Peanut Butter Cup Pie

This is one of the recipes I taught at our class last night. As anyone who really loves me (and was therefore at my class) will tell you, it was FABULOUS. The strawberry pie was also really good . . . but you'll have to wait for another week or so before I post that one. Don't you wish you'd been at Macey's with me last night?

Peanut Butter Cup Pie

1 c. gluten free oreo cookie dough
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
½ - ¾ c. sugar*
1 - 1 ½ c. heavy cream
1 Tbs. Mrs. Richardson's Fudge sauce**
peanut butter cups (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Press cookie dough evenly into a 9" pie plate, covering the bottom and the sides. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until the cookie dough doesn't smoosh under your fingers when lightly touched. Remove from oven and cool thoroughly.

Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, cream together cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla, and sugar until smooth. Add cream and whisk on high speed until the mixture thickens and gets kind of fluffy. (This only takes about a minute with my mixer, but it's a really good one.)

Spread filling into cooled crust. Drizzle with warmed fudge sauce (I put it in a sandwich bag and microwave it for 5 seconds, then poke a hole in the bag with a toothpick and squeeze lines of fudge sauce over the pie). Garnish with chopped peanut butter cups.

Serve.

*If you’ve got a big sweet tooth, use the larger amount of sugar.

**I have this in my fridge all the time, which is why I used it in this recipe. You can use Hershey's syrup if you want, but I won't guarantee that it will taste as good!

Lemon Cake

I was going to post a picture of this cake and after it was all baked and beautifully glazed. I went and grabbed my camera only to discover that it's batteries were dead. No problem, I'd use the camera feature on my video camera . . also dead. I still wasn't worried cause I had my old digital camera. Dead as well.

I tried to persuade my children not to touch the cake until the batteries on one of the cameras had charged, but the next time I turned around a huge piece was missing. So, I threw my hands up into the air and we all ate cake. I guess if you want to see a picture of the cake, you have to make it and take it with your camera . . unless it's battery is dead as well? Enjoy! –Kirsti

Lemon Cake

¾ c. butter
3 eggs
2 c. Featherlight mix
½ c. GF mix
1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 (3.4 oz.) pkg. lemon instant pudding mix
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 ¼ c. milk

Icing:
4 c. confectioners’ sugar
½ c. butter
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. milk

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9x13 sheet cake pan.

Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temp for 30 minutes. Combine flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Using a mixer, cream butter, sugar, and pudding mix for 2 to 3 minutes on high speed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mix and milk, ending with flour. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

While the cake is baking, combine all the icing ingredients and mix well. As soon as you pull the cake out from the oven, take a fork and poke holes all over the top of the cake. Immediately ice the cake while it is still warm, so that the icing melts and turns into a glaze.

Cool and serve with whipped cream.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

Okay, I admit it. I don't blog as frequently as I should. And the only reason we've been posting a recipe a week so far this year is because Kirsti is really good at making me feel motivated. So I will readily admit to cheating a little bit and posting two recipes (which actually belong together) as separate posts. I excuse myself to myself on the grounds that someone else might be looking for this frosting recipe for use on a different cake than the one that I used it on, so it really is justifiable to pretend that I've written two distinct posts this week. Right? Right??

Hey! Is anyone even listening to me? *sigh*

Coconut Pecan Frosting

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. evaporated milk
1 c. brown sugar
2 c. coconut
1 c. chopped pecans

Heat butter and evaporated milk over medium high heat until butter melts. Turn off heat. Add brown sugar and stir until the sugar crystals are mostly all dissolved. (The mixture shouldn't feel gritty when you you stick a finger into it.) (Not that I am suggesting that you should stick a finger into it . . . at least, not while it's still really hot, and definitely not while anyone else is looking.)

Add coconut and chopped pecans. Mix well. Stick it in the fridge to cool completely. Stir again before covering your cake with it.

Oh, and you might want to double the recipe. One recipe is just enough to cover a 9x13" cake. But who doesn't need leftovers of this, huh?

Coconut Cream Cake

Yesterday we decided to celebrate the (tentative) arrival of spring weather by having some neighborhood friends over for a Dessert Night. There were 19 kids around the swingset having a good time, and the party didn't break up until my barefoot toes began to freeze and the several of the kids began (literally) howling at an imaginary moon. (It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get to that point, but it was fun while it lasted, anyway!)

I made a Peanut Butter Cup Pie and this Coconut Cream cake, neither of which survived the evening. I guess they must have been as good as I thought they were!

Coconut Cream Cake

¾ c. butter, softened
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 (3.4 oz.) pkg. instant coconut cream pudding mix*
2 c. Featherlight mix
½ c. GF mix
1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 ¼ c. milk

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9x13" cake pan.

Cream together butter, sugar, and dry pudding mix. Add all dry ingredients and mix together with a stand mixer until it resembles small crumbs. (This might work with a hand mixer . . . I just don't know because I haven't tried it.) Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed for about 3 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely. Top with Coconut Pecan Frosting (which I have posted in a separate post, so as to make myself feel more productive).

Cornbread

It's been one of those weeks, so this post is coming out on Tuesday instead of Monday. But it's still yummy! - Betsy

Cornbread

1 c. corn meal
1 c. Featherlight flour mix
½ tsp. xanthan gum
2 - 4 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 c. milk
¼ c. oil
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425º.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, oil, and eggs. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Beat on high speed approximately 1 minute (until it’s well blended). Pour batter into a well greased 8x8 or 9x13 pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes for an 8x8 pan or 12-15 minutes for a 9x13 pan.

Biscuit Coffee Cakes

When I was in 6th grade, I took a couple of cooking classes. Those classes taught me a number of important things. First of all, never never never cook with expired clams. Secondly, seaweed is a comestible (I refuse to call it food) that I do not want to eat again. Finally, refrigerator biscuits dipped in butter and brown sugar taste really good.

While gluten free refrigerator biscuits do not, to my knowledge, exist, the good news is that I have found a gluten free biscuit recipe that I love and which works just as well. My sister and her husband created this recipe after she discovered that she is allergic to rice. Until I tasted these, I had resigned myself to the fact that I was always going to hate gluten free biscuits. They never had the right texture or flavor, and I had mostly given up trying. Since my sister shared these with me, though, I've begun to make biscuits about once a week. They're not only quick and easy, but they taste wonderful!

Mette's Oat Biscuits (and Betsy's Biscuit Coffee Cakes)

1 1/2 c. GF Oat Flour*
1 c. cornstarch
3/4 c. tapioca starch
1/4 c. potato starch
2 Tbs. potato flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
6 Tbs. butter flavored shortening
6 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 1/4 c. milk (or dairy free substitute)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shortening and butter. Mix on medium speed until shortening is blended in. (Mixture will look like small crumbs.) Add milk. Mix until well combined. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Gather dough into a ball.**

Press some of the biscuit dough out on a flat piece of parchment paper (or a lightly floured*** surface) about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Cut with a biscuit cutter. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until doubled in size and lightly browned.

To make Biscuit Coffee Cakes, cut out biscuits as directed above. Dip both sides of each biscuit in melted butter. Place each biscuit face down in brown sugar, then place the biscuits brown-sugar-side up on a baking sheet or pie plate. (The biscuits may be placed touching each other or with space between them.) Bake for about 15 minutes.


*I make this at home by taking my gluten free oats (which cost $3.00 a pound, unfortunately) and grinding them finely in a blender. I really like them to be ground very finely, but you can leave some slightly larger bits if you'd like.

**These biscuits taste best fresh, but the unused dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. So place leftover dough in a Ziploc bag, seal it tightly, throw it in your fridge, and make biscuits in moments any day of the week. Refrigerator biscuits ahoy!

***I'd use featherlight mix or cornstarch. Well, actually, I'd use parchment paper cause it's really easy to clean up, but I think that featherlight or cornstarch would work the best if you want to choose the "lightly floured surface" route.

Lettuce Wraps

After trying these at PF Chang’s, I knew I had to be able to make this particular dish at home.– Kirsti

4 Tbs. soy sauce
4 Tbs. brown sugar
½ tsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbs. oil
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 c. water chestnuts (optional)
1 ½ c. diced mushrooms
1–2 celery stalks, minced
6 Tbs. diced sweet onions
2 tsp. minced garlic
5–10 iceberg lettuce leaves

Sauce
¼ c. sugar
½ c. water
2 Tbs. soy sauce
¾ Tbs. rice vinegar
2 Tbs. ketchup
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. sriracha sauce*


Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil on medium high. Sauté chicken breasts 4–5 minutes per side or until done. Remove pan from the heat and allow chicken to cool. As the chicken cools, mince water chestnuts, mushrooms, celery, and onion to the size of small peas. When cooled, mince chicken to the same size.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, if needed. Return pan to medium-high heat and stir-fry the chicken and vegetables, adding the soy sauce mixture after about 1 minute.

In a small saucepan, mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Heat the sauce just until it boils. Turn off heat. Add ½ the sauce to the chicken mixture.** Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve the chicken mixture wrapped in lettuce leaves with the remaining sauce on the side.

*This is a hot sauce that I buy from Gifts of Nature (online). You can use another type of hot sauce if you like.

** If desired, you can mix all of the sauce directly into the chicken mixture.