A few weeks ago, while on one of my rare grocery adventures (I kid you not, I get lost in label land)! Anyhoo, after a few hours of doing the “Gluten-Free Nancy Drew” thing, I remembered that I needed to pick up some more bread. When I approached the freezer case to get my beloved Udi’sGF Bread, I just about fainted. There they were. The ever elusive, softly whispered, government conspiracy cover-up… UDI’S BAGELS!!
I was so excited, I bought 5 packages!
As soon as I got home, I had to have one, with cream cheese!
The first thing I noticed as I pulled a bagel out of the bag… these are REALLY BIG bagels! They are so big, that I could only eat 1/4 of it! The other thing I noticed is that they do not really taste like the gluten bagels I remember. They are good mind you, but they are not the boiled bagels that I think of; with the crunchy crust and chewy inside. To me, they are the same as Udi’s great gluten-free bread, only in the shape of a bagel (which is a big plus, especially for a 6 year old)! Sam loves the bagels, because they make him feel “normal.” Know what I think these are? A GREAT gluten-free hamburger bun, only with a hole in the middle! Just place a piece of lettuce at the top to keep the condiments contained and wa-la!
Told you they were big! Sam will not eat lettuce on his burger, but it wasn't too messy!
Mike and I are trying something new this year with our boys for Easter. We are kickin’ it old school!
Not sure how popular the “Easter Bunny” will be in our house come Sunday, but I am keeping my fingers crossed! Instead of loading their baskets with neon colored commercial candies, I am making a few molded chocolates (baseball gloves, footballs, bunnies and “magic wands“). Sam is also getting his first “big boy” bike and Luke is getting a “daddy-built” sandbox complete with dump trucks, shovels and the like. I also bought some cute Jelly Belly Bubbles (sugar-free!), that I found at Toys R’ Us. 😀
Making your own chocolate candies is actually not as difficult as it sounds (trust me on this, even my husband has made them!). All you need are some inexpensive molds, which you can find at any craft store (or online) for about $1.99 each. You also need chocolate (I’m not talking Couverture chocolatehere, which needs tempering, that is WAY over my head!). You can use gluten-free melting wafers (I use Chocoley’s Bada Bing Bada Boom Candy Melts), but you can also get them at craft stores; Make’n Mold Candy Wafers are also gluten-free and they come in all sorts of colors. You can also use vegan chocolate chips if you need need something that is dairy-free.
While I personally prefer the taste of Chocoley’s candy melts (over the Make’n Mold Candy Wafers), I have also made candy using the 365 Organics Vegan Chocolate Chips. The first time I just melted the chips in a double boiler then poured into the molds and placed in the fridge to set. The candies set up fine (and tasted fine as well) but there were a bunch of unsightly white spots all over the candy. I think that was something called chocolate bloom (remember, I am not an expert!):
Spotty chocolate using vegan chocolate chips without the added Spectrum Shortening.
I made the candy bars again, but this time I added 1 Tbs. of Spectrum Shortening to each cup of vegan chocolate chips as I was melting the chocolate in the double boiler. I then repeated everything else the same and no white spots!! This version of homemade chocolate candy will melt more easily, so keep it in the fridge!
No spots after I added the Spectrum Shortening to the vegan chocolate chips!
I made some gluten-free “Nestle Crunch” candy bars back in December and have since been trying other add-in’s like sunflower seeds and graham crackers bits. We really like the sunflower seeds as an add-in (see above picture), the perfect blend of salty and sweet. This would be a great candy bar for those allergic to peanuts and tree nuts!
This candy bar has broken pieces of Kinnikinnick's "S'moreables," a GREAT GF Graham Cracker!!
Miss Twix candy bars? I made a gluten-free version of Twix last summer (I really shouldn’t link to it, so embarrassing to look at my newbie blog posts)! I still use the Schar Shortbread Cookies (they are soooo good!) but I no longer use the Kraft Caramels. I use Chocoley’s Caramel instead.
Gluten-Free "Twix"
Chocolate Dipped S'moreables GF Graham Crackers
The chocolate "dish" was a fun mold to experiment with!
Teeny-Tiny Magic Wands with Glutino's GF Pretzel Sticks
I am still working on my campaign to get Glutino to make some gluten-free pretzel rods! I have strapping “manly men” in my house and the teeny-tiny magic wands just don’t cut it, (nor do my homemade pretzel rods!) LOL! 😀
As I was scrolling through some older photos from back in December (still need to catch up on some long overdue reviews), I saw a photo that I had completely forgotten about. I received a lot of great goodies from Schar and one of the products were “Italian Breadsticks.” They are great on their own, but I tried to turn them into pretzel rods by brushing them with melted butter and sprinkling Kosher salt on top before baking them for a few minutes to set the salt:
Dip faux GF pretzel rod in melted chocolate.
Add GF Sprinkles, then place in the refrigerator to set!
THIS is what I was trying to achieve for Sam’s Friday Fun Snack a few weeks ago when they were making “magic wands!” There are also a lot of fun chocolate pretzel rod molds that are hard to make without a GF pretzel rod! Have I made my case for Glutino to make GF Pretzel Rods???? If you’re with me on this, let’s bombard Glutino with Tweets and emails, Towanda!!! 😀
I found some foil candy wrappers at the craft store to add the finishing touch!
One last thing. A couple of days ago I found Annie’s Homegrown Gluten-Free Bunny Cookies (at La Montanita Coop for folks who live in the Albuquerque area). They are perfect for Easter and I also happen to need them for Sam’s Friday Fun Snack next week when they are making Mud Pies from Chocolate Teddy Grahams. You have no idea how HAPPY I am, that I don’t have to try and make a GF version from scratch!!!!
These are really good! Now if Annie’s would just make a gluten-free version of their Cheddar Bunnies, I might be able to get out of the kitchen more often! 😉 Might need to launch another campaign…
Yesterday, Luke and I made cupcakes for his class Easter party so we thought we would show you our handiwork!
I use the Better CrockerGF Cake Mixes because they are easy and predictable when I am short on time. I hope to start working on finding some good scratch recipes over the coming months when life slows down a bit (will it, really?), but until then, this is where we are! I also happen to have about 42,000 of them in my personal stock. I order them on Amazon for a significant savings over my local grocery store (and my local store never seems to have them in stock)! I don’t usually buy so many but with all my cake decorating classes, I bought 3 cases of each, assuming I would need to take a cake each week like I did when I took a class last year. Guess I should have clarified that it would indeed be the same instructor, but it’s not, and she does not have us bring a cake to class each week (only for the final class). We practice on cutting boards instead, which makes me feel safer but I am now buried in cake mixes! 😀
Anyhoo,
We made a batch of the Devil’s Food Cupcakes, omitting the eggs, butter and regular water and just added 10-ounces of room temperature sparkling water. This would be useful for egg and dairy allergies or if you simply want to lighten up the fat content. Unfortunately, it does nothing for the sugar content so moderation is still key, as it should be with all things.
As for the Yellow Cake Cupcakes, I tried something new because the yellow cake mixes have been tasting funny to me lately, kind of like play dough. I have been learning about using Flavor Emulsions in my cake decorating class, so I used one this time instead of the usual Pure Vanilla Extract. I found a gluten-free emulsion at Hobby Lobby by LorAnn Oils. I tried the Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor in this batch of yellow cupcakes and I have to say that it was a remarkable improvement in flavor. I did not do the sparkling water technique on this batch (don’t like to change too many things at once), but I followed the directions on the box using 2/3 cup regular water, 1/2 cup of Smart Balance (Earth Balance is fine too), 3 eggs and 2 tsp. of the Princess Cake and Cookie Emulsion (instead of the vanilla extract). I never use real butter in these mixes because the cake always turned out too dry. The oils in the Smart/Earth Balance seem to add moisture.
1 cup 365 Organic All Vegetable Shortening (I like this much better for white icing than I do the SpectrumShortening, as it stays white. The Spectrum Shortening yields a pretty off-white color).
1 tsp. Clear Vanilla Extract (if you want a white icing).
2 Tbs. Water
1 lb. Powdered Sugar (365 Organic has a corn-free powdered sugar, using tapioca starch instead of cornstarch)
1 Tbs. Meringue Powder (you can omit this and I often do when it is not hot and humid out)
Pinch of Salt (this is optional, but it is supposed to cut the sweetness a bit. A pinch is just under 1/8 tsp.)
This is a great substitute for Crisco Shortening, which has a few undesirable ingredients. I have a picture of Crisco’s ingredient label, here.
Cream together the shortening, vanilla and water, then add the powdered sugar (and meringue powder if you decide to use that). If using a toddler to command the stand mixer… stand back and wear a raincoat! 😀
I beat the icing for a good solid 5 minutes which makes it light and fluffy.
I used a 1M tip in the pastry bag for applying the icing.
Starting on the outside of the cupcake and using controlled pressure, apply the icing in a circular pattern from the outside in.
Decorate with your favorite GF sprinkles or other embellishments!
Click here for a video tutorial on using pastry bags and tips.
Here is another link for the Wilton Cake Decorating Channel on You Tube, there are lots of different video tutorials that you might find helpful!
Now just remember, I am just a mom and not a professional decorator by any means, LOL! I am only on a mission to build a better birthday cake for my kids!
Although, a drunk leprechaun sitting on a grassy knoll with a chocolate pot of yellow marshmallows and a Jelly Belly rainbow isn’t exactly a kid birthday cake. It was slightly inspired by how I was feeling after the first day of Spring Break with my beautiful boys running amuck while I was trying to figure out my cake decorating theme! 😉
Gluten Free bagels that are naturally dairy-free and can easily be made egg-free! 🙂
This is one of those things that most people probably don’t think they will ever have to make in their lives, and why would you? Bagels are are very easy to obtain. Well, unless you are gluten-free or suffer from food allergies.
Joan’s Great Bakes makes a really good gluten-free bagel, but they are expensive because of shipping costs (if you live in the mountain time zone like I do, shipping is about $45). A local Albuquerque store used to carry them but they were $14.99 for a 5-pack of bagels. That can be a hard price to swallow, regardless of your financial situation. We would buy them as a special treat but they were never a staple simply because of the price.
A few weeks ago, Sam’s Friday Fun Snack at school was making “Bear Bagels.” The kiddos were using 2 bagels of different sizes, a large bagel and a mini bagel, to assemble a bear face. I got the recipe with only a 3 day notice, so I did not have time to order any more bagels from Joan’s Great Bakes without paying an overnight shipping charge, and even I have to draw the line somewhere! 😀 So, I had 2 whole days to figure out how to make homemade GF bagels and GF “Nilla” wafers!
Here is the recipe for Bear Bagels (in case you are interested):
I lucked out and happened to have one Joan’s Great Bakes bagel left in my freezer (from who knows when), but I was desperate, so I used it anyway! I don’t know if you have ever had one, but they are not all that big. They fall somewhere between a gluten-containing “mini” bagel and a gluten-containing “regular” bagel (but no where near the size of a gluten-containing “large” bagel). Which is totally fine by me, because I am very big on “true” portion sizes in our house. It only poses a problem when making said “Bear Bagels!” 😉 I thought about using a cookie cutter to cut out a smaller sized bagel from one of the halves, but that was clearly not going to work. I tried making a batch of bagels from a recipe I found online, but they tasted horrible and looked even worse, so they promptly went into the trash. I did learn one thing from that experiment though, how to shape a bagel the easy way (I’ll show you that in a minute)!
After my first batch of homemade bagels were a bust, I realized I had to admit defeat and figure something else out to replace the mini bagel, I just didn’t have enough time. You have no idea how difficult giving up was for me (even if it was only temporary). Right or wrong, I still feel very guilty for having passed on the celiac gene to my son. Because of this, I am admittedly OCD about making Sam’s “public” GF foods look the same as his friends, although I have never actually hit the mark for one reason or another!
Anyway, I had made some Better Batter biscuits for dinner that evening and had a few left over, so I went with a mini biscuit “bagel” instead for Sam to use as the bear nose. Needing to make the biscuit smaller than the Joan’s Great Bakes Bagel, meant I also had to cut down the GF “Nilla” Wafers I had made. Here is the bear we ultimately ended up with:
It worked, but had much room for improvement! 😉
I have since been researching different homemade bagel recipes to try and I made a second attempt yesterday using this recipe from the Baking Bites website (with gluten-free substitutions of course). Baking Bites is a great website, and once one feels comfortable making gluten-free substitutions, an entire world of possibilities opens up! Check out Nicole’s recipe for homemade Girl Scout Samoas (always and forever Caramel Delites in my book 🙂 ). I cannot wait to experiment with that recipe!
Homemade Gluten-Free Bagels
(Nicole Weston’s original recipe is in black, my additions/changes are in red).
1 Tbs. Active Dried Yeast (I used Red Star Yeast which is gluten-free)
1 Tbs. Sugar
1 3/4 cup Warm Water (110° – 115° F. is the optimal temperature to activate the yeast, according to the Red Star website. Although, I have also read that 100° – 110° F. is the optimal range, so I guess anywhere from 100° – 115° F. is the area to shoot for. 😉 If the water is too hot, you will kill the yeast. I like to use a thermometer to make sure the water is “in the proper zone”).
4 cups Bread Flour(for this recipe I just used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour. I am trying to figure out a good gluten-free substitute for bread flour to see if that changes the outcome of the final product, I will keep you posted).
1 Tbs. Salt
1 Egg for Egg Wash (not sure if this is necessary, but I have always added 1 Tbs. of water to each egg in my egg wash. If you cannot have egg, this step can just be omitted.)
First, you want to “proof” your yeast. I ALWAYS proof my yeast (to make sure the yeast is “active”) in my gluten-free baked goods, because not only do I want to save time and frustration from a potential flop, but gluten-free ingredients are too expensive to risk throwing it all away because of something as inexpensive as yeast! So:
In a bowl, add the yeast, sugar and warm water (100° – 115° F). Stir to incorporate the ingredients, then set the yeast aside to do it’s work, about 10 minutes. (Click here for more information on the different types of yeast and the best way to use them for optimal results. If you are interested, see below for a video I found on YouTube on “How to proof yeast”).
Meanwhile, in a large bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer) add the flour and salt.
Once the yeast has “proofed,” add it to the flour/salt mixture.
Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed. If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed (this is what I did). Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. (Make sure you put the dough in a warm place. click here for some rising tips from baking911.com, I reference this website all the time, because I have zero formal training in baking! 😀 I highly recommend bookmarking it for future use).
Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil (I used a roasting pan over two burners), and preheat the oven to 400° F.
When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces (first quarters, then thirds). Shape each piece into a tight ball as illustrated below (click here to see Nicole’s illustrations), pinching the corners together at the bottom of the piece of dough (I didn’t really do this step as written, I just rolled out a ball). When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.
Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed. Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball (I cheated and used my apple corer to make the hole). Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.
Working four at a time (I put all of mine in at the same time since I was using a pan with a large surface area), drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute (I used chop sticks for this). Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining bagels.
Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (I added 1 tbs. of water to my beaten egg) (a pastry or bbq brush is a good tool for this) and bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
YouTube video on “proofing” yeast:
The temperature of my water was 113° F. :
My “proofed” yeast:
I mixed all the ingredients using my dough hook attachment, on low for 8 minutes.
This is what the dough looked like after rising for 1 hour. It does not look exactly like a risen gluten-dough.
Instead of using the method in the Baking Bites recipe, I just rolled the dough pieces around on the counter (to make it smooth).
Final bagel dough ball.
Using my apple corer to make the hole in the bagel.
My apple corer has a plunger on it which made extracting the dough uber simple.
I then stretched the hole out a little bit.
Tip: Keep your bagels covered with a damp cloth while you are shaping your bagels, so the dough is less likely to dry out and crack.
Pre-boiled bagels of various sizes (this is what is so cool about making your own bagels).
Some of my bagels were lumpy and bumpy, so using warm water, I tried to smooth them out before adding them to the boiling water.
Boiling water in a roasting pan over 2 stove top burners.
Boiling the bagels.
I used chop sticks to flip the bagels.
Even after smoothing them out, some of the bagels looked like this. I wonder what causes this?
One bagel that stayed relatively smooth. 😀
Remove the bagels and let drain on a towel for a minute.
Brush with egg wash.
Fresh from the oven, GF bagels: Crunchy on the outside with a chewy inside, just like “real” bagels! Without cream cheese, there is a slight “sourdough” taste to these.
This is one of the bagels the day after I made them.
I stored them unsliced, in an airtight container. They did need to be softened up a bit, so before slicing, I nuked them in the microwave for 20 seconds and it was as if they were fresh!
We even made some Gluten-Free “Bagel Bites,” yummy!
Mike and I tried to cost these out, using the Better Batter Gluten-Free Flour. After shipping, a 25-lb. bag of Better Batter is $86.00. There is roughly 3 cups in 1-lb. of Better Better, so a 25-lb bag is roughly 75 cups of flour. That comes to roughly $1.15/cup. This recipe uses 4 cups of flour, so that’s about $4.60. The other ingredients are too inexpensive to worry about, but for argument’s sake, let’s round it up to $5.00.
$5.00 for 10 homemade GF bagels versus roughly $30.00 for 10 store-bought GF bagels.
It’s funny how things have a way of coming full circle. As a small kid, Valentine’s Day is all about the candy attached to cute little “notes” and stuffed into a decorated box at school. As you grow older, Valentine’s Day becomes this “high pressure” day to express your feelings to the one you love… roses, candy, jewelery, fine dining, etc., etc.
Then you get married, start working on your 2.1 children after having purchased your 3 bedroom 2 bath mortgage, and you tell your husband to trade out the “obligatory” roses for a new vacuum instead. Yes, I did that once, LOL! I was 7 months pregnant and VERY hormonal! 😉
Now here I am with young children of my own and Valentine’s Day has come back around to candy attached to those cute little notes and decorating Valentine’s boxes for the school Valentine’s Day party. It is pretty much the same as it was when I was growing up, only with a gluten-free twist. Compiling a list of “safe” candy and making gluten-free heart shaped sugar cookies for Sam and Luke to take to school and decorate along side their friends. For the recipe I use to make gluten-free cut-out sugar cookies, click here.
I can't get over seeing Sam with his first missing tooth!
I was really moved by something Sam did while decorating his cookie. One of the candies that the other kiddos were using to decorate their cookies was red licorice. I keep some gluten-free licorice on hand for occasions such as this, but it is not as bright a red as Twizzlers. It isn’t very obvious in the above picture but Sam took some of the red icing I had made for him and spread it on his gluten-free licorice so it would look the same as everyone else’s.
One of the things I do to counter food related disappointments that Sam may experience, is to bump up the “Wow Factor” on other things to make Sam feel “cool” with his friends.
So, we went all out on his Valentine box!
Sam is currently OBSESSED with football, so that is the theme we went with:
I got the inspiration for this project when I was at Michael’s Craft Store gathering supplies so I bought a white photo box, green Duck tape and some football stickers. The football guys and goal posts are actually cake toppers that I bought at the cake supply store where I am taking my cake decorating class. Mike cut strips of the green Duck tape and lined them up to make the football field. I used a hot glue gun to affix the figurines and Sam had fun putting the stickers on the box for the finishing touch.
After Mike had dropped Sam off at school, he called to say that all the boys in his class were super impressed with his Valentine box! 😉
Here is a clip from a local (Albuquerque, NM) family’s holiday light display, The Speake Family Christmas. We went to see it tonight and all Luke could say was, “O.H. M.Y. G.O.S.H…, O.H. M.Y. G.O.S.H!…” To hear a 2 year old scream out “Oh my gosh” is hysterical. All Mike and I could say was, “WHEN did he learn that phrase??”
Donations are being accepted for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I cannot think of a better cause. If you are able, please consider making a donation. If a monetary donation is not possible this year, a prayer for all of these families would certainly be greatly appreciated.
Last year, my sister told me about a website that “tracks Santa” on Google Earth. It is a really cool website for kids and parents alike, as it really connects to the kid in all of us. We are tracking Santa this year so Sam wanted to make sure all of his gluten-free friends out there knew about this too! 😉
Sam also wanted to share the bag of Reindeer food that he brought home from school last week. We will be putting the food for Santa’s reindeer out on our front lawn tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve!
We doubted that these were gluten-free oats so we decided to err on the side of caution and make a fresh bag of our own using "safe" oats for celiacs!
If you want to do this for your gluten-free child but do not have GF oats on hand, just use any cereal or even Quinoa Flakes, add some glitter and toss (or place in a dish) in your front yard or on your front porch for Santa's Reindeer!
I would like to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who visits our blog and leaves comments, makes suggestions and so on. We really do think of you all as our friends, even if we have never met. I like to think of it as you and I sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee and sharing recipes and stories. The gluten-free lifestyle can be overwhelming and isolating (at least in the beginning) as we adjust to a new way of living. Being a part of our online gluten-free community has helped me and my family immensely, and I thank and appreciate each and every one of you for that.
We wish you all a very happy, healthy and (celiac) safe holiday! See you in 2010!
I have tried for years to find a gluten-free sugar cookie recipe that I could cut the dough into holiday shapes and bake them without the dough either tearing apart, or spreading so much in the oven that all 6 separate cookies merged into one giant undesirable blob. I found a wonderful recipe last year but of course I did not save it so I have absolutely no idea how to make them again! Grrr…
So, after trying out about 13 different flour combinations from various recipes, I landed on the Land O’Lakes recipe for Star Cut-Out Cookies. First, I made the recipe as it is written but found the dough to be a bit difficult to work with. The dough seemed a little too “wet” and the cookies did not hold their shape as well as I would have liked, but the overall taste and texture was really good. So I thought that the flour blend might really work well in my mom’s recipe that uses powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar (I was hoping the powdered sugar would absorb some of the excess moisture). My mom also always added a little almond extract which I absolutely love!
The following is the recipe I used and I am extremely pleased with the results. If you have a favorite sugar cookie recipe of your own, you might want to try subbing this GF flour blend for the gluten version!
Towanda!
Flour Blend *inspired* by the Land O’Lakes recipe:
2 cups Superfine Rice Four (I tried this with Superfine White Rice Flour in one version and Superfine Sweet Rice Flour in the other and there was no discernible taste difference, but I highly recommend getting superfine rice flours, there is no grittiness in the end product!).
2/3 cups Potato Starch
1/3 cup Tapioca Starch (I used Expandex)
1 tsp. Xanthan Gum
Gluten Free Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
1 cup Butter (or Non-Dairy Substitute)
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
2 1/2 cups GF Flour Blend (see above)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Preheat oven to 375° F.
In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) add butter and powdered sugar, beat on medium speed until fluffy.
Add egg, vanilla and almond extract.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, add GF flour blend, baking soda and cream of tartar. Use a whisk to incorporate all of the ingredients (as added insurance, I then sift all of the dry ingredients to make sure everything is well blended).
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Cover the dough and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight (you can also make this well ahead of time and freeze until needed).
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges.
A pretty Mom cookie...
Another pretty Mom cookie...
And yes, clearly another Mom cookie.
Dad cookie: "Hey, they all taste the same." Such a male!!
Hey, we're from New Mexico...these are mandated by state law!
"I'll put some frosting on this one..."
"...and a little more frosting..."
"...and some more concentrated sugar...hee hee hee."
"And now I'll put some frosting on me..."
"...and a little more frosting on me..."
"Mom and Dad are drawing straws for bath duty...hee hee hee!"
"I like blue...blue is good."
"Oh I am sooooo gonna run like a madman and crash like a lead ballon."
Only a grandparent could love this cookie...
I'm seeking help for my goldfish obsession...I promise!!
Six hours experimenting with dough, one hour of sugar induced pandemonium, some great video of a couple of jacked up boys running, rolling, and giggling, two hours of clean-up and the mother of all baths…priceless!
In case you are wondering about the funny window on the middle of the top row, that is actually the door, we put it together upside down! Fitting, I think 🙂
I do not remember the last time that I laughed so hard I cried! Literally! I will admit that it was quite the challenge for me to put aside my “Type A” personality and just let the boys go for it. I am glad I did though, because “perfect” is not nearly as fun or memorable. The only decorating contribution I actually made was the walkway leading to the house!
The licorice you see is gluten-free and made by Candy Tree.
For the gingerbread recipe and the templates click here.
You will want to make Royal Icing to use as the “glue” for the gingerbread forms and the decorations.
Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.
* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.
**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.
Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.
Alice will receive the “Simple Joys” prize pack which includes 2 packages of Betty Crocker Fruit-Flavored Snacks, a retro Pick `em Up Sticks game, a light-up yo-yo and a classic Frisbee.
Alice’s favorite games as a child were LIFE, Uno and Connect Four.
Congratulations Alice! If you will email me your address at heidikelly13@gmail.com, I will get your prize pack out to you! 😀
Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom 