One Minute Muffin Recipe

     I haven’t been taking the best care of myself the past few weeks. I’m on a deadline for a new cookbook and the dirty little secret of cookbook writers is that while you’re recipe testing you eat really, really well, but when you’re actually writing? You eat lots of fast food and consume litters of chocolate bunnies.

I guess I should clarify that by saying that You means Me. I’m sure there are some better disciplined people who would never eat a chocolate bunny.

I seem to not be that person.

Anyway, I’ve begun to emerge from my sugar coma and have fallen in love with the One Minute Muffin. It’s not a crockpot recipe.

Instead, it’s healthy, inexpensive (after you buy the flax meal), packed with fiber, and low-carb. My kids will tolerate them, but aren’t falling over themselves to eat one. They still prefer chocolate to One Minute Muffins. They also still have ridiculously high metabolisms…

The Ingredients:

1/4 cup flax meal

1 egg

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon (not pictured, sometimes I use pumpkin pie seasoning)

1 1/2 teaspoons sweetener, I use honey

1 tablespoon fresh or frozen blueberries (or smashed banana, shredded apple, etc)

hearty coffee mug sprayed with cooking oil

microwave

The Directions:

 Put the first 6 ingredients in a large glass measuring cup or bowl, and whisk to combine. No need to melt the butter or get it to dissolve–if it’s still in a clump, it’s okay. Mostly try to get the baking powder evenly dispersed. Now stir in the blueberries or whatever fruit you’re using. Pour into a greased coffee mug and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Let it sit for a bit, then pour onto a plate; or you can just eat it out of the mug with a spoon. The butter will have melted and made a tiny bit of a “sauce” with the melted blueberries. YUM.

The Verdict:

This is a pretty customizable recipe; feel free to swap out the honey with splenda, agave, brown sugar, etc. There isn’t a drop of flour, making this a naturally gluten free muffin, and if you use non dairy butter it could certainly be dairy-free and I’m imagining an egg-replacer would work okay. If you change up the ingredients and it works, let me know!

It tastes good. Not oh-my-gosh-this-is-the-best-muffin-ever, but actually pretty good considering it’s made completely out of flax meal and has just a tiny bit of sweetener. You can certainly junk it up by adding lots of sugar and more oil, but it’s really actually pretty good just like this. I like that the flax has so much fiber and the egg has a nice shot of protein so if I eat this along with my morning coffee I’m pretty sustained until lunch time.

have a great day, and enjoy your muffin!

 

day 44 & 45–Valentine’s Day and President’s Day

44 & 45

It’s finally the weekend! I’ve had the longest short week in the history of the world. The kids were home Thursday and Friday, which was nice, but we packed SO VERY MUCH in the first three days of the week that I’m still catching up.

I’m sort of exhausted, actually.

But! I’m on TV today at 8:45 or so am on a local channel. It’ll be a fun experience, but because of it I’ve needed to cook two extra things in crockpots (creme brulee and pomegranate beef), find clothes that actually fit (I’m going to wear a maternity top, but somehow my regular jeans fit? beyond weird.), and squeeze in a visit to the nail place. I didn’t get a hair cut, which means my last hair cut was in October. shh. don’t tell anyone.

and this site was down, which was kind of frustrating.

Thank you for all of the sweet emails—I think it’s back to normal now.

The last time I remember Valentine’s Day being the same time as President’s Day weekend was in 1997. or was it 98? I’m not really sure, but I do know that it was the first and only time I’ve gone skiing.  It was fun, but I don’t see me doing it again any time soon. I think I’d rather sit in a cozy place with a good book.

anyhow, This Weekend:

have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

keep up with the Daily 7 as much as you can so it isn’t a rude awakening on Tuesday morning

have the kids help out around the house, moreso than usual. They are home, and therefore and making more messes. Put them to work!

yesterday: V-Day prep

Super Soft Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

You know those super soft bakery cookies they sell in the supermarket that are covered in frosting? The orange ones come out for Halloween, and the pink for Valentine’s Day. I wanted them. I needed them. But they had to be gluten free, and the only sugar cookies I’ve made gluten free sort of resembled (and tasted) like hockey pucks. These cookies don’t. I put in tons of butter, but baked them at a pretty high heat to keep the cookies from spreading all over the place. We all absolutely loved them, and these will now be my new go-to cookie when I need to make something to bring to the PTA bake sales that we can eat.

Yup. I bake and then buy my own baked goods. Other people do that, too, right?

The Ingredients.

3 cups gluten free flour mix (I used Pamela’s Baking Mix)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup room temperature butter

1 cup white sugar

3 room temperature eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

parchment paper

The Directions.

Sift flour mixture with baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix together on a low speed with a hand or stand mixer the butter, eggs, vanilla, and sugar. Slowly add in the flour mixture until evenly incorporated.  Refrigerate the dough for about an hour, or until it is easy to handle. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll small balls of dough, and place onto cookie sheet, giving ample room for spreading. I was only able to get about 6 on some of my cookie sheets. With your finger, depress each dough ball a bit in the very center. This will help the edges to stay fluffy, and not just the middle of the cookie.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 6-8 minutes, or until the very tops of the cookies have begun to turn golden. Remove from oven, and slide the entire sheet of parchment onto the kitchen counter to let the cookies fully set. When cool, frost with your favorite frosting and add sprinkles, if desired.

The Verdict.

These are very soft cookies—the softest gluten free cookies I’ve ever been able to achieve. I overcooked the first batch (10 minutes was too long, oops!) and even the burnt ones retained their soft chew. I haven’t tried to roll them out to make shapes, but my gut feeling is that it won’t work. It’s super tricky to roll out GF dough, and since there’s so much butter in here, I think the shapes would melt into a blob. Although I haven’t tried it, I think the dough would freeze quite nicely. I’d guess you could get 3 dozen out of a batch, maybe more, depending on cookie size and how much dough you eat.

ps: I’m so sorry that the site has been acting wonky and those who visit through a reader were getting multiple posts. The site was apparently hacked, but Jennette is working on it, and that shouldn’t happen anymore.  The comment section still looks a bit funky, but we’ll figure it out. Thanks so much for your patience.

Home Made Gluten-Free “Lemon Chalet” Girl Scout Cookies

I’m making my way through the girl scout cookies, slowly but surely. Just like the Thin Mints, and the Trefoils, these cookies are gluten free, egg free, and nut free. But they taste amazing. I used a box of instant pudding mix to flavor the dough, and some prepared frosting from a tub.

If the idea of using prepared frosting freaks you out, go ahead and make your own, but be aware that it needs to be quite thick.

The Ingredients:

“Lemon Chalets”—lemon sandwich cookies

yields 30 sandwich cookies

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 (15-ounce) package Gluten Free Pantry Cake & Cookie Mix

1 (3.4) ounce package instant lemon pudding mix

1/4 cup milk (can use soy)

1/2 cup prepared lemon frosting (read labels carefully; some brands list wheat starch instead of corn starch)

The Directions:

Combine butter, cookie mix, pudding mix, and milk in a large mixing bowl. Stir well with a fork until dough forms. Roll dough out 1/4-inch thick between two pieces of parchment paper. Use a very small cookie-cutter (or an empty film canister) to press out circles. Place circles on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use the blunt end of a wooden skewer to poke some holes in each cookie. Bake for 8-14 minutes in a 350° oven. Let sit for a few minutes before removing from sheet. When cool, spread a thin layer of frosting on half of the cookies, then top with remaining cookies to create sandwiches.

related:

Gluten Free “Thin Mints”

Gluten Free “Trefoils”

Homemade Gluten Free “Trefoils” Girl Scout Cookies

More Girl Scout cookies! yay!

I hadn’t had the traditional Trefoil cookies before this year. I bought one box of every kind of cookies so I could try to recreate them gluten-free. These don’t taste exactly the same if you are doing a side-by-side comparison, but they taste pretty darn close. And if you’re gluten-free you can’t really do a side-by-side comparison, anyway, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.

These cookies are gluten, nut, and egg free. I’d assume you could make them dairy free by using rice or soy milk. The butter is tricky—the secret to yummy shortbread is the obscene amount of butter. I haven’t experimented with dairy butter alternatives, but if you do and find something that has worked in the past, I’d love to know!

The Ingredients.

“Trefoils”—simple shortbread cookies

yields 60 cookies

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 (15-ounce) package Gluten Free Pantry Cake & Cookie Mix

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk (can use soy)

The Directions.

Combine butter, cookie mix, vanilla, and milk in a large mixing bowl. Stir well with a fork until dough forms. Roll dough out 1/4-inch thick between two pieces of parchment paper. Use a very small cookie-cutter (or an empty film canister)* to press out circles. Place circles on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use the blunt end of a wooden skewer to poke some holes in each cookie. Bake for 8-14 minutes in a 350° oven. Let sit for a few minutes before removing from sheet.

* the small cookie cutter or film canister is important if you want small “trefoil” style cookies. The cookies spread quite a bit due to the high butter content. I would imagine the lid from a traditional water bottle would work, too.

The Verdict.

I took these to our girl scout meeting last week and shared. The 8 girls all ate and enjoyed these, minus one who called them “boring” (she doesn’t have allergies, and I shouldn’t really say anything else ).

I tried freezing the dough and baking a second batch with the dough. It didn’t go well, because of the high amount of butter. The cookies all ran together into a big glob. I was able to salvage the globbyness by cutting the cookies into squares, but they really didn’t look very good, so I wouldn’t recommend freezing the dough. As a contrast, the Thin Mint dough froze extraordinarily well.

related: Homemade Gluten-Free “Thin Mint” Girl Scout Cookies

Homemade Gluten Free “Thin Mint” Girl Scout Cookies

Imagine you are a seven-year-old girl, and are chomping at the bit to participate in your troop’s yearly Girl Scout Cookie sales. Now imagine that you have severe allergies and cannot eat-not even a taste-a single cookie you sell. We have a little one in our troop with wheat, egg, and nut allergies. Since I was already going to make them gluten free for our family, I omitted the egg, too. No problem. These cookies will wow anyone.

If you are one of the 12 million Americans who suffer from food allergies, you too can recreate these seasonal favorites using store-bought mixes in your own home kitchen.

“Thin Mints” are the top seller each year—the thin minty chocolate wafer topped with a thin layer of mint chocolate is amazing, and I can see why people stock up. If you are not gluten free and would still like to make them, use a traditional chocolate cake or fudge brownie mix.

“Thin Mints”-mint chocolate wafer cookies dipped in chocolate

yields 36 cookies

for wafer:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) package gluten-free brownie or chocolate cake mix

5 tablespoons milk (can use soy)

1/4 teaspoon mint extract

for chocolate coating:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

1/4 teaspoon mint extract

1-3 tablespoons water

Combine butter, brownie or cake mix, milk, and mint extract in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a fork until a ball of dough forms; it will be quite crumbly. Roll dough out 1/4-inch thick between two pieces of parchment paper. Use a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter (or the lid from a spice container) to cut out circles of dough. Place circles on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use the blunt end of a skewer to poke 5 holes in each cookie. Bake at 350° for 8-12 minutes. Let sit on sheet for a few minutes before moving.

When cookies have cooled, combine chocolate chips, butter, mint extract and 1 tablespoon of water. Heat in a double-boiler or in a slow cooker (I used a 4 quart crockpot) until liquidy. Stir well, and drop wafers in, one at a time, and ladle chocolate over the top. Lift coated cookie out with a fork, and chill in the refrigerator until set. If your chocolate begins to harden, reheat as needed, and add a bit more water.

The Verdict

I brought these to share at our last girl scout meeting. 7 out of the 8 girls liked them, and the little one with allergies was overjoyed. She ended up with chocolate all over her face; it was quite cute. The first time I made the cookies, I used the Bob’s Red Mill chocolate cake mix. The cookies worked, but I just can’t get over the aftertaste from Bob’s products. I love how they are readily available, but I’m just not a fan of the garbanzo bean powder. The second time I made them, I used the Pamela’s fudge brownie mix, and strained out the chocolate chunks. Those cookies were much better, and still got a nice crisp crunch after baking.

These cookies melt in  your hands. Have wipies close by, and store in the fridge.

related: Gluten-Free “Trefoils”