Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten-free)

My husband has celiac and has to eat gluten-free (can't have wheat, barley, oats, or rye), but the problem is that I really like things made with regular flour.  I don't really like gluten-free flour and honestly, I just don't want to eat gluten-free flour.  I don't want my hubby to miss out on yummy treats though, so it's great when recipes like this come along that just happen to be gluten free.  The recipe for these cookies comes from my neighbour and they are actually quite tasty!

Peanut Butter Cookies
yields about 18 cookies 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup chocolate chips

What you do: 

Mix together, spoon onto a tray, and bake for about 10 minutes (oven about 180 C/375 F).  Don't over cook, they easily burn!

Crepes

This is just your basic recipe for sweet crepes.  I've been using it for so long that I can't remember where I got it from.  I prefer using nutella and banana as a filling, but you could use whatever you like!  Cinnamon and sugar, whipped cream, fruit, anything really! 

Crepes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup milk

Whisk all the ingredients together well.  Batter should be quite thin with no lumps.  Heat a small amount of butter in a non-stick crepe pan or frying pan and pour about 2 Tablespoons of batter into the pan and quickly swirl the pan around to produce a very thin crepe. Cook until the top loses its wet appearance. Sometimes I even flip it over for a few seconds. 

Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins

 These are some great muffins!  I made them for the mothers in my toddler's play group and they were well-liked by all.  The only place you can get canned pumpkin in Australia is to order it from USA Foods, a store in Melbourne that stocks American food. 

Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins
Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice**
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**
• 3 tablespoons sugar

What you do:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine pumpkin, butter, and eggs in another bowl and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

Fold in chopped apple and spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full.

Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle evenly over muffins. Bake at 350 degrees (180 C) for 20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.

**Mel's tip: if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use the following combination: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together and woila! – you have the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (and it is much cheaper than buying it premade).

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe 

Baked Cajun Fries

These baked fries are pretty awesome.  Crispy, tasty, yum!!  They make an excellent side dish for things like sloppy joes and sticky chicken legs.  This particular night I served them with ribs, which I didn't really care for so I won't be including that recipe on this blog.

Baked Cajun Fries
Makes enough for 2-3 people to have as a side dish for dinner 

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons Paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• a few shakes of cayenne 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 regular potatoes

What you do: 

1. Preheat oven to 230 C (450 F)
2. Slice potatoes into thirds and then slice each portion into 3 or 4 wedges.  
3. Mix the spices and olive oil together in a bowl, add the potatoes and coat thoroughly.
4. Spread out into a single layer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  They will get crispier if you have more space between them. 
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. You could even put them under the broiler for the last few minutes if you like.  ENJOY!

Banana Cake with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I've tried many different banana bread and cake recipes.  This one is my favourite.  It's simple, moist, and very tasty.  It's perfect.  I served it with Nutella Buttercream frosting this time, but this cake can be served without any frosting and it's still awesome. 


Banana Cake
Yields 1 x20cm round cake or 1 x 30cm oblong fluted cake
The recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 24cm round cake tin.

Ingredients

• 125 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 125 grams sugar
• 2 medium bananas, very ripe
• 2 eggs (about 60g each)
• 125 grams plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

•  icing sugar, Nutella, or whipped cream for serving 

What you do

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.  Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy and the sugar has dissolved.  Cut the bananas into a few pieces and add to the butter and sugar and beat until the banana is fully incorporated into the batter.  Add the eggs and beat well.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add to the batter, beating until the batter is light and fluffy.  Scoop the batter into the prepared cake tin and level the top.

Bake at 180°C/350°F for about 35-40 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  When cooked, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.  When cool, remove carefully from the tin.

Dust with icing sugar to serve.  I used Nutella Buttercream frosting (see recipe below).

Recipe Source: Chocolate Chilli Mango



Nutella Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon milk

What you do
Beat butter until smooth. Add the Nutella and beat until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue mixing. Add 1 tablespoon of milk. Add another tablespoon if necessary in order to reach the desired consistency.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Well, these are pretty much the most perfect blueberry muffins.  I've tried many different blueberry muffin recipes that claim to be the best, but this one really is!  Of course it's good, it's from Smitten Kitchen. 

Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
• 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I omitted this)
• 1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
• 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 375°F (190 C). Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt and zest.

Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears.
Gently fold in your blueberries.

The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool on rack (ha), or you know, serve with a generous pat of butter.

Recipe Source: Smitten Kitchen

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread

This was great, healthy bread.  It tasted healthy, but in a good way.  This is the second time I've made it and I will definitely make it again.  Henry and I made it this morning and had it for morning tea.  It was yummy! 

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread
Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup raisins

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Topping:

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar 
• 1 Tablespoon butter

What you do:

Combine oats, milk and raisins in bowl, cover, let stand for 20-30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Line loaf tin with parchment paper. 

Beat olive oil and sugar in small bowl until smooth.  Add eggs,  one at a time. Whisk until well incorporated, before adding the next one. Stir in yogurt and vanilla. Stir in oat mixture.  In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Combine wet and dry ingredients.

For the topping, combine oats, cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Rub in butter with your finger tips until mixture becomes crumbly. 

Pour cake batter into prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle with topping . Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick come out clean. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Source: Anja's Food 4 Thought