4x Chocolate Cupcakes Gluten Free

You read that right, cupcakes with quadruple chocolate. I made these for my mom's birthday, she is a choc-o-holic! She loved them! Seriously these were so easy and delicious!

I doubled the batch for the cupcakes because of all of the family at the birthday party and only left with 2 cupcakes! No one could tell they were gluten free. They didn't have the "grit" or bitter taste of gluten free!

Cupcake mix:

1 box (16.4 oz) gluten free chocolate cake mix (I used Cherrybrook Kitchen)
1 small box chocolate vanilla instant pudding mix (double check to see if it is gluten free)
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz softened cream cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place all ingredients into stand or electric mixer and beat on medium for close to 2 minutes, batter will be thick.
3. Scoop or spoon batter into 24 cupcakes cups and bake for 18-21 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

Frosting:

1 package of prepared Pamela's Dark Chocolate Frosting
8 ounces softened cream cheese
3/4 cup mini gluten free chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips)
Wilton sparkling sugar sprinkles

1. Beat the prepared frosting and softened cream cheese until well mixed. Fold in gluten free chocolate chips.
2. Frost cooled cupcakes and top with sparkling sugar sprinkles

Makes 12-14 cupcakes

*Recipe adapted from Picky Palate (www.pickypalate.com)

Aunt Bert's (Gluten Free) Cherry Cheese Cake!

Aunt Bert is actually my great-aunt and lives in a tiny little town in Maine. She makes THE BEST PIES in the world. She is a great cook! Most of the people in the one stop sign town were my family and everyone would gather at Aunt Bert's for dinner and pie!

She is a spunky lady and somewhere in her 70's-80's I would say. When I was a teenager I would spend summer's in Maine and I would have trouble keeping up with her in Wal-Mart! I love to sit and watch her cook almost as much as I loved to sit and eat her cooking!

A few years ago, my Aunt Joyce took all of her recipes and complied an 'Aunt Bert' cookbook!
I love her cheese-cake and so my mom made me an Aunt Bert Cheesecake!
It didn't start out as gluten free, but that is the way we are making it!

Cheesecake
1 1/4 cup crushed gluten free cookies (we used Cherrybrook Kitchen Vanilla Graham Mini Cookies)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 (8-oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) sweet condensed milk (not evaporated)
3 eggs
1/4 c lemon juice from concentrate
1 8 oz container of sour cream
1 large can of cherry pie filling (we used Kroger. Be sure to call to find out if the brand you are using is gluten free)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Combine crushed cookies, sugar and butter; press into a 9 inch springform pan.
3. In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in condensed milk until smooth.    Than beat in eggs and lemon juice.
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until center is set.
5. Remove from oven and top with sour cream. Bake 5 more minutes.
6. Cool and Chill! Top with cherry filling. ENJOY!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These are really YUMMY cookies, I love them and so does everyone I make them for! I made them for the 16 year olds I teach at church and they asked me if they were gluten free after they started eating them, because they couldn't even tell! They ate them all and were fighting over the plate to get the last one! Plus they are super easy and fast to make. It takes about 10 minutes prep time. Now that is my kind of cookie!



You will need:

3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups gluten free old fashion oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins
1 cup gluten free chocolate chips (I used Private Select Brand)


Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F. and line pans with silicone liners (for this recipe silicone works the best for keeping the cookies moist)
2. Beat in electric stand mixer: butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Combine sorghum flour, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Mix to incorporate all the flours and spices together. Add to wet ingredients until well mixed. Add in oats, stir well. Stir in raisins and chocolate chips.
3. Use a cookie scoop to drop onto prepared pans. Bake 12-15 minutes.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.
4. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 3 dozen cookies!

ENJOY!

*recipe by SunMaid (http://www.sunmaid.com) additions made and altered to be gluten free by GLUTENminusU :)

Gluten Free Chili Cranberry Crock-pot Chicken

YUM! This recipe was so fun to make and super fast to prepare in the morning. I let it cook all day in the crock-pot and it was ready to serve at dinner!

You will need:

1 bottle (12 oz) of chili sauce
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon mustard
3 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup canned cranberries
1 cup gluten free chicken broth
2 tsp onion powder
2-3 diced garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
3-4 uncooked chicken breasts
gluten free hamburger buns

1. If you have a crock-pot bag... USE IT! It make clean-up so much easier!

2. Place your uncooked chicken breasts in the crock-pot. If they are frozen then add about an hour to your cook time.

3. Add all ingredients into crock pot. Give a quick stir. Cook on high for 4-6 hours until your chicken is fully cooked.

4. Shred chicken and place back into crock-pot and stir.

5. Serve on gluten free hamburger buns! We are working on a gluten free hamburger recipe... stay tuned. If you don't want to make your own you can always buy them from a gluten free bakery like www.glutenfreecreations.com (my favorite bakery!)

makes 8-10 servings. ENJOY!

*original recipe by GLUTENminusU :)

Gluten Free Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pie Cookies:

1 cup gluten free chocolate chips {semi-sweet} (I used Private Selection Brand)

1/2 cup unsalted real butter (1 stick)

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon gluten free pure vanilla extract (I used Kirkland Brand)

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (if you don't use it, you will have flat cookies)

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/4 c natural cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Whoopie Pie Filling:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

1 jar (7.5 ounces) marshmallow cream (I used Kroger Brand, if using other brand call to make sure it is gluten free)

2 teaspoons gluten free pure vanilla extract

Directions:

To make the cookies-

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper to prevent the cookies for sticking. (I used paper on one sheet and a silicone liner on my other sheet and the cookies on the silicone liner stuck)

2. Put the semi-sweet gluten free chocolate chips and the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stir after each 30 seconds, until butter and chocolate chips are melted (about 2 minutes).

3. Beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth, add the melted chocolate mixture in, and whisk to combine.

4. In separate bowl, place the xanthan gum, sorghum, tapioca starch and brown rice flour together. Whisk together to blend. (This is an important step to make sure that your flour mixes well and you don't get chunks of one flour.) Add in the cocoa, baking powder and salt, whisk to blend. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients until moist. Switch to a rubber spatula and finish folding the batter together, take care not to over-mix.

5. Use a small ice cream scoop or drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto prepared pans. Space 1 inch from each other. Bake for about 6 minutes. (makes 24-30 cookies, depending on the size of your scoops. Try to keep them as uniform as possible). Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to cooling rack, until cool.

Make the filling-

6. Use an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add marshmallow cream and vanilla. Continue mixing until well combined.

Assemble pies-

7. Make sure cookies are cooled completely. Take one cookie and turn it flat side up. Spread a generous amount of cream mixture on cookie and top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently. Repeat until you have no more cookies and filling left.

8. EAT AND ENJOY!

Makes 12-15 finished cookies!

*NO ONE THAT ATE THESE KNEW THESE WERE GLUTEN FREE! :)

*Whoopie Pie cookie recipe adapted from Food Network Kitchens (foodnetwork.com) and cream filling from Martha Stewart (marthastewart.com)