How About a Weekend Brunch?

Well, its the weekend again. You want to know one of my favorite parts about the weekend? It's the lazy mornings. And do you want to know what goes well with lazy mornings? Brunch.

Here is a beautiful brunch recipe. An Oven Pancake, or a German Pancake or a Dutch Baby- whatever you call it, it's yummy! This one has apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar. And its easier than pancakes because you don't have to stand over the stove or griddle while everyone else is enjoying their breakfast.

So I suggest that you try this either Saturday or Sunday or tomorrow if you are like me and your weekends start on Fridays.

Apple Oven Pancake

Ingredients:

2 apples (preferably tart)- peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup gluten-free self rising baking mix

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

3/4 cup rice milk

3 tablespoons butter

Quick Note: You can also make your own baking mix by adding flour, xanthum gum, and baking powder

Before you begin, set the oven to 425 degrees F.

Now, the first step is peeling and slicing up the apples. Once they are all sliced up mix them with the cinnamon and brown sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Toss it all around until all of the apples are well coated.

Next, take the dish you are going to prep it in (either a medium-small baking dish or a pie plate or a cast-iron skillet) and put 2 tablespoons of butter in it. Now place the dish in the oven while the oven continues to preheat so that the butter melts.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt, then add in the eggs, milk, and remaining butter.

Take the dish out of the oven (making sure the butter is completely melted) and swirl it around so that the butter is coating the entire bottom of the pan.

Now put the apple and cinnamon sugar mixture into the dish and spread it out evenly. Pour the batter over top and place back into the oven.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the pancake is puffed up and golden.

Straight Outta the Oven

Here's the most difficult part- wait to cool a bit before serving. But then comes the best part- slice it up and serve it with syrup, or more fruit, or powdered sugar- pick your poison. This serves about 4 people if you serve it alongside some fresh fruit or some other breakfast side.

They say the color red makes you hungry. Is it working?

Happy Weekend!!! And feel free to share what your cooking this weekend in the comment section.

As for me... I'm heading to Wales tomorrow to explore one of my many homelands (I think ) :)

Pie Kick Continues Blueberry Style

So, when trying to figure out a gluten-free pie crust recipe, I made a little too much dough. That is part of the reason I have been on a pie kick recently. The other part is that I love pie and I love making pie. Does anyone else feel like pies are just filled with love? If you bake someone a pie, I feel like it just conveys love. More than any other food. I don't know why but thats what I feel about pie (I just created poetry).

I had one half of a pie crust recipe left, meaning I needed an open-faced pie recipe. When searching through my recipe files on my computer I found a recipe for an open-faced blueberry pie that my mom's friend (and I would say my friend) Myra sent me. Its incredibly simple and requires very few ingredients. I am also anxious to try this same recipe with strawberries or raspberries. I wonder if it would work?

When I told Myra that I made the pie she told me that she has started melting about 4 ounces of almond bark and drizzling it over the crust before filling it. Sadly I didn't do this but it sounds incredible, so I encourage you all to try it.

Alright, down to the point. Here is the recipe:

*Just a warning I filled a deep dish 91/2 inch pie plate. So, its a big pie. If you are using a smaller pie plate you may not need all of the filling.

Open-faced Blueberry Pie

Ingredients

1/2 recipe Basic Gluten and Dairy Free Pie Crust

1 egg white, lightly beaten

8 cups blueberries

1 cup water

4 tablespoons cornstarch

4 tablespoons water

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

pinch of salt

Roll out the pie crust and place it in the pie plate. Crimp the edges any way you like to make it look pretty. For this pie you pre-bake the crust, so place parchment paper inside the plate on top of the crust, including the edges. Fill the plate with dried rice or beans for weight. Bake the crust with weights at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, remove the weights and parchment paper. Prick the crust with a fork all along the bottom and sides. Put back into the oven for 5-10 more minutes, checking after 3 to prick any bubbles that may be forming. When the crust is baked and golden, remove and let cool for a few minutes before filling. After 3 minutes, brush the crust with the egg white.

Isn't that crust just beautiful?

To make the filling...

Take two cups of the blueberries and put them in a medium saucepan with 1 cup of water. Cover the pan and bring it to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 4 tablespoons of water and set it to the side.

When the water and blueberries come to a boil, lower the heat and keep the mixture at a simmer, stirring constantly for about 3-4 minutes or until the blueberries start to burst and juices begin to thicken. Continuing to stir constantly, add in the cornstarch mixture, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Once mixed together, simmer for a minute until the mixture becomes translucent.

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 6 cups of blueberries. Spoon this mixture into the baked pie crust then let it sit for at least 2 hours so that the filling can thicken and set. And when its done setting you will have a beautiful pie that will probably turn your lips purple :)

Purple is my favorite color. Just another reason I love this pie.

And this is all that was left at the end of the night...

PS: I don't know if you noticed but its 4:15 AM here. I cannot sleep. This does not bode well for my productivity or attention span tomorrow.

Good Ole American Apple Pie

I have a confession to make. These past few recipes I made a couple weeks ago when I was home. I was cooking so much and wanted to share so many of the recipes but didn't want to throw them all at you at once. So I stockpiled. Don't hate me for it, but trust me you don't want what I have been cooking in my new London home just yet. I have been so preoccupied with getting settled that I've been living off of microwave meals and toast. And jet lag hasn't helped. My eating times are way off. I can't seem to shake it. I know I need to stop napping but with only 3 hours of sleep at night its almost impossible not to. Oh well, I will figure it out soon enough.

Until then, I will give you a really American recipe: Apple Pie. But to make it a little relevant I have researched (via wikipedia like all good college students do) the history of apple pie. It turns out that Americans have been making pie since the 18th century. But do you want to know how long the Brits have been making it? Since about 1381 in which the ingredients listed were "good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears"

Somewhere along the way, however, apple pie became an American tradition. Some people claim that in prohibition times, the Apple Marketing Board of New York State was hurting from the lack of cider production so they started slogans such as "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "as American as apple pie."

Also, during WWII the stock answer for soldiers as to why they were going into the war was "for mom and apple pie" and Chevrolet used the phrase "baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet" to appeal to patriotism.

Interesting how a traditional English food was made into a sign of American patriotism huh? But I guess England was our mother country so a lot of our culture has been adapted from them. And it seems that when it comes to apple pie we may have outdone their recipe. A couple of my friends had apple pie at an English cafe and took one bite and scooted it to the side. Here is a pie that follows the American pie tradition and I don't believe would ever be scooted to the side:

Classic American Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe Basic Gluten and Dairy Free Pie Crust

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vegan butter

1 tablespoon cinnamon

6 tart Granny Smith apples, sliced and peeled

Non-dairy milk and sugar for dusting

First preheat the oven to 450 degrees F as it might take the oven awhile to reach this temperature.

Now roll out the dough. I think I mention all of this in the pie crust recipe post, but there are a few things to keep in mind when rolling out the dough. First, you can do it one of two main ways. (1) the old school way with a large surface and everything floured or (2) between two pieces of parchment paper. I have found that sometimes the dough still sticks to the parchment paper however. So it is not a full-proof method at least for me. I generally use the old-school way. Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes it is hard to get the crust into the pie plate in all one piece. Don't worry you can patch it together in the pie plate. There is no gluten, so you cannot overwork the dough. I had to patch mine together and in the end it still looked and tasted good. Also, once you have rolled out the bottom pie crust put the other half back into the fridge while you assemble the rest of the pie to keep it cold.

Ok, so now that you have rolled out the bottom crust and it is in the pie plate, mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl. Add the peeled apple slices and mix well. I do not have a handy apple peeler or anything so I end up spending far too long peeling all of it with a knife and end up making a mess of the kitchen with my peelings, but hey a messy kitchen is a used kitchen.

Once you have mixed everything together, layer the covered apples evenly all around the crust, fitting them together as tightly as you can. Every once in awhile take any clumps of sugar and cinnamon at the bottom of the bowl (if you have some) and sprinkle over the apples. Keep layering until you have used up all of the apples, even if you have to make a mound on top. Actually, a mound makes the pie oh so much better

Now dot the pie with vegan butter, meaning layer small pieces of butter evenly distributed on top of the apple mixture. I just take two tablespoons of a stick of Earth Balance and shave off little pieces all over the top with a knife. Now roll out the top layer of the crust and lay it over the top of the pie. Trim any excess edges and pinch the edges of the two crusts together. Brush the top of the crust with any non-dairy milk of your choosing and sprinkle lightly with sugar. This will give a crisp sweetness and shine to the outside of your pie. Make a few slits in the top of your pie to help with ventilation during baking.

And now its time to bake! Bake for 40-50 minutes at 450 degrees. If you need to you can cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil if they start to get too brown somewhere along the baking process. When it is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit and then you have a simple and beautiful apple pie that should have you waving an American flag and drinking coke out of a glass bottle while singing the national anthem. Enjoy!

Gluten-free Pie Crust and Classic Pecan Pie

Oh how I love Christmas! I look forward to it all year, I prep for it the entire month of December and I drive everyone crazy making them follow all of my traditions. Pies are one of those traditions- particularly pecan pie. I love making pies. In fact 2 of my all-time favorite recipes are pies: apple and pecan. When I stopped eating gluten, I kind of gave up on pie.

Confession time- I always used pillsbury roll-out pie crusts, partially because I am lazy and partially because I think they taste really good. Since pillsbury has not yet made gluten-free pie crusts, I threw in the towel on pies (well for me at least. I still made pies for family and friends).

Well, I was finally ready for pie again, meaning I had to make my own pie crust. After some research about what flours work well together, butter or shortening, and vinegar or not vinegar, etc. I came up with this recipe. It has both butter and shortening, the best of both worlds, and the mild apple cider vinegar.

This pie crust, came just in time for the holidays too, because christmas is just not christmas in my family without pecan pie. My grandparents have a farm in west Tennessee and they have loads of pecan trees. I grew up on pecan pie. Some say its too sweet but I say bring on the sugar. I hardly ever have it so a sugar coma every once in a while can do a girl some good if you ask me.

The first recipe is for a basic pie crust, then I will share my papaw's pecan pie recipe.

Gluten Free Pie Crust

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup sorghum flour

3/4 cup potato starch

3 teaspoons xanthum gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup shortening

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 whole eggs

First combine all of the dry ingredients (the first 7 ingredients) and whisk together in a large bowl. Next cut in the cold butter and sugar with a pastry blender.

Now make a well in the middle of the flour and add in the eggs and vinegar. With a fork work the liquids into the dough, starting in the center and working outwards.

Combine the dough into a large ball and then place in between 2 pieces of parchment or wax paper. Roll out slightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

When it comes to rolling out the dough, keep in between the parchment or wax paper and roll out with a rolling pin. Then peel off one side an flip over onto a pie plate. Once it is on the pie plate, peel off the other piece of wax or parchment. If this doesn't work, you can do it the old school way with a lot of GF flour and your counter-top. At this point you can either prebake the crust or fill it up!

Th pie crust doesn't look too pretty at this time, but you can either even it out and pinch ridges to make it pretty or leave it like this to pinch with the top crust for fruit pies or other 2 crust pies.

Speaking of fill it up... why not fill it up as a Pecan Pie? And not just any pecan pie, but my Papaw's classic pecan pie. Nothing fancy here...no chocolate, no bourbon, just simple goodness and by far the best pecan pie I have ever had. Last year, I asked for the recipe and have been making it ever since. Even when following the recipe exactly, I have yet to make it as good as my Papaw or Nana but I think I am getting close. They must just have magi hands or add extra love or something.

Papaw's Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 unbaked pie shell (this is one half of the pie crust recipe listed above rolled out onto a pie plate)

1/4 cup vegan butter

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup (red label Karo)

1 1/2 cup pecan halves

First preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. After you roll out the dough onto an ungreased pie pan, you may want to dust the top of the crust with any gluten free flour lightly. This is because the filling of the pie has such high sugar content. I am not actually sure what this does but I just know that it helps to dust with flour. Maybe I should look up why at some point...

Now in a mixing bowl, cream together vegan butter, eggs, and sugar. Then add in corn syrup and beat with a fork. Once the filling is done, pour it into the pie crust.

Now there are two ways to do the next part. You can either mix the pecans into the filling before you pour it into the pie crust or you can do the more meticulous way, which is what I usually do. For this way you arrange the pecans in a circular pattern on top of the filling after you pour it into the crust. Just one pecan at a time around the edge then moving inwards after you complete each circle. This generally ends up looking more awesome, which is why I do it- well and because there is something therapeutic about placing each pecan by hand. That could just be for a perpetually stressed college student, however.

After you finish (either way), place in the oven and bake for about 80 minutes or until a knife comes out of the center clean and the top has browned.

Now that I have shared with you one of my families food traditions can I share with you some of our other ones? pretty please?

Well, it involves many hours in the car. (This tradition hasn't been every year recently since me and my siblings all started college, but we did it this year.) We travel all over the state of Tennessee and sometimes Alabama. But its all worth it when you get to see things like this:

This is my Papaw and Nana's farm covered in snow on the day after Christmas. Beautiful!

Christmas Eve we all go to my parents church for christmas eve service, then my parents give us our christmas PJs (and no you are never to old to get PJs from your parents!)

Then on Christmas day we open presents at my parents house in the morning with our traditional holiday breakfast then we head out on the road.

We start by visiting my mom's side of the family- this year Christmas lunch in Nashville. Then we head to West Tennessee to see my dad's side of the family at the farm shown above.

Another tradition (intentional or not): The farm is filled with dogs.

Old, like Grady...

And Young, Like Merrill...

Ok that's not really a tradition, but there are always a ton of dogs everywhere and I just really wanted to show you the adorable pictures :)

And for one last time until next year... Merry Christmas!

Raspberry and Rosemary Scones

Still need a Christmas breakfast idea? How about adding these scones to the table? They have Rosemary for the green, Raspberry preserves for the red and their taste just screams home for the holidays. I originally made these scones last Valentines day for my roommates and I, but I have been wanting to try them gluten, dairy, and refined sugar free so I thought they would work just as well for christmas as they did for Valentines Day. The original recipe was from Giada de Laurentiis but I changed it to eliminate the bad stuff (well bad for me at least) and used raspberry where she used strawberry because I prefer it and its what we had on hand.

To be honest... I will probably make them again for Valentines Day (when I will be in London...even more of a reason to make scones).

Raspberry and Rosemary Scones

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour (same thing as tapioca starch)

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt

6 tablespoons vegan butter (I use Earth Balance) cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup coconut milk

about 1/3 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

First combine the three flours, xanthum gum, baking powder cane juice, salt, and rosemary and whisk together.

Next add in the vegan butter and cut in until it looks like a coarse meal.

Now add in the coconut milk slowly and stir in.

Spoon dough onto a greased cookie sheet about an inch or two apart. Indent the center of each spoonful of dough and place about a teaspoon of jam into indentation.

Bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool completely.

PJ Breakfast: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

My friend Meredith, with her mom and sister, has started a pajama breakfast tradition when everyone gets home from college for christmas break. We all go over there, dressed in our pajamas and have a fabulous breakfast that her and her mom prepare. This year I wanted to be able to contribute, so I decide I would whip up some mini muffins to take with me. I am personally a huge fan of anything pumpkin flavored so I thought that would be a good place to start. And what's a better combination than pumpkin and chocolate? It's always a crowd pleaser.

Meredith also has the cutest 1 1/2 year old daughter and she guzzled down a few of these mini muffins before breakfast even started, so apparently I am not the only one who loves pumpkin and chocolate together.

These came out a little lumpy looking and pretty gooey but they are really tasty. And in addition to being gluten and dairy free, they are also refined sugar free so they do not spike your blood sugar and sustain you for longer. This makes them a healthier option without tasting healthy in the least.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 (16oz) can unsweetened pumpkin puree

1 cup chocolate chips (I like enjoy life allergy-free chocolate chips because they are miniature so they distribute more evenly throughout the batter)

2/3 cup agave nectar

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line mini muffin pans with mini cupcake papers. I filled 48 mini muffin cups and had extra batter. (I am not sure how many muffins this actually makes because I ran out of muffin pans).

Sift together the three flours, xanthum gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Once sifted together, give the dry ingredients a quick whisk, to mix again.

Next, add in the pumpkin, eggs, agave nectar, and coconut oil and mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Then add in vanilla and mix again. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Use a spoon to fill each of the mini muffin cups with batter, almost to the top then bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out completely clean and the muffins are golden and lightly crusted on top.

Let cool completely before eating or transferring to another plate. In fact these muffins taste even better the next day because they become more muffin-consistency as they sit.

And here is a picture of my favorite slippers and the muffins ready to head out to the breakfast. Can just mention again how obsessed I am with this tradition? I wish I could wear pajamas everywhere.

PS: I think I have had a break-through about gluten free flours. In the past I have had issues with gluten-free baked goods tasting sort of metallicish (yep, I made a new word). After I did some research courtesy of google, I discovered that it is most likely bean flours that give this metallic taste. It also turns out that Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour consists of bean flours. Don't get me wrong, those pre-made mixes are very convenient and I thank Bob's Red Mill for all of the flours that make for us gluten-free folk, but I am too sensitive to that metallic taste to keep using bean flours.

So, now I am into sorghum and almond flour. But of course, with gluten-free baking you pretty much always need to combine more than one flour, so thats how I decided to combine my new favorite flours with a starch to come up with my own baking mix for this recipe. I plan on testing out more mixes in the upcoming days so I will keep ya'll posted.

Back in Action

Dear Readers,

First of all, I am sorry it has been so long since my last post. As some of you know I was in Kenya most of the summer (which was incredible, by the way) then school started, which has proven to be my toughest semester yet. I took extra hours, got a new job, started a new editor position with our online newsmagazine and was training to be an aerobics instructor. Now that the semester is coming to a close, I am reader to start posting once again!

As I said two posts ago, I now no longer eat anything with gluten or dairy. Even though I still cook for my non-allergy friends and family, I do not want to recommend any recipes that I cannot personally recommend, so the recipes on this blog will almost entirely be gluten and dairy free but none less tasty.

I am also working on redesigning and editing, so it may change from time to time. And lastly, I have finally figured out more of the manual settings on my camera, so hopefully my photography has improved and will continue to improve.

To kick-start the restart to my blog I will pass on a recipe my mom and I made today from the Babycakes cookbook made by the owner of the famous New York bakery. It's a simple chocolate cookie but its so soft and delicious.

Babycakes Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup coconut oil

6 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups evaporated cane juice

2 cups Bob's Red Mills gluten-free all-purpose baking flour

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthum gum

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Now, take out two medium bowls. In the first bowl mix together the coconut oil, applesauce, salt, vanilla, and evaporated cane juice. In the other bowl, mix together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking soda, and xanthum gum.

Using a rubber spatula, gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until a grainy dough is formed. Next fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a spoon, place small balls of dough one inch apart on the baking sheets. Once dough is placed, gently press the dough down using the back of the spoon.

Bake the cookies on the center rack of the oven for 15 minutes. After 9 minutes, rotate the trays 180 degrees so that they bake evenly.

Lastly, let cool on the sheets for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. You can store these in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature.

Now all you have to do is enjoy and share! Trust me, if you don't tell anyone they are gluten -free and vegan then no one will ever know (my family didn't!).

Going Gluten Free :(

I went to the doctor/nutritionist a couple of days ago to retrieve the results of a test I sent in awhile back. For any of you that know me well, you know that I am a bit of a medical anomaly. Anyway, it turns out I am allergic to dairy and gluten and then the doctor started throwing words around like hormone overload, insulin, potential diabetes, and major dietary changes. Needless to say I was totally freaked. The good news is that no permanent damage has been done and everything can be fixed. The bad news is I have to remove all dairy and gluten from my diet. This is hard for anybody, but to me it almost seems impossible for a college student who eats out most of the time and who is always eating with people. Seemingly impossible or not, however, it has to be done. So, after throwing myself a pity party, I began researching.

I must admit I am really lucky because I have already had some gluten/dairy free angels brought into my life who have started helping me figure out the new diet. My love for cooking will also come in handy. I am trying to look at it as just another cooking/baking challenge. This means that this blog will largely be Gluten and dairy free in the future, but trust me I will make sure everything tastes just as good as the original would have been. My first gluten and dairy free project post diagnosis was VANILLA CORNBREAD. I found it on the Gluten-free Goddess Blog and it is really good!

Gluten/Dairy Free Sweet Vanilla Cornbread

2 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix

1 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup very warm water

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper (including sides).

Mix the first 7 ingredients together, then add in the remaining 4. The batter should be the consistency of a thick cake or muffin batter. If it is too thick, you can add a couple of tablespoons of water.

Pour the batter into the pan and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the center is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let sit at least 15 minutes before cutting so that it doesn't crumble. You can serve with whipped cream, fruit, or just plain.

A few notes:

* If you can't find the cornbread mix, you can use 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornmeal, 3/4 cup sorghum flour, 1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch, and 1 teaspoon xanthum gum

*To make the recipe vegan, you can replace the 2 eggs with 1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till its frothy

4 (or 3) ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

It's no secret that I have a ridiculous sweet tooth or an even more ridiculous obsession with peanut butter. These cookies satisfy both. The only bad thing about them is I could eat them until I'm sick- not so good.

Peanut butter cookies have always reminded me of my friend Meredith because she would bring them to our Girl Scout Cookie Swap every year when we were younger. We re-found this recipe when she came over to bake cookies to ship to her friend for her birthday.

This is a perfect recipe for college students or young professionals, etc. with no time and an ill-equipped pantry. There are only 4 ingredients (1 being somewhat optional), take no time at all to prep and bake super quickly.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda (I have seen it done without this and apparently it still works, making it a 3 ingredient cookie)

Blend together the peanut butter and sugar. Add the baking soda and blend again. Add the egg and blend again. Now, roll the dough into balls about an inch in diameter. Place on a greased cookie sheet and press down with fork in a criss-cross pattern (press down one way then the other way perpendicular to those lines). Sprinkle each cookie with additional sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until the cookie is a little cracked and slightly golden. Let cool to harden. Be careful when removing the cookies from the baking sheet because they can be quite crumbly.

Another way to make these cookies, and the way Meredith always made them for our cookie swaps, is to roll the dough into balls and roll the balls into additional sugar. Place the dough balls onto a greased baking sheet and bake until they start to crack. Press an unwrapped Hershey's kiss into the center of each cookie. Place the cookies back in the oven for 1 more minute. Then remove and let cool completely.

Chai Berry Muffins: Vegan

The other night I was watching a new Food Network show called Cupcake Wars. The show wasn't really as exciting as it originally sounded to me but one of the judges seemed really cool. She is covered in tattoos, loves punk rock, and loves to bake-especially cupcakes. Seemed like a strange combination to me, but I loved it, so I grabbed my computer and looked up her blog. It's awesome! It's called Bake and Destroy; I put it on my list of blogs on the side of the page but here it is again just in case: bakeanddestroy.net. My favorite part is her tagline- the food blog equivalent to a punch in the throat. I love the attitude!

I wasn't really looking for another cupcake recipe because I've made a lot of them recently but she does other things as well, including muffins. I saw one that immediately caught my eye. Vegan Berry Chai Muffins- Yum.

I was intrigued by the fact that they are vegan since I feel like more and more people in my life are discovering their food allergies. I love cooking and baking for people so I am currently exploring ways to omit some of these allergens. Thats why I decided to take it a step further and make them both vegan and gluten-free.

First I made the original recipe but didn't like them, partly because simply substituting gluten-free flour made them too crumbly and partly because they had a little too much spice for my taste so I cut out the cloves and cut back on some of the other spices plus added xanthum gum as an additional binding agent for the gluten-free flour. I really liked how the second batch turned out, so here is the revised recipe:

Chai Berry Muffins

2 bags Earl Grey tea

3/4 cup soy milk

1 3/4 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum

2/3 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch white pepper

1/3 cup canola oil

2 1/2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

3 tablespoons water

1 cup frozen berries *I used blackberries and blueberries from my Papa's farm :)

Start by heating the soy milk over the stove until just before boiling. Remove from the heat and and step the tea bags in it for 4 minutes. Then remove the tea bags and let the milk cool.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, xanthum gum, baking powder, sugar, spices, salt and pepper. Then, add in the frozen berries.

In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the flaxseed meal and water making a paste. Add this to the dry ingredients along with the milk and oil. Stir just until mixed. The batter will be somewhat lumpy. Now, pour the batter into 12 lined muffin cups.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Let cool for at least a minute before removing from the pan. Then enjoy :) I could be wrong, but even though they don't have any dairy or gluten I think they taste good on normal muffin standards.