and mix well. On a greased baking sheet scoop the dough about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are starting to brown. Allow to cool for a couple minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

*For the flour I used Jill's mix at Hey That Tastes Good. 1 C white rice flour, 1 C brown rice flour, 1/3 C tapioca starch, 2/3 C potato starch.



You can stop right here and enjoy these delicious cookies after they've cooled or you can take it one step further and frost these babies.



Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz cream cheese, use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese if you're DF

1 T butter, use Earth Balance if you're DF

3 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1 drop red food coloring

In a bowl beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and food coloring. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Spread on top of the cookies and enjoy!

Again with the spacing issues! What is wrong wigh Blogger?

Creamy White Frosting - Dairy Free

Another birthday party passed through my house this weekend and I can finally relax a little bit. The next cake isn't needed until August 15th. I was originally going to make my favorite chocolate cake and try it dairy free but the cake I was making suggested to use a white cake mix and I figured I better follow the directions to keep the color of the cupcake liners bright. This prompted me to take a gluten recipe and convert it to GF/DF. It tasted really good but it was chewy. I didn't care for the texture though everyone seemed to love it so it wasn't a total fail at least. The two things I was really happy with were my frosting and how cute the cake turned out.






Creamy White Frosting GF/DF
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

1 C shortening, I used Spectrum
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
4 1/2 C powdered sugar
3-4 T rice milk (regular milk or another DF milk will work also)

Beat the shortening, vanilla, and almond extracts on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add half the sugar and beat well then add 2T milk until incorporated. Add the remaining sugar beating well again then add enough milk to reach your desired spreading consistency. I used all 4 T but start with 3T to ensure you don't over do it.

The cake my girl picked out came from the Hello, Cupcake! book. It's the Big Birthday Cake design. It was easier to put together than I expected and the candies on top made for a nice treat when eating the cupcakes. The bottom layer has 17 cupcakes (I could only get 16 to fit), then 8, 5, 3, and 1 for the remaining layers. I used Skittles and Runts for the candies since I needed to avoid chocolate candies to keep things dairy free. The only thing I omitted was the pirouette cookies the book had for candles. I couldn't find GF pirouette cookies so I made some but I didn't really have room for them once the cake was put together. The layer everyone wanted was the yellow one, if I did this again I think I'd do that layer in the middle so more people could enjoy the banana Runts.

Frosted Cake Brownies, Gluten Free

This is my second brownie recipe and because it’s more of a cake brownie, and I’m a fudgy brownie kind of girl, it wasn’t my favorite. Hubby agreed it wasn’t his favorite either. That’s not to say these are bad because they aren’t and I had a girls night in where they were all devoured by gluten eaters. If you like cakey brownies then these are a good one to try. I felt they needed a fudge frosting and it was a good combo.

Gluten-Free Brownies
Adapted from the Gluten Free Homemaker

¾ C butter
½ C cocoa powder
¾ C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 1/3 C GF flour mix (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut blend)
½ t baking powder
¼ t salt
1 t xanthan gum
1 C GF chocolate chips

In a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat and stir in the cocoa. Remove from heat and add the sugars, use a wooden spoon to mix. Stir in the vanilla the add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Add to the saucepan and stir until the flour is moistened. Add the chocolate chips.

Spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 min at 350 F.

No-cook fudge frosting
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

2 C powdered sugar
¼ C cocoa powder
¼ C butter, softened
Half a 1/3 C boiling water, or more for consistency change
1 t vanilla

Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Add the butter, boiling water, and vanilla. Beat until combined and add more water if needed to reach a nice spreading consistency.


Hubby received his blood test results and he is not Celiac so that’s great news. He and his doctor agree that he is sensitive to gluten at the very least but at least we know it won’t slowly kill him. Last week he had an allergy skin patch test done to see if he’s allergic to different chemicals. Turns out he’s allergic to lanolin oil so I spent the weekend removing all the wool from the closet. I’m assuming there’s a lanolin derivative in the tape they used because he, like always, broke out horribly from the tape. I think it’s time we found a tape he can safely use.

Gluten Free Molasses Cookies

I have been fretting about turning our Christmas molasses cookie recipe gluten free. I’ve never swapped a cookie recipe on my own and there’s no way we could have Christmas without these cookies so I didn’t have an option. The kids were sick this weekend (again) so I had some extra time at home while we tried to not share our germs and figured it was perfect to try my hand at turning my recipe GF. I did some reading and comparing of cookie recipes I love and came up with a plan. I didn’t expect them to turn out but I was pleasantly surprised that they did. I tried variations in rolling them out and in bake times and below is what I found to work the best. These cookies are soft and yummy and the frosting is a must. The taste is great but they have a tendency to be a bit flaky and cake-like, it’s odd but the frosting helps to distract from its flakiness. I’ve subjected my co-workers to sample the cookies so I can get an objective opinion and the only comment has been that they’re very airy and light and not really like a cookie. My family is happy with them so I guess that’s what matters.

Becky’s Molasses Cookies
Adapted from my Mother-in-laws recipe

1 C molasses
1 C shortening (I used Spectrum)
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
3 ¼ C + 1/3 C GF flour (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut flour)
1 ¼ t xanthan gum
1 T baking soda dissolved in ¾ C boiling water
1 T cinnamon
1 T cloves
1 T ginger
½ t salt

Sift or whisk together your flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. Cream together the molasses, shortening, and brown sugar. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and baking soda mixture alternately in three batches starting with the flour. My mixer likes to splash the water mixture so start slow and be careful! Once it’s well mixed put it in the refrigerator overnight to chill.

Once the dough is chilled you can roll it out and cut shapes into it. Preheat your oven to 350 F, I used my convection option so I set the temperature to 325 F. Tear two 15 inch lengths of wax paper and take some of your GF flour and sprinkle it on one length of the wax paper. Put about 1/5th of the dough on the floured paper and then cover it with the second length of wax paper. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/8th inch in thickness then take a cookie cutter and cut out your desired shapes arranging them on a cookie sheet. These fluff up and don’t spread so you can squeeze quite a few on one sheet. I found it easiest to pin one end of the wax paper between my body and the counter top to hold it still while I rolled the dough out. Bake for 9-10 minutes and allow the cookies to cool before removing them from the cookie sheet.

Butter Frosting

2 ½ T softened butter
1 ½ C confectioners sugar
1 ½ T cream
¾ t vanilla

Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the cream and vanilla until smooth and it has reached your desired consistency. I find that I always need to add more cream to get it to the consistency I want.

Frost your cookies and enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Hubby’s birthday was a couple weekends ago so of course I had to make another cake. I saw this delicious masterpiece at Smitten Kitchen and had to give it a try. It is sinful. Just as a warning if you aren’t into that kind of stuff. This is by far the moistest GF cake I’ve ever had, we’re still snacking on it 5 days later and it hasn’t dried out at all. I think this may be my new go-to cake. I didn’t add the chocolate-peanut butter glaze because I ran out of time but I imagine it just makes it even more sinful.

Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 C GF flour mix (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut Blend)
1 t xanthan gum
1 ½ C sugar
¾ C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 C olive oil
1 C sour cream
1 ½ C water
2 T white vinegar
1 t vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease three 8 inch round cake pans or 1 large cake pan.

Sift the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add the oil and sour cream to the flour mixture then gradually beat in the water. Mix in the vinegar and vanilla until combined. Add in the eggs and mix well scraping down the sides of the bowl. Spread an equal amount of batter into each cake pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow them to cool in the pans before removing.

Peanut Butter Frosting

10 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
5 C powdered sugar
1/3 C peanut butter

Beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time scraping down the sides and mixing well after each addition. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy then add the peanut butter and mix until blended.

Put the layer cake together using frosting to “glue” the layers together. Frost the sides and top of the cake and enjoy!

Take Smitten Kitchen’s advice and serve it in thin slices with a glass of milk.

Don’t you like my wrecktastic writing? Hubby loves the “I want sprinkles” cake on Cake Wrecks so I had to indulge him.

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix Review

I know two posts in one day isn’t my norm but I have so many things to post about, I’ve been a baking machine. Plus I have really exciting news on a restaurant in Bozeman BUT I first need to figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto my computer. Hubby is on the case so I’m sure it won’t take long to figure out.

My sons 3rd birthday was on the 1st and I had to send him to day care with cupcakes so he could have a little party. This was my chance to try out Betty Crocker’s chocolate cake and I liked this one also, two out of three is a pretty good record in my book. It’s easy, it tastes great, and there’s no grittiness at all. I think the mix doesn’t make as big of a cake as a gluten mix would so be sure to check the box if you have a minimum size cake to make. Here are some delicious pictures of the cupcakes. I used my butter cream frosting and was able to use my Pampered Chef Decorator again, I love that thing!

I filled the cupcakes with some frosting because you can't do much better than a filled cupcake.

This pictures makes my mouth drool everytime I see it.

Gluten Free Lazy Town Topsy-Turvy Cake

My son’s 3rd birthday party was on Saturday and I always over-do myself on birthdays, especially the cakes. I think it’s because when I remember back to my birthdays my favorite memories were the cakes my mom would make. Knowing she’d let me pick out the one I wanted and would then make it for me was such a nice treat. My son loves Lazy Town, if you don’t have young children and don’t watch Noggin you probably have no idea what I’m talking about so Goggle it, and we decided to go with that for the theme. The Lazy Town themed cake had me stumped for awhile and then I thought of the Swiped Sweets episode. The kids make a cake for Bessie’s birthday and it gets swiped by Robbie Rotten, how perfect if I could make a cake like Bessie’s for my son. It’s not exact of course but its close enough and to add to the fun it’s a topsy-turvy cake. It was actually easier than I expected so you should give it a try some day.

I followed the instructions at Cakes by Rosa for making my two tiered cake adjusting a few things here and there. I first made three 8 inch, two 6 inch, and one 4 inch cake. I made these a few nights before the party and put them in the freezer until I was ready to “build” the cake. I think working with them while they were slightly frozen was helpful and didn’t make it feel flimsy. I used the Chocolate Cake recipe from Jill at Hey, that tastes good! and it turned out fantastic, so delicious and not crumbly at all.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

2 C gluten free flour mix (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Coconut Mix)
1 t xanthan gum
2/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ t baking soda
½ t salt
12 T softened butter
2 C brown sugar
4 eggs
4 T vanilla
1 C milk

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour two 8” round pans or one 9”x13” pan, that’s if you aren’t going for a topsy-turvy cake. Sift together the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Cream the butter and brown sugar until a little fluffy then beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mix and milk alternately starting and ending with the flour. Pour into your pan(s) and bake 40-45 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow it to cool before putting it in the freezer or frosting it.

For my three 8” cakes I made 1.5 of this batter and for the two 6” and one 4” I also made 1.5 of this batter, it worked fine for me.

To build the cake take the three small cakes and stack them with the two 6” cakes on the bottom. Take a serrated knife and trim/carve the sides down to give them a tapered look. I placed the stack on wax paper and used that to turn my cake easily while I was carving. Once things are tapered turn the whole stack upside down (or upside backwards as my son likes to say). Take the now top cake, which should be the largest cake in this stack, and carefully slice it diagonally. You will slice from the top of one side diagonally down to the bottom of the other side. Take the sliced top and turn its thicker portion so it is on top of the thicker portion of the bottom piece. Make sense? I sure hope so! Take some delicious butter cream frosting and put it between each layer to help hold them together. Do any additional carving needed to clean it up. For the bottom stack you will repeat what you did with the top stack but use the three 8” cakes.

If you’re going to use fondant you want to look at the directions that Rosa has on her page, I chose not to use fondant so I differed here. You will need to cut out a shelf in the bottom layer for the top layer to sit on. I took the 4” cake pan and put it on top of the bottom layer and used my knife to cut around the pan. I then cut out a wedge of cake so my top layer could sit flat. I put butter cream frosting on the bottom and up the side of the shelf then placed my top layer on the shelf.

Butter Cream Frosting (from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book)

1/3 C softened butter
4 C powdered sugar
¼ C milk
1 ½ t vanilla

Beat the butter until its fluffy then gradually add 2 cups of the sugar beating well. Slowly beat in the milk and vanilla then add the remaining sugar and beat on high for 3-5 minutes or until its fluffy. If needed you can add more milk to reach a better spreading consistency. This amount will frost the tops and sides of two 8”-9” layers.

Before frosting my cake I took my basting brush and swept the extra bits of loose cake off the cake surface. This helped with frosting so those crumbs don’t get caught up and show through (I hate that). I made the frosting a light blue and covered the entire cake then I made another batch of frosting leaving that white for the edging. I was so happy to finally use my new Pampered Chef Decorator. Dum Dums were used for the lollipop decorations. A few notes because this was not perfect. As I was frosting the cake my top piece decided to start falling. I luckily caught it (and a handful of frosting) and had to put two kabob skewers through the cake from the top down making an X. This held it together really well and no one had any idea, until I told them. My second note of advice is about the Dum Dums. I didn’t realize that as they sit out of their wrapper they will absorb the moisture in the air and start to drip so I had a few drips on my cake. Just be sure to put those on right before you’re ready to show the cake so you don’t have any issues.

The cake was really delicious and everyone seemed to like it a lot, I was very happy with the results.