flourless chocolate soufflé with whipped coconut cream topping

This is my new favorite dessert! It is gluten and dairy free, easy to make, and so good that you might have to run a finger around the bowl when done to get those last little bits of (almost) healthy decadence! The only tedious task is separating 8 eggs but once that is done it’s very simple. If you need some ramekins, mine are for sale here. Any small stoneware bowls will work. You will need 8.

Chocolate Soufflé

ingredients:

8 eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 lb chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 can coconut milk (full fat) chilled in fridge at least 2 hours

1 t powdered sugar

Butter the ramekins.  Separate eggs into yolks and whites. Put yolks in small bowl and whites into larger bowl (or Kitchen Aid bowl). Add 1/3 cup sugar and vanilla to yolks and beat until color lightens.

Put chocolate chips and butter in microwave safe bowl. Heat in 40 second intervals. Remove and stir then return for another 40 sec. Repeat until chocolate is melted. Fold yolk mixture into chocolate.

Whip egg whites to soft peaks, then fold into chocolate yolk mix. You will get a coffee’'-with-cream colored batter. There can be some striations but no large patches of marbled color. Be gentle! Pour into ramekins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set ramekins on baking sheets and bake 25 min.

Meanwhile, open coconut milk and scoop only the white stuff into a Kitchen Aid. Whip on high until fluffy, adding powdered sugar. So easy! And this tastes better than whipped dairy cream.

Remove soufflés and try not to taste in advance if you have company. You might devour them by yourself! Serve warm or cool with a dollop of cream.

More Valentine Cookies

Here is another batch of my gluten free sugar cookies (recipe here).

I made royal Icing with Martha Stewart’s recipe here.

I used neon food coloring, adding it in increments, from pale pink to bright neon pink, and then used sanding sugar and colored sprinkles on some. You have to put the sprinkles on right after the icing is applied as it dries quickly. I piped the icing on as an outline and then spread about a teaspoon of icing inside to fill.

These are easy and delicious!

The White Minimalist platters are available at Lee Wolfe Pottery.

Gluten Free Valentine cookies

I spent a chilly afternoon baking Valentine cookies with my girlfriends. What a fun way to bring out your inner 8 year old child! I originally thought we would just bake and cover them with sprinkles, but when the sprinkles failed to stick, I pulled out some lemon curd, berries, pink sparkle gel, candies, and sanding sugar and we got creative. This gluten free sugar cookie recipe is not overly sweet so you can add sugary toppings without turning them into a lump of corn syrup. Lemon curd also adds a tart balance. The cookies will keep up to 2 weeks in an airtight container but the fruit and lemon curd need to be eaten within a few hours or they lose their fresh look. So don’t decorate alone unless you have guests eminently coming!

 

The Modern Lace bowl, minimalist platter, and gray Poppy Bowl are available on Lee Wolfe Pottery

Ingredients:

For cookie crust:

1 C (2 sticks) butter, room temp

1 C sugar (I use organic)

1/2 t salt

1 egg

1 t real vanilla extract

3 C gluten free all purpose flour blend

toppings:

1 jar lemon curd, berries, whatever sprinkles or candies you like

In large bowl or Kitchen Aid, cream butter, sugar, and salt until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until batter is one consistency. Add flour a cup at a time beating on low until fully combined but don’t overbeat.

Pat into ball and into circle on floured board. Place in center of oiled 12” pizza pan, and press out to edges with a shallow lip on the rim. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees 7-12 min until golden brown on bottom. Remove from oven.

While crust is still warm, spread lemon curd over surface. Decorate as desired.For fruit decoration, sprinkle with sanding sugar and bake an additional 3 min.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast with Cranberry Relish – Gluten Free

This turned out to be one of my best recipes of the year! We ate it for dinner and then had a second helping for dessert. I will serve it for brunch during the holidays. The trick to getting great French toast from gluten free bread is to whip the eggs until almost frothy, keep the eggy mix thick, and cook slowly. Adding pumpkin thickens the egg mix and also tastes incredible.  If you don’t have time to make the relish, just whip up some of the best French toast ever!

My Cranberry Ginger relish recipe is here. Make this at least 4 hours in advance. It keeps for weeks. Well, theoretically it does. In our house it gets eaten up pretty quickly.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast with Cranberry Relish

serves 2

4 slices gluten free bread (or sourdough)

1 egg

1/2 C canned pumpkin

1/3 C milk

2 t pumpkin pie spice

2 t powdered sugar

butter for pan

Whip egg until almost frothy; blend it into 1 substance until the yolk and whites are all one. Stir in pumpkin, milk, spice, and sugar until smooth. On a hot griddle, add a pat of butter then reduce heat to medium high. Dip both sides of bread into eggy mixture, allowing it to soak in and leaving a nice coating on the outsides. Use a spatula to remove bread and place on the griddle. Cook both sides until golden brown, approx 3-5 min each side.

Place 2 slices of French Toast on a plate with a healthy dollop of cranberry relish in between. Add a dollop od relish on top. If you are really ambitious, you can top with sugared cranberries. But only if you are serving mimosas or another drink where your beautiful cranberries can be used as a garnish.

Well, it is Thanksgiving eve and I still have a pie to make. I unloaded a great kiln load today, so check out my adorable new Owl Bowls!

Gluten free stuffed French toast

I worked 18 hours yesterday. It’s probably crazy but it doesn’t feel like a long day to me, even though I was in my studio until 2:30 am. It feels like this moment, then this moment, then this moment. On Thursday I will be able to open the kiln and see what my long day produced. There are many preordered nesting bowl sets, and one new Modern Lace platter that I glazed in gray and chartreuse that I want to see.

This morning I made a wonderful French toast with gluten free bread. It is tricky because the gluten free breads are dense and don’t absorb the eggs as readily as wheat breads. I overcame this by soaking in a thick eggy mix, and using my old cast iron griddle. I stuffed this batch with peanut butter and jelly and it is about as perfectly tasty as any breakfast could be.

Gluten Free stuffed French toast

serves 2

1.  In a small bowl, whip 2 eggs with 2 T lowfat milk. Substitute dairy free or water if lactose intolerant. Pour a depth of 1/4” into a plate with a deep lip. I used one of my salad plates, which are 7 1/2” D and worked perfectly. You want the egg mix to soak into the bottom of 1 slice of bread without touching the top.Soak 3-5 min.

2. While waiting for the bottom to soak, coat a separate slice of bread with peanut butter and jelly. Remove soaked bread and set atop the PB&J with the eggy side up. Pour 1/4” of eggy mix in the plate and use a spatula to transfer your sandwich onto the egg mix in order to soak the bottom. Cook on buttered griddle on medium high heat, approximately 3 min per side. Watch for the eggs to set, turning a golden brown.

I served mine with a pat of butter and maple syrup. Powdered sugar would be tasty, too.

I’ll be making this more often!

Gluten Free Brandy Pineapple Upside Down Cake

For our anniversary, I made my husband’s favorite dessert, and discovered a fabulous gluten free treat. It was so good that my dinner guests raided my gluten free bread, muffins, and pasta, convinced that gluten free food must all taste better! Ha! They haven’t seen all the dry, gritty, disgusting food I’ve thrown away in order to discover the good stuff! The bird plates can be purchased from Lee Wolfe Pottery. This recipe works because the cake, made in a cast iron skillet, is as moist as a fine bread pudding, and Grand Marnier really ramps up the taste. I modified this recipe from Saveur:

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS

1¾ cups all purpose gluten free flour (I like Red Band)

2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. fine salt
1⅓ cups unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
3 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1⅓ cup low-fat buttermilk
10 tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. Grand Marnier

8 slices canned pineapple
1½ cup stemmed maraschino cherries

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Using an electric beater, cream together 12 tbsp. butter, sugar, vinegar, and 2 tsp. vanilla until fluffy, 3–4 minutes. Add one egg at a time to butter mixture, beating for 15 seconds between each addition. Set beater speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 batches. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Set mixer speed to medium and beat batter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
2. Melt remaining butter in a 10" nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in remaining vanilla, brown sugar, and brandy until dissolved, 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat; arrange pineapple slices across bottom of skillet. Arrange cherries evenly among the slices. Pour in cake batter. Bake until cake is golden and set, about 35 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate.

Gluten Free Fruit Pizza

This dessert pizza is perfection! It’s luxurious without being too overpoweringly sweet. You can also make great sugar cookies from the recipe for the crust. The dough gets really hard if you chill it, but the baked texture is light and airy. 

Ingredients:

For cookie crust:

1 C (2 sticks) butter, room temp

1 C sugar (I use organic)

1/2 t salt

1 egg

1 t real vanilla extract

3 C gluten free all purpose flour blend

toppings:

1 15 oz jar lemon curd

2 T raspberry jam

assorted fresh fruit cut into artful shapes: any combo of berries, melon, pears, banana, kiwi

3 t granulated sugar

In large bowl or Kitchen Aid, cream butter, sugar, and salt until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until batter is one consistency. Add flour a cup at a time beating on low until fully combined but don’t overbeat.

Pat into ball and into circle on floured board. Place in center of oiled 12” pizza pan, and press out to edges with a shallow lip on the rim. Bake at 350 degrees 12- 15 min until golden brown on edges. Remove from oven.

While crust is still warm, spread jam and lemon curd over surface. Fan fruit out in concentric circles- have fun and make it pretty!  Sprinkle sugar over fruit and broil for 3 min. Cut into wedges with pizza wheel and serve. It’s good warm or cold.

ALTERNATE: sugar cookies- mix the crust dough. Space cookies 2” apart on parchment papered cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 7 – 12 min. Edges should be golden brown. Decorate as desired.

If you want the dinnerware plates from Lee Wolfe Pottery, check my website here.

Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake!

My family loves strawberry shortcake as a Fourth of July dessert. This year I made it gluten free with a dairy free topping. I made a few tests and tweaked it until we all agree that this is the best ever! I used Betty Crocker’s gluten free Bisquick mix, making slight alterations. Here is mine:

Ingredients:

1 qt fresh strawberries, stems removed, sliced

1/2 C course organic sugar (plus more for dusting)

2 1/2 C gluten free Bisquick mix

1/3 C butter

3/4 C milk

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 15 oz can coconut milk, chilled

1 T powdered sugar

Add 1/4 C sugar to strawberries, set aside to masticate. Blend remaining 1/4 C sugar with Bisquick, then cut in butter with pastry blender. Add milk, eggs and vanilla, stir to blend. Divide into 6 round shortcake biscuits, place on buttered baking sheet. Sprinkle each with course sugar, about 1/4 tsp each. Bake at 425 for 12 min.

For topping, open coconut milk can and put the thick part only in a food processor. Add powdered sugar through the feed tube. This only take a few minutes, and is delicious!

To assemble: half biscuits and stuff with strawberries and whipped coconut milk. 

Happy Fourth of July!

poppy bowls and leaf plates available from Lee Wolfe Pottery