Homemade Butter

It was time to try this out. I have always wanted to make homemade butter but never actually made myself, until today. I had some heavy cream that I needed to use before it went sour (lovely I know).

I am going to link a video that shows everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ4Q9obbc-4

The only change I did was I did not have manufacturers cream, I had heavy whipping cream.

The process of getting to extract the buttermilk took a considerable amount of time.

Much longer than the video says, I think it's because there is not as much fat in heavy cream like in manufactures cream so it just takes longer. Anyway, it took about 15 minutes before the buttermilk came out but everything else in the video worked perfect.

**** make sure you put your shield up on your kitchen aid, it is a messy process otherwise.****

Gluten Free Berry Cobbler (super easy)

I have a plethora of fruit at my house right now. The weather is lovely here in California and that means lots of delicious berries for me to eat. The problem with all the lovely berries is that I can't eat them fast enough before the berries get close to spoiling. That is where today's recipe comes in to play. Cobblers are delicious, easy, and use my excess of berries. This recipe is so easy and simple it will not take you any time (I promise).

Ingredients

1 C of GF all purpose flour

1 C of milk

4 tbsp of butter

3/4 C of sugar

1 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of vanilla

1/8 tsp of cinnamon

2 1/2 to 3 C of fruit (I used blueberries and strawberries)

1 tbsp of sugar

• heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Put butter in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round pan; set in oven to melt. When butter has melted, remove pan from oven.
• Whisk flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder,cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Add milk and vanilla; whisk to form a smooth batter. Pour batter into pan, then scatter fruit over batter.
• Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tb. of sugar.
• Bake until batter browns and fruit bubbles, 50 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Bon Appetit.

Gluten Free Mocha cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

My husband loves coffee flavored anything. It seemed that the time has come for me to make a GF coffee dessert. I had Pamela's chocolate cake mix and thought I would play around with additional ingredients to kick it up a notch. I really like Pamela's cake mixes so far. The have all been a total win for me.

Ingredients:

• Pamela's GF Chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 C of strong coffee (to which I added 4 1/2 tsp of instant espresso powder. Make sure its room temperature and not overly hot)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all the items together. Be careful to not over mix. Pour batter into a pre-lined cupcake pan.

Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven)

Espresso Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 1/2 C of powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp of instant espresso
• 1 tsp of heavy whipping cream

1. Mix the espresso powder into the vanilla until dissolved; set aside.

2. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it is mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, about a minute or two. Add the espresso and vanilla mixture and continue to mix at medium-high until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary. Add the heavy whipping cream and mix at medium-high for a minute.

Bon Appetit

Gluten Free Granola Time.

Tomorrow we have a picnic to go to in Golden Gate park in San Francisco so lots of food needs to be made. First off it's GF Granola. This is my first attempt so (fingers crossed) I was happy how it came out. I played around with different concoctions and this is the winner. I have to say I really like this recipe. No more store bought granola for this girl.

Ingredients:

• 4 C of oats (please make sure they are certified gluten-free)
• 2 ½ C coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 C of sweetened coconut
• 1 cup pistachios
• 3 Tbsp of Flaxseed meal
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 C of vegetable oil
• ½ C of honey
• 3 C (or so) mixed dried fruit (I used cranberries, sour cherries, and golden raisins here)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix together the oats, walnuts, pistachios, coconut and flaxseed meal. Make sure you use a large baking sheet or roasting pan for this. (I prefer the roasting pan, because you can really swirl around those ingredients without spilling them on the floor.)

In a stove top pan mix the oil, cinnamon, salt, and honey. (If you measure out the oil in a measuring cup and reuse that same cup to measure the honey, your honey will not stick and it makes cleanup a heck of a lot better). I just heated the pan until my honey was dissolved into the oil.

Drizzle the mixture evenly over the surface of the oats mixture.. Stir it all up until everything is well coated — not too sticky, but not dry either. Done? Great. Throw it in the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so just to make sure that the coconut doesn’t burn.. Repeat this process three more times (it could twice or four times for you, depending on your oven). You’re looking for the granola to be not-at-all wet, golden brown. crunch.

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool (this is when it will crisp up), stirring occasionally. Add the dried fruit mixture.

Store the cooled granola in an airtight container

***this granola recipe is not the type of granola that is hard in chunks. For that you probably want to add more sugar (maple syrup & or brown sugar) if that is the type of granola you want. I wanted a little more healthy type of granola*****.

Homemade Sweet and Sour Mix and Margaritas!

Today is Cinco de Mayo and what better way to celebrate but with chips and salsa, guacamole, and margaritas.

Margaritas are one of my favorite drinks. Unfortunately I usually do not indulge in them often because the sweet and sour mix most places use is too acidic for my tummy.

So naturally the solution is to make my own and experiment. I made a Cadillac margarita, which just means that an addition of a Grand Marnier floater (shot poured on top of the drink) to the traditional margarita.

To make the sweet and sour mix

• 1 C of lemon juice (it was about 5 lemons)
• 1 C of lime juice (about 6 limes, depending on how juicy the lime)
• 1 1/2 C of water
• 1 1/2 C of sugar

Combine water and sugar in large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil. Cool syrup.

Mix syrup, lemon juice and lime juice in pitcher. Chill until cold. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; keep chilled)

My recipe for 1 glass of yummy margarita is the following:

• 3 shots of sweet and sour mix
• 1 1/2 shots of Patron silver tequila
• 1 1/2 shots of Grand Marnier

The picture I took is after I mixed the margarita and had some sample tastes. Hey I had to make sure it tasted good and YES it did!

Oh and I don't own margarita glasses so a pint glass works just as well.