Category Archives:  Desserts

Spiced Apple Galette

Autumn is officially on its way, and with it comes chills in the air, vibrant colors in the trees, great camping weather, the perfect excuse to overuse nutmeg in everything, and of course, plenty of apples. Because of these things (and Halloween!), Autumn is without a doubt the season I most look forward to. I like to pretend that Summer is my favorite (and I love to gripe about being cold)… but I cannot deny the excitement I feel when I notice the leaves begin to fall. I have already busted out my corduroys…

From Labor Day to Thanksgiving, I like to take advantage of the glorious bounty that Autumn brings. Brace yourself folks, I’m about to stretch this season out as long as I possibly can. Starting now.

Hope you all like apples, pumpkins, black cats, and mulling spices… because it may get a little ridiculous around here.

Let’s kick off this early tribute to Fall with a little gluten-free galette, shall we? Truly a great way to say “bye bye” to summer and “how do you do?” to Autumn-like comfort food.

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Blackberry Brownies

This is more or less a simple brownie recipe with some blackberries sprinkled on top- but what a humdinger of a simple recipe it is!

It’s somewhere in between a “cakey” brownie and a “chewy” brownie.  And, while I admit that I generally prefer the chewy variety to the cakey variety… these are right up there with the best chewy brownies I have ever had. They’re soft and moist on the inside, while chewy and slightly crispy on the outside.

The blackberries are optional, but they add a really nice touch.

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Blackberry Cobbler

Holy yummy, people… have I got a recipe for you!

It’s not particularly healthy… but it’s a cobbler.  And, it’s delicious!

If I didn’t have to share, I would love to eat this whole thing myself.  In fact, it is very rare when a creation of mine does not survive past its photo shoot.  But, I had to call this one short due to my lack of self restraint.

Many people have a different idea of what a cobbler should taste like. Just for the record, this one has a coffecake-biscuity like topping, and the berries on the bottom definitely resemble a deliciously sticky pie filling.  And, of course, there’s crumble topping on top of the topping. So, it’s less like a “buckle”, and more like a “grunt”, but most perfectly described as just “cobbler”.

Are you all still with me? :)

Fruity and wonderful, please enjoy this recipe for gluten free (but certainly not sugar or fat free!) blackberry cobbler.

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Chocolate Raspberry Cake with “Anniversary” Glaze

raspberry-chocolate-anniversary-cake-5

My hubs and I just celebrated our ♥ wedding anniversary ♥.  I made this raspberry chocolate cake for us to indulge in, along with a bottle of wine from our wedding. The cake (which has since been completely polished off) had a delicate crumb and fragrant ribbon of fresh raspberries and preserves in the middle of each slice. The “anniversary” glaze, a simple mix of red wine, confectioner’s sugar & coconut oil, made the cake extra special.

It turned out to be a really good cake.

Alright, it was better than good. It was amazing.

Flavorful. Excellent. Almost gourmet-ish.

My husband and I were devouring the leftovers of the glaze straight from the bowl. Even as I am writing this post, we keep talking about how stupid good that cake was. Maybe we are biased because it was our anniversary cake… but I have my doubts. :)

If anything, try using the just the glaze on something else: a cookie or scone, strawberries, a piece of toast, a spoon, anything! I recommend a shiraz or tempranillo blend (because I love them), but wine of any sort would be pretty good… even the super cheap stuff. The result of combining confectioner’ s sugar with wine creates a sweet (but tart) and classy coating that compliments the chocolate and raspberries with the utmost generosity.

I only managed to jot down my measurements for the cake. So, use your best judgment when making the filling and the glaze. The filling should be the consistency of a thick jam, and the glaze should be the consistency (before hardening) of Elmer’s glue. Yes, I’m serious.


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Raspberry Chablis Gelée

rasberry-chablis-gelee

When I was growing up, I felt super lucky to have a large wooded backyard. I spent almost all of my (non-school) time out there, no matter what the weather was doing. One of my favorite seasons was summertime- when the raspberry bushes would flourish. I ate a lot of raspberries as a child. I looked forward to them every single year, for 12 years. When I moved out of my parents’ house at the age of 18, and ventured into my own world, the raspberries stayed behind.

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Rice Dumplings with Sweet Banana Sauce

vegan-sweet-rice-dumpling-recipe4

Checking out cookbooks from the library offers some fantastic inspiration. We are fortunate to have a wonderful library in the town close to where we recently moved. It is super jam packed with hundreds (thousands!) of cookbooks. I only pay attention to the books with beautiful color photos. I flip through them frantically… and I drool.

So, as I was browsing through my recently borrowed Cafe Vietnam* cookbook by Annabel Jackson, a beautiful trio of dumplings caught my eye.

They made me think of mochi, and how I have been DYING to make mochi since I was 16! Given that mochi often pops up all over vegan blogs, I should have made some by now…

but, I never had rice flour.

And then I thought to myself, “I have rice flour now (slap to the forehead). I always have rice flour now!”

So without any further hesitation I knew I had to make some little rice dumplings- of some sort.  On my way to the kitchen I saw a perfectly ripe banana… which is a rarity at our house because they tend to get eaten up quite fast.  So I wondered, “what would happen if I just combined everything that was going through my brain at this exact moment?”

Well, folks… this recipe happened.

And, it was good. Very. Very. Good.

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Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Coconut Candy

coconut peanut butter candy

Yes, the title is a mouthful, but seriously, so is this candy.  Lots of flavors going on in these babies: coconut, chocolate, peanut butter, and even a hint of vanilla.

Shredded coconut is one of those foods that most people either cannot get enough of, or cannot stand. I fall in between the two: I love it, but only in moderation.

Today, though, there is some major coconut love going around. As I was importing my photos for this post, I noticed that Susan from Rawmazing had created almost the exact same thing!  Except she left out the refined sugar, added strawberries, and she didn’t cook anything. Okay, so not exactly the same.  And Tasha, from The Voracious Vegan made this insanely delicious looking dessert using coconut milk.

Anyways, these candies are ridiculously easy to make if you have a candy thermometer. They are a tad trickier if you don’t, but still easy. If you are a coconut fan… give these a whirl. Try them without the chocolate too. I really enjoy them both ways.

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Chocolate Twirly Doodle Cookies (GF)

chocolate gluten free vegan cookies

The name says it all.

Okay, maybe not.  But they are chocolatey, and twirly… and “doodle” just sounded nice with the rest.  And, seriously, what kind of cookie with a “doodle” at the end doesn’t taste good?

These cookies are my first experiment using sorghum flour, and I must say, I am pretty impressed.  It seemed to work a lot like buckwheat, but was a touch lighter in color and in taste.

With this new promising flour, I decided to try my hand at some rolled cookies.  And, when it worked out almost effortlessly, I decided to roll them again… with a little chocolate sugar inside.

The results were even better than I expected, with a taste, texture and (a word that has been abuzz lately, and I [childishly] find pretty funny) “mouthfeel” like typical AP flour cookies.

They are soft and flavorful with a hint of almond flavor, and they definitely give me the confidence to try out new and exciting ways to manipulate GF dough.

For all of you readers who still like your baked goods glutinous, I would assume you could sub out AP or whole wheat flour where I used the different flours/xanthan combo.  I say this because I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe as a starting point.  You may need to add a smidgen more flour to make it stiff and rollable… but I think it should work out okay. :)

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Cinnamon Brownie Cookies ~ Gluten Free

gluten free cinnamon brownie cookies

These cookies are a fabulous way to enjoy the combination of cinnamon and chocolate.  I called them “brownie” cookies because of their awesome texture: crispy on the outside and nice and chewy in the middle.  To me, they taste just like little cinnamon brownie bites.

Yum.

They also make your kitchen smell heavenly while they are baking.

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P B & J Parfait

peanut butter and jelly parfait

One of my favorite flavor combinations ever is peanut butter and jelly.  Since gluten is off limits for me, it is difficult to satiate my craving with a simple sandwich.  So,  I have resorted to eating  pb&j straight from a giant spoon every now and again.

Okay, I do it a lot.

The inspiration for this parfait is obvious.  Getting my peanut butter and jelly fix this way assures no odd looks from my husband, and it’s a bit less barbaric. Perhaps even fancy.

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Super Sticky Clementine Cake

vegan gluten free clementine cake

Okay, when I say this cake is super sticky… I mean it is super friggin’ sticky.  See how the cake kinda dips in the center?  I’m not exactly certain why this happened. :|

My guess is: incredibly moist (and heavy) cake with crispier ( therefore lighter) edges = cake that sinks in the middle.  But the taste and texture totally trump any weird looks this thing may get.

I still have a lot of gluten free cake making in my future, but at least now I can say I have mastered a flavorful, wet, gluten free cake that will stick to the bottom of your plate. Good start.

The clementine filling/topping adds an extra layer of super sticky that I find over the top perfect for this cake.

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Vegan Star Crunch!

vegan star crunch

As a child, did you ever love a food so much that you would risk the wrath of your huge and terrifying older brother to sneak the last one?

The other day my husband and I were reminiscing about childhood junkfood favorites, and I remembered how much I desperately loved Little Debbie Star Crunches.  I had a sick obsession with these things.  This most likely caused me to block all thoughts of them from my memory after I went vegan. Once my memory was triggered, though, I became dead set on the idea of making them myself.  I needed a way to once again enjoy the taste/texture of the individually wrapped treats that I used to stash everywhere: lunchbox, pocket, fridge, freezer, bookbag, dresser drawer.  It was kinda out of control.

I loved them primarily because of their gooey and crispy and hard to explain texture… which oddly enough gave them most of their flavor.  I think sans the strange texture of a Star Crunch, we would be left with pretty much just  “sweet”.

To recreate these things I needed a great filler, because the crispy rice and chocolate part is easy.  The answer was the Medjool date!  Dates are absolutely magical… I am super happy to have discovered the many uses of them.

These cookies are definitely close enough to an actual Star Crunch to satisfy my craving… without the long list of creepy ingredients and eternal shelf life.

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Garam Masala Cookies

garam masala cookies

A little unconventional maybe– but pretty delicious for a last minute pantry raid.  What I like best about these cookies is their texture– they are thin and chewy and crispy all at once.  The flavor is, well, flavorful!

Since Garam Masala varies— I cannot guarantee that your cookies will taste just like my photo. :)  Mine was a blend of coriander, cardamom, black cumin, cinnamon, celery, black pepper, allspice, cloves and anise.  Each one of those spices had a special place in these cookies.  A touch of cocoa really tops them off.  Spicy, sweet and kind of chocolatey- could you really ask for anything more?

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