Gluten free Apple-Cinnamon Pie with Raisens and Crumble Topping

Crust:

* 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour. I used Domata brand
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* 1/4 cup (or more) ice water
* 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar- important ingredient in making crust flaky


Filling:

* 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons gluten free flour - I used Domata brand
* 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2 3/4 pounds Granny Smith apples (about 6 medium), peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices (about 8 cups)
* 1 cup raisins
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Crumb Topping:

* 1 cup gluten free flour-I used Domata brand
* 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes


For crust:
Blend flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 1/4 cup ice water and vinegar in small bowl; add to processor and pulse until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if mixture is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill from 30 minutes to 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Roll out dough on waxed paper thta's been foured with gluten free flour. roll it out to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter deep-dish glass pie dish. Fold edges under and crimp, forming crust sides 1/4 inch above rim of pie dish.

For filling:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Mix brown sugar, flour, lemon peel, and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apple slices, raisins, and vanilla; toss until well coated. Transfer filling to unbaked crust, mounding filling slightly in center. Bake pie until apples begin to soften, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare crumb topping:
Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture begins to clump together.

Sprinkle topping evenly over hot pie. Continue to bake pie until apples are tender and topping is browned and crisp, tenting pie with sheet of foil if browning too quickly, about 50 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Gluten free Chocolate -Peanut butter cake with Cream Cheese and Butterfinger frosting

Filling

* 2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
* 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
* 1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter


Cake

* 2 1/2 cups gluten free flour. I used the Domata brand
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup old-fashioned (natural) chunky peanut butter
* 1 pound golden brown sugar
* 4 large eggs -original recipe calls for 4. I used 5 because gluten free flours need an extra "binding agent"
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup buttermilk


Frosting

* 1 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
* 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
* 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
* Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely chopped


For filling:
Bring cream and sugar to simmer in saucepan, whisking to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in peanut butter. Chill uncovered overnight. (I chilled mine in the frig for several hours and it came out fine.

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions.

Divide batter among pans and spread evenly. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 -30 minutes. Mine took about 30 minutes. Gluten free baked goods take more time to bake. Cool cakes 5 minutes. Turn out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely.

For frosting:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk whipping cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in bowl until mixture holds medium-firm peaks. Fold into cream cheese mixture in 3 additions; chill until firm but spreadable, about 1 hour.

Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on 9-inch tart pan bottom. Spread with half of filling. Place another layer, bottom side up, on work surface. Spread with remaining filling; place atop first layer. Top with remaining cake layer, bottom side up.

Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours before continuing.) Press candy and peanuts onto top of cake.

gluten free Texas Sheet cake

Texas Sheet cake

Cake
1 2/3 Gluten free flour mixture. I used Domata brand
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter= 1 1/2 sticks
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup hot water

Glaze
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

Cake: preheat over to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 13x9x2 cake pan.
Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl to blend.
Using electric mixture, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Beat in half of dry ingredients, then 1 cup hot water, then remaining dry ingredients. Transfer batter to cake pan and smooth top. Bake cake until tester inserted into center just comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack.

Glaze: stir and bring cream and sugar to a boil in heavy saucepan. Remove from heat and add chocolate and butter. With a spoon, stir continuously until glaze is a smooth mixture. Let stand a few minutes until it thickens. Drizzle half of the glaze over cake, then sprinkle with pecans. Then drizzle remaining glaze over the top of the pecans. Cool until glaze is set.

Cake can be make 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Gluten free Strawberry Croustade with Almond Pecan Crust

Crust
1/3 cup pecans chopped finely in food processor

2/3 cup slivered toasted almonds (set aside after toasting at 345 degrees
for 5 minutes
*
1 cup gluten free flour (I used Domata).
*
1/4 cup sugar
*
1/2 teaspoon salt
*
7 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
*
2 eggs
*
2 tablespoons honey


Crust: In a bowl combine, pecans, flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter using pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add eggs and honey and stir until dough forms. Gather dough into ball and place it on wax paper. Place wax paper on top of dough ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes. (The dough can be made 1 day ahead. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften slightly before rolling out.)

Strawberry filling

1-2 cups of fresh or frozen strawberries
(If using frozen strawberries, defrost at room temperature before using or in a bowl of warm water for quicker thawing. If you use this method, thawed strawberries need to dry out before putting in sugar mixture.

1 1/2 tablespoons of gluten free flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.


Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough disk between 2 floured sheets of parchment paper to 9-inch round. Remove top sheet of additional flour as necessary. Remove top sheet of parchment. Sprinkle dough evenly with 1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds. Replace parchment atop crust and roll to 11-inch round, embedding nuts into dough. Invert crust and parchment onto heavy baking sheet, nut side down. Remove top sheet of parchment. *No parchment paper should remain on dough or go into the oven.

Place strawberries in the center of the dough. Fold up the side with tucking the edge of the dough under. Bake for 20 minutes or until dough is golden brown.

Father's Day edition: Gluten free Chocolate Cheesecake with Almond Honey Crust

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate this day, I made this dessert for my family's Father's Day lunch.

The recipe below is not from the Bon Appetite cookbook, but I found it just as delicious. Enjoy!

Almond Honey Crust variation from "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottschall
( I used Almond flour. You can also put almonds in a food processor to make your own almond flour)

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla

Put almond flour and butter in food processor. Blend until it looks like a "meal".
then add the vanilla and honey. Don't over blend. Grease bottom of spring form pan and spoon and spread dough onto bottom of pan and slightly up the side of the pan.
Bake for 10- 12 minutes at 325 degrees until crust is golden brown.
Let this crust cool.
While crust is cooling make the cheesecake.

Chocolate Cheesecake

3 packages Cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package Semi Sweet chocolate, melted, cooled slightly (6 squares)
3 eggs

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in electric mixer until well blended. Add melted chocolate, mix well. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition. Pour over crust in the spring form pan.
Put three layers of aluminum foil on the bottom of the sprig form pan. Put spring form pan in a deep cookie sheet. Place in the over. Fill the cookie sheet with water, about half an inch deep. This technique is taken from the Bon Appetit cookbook. The water from the cookie sheet will boil and help to "steam" the cheesecake, so that it cooks evenly.
Bake for 55 minutes. Take cheesecake out oven and lay it on top of the oven for at least 3 hours. This technique is how I achieved a very smooth 'top' on my cheesecake. After 3 hours, place cheesecake in the refrigerator until ready to eat. This is best to make the night before.
Use a flat edge heavy duty knife to cut the cheesecake.

To melt chocolate- Boil water in the lower pan of a double broiler. Place 6 squares of chocolate in the top part of the double broiler. Reduce heat to medium high. Stir the chocolate continually until completely melted. Let it sit in the pan a few minutes before adding it to the cheesecake batter in the electric mixer.

Thank you!

I want to take a moment and thank all of the people who have viewed this blog. I see visitors from near and abroad. It's very exciting to see those from Australia to London to Michigan. Feel free to post comments on desserts that you like or share special recipes. In the coming weeks, more yummy gluten free recipes will be coming your way!

Pecan Praline Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

This is from the Bon Appetit Dessert cookbook. I have made a couple of changes. The frosting is made with 16 ounces of cream cheese instead of the recommended 12 ounces because cream cheese packages are 8 ounces each, so it just made sense to use 2 packages. I also reduced the amount of powered sugar from 4 cups to 3 cups so that the frosting wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. For the Syrup, I substituted 1 teaspoon vanilla for bourbon. Lastly, to make this cake gluten free, simply substitute wheat flour with Domata flour. ** Highly suggest baking the cake a little longer than 35 minutes. I suggest covering the cake with aluminum foil after 35 minutes and let the cake bake for at least 10 more minutes. Gluten free bake goods tend to be a little doughy in the middle, so extra baking time is needed.

Cake

* 2 1/2 cups cake flour - I used Gluten free Domata flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 4 large eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans


Syrup

* 3 tablespoons water
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon bourbon--substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla


For cake:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper; butter paper. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir in chopped pecans. Divide batter between pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. If necessary, run small knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks; peel off waxed paper. Cool cakes completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature.)

For syrup:
Stir 3 tablespoons water and sugar in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to simmer. Remove from heat. Stir in bourbon. Cool.

Using 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom as aid, transfer 1 cake layer, flat side up, to platter. Brush some of syrup over top of cake. Spread 1 cup cream cheese frosting over top. Top with second cake layer, flat side up. Brush top and sides of cake with remaining syrup. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Arrange Pecan Praline Topping all over top of cake, mounding slightly in center. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)

Vanilla Cream cheese frosting
* 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3 cups powdered sugar


Using electric mixer, beat 12 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter and vanilla extract in large bowl until smooth. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each addition

Pecan Praline topping
* 1 large egg white
* 1 tablespoon water
* 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
* 1 1/2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300°F. Butter rimmed baking sheet. Using fork, beat egg white and 1 tablespoon water in medium bowl until foamy. Add brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add pecan halves and toss to coat. Spread pecan mixture on prepared baking sheet (some egg white-sugar mixture will flow out onto baking sheet). Bake until nuts are deep brown and crisp, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven; stir to loosen nuts from baking sheet. Cool nuts completely on sheet. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)