Butterscotch Brownies

These are amazing!  Eat as is, or with vanilla ice cream. 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 of a 12 oz bag butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup coconut

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add vanilla and eggs and stir to combine.  Add flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt and mix well.  Stir in butterscotch chips and coconut.  Pour into a greased 8x8 inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Delicious!!

I-Can't-Believe-These-Are-Gluten-Free Brownies

Be verrrry careful with these...you will want to eat the whole pan!

• 2/3 cup gluten free flour mix
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate (use squares, or weigh chocolate chips with scale)
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1-1/8 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (any kind! milk chocolate is delicious, but semisweet works also...or white or peanut butter...)

1)  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil and grease foil.

2)  Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum in a small bowl.  Set aside.

3)  Melt chocolate and butter in a medium-size saucepan over low heat.  Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla.  Whisk in eggs, one at a time, and continue to whisk until mixture is completely smooth and glossy.  Add flour mixture and whisk until just incorporated.  Sitr in nuts and chocolate chips.

4)  Pour batter into pan and place in preheated oven.  Bake about 45 minutes are until knife inserted in center comes out with wet crumbs.  Cool in pan on rack about 5 minutes.  Remove brownies from pan by lifting out foil, and cool completely on rack.  Enjoy!!!

Gluten Free Italian Goodness

This links over to my other blog, to a post on gluten free cooking:

http://countrymomto4.blogspot.com/2010/08/gluten-free-italian-goodness.html

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Scotcheroos, Gluten Free!

If you like scotcheroos, but haven't been able to eat them because of the gluten in Rice Krispies, be sad no longer!  I found a way to make them gluten free and they are delicious, and taste exactly the same.  The recipe is very simple also!  You will need a box of gluten free Crispy Rice:

Ingredients:

1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups crispy rice cereal
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 oz. butterscotch chips

Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with foil and grease foil.  The foil is very, very important!  It makes cutting these into bars so much easier.  Measure corn syrup and sugar into a large saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.  Remove from heat.  Stir in peanut butter; mix well.  Add cereal and stir until well coated.  Press into pan, set aside.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in double boiler over medium heat (or small saucepan over low heat if you don't have a double boiler), stirring constantly.  Spread evenly over cereal mixture.

Let stand until firm.  Remove foil and cut into bars when cool.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!!

Shepherd's Pie

I don't promise low fat, but I do promise good!

Ingredients:

• 7-8 medium potatoes
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• cream, as needed (or milk, or half n half...use whatever)
• 1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 1/3 c. ketchup
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• a few dashes of salt
• a few dashes of pepper

1) Chop potatoes into 1-inch chunks and put in a large saucepan (I don't peel them; you can peel if you prefer).  Cover with water; bring to a boil and boil for 15-20 minutes, until soft.  Drain and return to pan.  Add butter and mash with potato masher until most lumps are gone.  Add both cheeses, sour cream, salt, and pepper.  Beat with electric mixer until smooth.  Add cream as needed until desired consistency.  Put lid on pan to keep potatoes warm, and set aside.

2) Pour broth into a small saucepan and place on stove over medium heat.  Pour cornstarch into a small bowl; add a small amount of water and stir with fork to form a paste.  I start with a very small amount of water, and keep adding a little more at a time until I can stir it into a paste.  Add to broth; stir constantly with wire whisk until broth comes to a boil.  Boil and stir until thickened.  You have just made gluten free gravy!  Set aside.

3) Turn oven on to 400 degrees.  In a large skillet, cook onion and ground beef, until onion is soft and beef is browned.  Drain and return to pan.  Add gravy, ketchup, vegetables, salt, and pepper.  Mix well and cook 5 more minutes. 

4) Spread meat mixture evenly in a 9 x 13" pan, and top with mashed potatoes, spreading potatoes evenly also.  Sprinkle with additional cheddar cheese.

5) Bake for 40 minutes.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, preferably longer.

Enjoy!  This is one of our favorites. 

*Note:  I have made this dairy free also.  I omitted the cheese and sour cream, used Earth Balance spread in place of the butter, and used rice milk in place of the cream.

Apple Crisp

Topping:

3/4 cup gluten free flour mix
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
10 T. butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
1-1/2 cups. finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Filling:

6 pounds apples (around 14), peeled, cored, and sliced into 8 slices, then each slice halved
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

• In a large bowl, toss together apple slices, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Place in a 9 x 13" baking dish. 
• Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle position, and heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Put all ingredients for topping in a medium bowl.  With hands, squeeze it all together until thoroughly combined.  Sprinkle over the top of apples.
• Bake for about 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden.  Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.

I have made this dairy free by substituting Earth Balance spread for the butter.  The people whom I made it for said it was really good!  Enjoy!  I will have a picture up the next time that I make this.

Gourmet Holiday Yams

Here is my recipe for my yams that I make every year, that everyone loves:

Gourmet Holiday Yams

Ingredients:

5 yams
1/4 tsp.salt
1/4 c. butter
2 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. cream

1/4 c. butter, softened
3 T. gluten free flour mix
3/4 packed brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Peel yams and chop into chunks; put in a pot of water and boil until soft, about 20 minutes.  Drain yams and transfer to a large bowl.  Add 1/4 cup butter and mash with a potato masher until smooth.  Add salt, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and cream.  Beat with electric mixer until well combined.

Grease a 9 x 13" pan and pour yam mixture into it.  Spread evenly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining butter, flour, brown sugar, and pecans.  Squeeze all together with hands until well combined. Crumble over top of yams.

Bake for 30 minutes, until topping is crisp and lightly browned.  I normally make this a day or two ahead of time and refrigerate, then bake.  If you do that, then add on another 10 minutes or so.

Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy!!!  These are really yummy!

This post is linked up at Gluten Free Wednesdays