Strawberries and Cream Muffins

Valentine's Day is coming up this week and I was inspired to try out a new kind of muffin. Strawberries seem to be the classic fruit of Valentine's Day, and it was one of the only fruits I had on hand, so I decided to try a modification of my raspberry streusel muffins. I love the moisture and richness that sour cream (or plain yogurt) adds to muffins. Whenever I make a muffin that doesn't use some kind of fruit or vegetable purée (bananas, pumpkin, etc), I try to incorporate sour cream or yogurt. These muffins turned out great and are a fun and delicious Valentine's treat! 

I tried putting a strawberry slice on top to look like a heart, but they sunk in to the batter too much during baking. So it became more of a hidden heart inside each muffin, which is fun too! 

Hope you enjoy :)

Makes 14-16 muffins 

Ingredients

1/4 cup Canola Oil (or vegetable oil)

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Sour cream (I use 5%) - or plain yogurt

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Milk

2/3 cup Sugar 

2 cups GF flour blend (I use my light flour blend)

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1-11/2 cups Chopped Strawberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions

In a large bowl, mix wet ingredients and sugar together.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and gently mix to combine.

Fold in chopped strawberries.

Fill 14-16 paper lined muffin tins 2/3 full.

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. 

Let cool in the muffin pan for a few minutes then move to a cooling rack. 

Store in an airtight bag in the freezer. 

Add dry ingredients to the wet

Fold in strawberries

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Top with heart shaped strawberry slices (optional)

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes

Peanut Butter Blossoms (Chickpea flour)

This is a new cookie to me but I think it's been around for quite awhile. As I searched through various peanut butter blossom recipes I read stories about this cookie being a Christmas tradition for many people. After making them I understand why! They are delicious!! Peanut butter and chocolate... how can you go wrong? 

They work great with chickpea flour; dense and chewy in the centre and a little cracked and crunchy on the edges. The sugar gives the cookie interesting texture and the kiss on top adds extra indulgence to your basic peanut butter cookie. I think these would also be great if you switched out the kiss for a rosebud chocolate or a wafer melting chocolate. Basically anything that you can use to press down the cookie and that will stick to it once cool. 

Makes around 3 dozen

Ingredients 

1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, softened

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter (not natural)

1 Egg

2 Tbsp Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 3/4 cups Chickpea Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 cup White Sugar for rolling 

1 200g bag Kisses (rosebuds or other chocolate would work too)

Directions

In a bowl, cream sugars and butter (by hand or with electric mixer).

Thoroughly mix in peanut butter, egg and vanilla.

Add chickpea flour, then salt and baking soda on top. 

Mix dry ingredients a bit then stir everything together until the dough is smooth.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour (I did 24) - this keeps the cookies from spreading out too much. 

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Bake on a parchment lined pan for 8-9 minutes at 375 

As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a kiss firmly into the middle of the cookie (they will likely crack a bit around the edges - totally fine)

Let cool on a wire rack or cold baking sheet. 

Once the cookies are cool you can put them in the fridge to resolidify the chocolate.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or freeze. 

Cream together butter and sugars and mix in peanut butter, eggs and vanilla

Add dry ingredients and mix a bit.

Mix to form a dough and refrigerate for at least an hour

Form into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar

Place on parchment lined baking sheet

Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes

Immediately press a kiss into the middle of each cookie

Maple Walnut Biscotti (Chickpea flour)

I have been working on my Christmas baking this last week and I am so happy I have discovered chickpea flour for cookies! Every recipe I've substituted it in so far has turned out great, including these maple walnut biscotti :D

I make biscotti every Christmas, but it's not usually gluten free. I often give it out as Christmas gifts and everyone loves it, but I'm always a bit jealous that I can't partake. Every now and then I try a new gluten free biscotti recipe, but it's always too breakable to cut properly and I'm left with mostly biscotti crumbs. Lame. 

This is the first time a gluten free biscotti recipe has actually worked for me, and I'm over the moon!! It's good enough even for gluten eaters so I don't have to make multiple batches with different flours, just multiple batches of different flavours because they seem to be disappearing a little to quickly... 

Bonus: chickpea flour is very healthy and fairly affordable. I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think!

makes 30 pieces 

Ingredients 

1 3/4 Chickpea Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

3/4 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Melted Coconut Oil or Butter

1 tsp Maple Extract

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)

1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

Directions

In a mixing bowl, gently beat together eggs, sugar, extracts and coconut oil.

Add chickpea flour to the bowl. Put baking soda, salt and spices on top.

Stir the dry ingredients together a little bit (so the baking soda and salt are spread around the flour) then incorporate everything together.

Stir in Walnuts. Mixture should be fairly stiff.

Divide dough into 2 equal portions on a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into rectangles 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide and 12 inches long. Leave at least 3 inches between rectangles. 

Pat the dough smooth with slightly wet hands.

Bake at 300 for 30-35 minutes, until the middle is set.

Let cool on the pan for around 15 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board. 

Slice on an angle into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces.

Place on the baking sheet, cut side down and bake at 300 for 8 minutes.

Turn biscotti pieces over and bake an additional 8 minutes.

Let cool and store in an airtight container. 

Store at room temperature or in the freezer.

Wet ingredients

Dry ingredients on top

Mix together and fold in walnuts

Shape into 2 rectangles

Bake at 300 for 30-35 mins

Let cool 15 minutes and slice on an angle

Bake 8 mins per side

Let cool and store in an airtight container 

Love with Food Holiday Boxes

Love with Food is partnering with MasterChef winner Christine Ha to bring you a healthy, delicious box of hand picked snacks delivered right to your door, all while fighting childhood hunger. The gluten free version of these boxes are packed with healthy gluten free goodies. You can buy the box as a 1 time order or get a subscription that is delivered monthly. They would make a great Christmas gift for your gluten free loved ones, or a little something healthy for yourself after all the indulgence of the holidays! For each gluten free December box purchased, 2 meals will be donated to a child in need (through a food bank).

I recieved a box to sample and share on this blog. It contained a surprising amount of goodies and lots of them I have never tried before or even seen in stores. The box was so packed full it could barely close. I love trying new things so I was really excited to dive in and start taste testing. Some things I really enjoyed, while others were interesting but not something I'd buy in the future. Either way, it was so fun to open it up and see what kinds of goodies I had. There were 13 items total including savoury snacks, energy bars, fruit snacks and granola.

It really would make a great gift for the person in your life who likes to try new things. It's so fun to get a surprise box of snacks delivered right to your house! You can choose a box full of gluten free treats or there's also a tasting box and a deluxe box if you don't need it to be gluten free. 

The deluxe and gluten free boxes can be shipped worldwide for a fee of $3.99 per month. Shipping is free for boxes delivered in the US. If you would like to purchase a box or a subscription go to lovewithfood.com 

Chickpea Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've always found cookies and bread to be the most challenging things to make gluten free. It's mostly a texture thing; always too gritty, crumbly, dry, dense or just not anything like you remember! 

I come back to this problem every year at Christmas. I have a few go to cookies that are pretty decent, but I've never been able to make a basic chocolate chip cookie that compares in any way to the traditional version. 

But everyone wants cookies at Christmas, so I keep trying, and this year I have made a new discovery: Chickpea Flour!! I don't know why I haven't figured this out before. I've used flour blends that contain various bean flours, but I've never made anything with just straight up Chickpea Flour. It works amazing for cookies! These are hands down the best gluten free chocolate chip cookies I've ever made. They are chewy, crispy around the edges and actually hold together. Plus, chickpea flour is quite affordable for a gluten free flour. A 2 pound bag (907g) costs $3.70 at my Superstore (pictured below). I believe a few other brands sell it too, including Bobs Red Mill (450g for $3.50-$4) on Amazon.ca and Well.ca. And as an added bonus, chickpea flour is super healthy - full of fibre and protein. 

This is my third batch in the last month and I've finally managed to snap some pictures so I can share the recipe with you :) I've also made amazing biscotti with chickpea flour and will be testing it in a few more cookie recipes this month, so stay tuned for more chickpea flour cookies! 

I find it helps a lot to refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before baking. The cookies don't spread out as much that way. And FYI, raw chickpea flour tastes awful, so don't freak out if you hate the raw dough. The bitter taste disappears when the flour is cooked.

makes 2 dozen small-medium cookies

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups Chickpea Flour

1/4 cup White Sugar

1/4 cup packed Brown Sugar 

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

2/3 cup Chocolate Chips (more if you want)

Directions

Cream butter and sugar. 

Beat in egg and vanilla.

Add remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and stir the top layer a bit, then mix to thoroughly combine everything.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Press down slightly.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned.

Let cool on the baking sheet. 

Store in an airtight container on the countertop or freeze for later.

 

Cream butter and sugar

Beat in egg and vanilla

Mix in remaining dry ingredient and stir in chocolate chips 

Refrigerate and roll into balls. Press down slightly 

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

Turtle Pretzels

My sister-in-law introduced me to these a couple Christmas's ago and I instantly fell in love. They are the perfect combination of salty, crunchy and sweet. And they're so easy to make! She made a special version for me using gluten free pretzels. It's really nice to be able to eat a gluten free variety of what everyone else has.

For such an easy dessert, these taste amazing! This is a great treat to make I f you're not much of a baker. Just assemble, warm in the oven and press down with a pecan while the chocolate is still soft. These turtle pretzels have become a staple Christmas cookie in our house! 

Makes 30 pieces

Ingredients

30 Gluten Free Pretzels - knotted or square shaped (I used 1 small package of Glutino pretzels)

30 Rolos

30 Pecan Halves 

Directions 

Lay out your pretzels on a parchment lined baking tray. 1 small package should contain roughly 30 pieces.

Unwrap Rolos and place one on each pretzel.

Bake at 300 degrees for around 4 minutes.

Working quickly, press 1 pecan half onto each softened Rolo. 

Let cool in the fridge and store in an airtight container on the counter. 

You can also freeze these for a couple months if you want to make them in advance. 

Lay out pretzels and top with Rolos 

Bake at 300 for 4 minutes

Press down with pecans and let cool

Sorry for the poor photos.

It looks like I need to make this recipe again and take some better pictures!