Yesterday, we made White Chocolate Cupcakes. Then I made them mini!

Tomorrow is my son’s eighth birthday. Even his two big dimples turn 8 years old tomorrow. You know, along with the rest of him.

Today, I’m going into his classroom to show them what’s what in gluten-free baking. Represent!

But it’s only right if I show you how to make White Chocolate Frosting, so you can bake along.

Do the right thing!

I’m not gonna lie. There’s a whole lotta white chocolate in these here ‘cakes.

But they’re not tooth-achingly sweet.

Yet still, they’re so adorable. Why is anything mini automatically cute? The same does not go for babies. Some babies are just small. You know it’s true.

Why did I bake some of these in teacups?

Dunno. But let’s get down to brass tacks.

First, cream the room temperature butter and shortening until they’re really creamy and even kinda shiny. So pretty.

Next, add the melted white chocolate. This is how melty it should be — pourable but not a very thin liquid. If it’s a very thin liquid, you’ll end up with a curdled looking mess and maybe you’ll be mad at me. I hate it when we fight.

Mix in the chocolate very well. Then it should like about like this. Not as shiny, but still smooth.

Then add in 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar and a dash of salt, some vanilla. Everything will look crumbly. Again, don’t be mad. It’s supposed to look like that.

Now beat the heck out of that stuff until it’s creamy and fluffy. You’re aerating. It’s fun!

But it’s too thick for piping. If you were going to use it to crumb coat a cake, it would be perfect. But you’re not. You’re going to frost some fine cupcakes. Add a tablespoon of light corn syrup. Drizzle it in while the mixer is beating, and then mix away to thin the frosting – and to make it more stable.

Pile it into a pastry bag with your tip of choice, and pipe away!

Here are the deets:

Love,
Me

P.S. Have you seen the beautiful things at our sponsor Textured Ink? I think these prints are my current favorites.

P.P.S. Have a beautiful weekend. Think of me as I think of you. And as I write to you. In Book #2.

This was not the plan.

Posting about these gorgeous White Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting … was not the plan.

I have no way of explaining how I made the frosting, since it was much more witch’s brew (a little of this, a touch of that) than it was recipe just yet. But it was okay. I wasn’t planning to post this recipe yet. I was going to recreate the frosting in a more-scientific-less-mad-scientist sort of way, and then share it.

With you (who else?).

But you wanted them. I talked about them on Facebook, and you really, really wanted them. And I want to pleeeeeaaassee you.

With cupcakes. Because food is love.

Isn’t it?

I have but one single solitary lonely process photo. Of the naked cupcakes, cooling off after their spin in the oven. I have not one photo of the batter. Or the piping. Or even the beautiful USA Pans standard muffin tin that never ever needs to be greased or lined at all.

No pictures of the frosting, either, especially since I can’t even yet tell you how to make it.

But it is important to see how nicely golden brown you want them to be. Since otherwise they will seem done before they’re actually done. And they’d be too squishy. And you’d be upset and all “I wasted my whole life making these cupcakes and they were too squishy! Now what am I supposed to do??”

And I’d be all, “they had to brown!”

And you’d be all, “they did brown!”

And I’d be all, “but all over brown. Not just around the edges!”

And you’d be all, “oh. I hate you now.”

So now that you know about the browning, and before you hate me, I have nothing else to show you.

Except the cupcake recipe.

And I’ll hit you back with the recipe for the White Chocolate Frosting. For now, I’d go with this basic buttercream frosting recipe. People seem to really like it.

Love,
Me

P.S. You were right to want this recipe. Due respect to my other cupcake recipes, this might be my most specialist to date. Believe it.

There are other mason and canning jars. There are!

Just like there are other almond butters.

But there’s nothing like Weck Jars. Heirloom quality, they last and last, yet most individual jars work out to be only about $2 to $3 each. And the way they feel in your hands … words fail.

Once you hold one, you’ll want to put everything in these jars. Have my children noticed that I’ve been eyeing them suspiciously? How might they shrink when boiled, I wonder. Enough to fit squarely into the graceful Weck tulip jar?

Is it so wrong to want to bring together a thing I love with a person I love?

I may just have to stick to making smooooooooth bittersweet chocolate almond butter for my Weck jars, and spreading it on some beautiful gluten-free brown bread.

Oh, and one more thing. If you’re an aspiring food photographer like yours truly, Weck jars are positively de rigeur. That means you have to get them because they’re so pretty that they’ll make all your pictures memorable.

Let’s make some unforgettable almond butter. The ready-made no-stir nut butters can be so delicious, but they’re ridiculously expensive. This is no cheapo venture, but at least you can make it juuuust how you like it.

We’ll start with some whole raw almonds.

And then we’ll toast them kinda low and slow. At least I will. America’s Test Kitchen says the best temp is 375 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. But I have an oven thermometer or two (or three) that don’t lie, and I’ve burned some rather expensive almonds at that time and temp.

So I prefer to toast them in a 350 degree F oven, and stick closer to 8 minutes, checking until no more than 10 minutes. I take them out just as some of them begin to split, like you see above. They’ll sort of “sing” a bit as they come out of the oven. It’s kinda romantic.

Let them cool a bit, then process them in your food processor until they look like this. Coarsely ground and not at all creamy.

Then add in the bittersweet chocolate ingredients (raw cacao butter that you have leftover from when we made vegan white chocolate, Dutch-processed cocoa powder because it’s less acidic than natural, confectioner’s sugar, coarse salt) and pulse.

Then some shortening to help make your almond butter smooth. You can omit this, if you prefer, and it just won’t be quite as smooth. And you can leave out the chocolate and just make plain almond butter. But why would you want to do that?

It will suddenly become smooth as the oils and fats do the heavy-lifting. It will happen faster if you add shortening and cacao butter, slower if you are waiting for the almonds to release all of their oils and smooth things out. Even if it looks smooth rather quickly, keep processing for another couple minutes to be sure that the almonds have released their oils, too, or it won’t taste as smooth as it looks.

Put some in your 1/2 liter Weck jar.

And refrigerate. It should be smooth and thick, no stir almond butter.

Don’t worry. The gluten-free Brown Bread recipe will come.

For now, here’s how to make some smooth Bittersweet Chocolate Almond Butter.

Oh, and I nearly forgot! Weck now has these sweet plastic keep-fresh covers. Use them to organize your refrigerator, if you like. What I’d like? If you organized my refrigerator.

Love,
Me

P.S. Is it really Wednesday already? Is it really February already? My manuscript for my second cookbook is due in exactly 2 weeks. 2 weeks!

P.P.S. Did you see? Brød & Taylor—the geniuses who make the folding bread proofer which is the reason that all of my gluten-free breads (like the brown bread you see above) have such a beautiful, even rise every single time—they’re now Shoestring Sponsors! Oh how I love my proofer.

P.P.P.S. Thank you for supporting the sponsors, like Weck, that support me. It matters, a lot, to help keep this ship afloat. And each and every sponsor is hand-picked. Only the best products for the best value.

Do you mean to tell me that this ridiculous doughnut maker was ….

not so ridiculous after all? Will wonders never cease.

I think you’re gonna love these doughnuts. The crunch of the tangy-sweet lemon glaze gives way to the light maple-sweetness of the doughnut, and the blueberries are so smooth and, well, blue.

I recommend frozen blueberries. I do! Use nice ones, but frozen ones all the same. They slice in half really nicely. And hold their shape better than the fresh ones. And … hello? It’s winter.

Here’s where you bring the maple syrup (the real stuff, please), the butter and the shortening to a gentle simmer. Then you add the yogurt to it, and stir. You’ll be thanking me already. The smell … is already just right.

[Later I think I might have to have some yogurt with granola and a drizzle of maple syrup. 'Cause that would be killer]

Pour it all in the dry ingredients, and mix to combine.

Add the blueberries tossed in a tablespoon of dry ingredients. And fold. Like laundry. But not at all like laundry. Unless you have edible laundry, and to be honest I don’t really want to know even one thing about that, tiger. Your Valentine’s Day plans are just that: yours.

This is where my ridiculous Babycakes Mini Doughnut Maker comes in kinda handy. Okay, very handy. I don’t have to wait for the oven to heat up. I just plug in and go. I could make this in a hotel room if I had to! [why would I have to? don't answer that]

About the doughnut maker — the back wells cook better than the front. So when I’m feeling like a perfectionist (what? I can do that), I just keep cooking in the back and leave the front empty. And I also flip the little babies after 2 minutes.

Look at the sweet reward.

My lemon glaze is very tangy. No milk! Just lemon …

And confectioner’s sugar.

First make a thick paste. Trust me!

Then thin it to a thick but pourable glaze. See how the spoon leaves a trail? That’s what you want. We all want to leave our mark, after all. Don’t we?

Here’s how.

Love,
Me

P.S. Did you know that today is the very last day to take advantage of our lovely sponsor Primp My Cupcake’s 10% off bonus for Shoestring Readers (that’s you!). Buy all of your beautifying cakey supplies right there! Just enter the savings code GF10 at checkout, and you’ll get 10% off their already low prices. Be sure to check out their super-detailed list of gluten-free notions, flavoring oils and food colorings. Amazing! And pick up a few greaseproof cupcake liners for me, would you? I’m running low.

P.P.S. Bye for now. See you tomorrow. Lots more good stuff coming this week. Lots!

I’m cool with soy generally. I mean, there’s all kinds of weirdo stuff that goes on with soybeans in this country, but we’re not here to talk about that.

I actually like tofu. And so do my kids. No biggie.

But for some reason, soy powder gives me the heebie jeebies. And I know that it’s pretty common to have a soy problem if you have a dairy problem. Since I really really like my finely ground almond flour as a protein type powder, I wanted to see if it could sub-in for the milk powder that is typically found in white chocolate.

So, yeah. It works a treat. Start to finish, it’s ready-to-eat in about 30 minutes flat, too. Not bad.

And if you’ve never had really really good white chocolate, then you might rightly consider yourself a white chocolate virgin. ‘Cause the cheap stuff tastes like wax. And that’s a fact.

You’ll need to get yourself some edible Raw Cacao Butter. This … is Navitas Naturals Raw Cacao Butter. I live in a major metro area, but the first few places I looked didn’t stock this, so I had to order it.

It’s not cheap, but a little goes a long way. And when you compare it to buying super high quality chocolate, there’s no contest. Not only that, but try finding high quality dairy-free white chocolate. Go on.

And it has to be edible raw cacao butter, not cosmetic. It’s solid and smells like a dream.

I think it might be time for a kitchen scale. But it’s totally up to you. Except maybe you should get one. And a small offset spatula. Not that you need one for this recipe. It’s just that I’d just really like you to have one of those little kitchen workhorses.

This is what the cacao butter looks like when it starts to melt. There’s really no need for a double boiler here. Your microwave will do the trick. So you put it in at 70% power for 1.5 minutes. And stir stir stir.

Then another minute at 70%. And stir stir stir.

Maybe one more minute at 70%. Stir stir stir. If it’s nearly liquified but not quite, keep stirring. It won’t likely need another spin in the microwave.

Then add the confectioner’s sugar (more or less to taste is fine), the almond flour and vanilla bean paste if you have it.

See the flecks of vanilla? It’s the Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Bean Paste.

I know it seems spendy, but when you consider the cost of actual vanilla beans, it’s an outright bargain. I have whole vanilla beans, but I’m afraid to use them because of how expensive they are. At this point, they’re more like expensive museum pieces. What good is that? A little vanilla bean paste goes a long way. This — I use.

You can totally use pure vanilla extract if you prefer. No flecks for you.

Pour it into something made of silicone. These little numbers are from a set of silicone measuring cups. I’m not big on silicone generally (I never ever use it for baking), so I was a little light on the silicone at first.

You can make it into a big chunk and then chop it up when you’re making white-chocolate-chunk cookies. Or pour it into molds and make some sweets for your sweetheart. Wait ’till you see what we’re going to do with our friends at Think Garnish for Valentine’s Day. Simple and affordable, but with just the right touch.

Keep coming back. That way, you won’t miss it. Enter your email address below, and then you’ll never miss a thing. Cross my heart!

Go on. Have one.

Love,
Me

P.S. See you tomorrow, lovely.

P.P.S. If you liked this little ditty, share it! Sharing is caring, after all. Click a button, spread the love.

 

These are really nice biscuits, and that’s a fact, Jack.

I used mascarpone, an Italian cream cheese. It’s lightly sweet and has a bit more depth of flavor than traditional cream cheese. Most regular markets carry it these days. But if it sounds too fancypants to you, I totally get that. Just use Philly. You really can’t go wrong with Philly Cream Cheese.

I wouldn’t use that light style “cream cheese.” It has a different name, and some sort of punctuation that makes me nervous. What the heck is that stuff?

I’m all about the real thing. Not the low-fat “variety.” I’d rather have less, but have the real deal. Anyway, to stay not-fat, I think you need some-fat. It’s so deliciously satisfying.

Is that too pushy? Forget I said anything. Use the light style, if that’s what you like. We’ll still be tight.

Whichever road you take, these should be soft and flaky. And buttery. And crispity crunchity on the edges.

I really really hope you can have butter. I buy so much butter that my shipmate checker-outer at Trader Joe’s almost always makes some sort of “I guess you really like butter” comment.

I can’t say I blame him.

When I’m down to 3 pounds of butter, I think I’m running out. So I run out. And buy some more.

There’s the mascarpone. It’s very creamy (even though I’m not a big fan of that word, but it’s right here). And soft. It’s okay. Flour your clean fingers, and toss it to cover with dry ingredients, and break it up a bit.

Make a well, then pour in the milk. It’s not a ton of milk.

So it’s not a super-wet dough.

But the butter and cream cheese have plenty of moisture. Roll it out into a rectangle of sorts, and then fold it over in thirds.

Turn it 1/4 of the way around, so the side that was closest to you is now either on the left or the right. Then roll it out again into a rectangle. It’s kind of puff-pastry-like. It’s a “turn.” It really really works, though, to make your pastry all nice and flaky.

Take a chance! Be willing to get it wrong. And then the next time, you’ll get closer to right. I promise.

Brush the tops with some more milk.

Sprinkle with coarse salt. I used fleur de sel, since it’s so nice. But it’s so expensive that I only use a few grains on each biscuit. I’m miserly with my fleur de sel. If I found one of my kids dipping into that stuff, I think I’d put them in the stockade. You know, to send a message to the other 2.

Look at that USA Pans sheet pan. Ain’t she a beaut? I don’t line it. I don’t need to line it! See those striations? They allow for such lovely, even baking. And there’s, like, a silpat baked on there forever and ever. It’s like a baking dream come true. Heirloom quality, at nonheirloom quality prices.

See? Nice and fluffy, soft, salty and a little bit tangy.

Here are all the detailed details…

Love,
Me

P.S. I got my bread box. Can someone please explain to me why a metal tin is well-positioned to keep my bread fresh longer? I’m feeling a little bit like a chump. It sure is pretty, though, on my kitchen counter.

P.P.S. We have a new sponsor, and I’m really excited about it! They’re so new, though, their button isn’t up yet, but you can check them out here. I’ve been a big fan for a long, long time, and I’m excited to tell you more about them soon.
**UPDATE** The new button is up!

Why would anyone call these “bretzels”? Pretzel is a perfectly fine name. Some days, I worry that I haven’t a clue. Other days … I’m resigned to it. It’s okay. It’s kind of peaceful.

These are so nice and crunchy-chewy on the outside, tender and almost tangy-sweet on the inside. If you spring for some good coarse salt to sprinkle on top, you’ll be richly rewarded. They make great sandwiches, too. They’re multi-taskers! Like you. I bet you multi-task with the best of them.

Do you remember when no one knew what it was to multi-task? I think there were no cell phones. If that makes me sound old, forget I said it. Except I don’t mind sounding a bit old. Wisdom comes with age. Except I’m still waiting.

This dough is really wet…

…until you add a bit more flour, and it, well, it’s still kinda wet, but a bit more solid.

Divide it into roll-like portions, and dust them with flour.

Roll each into a ball, then flatten a bit into a disk. And set them to rise.

Look at that rise. Seriously. Smooth and lovely little dough babies. My Brod & Taylor home bread proofer is like a gluten-free bread baker’s dream come true. I’d say I was kidding, but I’m not. Ask my husband. I talked and talked about someone inventing something like that. And then they did. Huzzah!

Then boil in a baking soda bath.

Slice the top and sprinkle with coarse salt. Et voilà.

Here are all the details..

I dare you to eat just one…

Love,
Me

P.S. Next week, dairy-free white chocolate for Valentine’s Day, all dressed up with some simple but beautiful products from our sponsor, Think Garnish.

P.P.S. See you tomorrow?

Are we talking about Valentine’s Day yet? Just in case, let’s begin like this: Anything you pipe out of a pastry bag can be made into a heart shape.

Lookey here! A heart. Big whoop? Or Whoooopppiiieee?

Are you afraid of piping something out of a pastry bag? I used to be afraid, too. Couplers were a source of shame and confusion. I figured them out, right before I realized that you don’t usually need them. Maybe you’d like to read this post about how I fill a pastry bag – (and about Primp My Cupcake’s great supplies).

Also, anything sweet that’s placed into a nice little box & tied up pretty can be for Valentine’s Day. But we’ll do one better here on the blog soon. Think Garnish sent me some simple but gorgeous supplies, & I’m hard at work dreaming up how you can make the sweetest gift for Valentine’s Day with just a bit of effort and a few supplies.

Oh, and if you’re just into straight-up classic Chocolate Whoopie Pies, I’ve got you covered. If you’re into it, and you kinda like that chocolatey-peanutbuttery-caramel thing, you’re gonna l-o-v-e today’s recipe.

When you pipe out a dollop of whoopie pie dough like this, you’ll have a stick-up situation.

Just press it down with a wet finger (this batch was swirls, ’cause I felt like it).

This is a heart. Waiting to be smoothed out.

No problemo.

You’ll need to whip up a batch of this Simple Caramel Sauce recipe from Savory Sweet Life (& to add some coarse salt because it’s so surprising and delightful in cooked sugar). Why reinvent the wheel. Alice already did all the process photos for caramel sauce. It’s much like the Butterscotch Sauce we made for Butterscotch Krimpets, but with white sugar instead of brown sugar.

Then blend the sauce into some buttercream frosting, and pipe it on. I used a 2D pastry tip to make these a little extra fancy. But only because it was my husband’s 40th birthday yesterday. He’s not so into the frilly, but he has 2 little girls. So, you know.

He was loving the taste. And he wasn’t complaining. Snickers in Whoopie Pie form! Huzzah!

Okay, your turn. What’s your favorite Valentine’s Treat?

Love,
Me

P.S. Tomorrow I’m doing a photo shoot for an article I’m doing for Easy Eats. I hope I don’t bungle it. Hold me?

Fresh gluten-free pasta. If you want my advice, when you make it — make a lot.

I switched up the recipe in my cookbook a bit this time around. More eggs. More eggs! No big whoop.

The bigger switcharoo this time is the pasta machine. Let’s get something straight, though:

Please don’t misunderstand. Sometimes, I get misunderstood.

It is a help. And an actual help. And not like the sort of “help” your 4-year-old provides when you’re cooking and she wants to cook with you.

But you’re still doing the work. And it still makes a blessed mess. Especially when you’re trying to take process photos along the way and you’re home alone except for your dogs and they can’t help because they’re terrible cooks anyway.

But fresh pasta is truly an unequaled delight. You should try it. And then swear off it for a while. You know – until you’re ready to do it again. And if you don’t have a pasta machine, just roll it out by hand. No biggie.

Add the eggs and oil to the spare dry ingredients. Make sure those eggs are at room temperature, though. For real. If you forget to plan ahead, just float your eggs in some warm water for 10 or 15 minutes. They’ll come up to temp.

It’s hard to tell if the dough here is wet — or dry. It’s wet. This next bit is important.

It’s super duper important that you start out with slight wet pasta. It is so much easier to dust with flour as you work than to wet the dough.

Add more flour by the tablespoon (you should just need 1 or 2)…

Until you can create a groovy-looking ball like this.

Cut off a piece of dough about 150 grams and knead it a bit. It will be a bit dry in places, but mostly kinda wet. Now we begin to dust. Place it in a small bowl of extra flour, and coat the outside.

Roll it out into a messy rectangle.

And feed it through the pasta machine with the dial set to “0.” Send it through at least twice.

Dust with flour, and then neaten the sides. It makes it easier to feed it through the machine.

Turn it to “1,” dust it on both sides with flour, and run it through. Then “2,” dust with flour, and run it through.

Dust again, and run it through once more on “2.”

Slice the rectangle in half, and set one piece aside. Roll the other through on “3.”

If it looks shaggy on the edges like this at any point, it’s too wet. That is going to happen, and it’s f-i-n-e. Fold the edges in over themselves toward the middle, dust with flour, then run it through again. It’ll neaten out.

Turn the dial to “4,” and run it through once. Now I stopped there, but you could go to “5″ and beyond if you like. It depends upon what you’re making, and how thin you like your pasta. I ran out of steam.

This is what they looked like at the end. I trimmed some of the edges to neaten them for their beauty shots.

You can dry it, slice it into linguini, bake it as lasagna, etcetera etcetera etcetera.

I made lasagna. And I didn’t boil the noodles. I just made sure to cover them in sauce. And cheese. And spinach. And basil.

Sweet reward.

Love,
Me

P.S. On another note … Did you know that our sponsor, Primp My Cupcake, is offering Gluten-Free on a Shoestring readers only 10% off everything in their store through the end of January? Just use discount code GF10 at checkout. They have tons of pretty cupcake supplies, including a well-researched list of flavorings and notions that are gluten-free. Go check ‘em out! Their greaseproof liners are my favorite.

More bread. I know. Too much?

This is naan, though. Yogurt in the dough makes it so fragrant and tasty. Even before you fry it!

At first, the dough will really look like fluffy batter.

Then you’ll add more flour by the tablespoon until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. When you scrape down the mixing bowl with a spatula, it should come away clean. It will still be tacky to the touch, but hold together really well when you set it to rise.

It’s so pretty. It’s honestly some of the prettiest, most fragrant gluten-free dough I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with.

I’m thinking of asking it out on a date, but I keep losing my nerve.

It rises so nice. Especially in my Brod & Taylor bread proofer. I not only love using the proofer, but I love having it. I never ever have to worry about whether I am going to be able to create the perfect rising environment for my bread.

Once it’s risen, divide the dough into 8 portions, each about 95 grams.

Heat some fat (I used ghee, since it has a high smoke point and I really like that) in a heavy bottom (cast iron if you have it) skillet.

Shape a piece of dough loosely into a round, and place on lightly floured parchment.

Cover with another sheet of parchment and roll into an elongated oval.

Dust both sides of the dough lightly with flour.

Then place the dough in the hot skillet.

If the pan isn’t hot enough, or the dough is rolled too thick, it won’t bubble. If you’re concerned, cover the skillet. But don’t make the skillet screaming hot, or it’ll just burn the bread.

Once it bubbles like this, let it cook another minute, and then …

…flip to the other side. Cook for another minute, and remove it from the skillet. Repeat with the remaining 7 pieces. Serve warm.

If you’ve never had naan, you’re in for a treat. If you have and you’re really missing it being gluten-free, you’re really in for a treat.

Love,
Me

P.S. I have some new sponsors. Check them out! When you support them, you support me. Really and truly. Speaking of — have you been to Think Garnish yet? Wait ’till you see what Think Garnish and I are gonna make for Valentine’s Day.