Rachel’s Recipe Box

My mother has always made a Kahlua chocolate chip pecan pie, and I loved it. This year I wanted to make it without the Kahlua, and I ended up with a wonderfully rich, but not overly rich, dessert that I thought was perfect. It’s also wonderful leftover, if you can hide a few slivers!

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, fish free, and shellfish free recipe. You could make this corn-free by using golden syrup in place of the corn syrup, but the eggs and nuts are integral to the dish.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup gluten-free flour or starch
• 6 TB dairy-free margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I love the little Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips!)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 12 intact pecan halves, as garnish
• 1 pie crust shell - 1/6th of my Perfect GF Pie Crust recipe, or you could use a The Gluten-Free Pantry pie crust mix.

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″ deep dish pie tin, and arrange pie crust. Remember to roll out the pie crust between 2 pieces of plastic wrap - it works beautifully!

Whisk eggs until fluffy in a large bowl, then begin adding the other ingredients. Beat in sugar, flour, margarine, salt, vanilla, and corn syrup. Mix well, then stir in the chopped pecans.

Sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips on the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the pecan pie filling into the pie crust.

Decorate the top of the pie with the intact pecans.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the pie is golden brown and set (not all jiggly). Let cool on a cooling rack. Serve small pieces so people can have seconds and not feel as guilty!

This is a mix of a pie, a cake, and a cobbler. It’s an incredibly easy way to get the flavor of a peach pie without a lot of effort! My grandmother makes this a lot, and everyone loves it. I tweaked it a bit, and changed it for our allergies, but it’s still incredibly easy - how often can you say an allergy-friendly dessert is easy?

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, and vegan/vegetarian recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 stick dairy-free margarine (such as Fleishmann’s unsalted)

• 1/2 cup milk substitute (soy milk, rice milk, etc)
• 1 cup gf flour or flour mix
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 large can or 1 quart (4 cups) canned sliced peaches with juice or syrup

Method
Preheat oven to 350 or 375 - this recipe is very flexible with temperature, so bake it at the temperature your dinner requires.

Melt margarine in an 8×8 or 8×11 or similar casserole. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and milk. Pour that mixture into the middle of melted margarine, do not stir.

Pour peaches and juice into the center of all. Do not stir. Bake uncovered for 45 min, and let cool for a bit. It will be a bit jelly-ish, not firm like a cake.

This serves 6, allegedly, but don’t count on leftovers if there arefewer than six people at home!

[gfcf. free of dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish. vegetarian]

My daughters have been enjoying their Easy Bake Ovens again, and are loving their cakes - next step is pizzas!

Here are two recipes that make 4 cakes each, plenty for everyone to share!

Chocolate Easy Bake Cake

• 1 cup gluten-free flour mix

• 1 egg
• 1 TBS canola oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 TBS cocoa powder

Method
Preheat Easy Bake Oven. Grease cake tins with oil or dairy-free margarine
Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Pour into cake pans.
Insert cake pan into the Easy Bake Oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove, let col, then frost with icing recipe below

Cinnamon Roll Easy Bake Cake

• 1 1/4 cups gluten-free flour mix

• 1 egg
• 1 TBS canola oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBS cinnamon

Method
Preheat Easy Bake Oven. Grease cake tins with oil or dairy-free margarine
Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Spoon int cake pans, keeping a circle opening in the middle like a donut.
Insert cake pan into the Easy Bake Oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove, let col, then frost with icing recipe below

Icing
On top of the Easy Bake Oven, place the yellow pot, and melt 1 TBS dairy-free margarine or shortening. Slowly add 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, adding 1 TBS water if needed to keep the mixture from becoming too stiff. Glaze cakes and eat.

adapted from an adaptation by a friend from a recipe in Roben Ryberg’s GF Kitchen book

Very light. A bit crispy on the outside, light and chewy on the inside. These donuts would please a newly-GF donut lover.

Enjoy the Cinnamon Donuts recipe, too!

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, corn free, top 8 allergen free, and vegan recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup oil

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg or egg replacer
• 1 cup tapioca, corn, or arrowroot starch
• 1/2 cup millet or sorghum flour
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup coconut milk or other milk substitute

Glaze:

• 2 TBS margarine or coconut oil

• 2 TBS coconut milk, soy milk, or rice milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar (watch out - this has corn unless specially purchased)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (check for dairy & gluten free status)

Method:

Combine all ingredients except milk in a medium bowl. Slowly add milk while stirring and break up any lumps. The batter will be relatively thin.

Heat about 1/4″ oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Scoop out with cookie scoop and drop into hot oil. Flip after a minute or so. Remove from oil and place on paper towels. (Be very careful! hot oil burns!)

Glaze, then repeat process with the next batches until batter is finished.

Glaze:

In another bowl melt margarine and chocolate chips in the microwave for a minute, adding 30 seconds and stirring if additional time is needed.

Add the milk substitute and powdered sugar. Mix until not lumpy, then drizzle over donuts. yum!

My middle daughter was looking through a cookbook she received as a gift recently (Felicity’s Cooking Studio (American Girls Collection), and wanted to make something from it. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of the ingredients or time needed for the different treats. After a lot of discussion, we ended up adapting Felicity’s Baked Pumpkin Pudding into MG’s Pumpkin Custard!

This is an easy recipe, and it tastes delicious. Most of our family dislikes pumpkin pie, but this recipe was richer, and we all loved it. Compliments are a great pay-off for a kiddo’s hard work!

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, and corn free recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 can pumpkin (16oz) - NOT pumpkin pie filling
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• several grates nutmeg (1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
• 1/2 cup molasses

Method
Preheat oven to 350. (if your meal is cooking at 375, this is a forgiving recipe. just check on it earlier)

Choose an 8 inch round casserole dish, and add the eggs. With a fork or a small whisk, whisk the eggs until well combined.

Using a spatula, add in the pumpkin and combine with the eggs. Add the spices (my daughter especially likes grating the nutmeg!), and mix well.

Add the molasses and mix together. Scrape down the sides and smooth the top of the custard so it’s even.

Bake for 1 hour - the custard should be set, like a quiche. Allow to cool for a little while, then scoop into ramekins. Yum! This served 5 happy diners, with enough left for one or two more.

We, like everyone else we know, are finding ourselves on a tighter budget because of the cost of gas and heating oil. My daughters love polenta, and while I am Italian, I always thought it was too tricky to make from scratch. I mean really, would they be selling it in rolls at the store for $3 or more if it was easy?

Yes.

Polenta is incredibly easy to make, and while it requires a bit of time, it’s done in under an hour. You need to simmer your marinara for a while anyway, so let it simmer while the polenta bakes. There’s very little work involved after the first few minutes other than being in the house while the oven’s on. I have adapted a recipe for polenta from The Silver Spoon, a fabulous cookbook for anything and everything Italian. I bought the cookbook for everyone at Christmas a couple years ago, and we’re all still cooking our way through it!

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, top 8 allergen free, and vegan/vegetarian recipe.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 3 cups cornmeal (I use fine-ground, but a courser grind is more traditional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• (optional)2-3 shakes basil or oregano or Italian seasoning
• olive oil

Method:
Preheat oven to 400F

Bring the water and salt (and spices if using) to a boil in a large saucepan or medium-sized soup pot. Make sure you have enough room in the pot to add the cornmeal.

While the water is boiling, drizzle olive oil over the bottom of a 9×13 pan or two smaller pans.

When the water boils, sprinkle in the cornmeal with one hand, and whisk it into the water with the other hand. Whisk carefully so there aren’t too many lumps, and watch out for spitting cornmeal, it can burn. (You may want to don your Kevlar® gloves for this part!)

Once all the cornmeal has been whisked into the water, you will have a nice cornmeal mush. Pat it into the oiled pan(s) with a spatula, then drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Slide it into the oven, and set the timer for 45 minutes.

Check the polenta - the top should be a bit crisp, and the edges golden brown. Slice and serve with a sauce. You’ll never buy the other stuff again!

Serve this with a lovely side salad and marinara and sausages (if not vegetarian). Mmmm… One of my daughters prefers the polenta plain, then eats the red sauce and sausages with a spoon!

These are a favorite holiday cookie from my childhood, my Nana made them every year. I was so sad when we went dairy-free, as it was then impossible to find dairy-free mini chocolate chips. Thank goodness for Enjoy Life chocolate chips! You can also make them with regular sized chocolate chips, but they are even yummier with the mini chips.

I am hopeless with meringues - they always end up sticky, but these appear to be foolproof. You should still try to avoid baking them on wet days, but otherwise they are incredibly easy and keep very well in an airtight container.

These cookies are gfcf, wheat, gluten, dairy, soy, corn, tree nut, peanut, fish, and shellfish free. and delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 egg whites

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 10oz bag mini chocolate chips

Method
Preheat oven to 370 degrees F. This is NOT a typo!

Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer.

Sloooowly add the sugar, vanilla, and salt to the eggs. Continue to beat eggs until they form stiff peaks.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, Reynolds Release, or silpat.

Drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto the sheets. You want small, snowdrops. They still work if they end up larger because you have “help” from children, though.

Put the cookie sheets in the oven, and TURN IT OFF. Then walk away. This doesn’t require an oven with a pilot light or anything - it works fine in electric ovens

Leave them there overnight (ideally), or for at least 5 hours. I do it overnight, as otherwise I would be tempted to check on them. Put a sticky note on the oven to remind people that they may not open the oven.

Take them off the cookie sheets in the morning and place in an airtight container. Give as many as survive your hungry family to your most loved friends and family.

These are vegan & vegetarian, as well as gfcf, egg, dairy, gluten, nut, and corn free. They are also yummy and amazingly easy. They make a great banana bread, too - just cook it longer.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup banana – mashed (about medium 2 bananas)

• 1/3 cup maple syrup (or brown sugar)
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 2 cups gf flour mix - 1 1/3 c flour, 2/3 c starch (if not gluten-free, use 2 cups “regular” flour and omit the xanthan gum)
• 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 12 cup muffin pan, or use muffin cups. Keep a 6-cup muffin tin ready, sometimes this works out to be 18 muffins. Mini-muffins work great with this recipe, too.

In a blender, combine banana, juice, syrup, oil.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Add banana mixture and combine, using as few strokes as possible so that you do not overmix the batter.

Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each one 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 - 25 minutes.

Let muffins cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.

If you are OK with nuts, you can replace some of the flour with a nut meal/nut flour. Or add 1/2 cup chopped nuts to the batter at the end.

Adapted from my friend Sue’s tried-and-true recipe, but adapted to be gf/df/sf/and rolling-out-free. These are divine.

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, potentially egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, top 8 allergen free, and potentially vegan recipe.

1 cup Spectrum Shortening or margarine
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg, or egg-replacer
2 1/4 cups bean or pea flour
1 cup mixed tapioca and arrowroot starch (or you could sub potato starch for one of them)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
about 1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt

powdered sugar for rolling

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.

Line cookie sheets with exopat, silpat, or parchment paper.

Mix cookie ingredients together in the order listed, until it forms a great big lovely soft ball of dough.

Using a cookie scoop (or a spoon, I suppose), scoop out balls of dough. Roll in powdered sugar, and squish onto cookie sheet. leave about an inch around, as they spread.

Bake for about 6 - 9 minutes. When they’re done, they’ll be a little crinkly on top, but won’t change color much since the dough is already brown. Let cool on sheet about 5 min, then cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.

Yum!

This is a delicious gluten-free cornbread recipe that is just right - nice and moist. If you prefer dry cornbread, this isn’t the recipe for you. But if you’re looking for a nice, moist cornbread, it’s wonderful. This is also one of the bread products that I have had work very well for me without eggs.

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, vegetarian, vegan, and top 8 allergen free recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups fine cornmeal
• 1/2 cup millet or other yellowish flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch (or a mix with cornstarch or potato or whatever)
• 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 TBS baking powder (2 tsp if using eggs)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup applesauce (or 2 eggs)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can creamed corn (14-15 oz)

grease an 8? round or square pan. Preheat oven to 350

Whisk together ingredients from cornmeal to salt in a medium bowl

Add wet ingredients and mix until just blended. It will look something like cake batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until the top is firm and lightly brown. Serve warm with some butter substitute.

This goes great with ham, ribs, chili, bbq chicken or anything almost-southern. This is a wonderfully moist and hearty cornbread that tastes equally good with and without eggs.