recipes

Back to mixed basics: Chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies

Chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies
Standard

I had some oats and some peanut butter I wanted to finish. Instead of making different cookies, I whipped them all together in one cookie – the chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookie.

You can make some too.

Recipe
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup oats

Preheat the oven to 180C. Form dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Pumpkin cupcakes stuffed with Rolo candy

Standard

What could be better than stuffing things inside a cupcake? I mean, really. A cupcake is like a dream come true for a lot of people… or at least something that gives them a tiny bit of a joy when they unexpectedly get one on a Monday morning. When I stumbled on the Bake It in a Cake blog a few years ago, it was like a revelation to me, “Wow! I never thought of shoving THAT into a cupcake.” And the creativity stirred all on its own until I was doing all kinds of out-there experiments with stuffed cupcakes and cookies.

All of that has been on the backburner this year, but as Halloween came around, I remembered the recipe for pumpkin cupcakes filled with Rolo candies, frosted with spiced-apple-cider icing.

I had to made a few modifications:

  1. In the original Bake It in a Cake recipe, the pumpkin cake part is just cake with pumpkin in it, and I still wanted it to be pumpkin spice, so I used an entirely different cake recipe.
  2. Also Rolo candy is not that common here. Usually I substitute with Norwegian Smil candy, but this time I had Swedish Center candy, which is actually better than Smil, so I might make the switch entirely (except that Smil is sold in big bulk packages at the crazy border shopping centers).

    Swedish Center candy - like Rolo only better

    Swedish Center candy – like Rolo only better

  3. I don’t like (and don’t like making) normal buttercream frosting, which also seems awfully grainy to me. I made Swiss meringue buttercream (follow the same recipe as in the fauxstess cupcake recipe but instead of vanilla, add two or three packages of powdered instant apple cider mix).
IMG_1732

Gingersnap base of the pumpkin cupcake

IMG_1735

Pumpkin cake batter, Center/Rolo pressed in the middle

IMG_1736

Pumpkin cupcake frosted with spiced apple cider icing and topped with Halloween sprinkles

IMG_1737

Pumpkin cupcake cut in half! See the Rolo in there?

Gluten-free pumpkin cream cheese muffins

Standard

Made some pumpkin muffins using coconut flour – turned out well. 🙂 Gluten-free, paleo, and yummy.

photo 1 photo 2 photo 3

How?
3/4 cups coconut flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cups maple syrup
6 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 175C. Line a cupcake pan with liners.

Mix all ingredients together. Put the mixture into the liners (2/3 full).

Cream cheese filling
About 1/3 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar

Mix cream cheese and sugar together.

Make small indentations in the pumpkin mixture and add dollops of cream cheese filling – you can swirl it in slightly if you want a bigger mixture.

Put the muffins in the oven. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, remove from pan and cool completely before serving.

Gluten-free banana cream cheesecake

Standard
gluten-free banana cheesecake

gluten-free banana cheesecake

I’ve said it before and will say it again: gluten-free baking is best when you are making recipes that were created gluten-free from the outset. In this case, cheesecake filling is gluten-free on its own. And crust choice is really flexible enough to choose what you want.

Recently I decided to make some banana cream cheesecake and made an almond-flour and cocoa-based crust. (I had a lot of leftover filling and made a separate cheesecake using a graham cracker and cinnamon crust.)

Knowing that this was highly appreciated, I will – as usual – share my recipe:

gluten-free banana cheesecake

gluten-free banana cheesecake

Gluten-free almond meal and cocoa crust
1 ¼ cups almond meal or finely ground almonds
3 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup cocoa
¼ cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients together and press into a springform pan (a 10-inch pan would be suitable; I used two miniature springforms). Wrap the springform in foil to prevent leakage.

Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Cream cheese and banana filling
680 grams softened cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 eggs
¾ cup mashed banana (3 to 4 well-ripened or overripe bananas)
½ cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat cream cheese for a few minutes until creamy. Beat in sugar and cornstarch. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat in the mashed bananas, whipping cream and vanilla.

Pour filling mixture into the prepared crust. Put the pan on a cookie/baking sheet and bake in a 350F/175C oven for 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 200F/93C and bake for 75 minutes, until center is almost set.

Allow the cake to cool completely in its pan before removing the springform rim. Before removing the pan, run hot water over a knife and slide the hot knife around the edge of the cake to separate the cake from the pan cleanly.

Refrigerate the cake, uncovered, for at least 7 hours, although overnight is most effective.

gluten-free banana cheesecake

gluten-free banana cheesecake