Gluten-Free Berry Pecan Muffins

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Lorinda

~~Shamed~~ Challenged by my daughter to try a gluten-free muffin, my wheels started turning. I can’t say I was excited by the idea (my idea of a breakfast pastry includes butter, white flour, and sugar) but decided to give it a try…and was surprised and pleased by the results.

I used buttermilk and honey, so this isn’t vegan, but it is a lot healthier than my usual creations, and unexpectedly light and fluffy!

Use whatever fruit you like. I put chopped strawberries and blueberries in mine, but will also be trying these with raspberries and chopped banana in the near future. If you toast your pecans before adding them, it will boost the flavor factor immensely.

I also have a thing about toppings on muffins – more is better! For the sake of keeping these reasonably healthy, I toned that down a bit and just put a tiny amount on each muffin before baking. You can simply sprinkle them with finely chopped nuts and cinnamon if you prefer, or leave them plain. (Here I go…can’t help myself: a drizzle of simple powdered sugar icing would be lovely too!)

Gluten Free Berry Pecan Muffins

Author: The Rowdy Baker

Makes 12

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup berries (if using strawberries, chop them coarsely)
1 tablespoon orange zest
⅓ cup chopped pecans
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
¼ cup melted coconut oil
STREUSEL TOPPING (optional)
1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
1 teaspoon coconut flour
3 tablespoons finely chopped pecans

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 F.
Place foil or paper liners in 12-cavity muffin pan
In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Add berries, orange zest, and chopped nuts. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, honey, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
Add melted coconut oil, whisking briskly, and immediately pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined.
Divide between 12 liners. They will be generously filled.
Combine all of the ingredients for streusel, if you are using it. Press gently onto each muffin.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of a muffin.
Move pan to a cooling rack and let them cool a bit before eating.

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Add fruit and nuts to dry ingredients

Add liquids to dry ingredients

Add a little topping if desired, and bake.

No, I haven’t exactly turned over a new leaf, but I have to admit I’m a little more open to the whole gluten-free idea after this success. For now, though, I have this idea. This truly decadent idea that is screaming to be made into reality, and will be posted soon. One step forward, two steps back I guess!

Lorinda

Taunee’s Blueberry Pancakes

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Lorinda

Pancakes for two, anyone? I’ve “done” pancakes before (see: The Real Scoop on Pancakes) but my sweet little granddaughter is working on a school project and specifically asked for a photo of blueberry pancakes. How can a grandma refuse?

So I changed my basic recipe a wee bit, making it a little richer (butter instead of oil), a little sweeter, and cut the recipe to make approximately 6 large pancakes. Pancakes just don’t get any better than this!

Mmmm. Ready to serve!

I used fresh blueberries, but if you want to use frozen, I suggest you sprinkle them on top of the pancakes once you’ve poured the batter on the griddle; that way your pancakes won’t turn a funky color.

Here you go, Taunee. Pancakes from Eema’s kitchen:

Taunee's Blueberry Pancakes

Author: The Rowdy Baker

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
¾ cup buttermilk
¼ cup milk (or water)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries (if using frozen, don't stir into batter - drop onto poured pancakes before flipping over.)

Instructions

Heat griddle on medium high. Grease generously. (I prefer shortening, but bacon grease is good too.)
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, and milk together well. Whisk in melted butter.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients, mixing just until combined. I like my batter to be fairly thick, spreading it into circles on the hot griddle with a spoon. If you prefer a thinner batter, add more milk or water until it's the desired consistency.
Spoon batter onto hot griddle. Lift and peek - when the bottom is a rich brown and the top looks a little dry and bubbly, flip the pancakes and cook until brown on both sides.

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Whisk liquids into dry ingredients.

Spoon batter onto hot, greased griddle. Cook until brown on both sides.

and…enjoy!

Hope you get an A+, Miss. Taunalee!

Tender Yucateco Pork

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Lorinda

I’m sure we’ve all experienced a moment where a whiff of fragrance transports us back in time . I chased a woman down the mall once to find out what perfume she was wearing, because it was the same scent my preschool teacher wore! Our sense of smell remembers and teases us with quick trips to the past.

When I pondered what to make for a Cinco de Mayo roundup with my blogger friends, a dish my son and I prepared during my recent visit to California was the obvious choice (even though it has nothing at all to do with baking). At the time we couldn’t find achiote paste, so had to make a homemade version in our own freestyle way. But this time (thanks to Amazon) I have the real stuff, and HOO BABY, does it smell delicious. When I opened the package I was instantly taken back to a family vacation in Cozumel when I was fifteen years old. That was a long, long time ago. There was a hotel/restaurant down the beach where we ate often, and this…THIS is the exact aroma I remember. Heavenly. (Wistful sigh here.) I jazzed up the Xni-pec topping, adding carrots and red cabbage for more crunch. It’s similar to cole slaw, only spicier. A dollop of sour cream on the top cools it down a bit. Speaking of cooling it down a bit, you know you should always wear gloves when working with peppers, right? I know this too. I do. But right now I’m housesitting at a friend’s place and didn’t have access to disposable gloves – and it was just one little jalapeno pepper, right? From experience I can tell you that if you rub your eye after cutting up a jalapeno pepper, you will need to wash it out thoroughly with milk. ‘Nuff said.

Tender Yucateco Pork

Author: The Rowdy Baker

Ingredients

4-5 pound pork shoulder blade roast
2 ounces achiote paste
6 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
½ red onion (save the other half for the Xni-pec)
Juice from 1 lime
½ cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon orange zest
½ cup apple cider vinetar
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon oregano
10 whole cloves (or ¼ teaspoon ground)
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half (or ¼ teaspoon ground)
8 whole allspice (or ¼ teaspoon ground)
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped - or more to taste
XNI-PEC:
2 cups chopped red cabbage
½ red onion, chopped
1 habanero pepper, chopped finely
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped finely
1 cup grated carrot
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Chopped cilantro, if desired

Instructions

Place pork in a large crock pot.
Put in a blender: achiote paste, garlic, onion, lime juice, orange juice, orange zest, vinegar, cumin, chili powder, pepper, salt, and oregano. Blend until smooth. Pour over the meat.
Sprinkle with cloves, cinnamon stick, allspice, and chopped pepper..
Cover and cook on high for one hour. Turn heat to low and cook for 5 hours, or until meat is fall-apart tender, turning the meat over once during the cook time. Remove the pork to a platter or baking dish and shred, using 2 forks. Remove and discard any large pieces of fat or whole spices. Strain the juice from the crock pot to remove whole spices and return the juice and meat to the pot, keeping it on warm until you are ready to serve.
Combine all of the ingredients for the Xni-pec. Allow to sit for 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
Serve the pork in hot corn tortillas. Top with xni-pec and a little sour cream.

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The leftover juices in the crock pot make a wonderful base for a spicy Mexican soup! Trust me – you’ll want to freeze this for later. Just ladle off the fat from the surface, or chill in the refrigerator to make it easy to remove the solidified fat and freeze in an airtight container.

Put goodies in blender.

Blend until smooth.

Pour over pork in crock pot.

Sprinkle with peppers and whole spices.

Separate meat with forks and strain the sauce.

Shred meat with forks and strain the sauce.

Return meat to sauce. Keep warm until ready to serve

As always, feel free to change this recipe to suit your taste. I’m kind of wimpy when it comes to hot, spicy foods, so I kept the heat down to a reasonably fiery level. You may want to add more peppers to your batch. I’m also thinking of adding a bit of dark chocolate to the crock pot next time for another layer of flavor. Pile the pork on a tortilla, top with Xni-pec and a little sour cream (chopped tomatoes are nice, too) and enjoy!

For five other delicious Cinco de Mayo recipes, please visit these amazing pages:

From Tampa Cake Girl: Margarita Cheesecake

From Hun, What’s For Dinner?: Dessert Chimichangas

From Crumbs in my Mustachio: Easy Taco Salad

From Cooking from a SAHM: Easy Salsa

From Moore or Less Cooking Blog: Chicken Fajitas

Brownies for a Crowd

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Lorinda

The other day I needed to make lots and lots of brownies…enough for 60 women. And because “good enough” just doesn’t cut it for our Homemakers’ Club annual spring tea, I also felt the urge to gussy them up and make them pretty.

I usually use a mixture of oil and butter in my brownies, but I wanted these to be rich and decadent, so I skipped the oil and used lots of butter. They turned out even better than I’d hoped, with enough height to look impressive, and a density somewhere between fudge brownies and cake brownies.

If you don’t have a crowd to cook for, you could cut the recipe in half of course. But I’d go for the full recipe and freeze some if I were you; they’re that good!

Brownies for a Crowd

Author: The Rowdy Baker

Makes approximately 72 brownies, 1½-inch by 2-inches each.

Ingredients

6 cups sugar
2¼ cups (4½ sticks) butter, melted
9 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup "Special Dark" cocoa powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (more if desired)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 F.
Lightly grease two 9-inch by 13-inch baking pans, line with parchment, (the grease will hold the parchment in place) and spray lightly with an oil/flour combination spray like Baker's Joy.
In a very large bowl, combine the sugar and melted butter. Stir well.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla until frothy. Add slowly to the sugar mixture, stirring well.,
Add the cocoa powders, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir just until combined.
Gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Divide evenly between baking pans, spreading with a dough scraper or offset spatula.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center of the brownies comes out clean. If it has batter on it, bake in 3 minute increments until done. Don't overbake.
Cool COMPLETELY in pans on cooling racks. Remove the brownies by lifting the edges of the parchment. Mark and cut as desired. Since they are thick and rich, I found that 1½-inch by 2-inch pieces were perfect.

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Spreading batter. (I used one huge pan, 13″ x 18″)

I was so busy slam-dunking this project, I failed to take pictures as I went. But the decorations were pretty simple for the most part. A swirl of chocolate buttercream icing (ganache would be great, too!) a few buttercream roses and leaves, and nifty little edible flowers and butterflies I got from Sugar Robot. There is no sugar in them, so they were perfect as decorations for the batch of sugar-free brownies I also made.

The little bees were simple and fun to make. To make a bee I used two jelly beans – a yellow one for the body and a “ginger ale” jelly bean for the head and wings. (White would do nicely, too.) I melted a little white chocolate in a small dish to use as glue, then cut the end off of one of the lighter beans for a head and glued it to the end of a yellow bean, using the white chocolate. Then two more thin slices of the light bean were attached to the sides for wings. You will need to hold them in place for a few seconds to let the white chocolate dry.

Melt a small amount of dark chocolate in a plastic zipper-type bag and snip a teeny tiny bit of one corner off. Dot eyes onto the head and then stripes on the back of the yellow bean. (The reason my stripes look a little wimpy is because I thought I’d try painting them with black paste food coloring. Not recommended!) That’s it. Let them dry for a few minutes before moving them onto the brownies.

Here’s how I know these brownies are the best I’ve made: usually, I prefer them with lots of chocolate icing, but I had some leftovers that didn’t get decorated, and I actually preferred them plain. Irresistible!

Happy spring…

Lorinda

Triple Cheese Ham Bake

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Lorinda

Once again my five favorite cohorts and I have gotten together to bring you some delicious recipes. This month, we’re digging into our favorite pasta meals. (Yum….pasta!) Here’s a comfort casserole from me, with links to the other dishes at the bottom of the post.

Triple Cheese Ham Bake: the ultimate comfort food!

Pasta is one of those comfort foods that we Baby Boomers were fed often, especially when times were tough and budgets needed to be stretched. In my family, pasta was usually cooked in the form of spaghetti, tuna casserole, goulash, or macaroni and cheese.

Pasta came in a bag and was boiled until it was almost falling apart. We hadn’t heard of cooking it “al dente”, buying or using fresh pasta, or – heaven forbid – making it ourselves.

This is a basic casserole, perfect for using up leftover ham. You can jazz it up with peas, broccoli, or asparagus tips if you’d like, to make it a complete meal. You could also use leftover chicken instead of ham.

Here’s the beauty of this casserole: you don’t have to boil the pasta! I mentally rate recipes by bowls and pans that will have to be washed. By using this method you will save the effort of washing a large pan and a strainer…a big plus in my book!

Triple Cheese Ham Bake

Author: The Rowdy Baker

An easy casserole that's a perfect way to use leftover ham. Serves 8.

Ingredients

1 pound Rotini pasta (uncooked)
2-3 cups cubed ham
1 small can sliced olives (more to taste)
½ cup chopped onions
3 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar, mozzarella, and three-cheese Italian)
1½ cup milk
1 cup cream
1 cup chicken broth
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon coarse pepper
2 tablespoons butter
TOPPING:
1 cup Panko-style breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 F.
Pour the dry pasta into a large casserole dish. (I used a 13x9x2" rectangular casserole.).
Sprinkle ham over the pasta.
Sprinkle olives and chopped onions over the ham.
Cover with cheese.
Heat milk, cream, chicken broth, garlic salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons butter in a small pan until butter is melted. Pour over the cheese.
Cover tightly with foil. Place pan on baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil. Combine Panko and melted butter. Sprinkle over casserole and return to oven for 30 additional minutes.
Allow casserole to sit for 15 minutes before serving.

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Cover the dry pasta with ham.

Add olives and onions and smother with cheese.

Pour liquids over the cheese, cover, and bake.

Let it sit for 15 minutes and serve!

Here are the links for everyone’s pasta recipes. Hope you’ll check them all out!

From Tampa Cake Girl: Greek Pasta Salad

From Hun, What’s For Dinner?: Spring Pasta Salad

From Crumbs in my Mustachio: Caprese Pasta Salad

From Cooking from a SAHM: Ranch Pasta Salad

From Moore or Less Cooking Blog: Mexican Stuffed Pasta Shells.

The Rowdy Baker

Irreverent offerings from a compulsive baker.

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Gluten-Free Berry Pecan Muffins

Taunee’s Blueberry Pancakes

Tender Yucateco Pork

Brownies for a Crowd

Triple Cheese Ham Bake