Gluten Free, Vegan Gingerbread Cake

image & recipe @http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Gluten-free-vegan-gingerbread-307895

Adapted from Joy of Cooking's Applesauce Gingerbread.

Makes one 8x8 cake.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 6 tablespoons warm water
• 5/6 cup (100 grams) millet flour
• 5/6 cup (100 grams) teff flour
• 1/3 cup (50 grams) potato starch (not flour)
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch pan or line it with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flax and warm water until the mixture is thick and creamy. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
3. Sift the dry ingredients (except the coconut palm sugar) into a large mixing bowl.
4. In another mixing bowl, combine the coconut palm sugar, molasses, coconut oil, applesauce, and flax mixture; whisk until well blended. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to blend.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until set in the middle and a tester comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack until cake is cool enough to handle, then turn out.

Best eaten the same day. Refrigerate leftovers.

Fawn's Leapfrog Cupcakes, Pixie Hollow

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• Batch of baked Vanilla cupcakes
• Frosting tinted "frog" green
• Small tube of white decorating frosting or cookie icing
• Small candy eyes (look for them in the baking aisle at large craft or department stores)
• White candy melts
• Green or sour apple-flavored gummy ring-style candies
• Kitchen scissors

How to make it

1. Frost the cupcakes green.
2. 
   For each frog, create a pair of large eyeballs by using dots of decorating frosting or 
   icing to stick candy eyes to the centers of white Candy Melts, as shown. 
   Set the eyeballs aside until the icing hardens and holds.
3. 
   Cut a gummy ring candy in half to create two green "eye sockets."
4. Gently press the cut ends of each pair of gummy rings down into a frosted cupcake top, positioning them side-by-side just a bit in front of the center. Place a candy eyeball right in front of each socket, again gently pushing the lower edge into the frosting.

Gluten Free Croutons

Total time: 20mins

image & recipe @http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Gluten-Free-Tuesday_-How-to-Make-Croutons-Serious-Eats-41862

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cubed gluten-free bread
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried herbs
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
• Kosher salt

Method:

1. To make croutons in the oven. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 160'C  [325 'F].
2. In small bowl, toss together bread and melted butter/oil. All bread cubes should be lightly coated with butter/oil. Add more butter/oil, if needed. Add dried herbs, garlic powder and a light sprinkling of kosher salt. Toss. Each bread cube should be lightly coated with herbs.
3. Spread cubes on an 18x13-inch baking sheet. Arrange cubes in one layer.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven. Toss cubes and return to the oven. Bake until croutons are crispy and golden brown, about five minutes. Remove croutons from oven and allow to cool.
5. To make croutons in a skillet. Follow step two above. Heat one teaspoon butter or oil in a medium (10-inch) non-stick skillet over medium high heat until butter is melted and bubbling or until oil is shimmering. Add bread cubes. Toast, stirring occasionally, until croutons are toasted. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

Alice in Wonderland/Pixie Hollow Button Cookies

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• Batch of sugar cookie dough (homemade or store bought)
• Food coloring
• Plastic kitchen gloves (for kneading food coloring into the dough)
• Rolling pin
• Flour
• Wax paper
• Small round cookie or fondant cutters (about 2 1/4 inches wide)
• Small bottle cap (slightly smaller than the fondant cutter)
• Wooden kitchen skewer
• Spatula
• Baking sheet
• Wire rack

How to make it

1. Divide the dough into thirds or quarters. Then knead a different shade of food coloring into each portion of dough. Chill the dough so that it will be stiff enough to hold its shape while baking.
2. When you're ready to start baking, work with one color of dough at a time. Roll the dough out to about a 1/4-inch thickness and use the cookie or fondant cutter to cut out a bunch of small circles. If you like, use a small bottle cap to gently imprint an inner circle on some or all of the buttons.
3. Use the blunt end of the kitchen skewer to make a set of two or four buttonholes in the center of each cookie.
4. Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake them according to the recipe directions. Transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack to cool before serving. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Potato Gnocchi

Active time: 1 hour

Total time: 2 hours

Serves: 4-6 people

image & recipe @http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Gluten-Free-Potato-Gnocchi-Serious-Eats-296416

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, washed
• 1 cup white rice flour
• 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
• 2 large eggs
• Kosher salt

Method:

1.   Adjust oven rack to center middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Pierce potatoes a few times with a knife and place on a baking sheet. Roast until tender, about one hour. Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool.
2. .  Whisk together white rice flour and sweet rice flour. Using the flour mixture, flour your counter. Peel the potatoes and pass through a potato ricer onto the counter. Whisk together eggs and 1 teaspoon salt. Pour over the potatoes. Work the egg mixture into the potatoes with a bench scrapper or fork until potatoes begin to hold together. Mixture will be sticky.
3. . Work one cup of the flour mixture into the potato mixture. Start by working the flour into the potato mixture with a bench scrapper or fork. As soon as a dough begins to form, begin kneading the dough by hand until all the flour is incorporated. The dough should be firm and not sticky. If it is, add the remaining flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time. (You can test the gnocchi by boiling a small pot of water and cooking a small piece of dough. The gnocchi should hold together.)
4. . Divide the dough into quarters. Then, as you work with it, cut each quarter in half. Cover remaining dough with a damp paper towel. Roll out each dough eighth into a log. Cut into bite-size pieces. Shape by either pressing a small indentation into each gnocchi or rolling the gnocchi over a fork or gnocchi board.
5. Transfer shaped gnocchi to a lightly white rice-floured baking sheet. Shaped gnocchi can either be frozen or cooked right away.
6. To Freeze: Place baking sheet filled with gnocchi in the freezer. Once the gnocchi are frozen, transfer to a plastic freezer bag. Gnocchi may be frozen for up to two months. Cook as directed below. 

To Cook: Boil a large pot of salted water. Cook half the fresh or frozen gnocchi in the boiling water until they float, about four minutes. (Taste one gnocchi to ensure it is cooked through). Remove the gnocchi from the water with a skimmer and transfer to a bowl or pot of sauce. Repeat with remaining gnocchi. If gnocchi must be held for more than a moment, drizzle with oil and toss to prevent sticking.

Cars; Lightning McQueen Cupcakes

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• Batch of frosted cupcakes
• White chocolate candy bar or bar of white baking chocolate
• Red cupcake icing
• Toothpick
• Mini chocolate chips
• Chocolate candies with brown shells (such as M&Ms
• Small chocolate candies with yellow shells (such as M&M Minis)

How to make it

1. 
   For the windshields, cut small rectangles (about 1- by 1.75-inches) from the white chocolate. Pipe a line of red icing trim along the side and top edges of each rectangle. Then use the tip of a toothpick to "drill" shallow holes where the eyes will go, and gently press mini chocolate chips (tips down) in place. Set the windshields aside until the icing hardens.
2. Working with one cupcake at a time, frost the top with red icing. Gently press a windshield partway down into the center of the cupcake. chocolate. Pipe a line of red icing trim along the side and top edges of each rectangle. Then use the tip of a toothpick to "drill" shallow holes where the eyes will go, and gently press mini chocolate chips (tips down) in place. Set the windshields aside until the icing hardens.
3. Press two sets of brown-shelled candies into the frosting on the sides of the cupcake for tires.
4. Add headlights by turning yellow-shelled candies on edge and pressing them into the frosting (a toothpick comes in handy for this). For a mouth, press a small curve of white chocolate into the frosting at the front of the cupcake.

Cars; Tow Mater Cupcakes

image & recipe @spoonful.com

What you'll need

• 1 box cake mix
• 2 16 oz cans of milk chocolate frosting
• 16 oz can of vanilla frosting
• 6 cup large muffin baking pan
• 12 cup regular size cupcake baking pan
• 4.44 oz box of Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Cookies (100 Calorie Right Bites)
• Ziploc bag
• 12 White M&M's candies (headlights)
• 12 Green M&M's candies (eyes)
• 6 Eclipse gum pieces (teeth)
• 6 inch cardboard cake boards
• Black edible ink pen
• Toothpicks

How to make it

1. Coat both pans with non-stick spray. Prepare cake batter and fill both pans about 2/3 full. Bake as directed on the package and let cool.
2. 
   Count out 60 cookies and set aside. Place the remaining cookies in a Ziploc bag and finely crush them with a rolling pin or glass.
3. 
   Set aside 12 green and 12 white M&M's. (Use yellow if you can't easily find the white ones.)
4. 
   For Mater's teeth, cut each piece of gum into two pieces so one piece is larger than the other.
5. 
   Cut the tops off of 6 of the cupcakes so you can place them upside down for the truck bed. Before turning upside down, frost the sides and bottom (now top) with milk chocolate frosting and sprinkle with cookie crumbs
6. 
   Place the cupcakes, cut side down toward the back of a 6-inch cake board. Place a dollop of frosting on the board to help the cupcakes stay in place.
7. 
   Frost the sides of the larger muffin-size cupcakes. Sprinkle some of the crushed cookie pieces on the sides and then place on the cake board right in front of the other cupcake. Frost the top and sprinkle with more cookie crumbs. Attach one cookie to the front of each muffin-size cupcake for the mouth.
8. For each tire, attach two cookies together using frosting and then attach two tires to the larger cupcake and two in back to the smaller cupcake.
9. 
   Place one more cookie on the top for the tire on Mater's hood. Attach the teeth to the cookie mouth with a small amount of frosting.
10. 
    For the top of the trucks, first frost about half of each of the remaining cupcakes with vanilla frosting. You can place these in the freezer for a few minutes for the frosting to harden and then it will be easier to frost over the vanilla edges with chocolate frosting to finish Mater's face. Frost the sides and top with chocolate and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.
11. 
    Attach two green M&M's in place for eyes and two white M&M's in place for headlights. Use a black edible ink pen to draw pupils on the eyes and when dry, you can use a toothpick to dot a small amount of vanilla frosting for extra detail. Heat it slightly in the microwave and it will be easier to dot on.