RECIPE: Gluten Free Baked Donuts

So yesterday I took a much needed break from organizing and de-cluttering...that can get so overwhelming, you know what I mean? My sewing studio got out of control this summer and I'm not even sure how as I hardly touched my sewing machine these past three months. There were piles upon piles of craft stuff, fabric, notions, vintage linens, and on and on. I felt like I was becoming a hoarder and that ain't cool. I made a few large trips to Goodwill (yay!) but man there is still more. Maybe I just need to get sewing again...there are just so many pretty fabrics but not enough time to sew them all, sigh. 

I think I need to purge and have a studio sale. But that just seems like a lot of work too...taking pictures and uploading them, listing items, sending invoices, packaging everything to ship. Why can't y'all just live down the street, it would be so much easier if you just came over! So you see, this is why I needed a break from it all, it's a downward spiral really. One thing leads to eight and then well, the baby wakes up and you were just getting your mojo. 

That's where the donuts come in. See, it all just goes away if you bake something. Take your mind off of it. Eat till you feel sick. Right? Riiiiight. Then you save the rest for your kids to eat as their after school snack.  PS. They loved them. And if the family likey, then the recipe gets to go on the 'ol blog. Cause y'all don't want a un-tasty recipe, right? Riiiiight. 

These donuts are baked, not fried...so they are HEALTHY (er)! You will need one of those fun donut pans to make them...I made large donuts but you could also make mini ones, ooh! or even try a mini muffin pan if that's all you got. Give 'em a whirl, they are good!

Gluten Free Baked Donuts (makes 18 large sized donuts)

2 cups gluten-free flour blend--no xanthum gum needed (can also use all-purpose flour)

1 cup evaporated cane juice (or white granulated sugar)

2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 Tbsp butter, melted

1 cup milk 

1 tsp vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.  In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. Grease a donut pan and fill each donut cup half way. Bake at 400 for 7-10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Old Fashioned Glaze (yields enough for 12-18 large donuts)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbs honey

1-3 Tbsp water

Mix together the powdered sugar and honey. Add water one tablespoon at a time until glaze is thin enough to dip donuts. Let donuts cool before dipping into glaze. Enjoy!

Chocolate Glaze (yields enough for 12-18 large donuts)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp honey

1-3 Tbsp water

Add cocoa to powdered sugar and mix well. Add in the honey and mix well. Add water one tablespoon at a time until the glaze is thin enough to dip donuts. Dip cooled donuts and enjoy!

Cast of characters....Gluten free flour, eggs, melted butter, evaporated cane juice.

Vanilla, milk, baking powder.  Not shown: salt (he was out dilly dallying and missed the photo shoot).

Mix it all together and you know you've got the best of both worlds, ahahaha! Ummm, Hannah Montana theme song anyone? *embarrassed laugh* What? You don't watch old Hannah Montana episodes on Netflix? The shame.

Okie dokie, so anywaaaayz. Mix all your ingredients together, pour your batter into a greased donut pan, bake 7ish to 10 minutes (depending on your oven!) and BOOM! You've got yourself some pretty kick a@$ gluten free donuts!

Now these donuts are good plain but let's take them up a notch with some glaze, shall we?

Chocolate glaze or Old Fashioned glaze? What's your poison?

Ummm, I'll take one of each please. Ahthankyouverymuch. 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy these :-)

 XOXO,

RECIPE: How to Make Kale Chips

We love to garden over here at the Smashed Peas household and this past spring we decided to grow all our plants from heirloom seeds (we flip back and forth with organic seedlings every other year).  With the cooler temps at the end of spring and the beginning of summer plus with all the rain we received in Chicago our garden is literally exploding! Our leafy green beds are absolutely crazy, we can eat a large salad at least 3x a day...but we don't cause that's a little cray-cray so we share our bounty with our friends and neighbors :-)

One of our favorite leafy greens is Kale...we always plant kale in our garden! We love it as there are so many options for using it plus it is a superfood so it's really good for you. 

We love making Kale chips, they are sooo easy and sooo tasty.  They are the perfect quick snack...and healthy to boot and are a great replacement for other less healthy salty snacks!  I will say that once you bake your Kale the chips are very thin and crisp...so beware of that, there is not a lot of thickness to them but the flavor is amazing!

Here's my super easy and super fast Kale chips recipe for y'all...give them a try, you won't be sorry!

Kale Chips

bowl full of Kale, washed and dried

extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil

salt and pepper to taste

herbs or spices of your choice (red pepper flakes, curry, etc)

freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese or other favorite cheese

Once your Kale is washed and dried, lay it leaf by leaf onto a rimmed baking sheet.  Spritz the leaves with extra virgin olive oil or liquid coconut oil (not solid!) and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  You may also add red pepper flakes, curry, or other spices and herbs you enjoy.  Freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese is also delicious melted on top! Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Check out all that leafy green Kale goodness! I love how pretty and green it is!

Rinse your Kale in a bowl full of fresh water and place in a salad spinner to spin dry.  If you are picking your Kale straight out of your garden take extra care to make sure you get any bugs off of the leaves while rinsing.  Yes, that is one of the downfalls of a garden...bugs!!  It totally grossed me out the very first time I ever picked my own lettuce but really just rinse it off and spin it dry...so easy and not that bad to deal with, I swear! Otherwise if you bought your kale in a bag pre-washed then you can just skip this step if you want.

Place your dried leaves on a rimmed baking sheet and spritz with EVOO or coconut oil in the liquid state.  If you have an oil mister this would be the perfect place to use it! Then sprinkle on some salt and pepper...or other dried herbs and spices...or even cheese...I love Kale chips with bubbling cheese on top!

Mmm...looks soooo good!

Okay, when you are done bake that lovely green goodness at 325 for anywhere from 10-15 minutes.

The color changes slightly but not to worry the taste is divine!  Like a crisp salty chip...nom!

My husband and I love red pepper flakes on ours...it brings the heat and a runny nose but dang they are sooo good!

If you've never tried Kale Chips I highly recommend you give them a whirl.  They are a great healthy snack and really do not take long to make at all!  They are a great alternative to chips if you are the kinda person who likes a salty snack every now and then!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Paleo Pudding Pops

The other day I was thinking about Pudding Pops, remember those?  Those awesomely delicious pudding pops hawked by Mr. Bill Cosby himself, oh the commercials! Can you hear him saying it now...."Pudding Pops!" with that weird sort of T-rex arm dance he would do, ha!  Loved it!

It's sad to think that they no longer make them. I really liked them.  It's also sad to think that my kids won't ever get the opportunity to enjoy them...do they make an app for that?

So I set off to my kitchen to make me (ahem, them) some but thought a healthier version might be a nicer touch.  I ended up taking my favorite Paleo chocolate pudding recipe (minus the avocado since for some reason frozen avocado grosses me out...helloo it turns all nasty brown!) and voila, Paleo Pudding Pops were born! And they are still nice and creamy even without the avocado, hooray!

Paleo Pudding Pops (makes 7 medium sized pops)

1 can FULL fat coconut milk

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl with a whisk and pour into popsicle molds allowing room in each mold for expansion during freezing.  Freeze for minimum of 5 hours.  Run molds under warm water to loosen pudding pops and enjoy!

Simple simon met a pie man...okay, maybe a pudding man. Truth.  All you need are four simple ingredients to make these nostalgic pudding pops, holla!

In a medium sized bowl whisk together one can of FULL fat coconut milk (please use FULL fat!! If you use lite your pudding pops will not be as creamy. You need the fat, plus it's good fat so it's good for you!), 2 Tbsp of Cocoa powder, 2 Tbsp of pure maple syrup, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

Pour the pudding mixture into your molds...

 Leaving room at the top for expansion once frozen!

Place the caps or wooden sticks in and freeze for a minimum of 5 hours.

Once your pudding pops are nice and frozen, run warm tap water over the base of the pops until they are loose enough to pop out.  You can also fill a large container with warm water and set the mold in it to thaw the pops that way.

Mmmm! And there you have it...Paleo Pudding Pops...healthy and DEEEE-LICIOUS!

 Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies

Oh hey, how are ya? Was anyone else out there sad when Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine was canceled? Hands? Anyone?  Aww, man. I loved that magazine.  And, yes, I was so dang sad to get that little card in the mail saying my subscription would be finished out with MS's Everyday Living magazine.  Nothing against that magazine, I just really liked her Everyday Food magazine.  (Hey can I say "everyday" or "magazine" more in one paragraph? Yeah, I'm good like that.) 

In fact I have a whole shelf (a large shelf, I might add) in my bedroom devoted to the past 8 years of this make-me-so-happy-getting-it-in-the-mail subscription I owned.  That's like my whole married life, peeps! It was just such a fun little magazine.  It was so cute, almost pocket-sized, ok, you needed some big pockets to tote it around in...we'll say purse-sized instead :-) I just loved it so. When I go thrifting I will specifically look for old editions I might now have to add to my collection, is that weird?

On another weird note, did you know that a few years back I asked my husband for a Sirius Radio subscription for Christmas? Yup. And not for all the cool music channels it had...nope. It was for the Martha Stewart Channel..now is THAT weird? I just love Martha! Annnnd, she even had an Everyday Food hour (or was it two hours?) where the editor would talk the talk about recipes, gardening, tips and tricks, and kitchen stuff, you know...Maggie salivating at it's best! See I told you I really loved this now defunct magazine! I remember running errands with Noah and Penny and listening to it in my car to my hearts content....good times.

On yet another note, yep it just took 3 to get to my point. I found this here recipe for Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies from that perfectly, perfect, wish-it-were-still-around magazine.  Except in typical Maggie fashion I tweaked it just a bit to suit my likings :-)  I hope you love it.  Even if you aren't gluten-free you should enjoy it's fudginess...there is really nothing like a fudgy brownie!

Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownies (makes 16 brownies)

(lightly adapted from Everyday Food)

6 tbsp salted butter, plus more to grease the pan

1/3 cup cornstarch, spooned and leveled

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

10 oz dark chocolate

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter an 8 inch baking dish and set aside.  Mix together the cornstarch, cocoa butter, and cinnamon. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate in 30 second increments until smooth. Stir the vanilla and sugar into the chocolate mixture. Then stir in eggs, one at a time until well combined. Add the cornstarch mixture until smooth and well mixed. Pour into greased pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Let cool for a few minutes on a wire rack and then flip out onto the rack carefully to finish cooling. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Ingredients! Go get 'em!

 Mix together the dry ingredients...cocoa powder, cornstarch, and cinnamon and set a side.

Melt the dark chocolate and butter in the microwave next...in 30 second increments....until it's nice and smooth. Then add in the vanilla and sugar, mix well.  Then add in the eggs, one at a time. Then add in the cornstarch mixture. Finally mix it all until it's well combined.

Pour it into a greased 8x8 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Let it cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes, then turn the pan out, ever so carefully, onto the wire rack to finish cooling. You have to wait otherwise it's going to be a brownie massacre when you cut into these puppies...trust me....they are FUDGY.

See, you wait and you get lovely little squares of joy. Gluten-free joy.

 What's that? A whole stack of gluten-free joy? Why, thankyouverymuch!

Enjoy!

And, oh hey! Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

RECIPE: Gluten Free Coconut Flour Donuts

We are in the middle of doing our Valentine's Advent right now, so far so fun!  The kids are enjoying opening up an envelope every morning and I think I've done a pretty good job of picking just the right things to do/say in each one, hooray for me!  (If you want to peak at my Valentine's Advent click here!)

This past Saturday the kids had "Donut"make you happy to know you are LOVED! in the advent and these here just happen to be the donuts I made :-)

These yummy little donuts were a hit with the kids and the husband. They had all things awesome about them.

Chocolate iced....Check!

Valentine-y sprinkles....Check!

Baked not fried...Check!

Gluten-Free...Check!

Shaped like a heart...Check!

Gluten Free Coconut Flour Donuts (makes 12 mini donuts)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

5 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1Tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

Chocolate Icing

1/2 cup dark chocolate 

1 Tbsp coconut oil

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and honey together, add in vanilla and then one egg at a time until well combined.  Slowly add in the coconut flour and baking soda and mix well.  Place batter into a large plastic bag and snip off one corner off with a pair of scissors.  Squeeze batter into the molds of a greased donut pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until golden. 

While donuts are cooling make the icing.  Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl in the microwave for about 1 minute.  Stir until chocolate is melted. Dip the tops of each donut into the chocolate.  Enjoy!

Eggs, baking soda, vanilla, honey, butter...check, check, check, check, and check!

Coconut Flour...check!   

This stuff is super dense and makes for a very dry end product if you don't load it up with some type of liquid...this is why we need 5 eggs! 

Once that batter is mixed up, pour it into a plastic bag and snip off the end to fill your greased donut pan. PS. I use coconut oil spray instead of the Pam type product...works like a charm!

Bake your donuts at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Mmm...yeah these are the bomb diggity.  But wait!  They are about to get even better..time to make the icing, baby! :-)

Get some good quality dark chocolate, about 1/2 cup will do.  Add in 1 Tbsp of coconut oil and microwave for 1 minute.  Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and...Voila!  Chocolate icing on the healthy down low, booyah!

Dip those sweet little donuts into that chocolate and load them up with sprinkles if you so desire.

 How's about a plate of these to share with your sweetie?

And a cold glass of milk?  My sweetie washes his down with a cold glass of coconut milk :-)

I hope you enjoy these little donuts...you would never guess they were good for you!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,