Freezer Crunchy PB-Chocolate Bites

Internet is a great thing... Yesterday a friend of mine posted on FB the link to a mock butterfingers recipe found on chocolatecoveredkatie.com (you can find it here! :-)) and it inspired me to make this version with my own twist...
See, the original is made with peanut butter and then an optional layer of chocolate on top... I took the lazy route and used Chocolate Peanut Butter instead!

So here goes:

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup Agave syrup
* 1 tbsp Molasses
* 1 cup Chocolate Peanut Butter (I used "Dark Chocolate Dreams" from Peanut Butter & Co *)
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 cups GF cornflakes*

Directions:

Heat the agave and molasses in a saucepan till boiling. Remove from the fire and mix the PB and vanilla in. Once it is smooth and well incorporated, add the cornflakes in there and mix with a wooden spoon, crushing the cf to your liking (I left some big pieces as it gets crunchier this way).
Dump little mounts on a tray covered with wax paper (using 2 spoons), and put in the freezer till solid. I left them in the freezer afterwards in an airtight container, that way they stay hard. (the pic above is right before they went in). I don't think they will have time to turn bad anyway... ;-)

These are delicious!! Not exactly low in calories but at least all natural ingredients... :-)

* I find the chocolate peanut butter at my local Walmart
* I think the GF cornflakes are harder and crunchier than regular ones and don't get soggy as easily, which made for very crunchy bites! yum! :-)

Naomi's Chocolate Cake

 (I bake mine in a Bundt cake pan.)

This recipe is an adaptation of one of my favorite french chocolate cake. It is insanely easy and fast. From start to finish it takes barely 30 mn! (baking included!). Perfect for those chocolate cravings that can't wait!... My son loves it and sometimes, when the oven is on, he asks for chocolate cake because the poor guy thinks that's what's baking in there!... My daughter used to love making it when she was 4 years old (she still does), so it was named after her... :-)

Ingredients:

- 5 Tsp CF margarine or canola oil
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup GF flour (or tapioca starch)
- 1 cup GFCFsemi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup sugar or substitute
- 1 tsp GF baking powder
- nuts, almonds (optional)
- vanilla, almond, or coffee extract (optional)
-> You can omit the baking powder and beat the egg whites instead, fold them in carefully at the end.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the eggs and the sugar. Melt the chocolate with the oil and add to the eggs.
Finish with the flour and baking powder. Add the nuts if you're using some.
Pour in a greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes (15 if you like it wet in the center).


This cake has pretty much the texture of a brownie, and is very rich in chocolate flavor. The recipe uses so little flour that you don't need Xanthan gum, and you can replace the flour with anything (if you are not allergic ground almonds taste great...), you can even skip it altogether but the cake will be a little more dense and "wet".

Rice Bran Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice bran
- 1 1/2 cup white rice flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup CF margarine
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups nuts

(You can vary and add coconut, raisins, different spices...etc...)

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together (bran, flour, baking powder, salt)mix wet ingredients together starting with margarine + sugar and then adding the eggs + vanilla.
Mix them both together and then add the nuts.

Roll dough into small balls, flatten them on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-18 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F.

Cocoa Bread

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup eggs (about 4 large eggs)

- 3/4 cup milk alternative (soy, rice, potato...)

- 1 tsp vinegar (I use lemon juice instead)

- 1/4 cup CF margarine or oil (palm oil or light olive oil)

- 1 1/2 cups white rice flour

- 1/2 brown rice flour

- 1/2 cup tapioca starch

- 1/2 cup corn starch (or arrowroot)

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup sugar, honey, or sugar alternative

- 3 Tsp cocoa powder

- 1Tsp Xanthan gum

- 2 1/2 tsp GF baker's yeast

You can add nuts of any kind (almonds are nice in this recipe) and/or replace the sugar with cherry preserve.

(I also sometimes replace some of the white rice flour with rice bran for added protein and fiber.)

Directions:

Mix the liquid ingredients first and add the dry ones, finishing with the yeast. 

Leave in a baking pan under a clean towel in a warm spot away from drafts till it has almost doubled in size. 

Bake for 60-70 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F.

I personally use this recipe in a bread machine. Just add the ingredients in the order listed by the manufacturer and bake on a regular cycle (preferably a GF cycle)

Or you can use the quick method  : Just add to the ingredients 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 Tsp of baking powder, just mix everything together and put directly in the preheated oven.

Waffles

This is a recipe for waffles that I figured out by adapting the recipe that came with the waffle maker to make it GFCF and to my son Noah's taste. I freeze them and reheat them by putting them a few minutes in the toaster oven.
I often make my waffles with GF beer or hard cider instead of milk substitute. It's how we do it in France, it  lifts the dough and gives the most delicious flavor... :-)

Ingredients: 
- 2 cups flour (GFCF mix or rice flour*)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (I use 1/4 cup because my sons eat those plain)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk substitute (I use flax or rice milk, or GF beer)
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 x-tra large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 - optional : 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
                  3 tablespoons rice bran

Directions:
Mix the wet ingredients, then add the dry ones, finishing with the baking powder.

(* A mix including some starches (potato starch or tapioca starch) gives better results than just rice flour.)

Introduction...

I am a mother of 3, 2 of my kids and myself are on a gluten free/casein free diet at the moment which I tend to find quite frustrating at times (especially the no dairy part). -> You have to understand, I am french!! No baguette and no cheese for me?? Unthinkable! And yet it's the harsh reality... :-(
My older son (9 1/2) is autistic, and gluten/casein intolerant (as evidenced by his blood work when he was about 2 1/2), he is also allergic to soy to make things a tad more complicated... ;-) He has been on a gfcf diet since he was 2 1/2 years old.
My younger son (3 1/2) has Asperger's syndrome (a "lighter form of autism" if you like) and he has been put on this diet since he was born ( actually since he was in my belly!) as a preventive measure (and because of the family history) and he stayed on this diet thanks to his diagnosis... He might be slightly intolerant to almonds but we haven't done the blood work yet.
For my part, my blood work showed no problem with gluten, just an intolerance to casein, but it has become obvious over the last couple of years that I am sensitive to gluten. I also have some intolerances like coconut, pineapple, and banana apparently (no piña colada for me!!). When I was pregnant with my youngest son I went on a gluten free/dairy free diet as a way to help prevent autism* and after he was born I went back to my old ways and quickly regretted it (and gained weight). After trying to get back on the gfcf diet a couple of times only to fall off the wagon again, I am now following it rather seriously with only very occasional slips... (damned french cheese...).
I have had fibromyalgia for a long time, and have more recently been diagnosed with ADHD and it has become obvious to me that whatever I eat also makes a difference in my symptoms.

So this blog is just a way to keep track of my recipes and share them (and occasional experiments...) with others following this diet. I will also post reviews from books and products we love and that make our gfcf life easier and more enjoyable!... :-), and share links to other websites of interest. Because we all need diversity and fun in the kitchen. :-)

If you ever have a question you can contact me via e-mail (on my profile page) or leave me a comment with your e-mail address.

(* 80% of autistic kids responds positively to a gfcf diet, as they often suffer from leaky gut syndrome -> gluten  and casein (a milk protein) act as opioïds on the brain in this situation, and removing them helps lift some of the fog). Following a gfcf diet during the pregnancy protects the baby from exposure to those possible toxins.
It is also good to note that gluten can take up to 9 months to be completely gone from your body even after you stop eating it, and is unfortunately present everywhere, from beauty products to medications. Some people are sensitive to even tiny amounts, and more and more people nowadays are "gluten sensitive" a term finally recognized by the medical community, without necessarily having celiac disease.)