Valentine Treats for school

While Gluten Free cake-pops were divine at Christmas time, I am now required to dirty up the downstairs kitchen and bake Valentine glutenous cake-pops for my daughter to take to school. Seeing how all things need to be labeled these days. The ingredient labels need to be made, or how about, better yet, posted! The Wilton chocolate melts are a list of ingredients beyond what will fit on my labels. Cake is easy: flour, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla extract. Even gluten free cake is easier than candy melts! Bring on the chemical overload.

December Means Baking!

The holidays put me in baking mode. There will be Millet Bread, Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, holiday cookies of all kinds, starting with Peanut Butter. All are Gluten Free and all are delicious. You'll never know the difference.

Christmas Baking - Cookies

I have been baking on and off for weeks now. I wish share my secret to Gluten Free success -- Pamela's Baking mix. I know it is expensive, but I'll share my other secret www.frankferd.com where I buy it by the case loads!

Tip - use your regular favorite cookie recipe, omit baking soda and baking powder and then be prepared to add more than the called for amount of GF mix. For Chocolate Chip I add up to 1 cup more. I do test cook one cookie with each little bit added to get it right. The humidity of the room as so much to do with success in Gluten Free baking.

The best cookies to date are Hershey Peanut Blossoms and Jiffy Peanut Butter Cookies. Neither of these cookies has ever flopped on me like doing GF Chocolate Chip. My family loves peanut butter and chocolate, so those are the staple cookies in this house.

Surprisingly, the Peanut Blossom cookies are everyone's favorite and no one ever knows they are Gluten Free!!! If asked to bring cookies for an event, these classics are what I make.

One other tried and try baking secret - the best ingredients make the best food. I use Amish Butter Roll butter and it is cheaper than store bought. Any recipe that calls for shortening, I use butter. You can't go wrong with a classic ingredient, besides hydrogenated oils are out (that means no Crisco and no margerine). If you eat whole foods like butter you are better off than trying to find a chemical substitute. You were not designed to eat chemicals. A few cookies now and again won't kill you, so enjoy them made with whole food ingredients like butter.

Graduate school has taken over again. I wish I had more time to bake. I will be baking up Halloween Spider Cupcakes for the kids' classrooms (3 classes). I must be crazy.

Profitable Talents?

Today I've added a page of beautiful and yummy photos to my true website. I hope to be able to lead local mom's in need of my services to my website.

Not every mom out there has the time or talent to create the cake their child wants for their birthday. What's worse, as a mom of a Gluten Free child, I can not go to the store and just buy one. I must make one or change the tradition.
GlutenFreeBakingQueen

July 4, 2008

Welcome to my blog. It seems everyone has one, so why not? The rage used to be your own internet website. I was even asked once during a job interview if I had a website, I answered no at the time. After not being hired, I had tons for free time in which I started a website site! I took that down this past year.

I do not expect much time to devote to this. I have 4 children and I'm in graduate school. I do however need a place to work on my book and gain valuable feedback.

I'm the Gluten Free Baking Queen in my world. If my family wants something delicious to eat, I usually have to make it from scratch. As for my book, it isn't a cookbook, but rather a guide to gluten free babies and toddlers.