Easter is such a great holiday. I love celebrating what Jesus did for us...what he did for me. It overwhelms me every time to think of what a great sacrifice He made for me. I don't deserve that kind of love at all, but He gives it to me! It's my greatest pleasure and honor to take that gift of love, and hopefully to give some love back to Him by spending time with Him, getting to know Him, serving Him, obeying Him and living my whole life with Him as my ultimate prize.
Our family has a tradition of Easter egg hunts and Easter desserts after our church's morning service. It's been something we've done since we were little, originally with the Pitcher family, but now it's evolved into a party of 32 people (sadly, without the Pitchers now)! With so many people over, what better opportunity to bake my heart out?! I love baking, so this was a mass baking time for my grandma and me! So fun.
We had lots of friends over, including the Bozon family, the Till family, the Rumbold family (all the way from Slovakia!), the Lobels with their one-month old baby boy, Carter, Katka, and our dear friends the Nemcovi who are living in our guest apartment at our house right now. Of course my grandparents were a part of our celebration as well!
I thought I'd share some of the recipes that were a hit at Easter. It was such a joy to host people and to offer them what I have to give.
First off...
Grain-free peanut butter banana muffins (by Carol Kicinski at www.simplygluten-free.com.)
Ingredients:
4 large eggs – separated
¾ cups creamy peanut butter
2 ripe medium bananas – sliced in ½ inch slices
¼ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agave syrup or honey
1 ½ cup walnuts – chopped -I used pecans here. Nuts are optional.
2/3 c. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips- my addition, and I definitely recommend it!
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
-Place muffin baking papers in muffin pan.
-In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
-In another large mixing bowl beat egg yolks with electric mixer until they start to lighten in color, about 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, sliced bananas, salt, vanilla and agave syrup or honey. Mix until well blended and the bananas are incorporated. Some small chucks of bananas are ok.
-Take a large spoonful of the egg whites and mix into the peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula. Add the peanut butter mixture into the egg whites and fold in well. You want to mix until no more white streaks are visible.
-Fold in 1 cup of chopped walnuts (or pecans!) if using.
-Fill muffin baking papers until almost full, if using nuts sprinkle additional ½ cups over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and set. A tooth pick inserted will come out clean.
Makes 12 gluten free muffins.
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Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes: 18 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons Silvana's All-Purpose Flour (or a store-bought gluten-free flour blend) - For Europeans- I buy my gluten-free flour at Marks&Spencer's! It's perfect!
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup all-vegetable shortening, at room temperature - Use real butter here if not lactose-intolerant or vegan
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large bowl and using a fork, beat together the shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix the flour mixture; stir in the chopped chocolate.
3. Using a 1½-inch (3.5-cm) scoop or a rounded tablespoon, drop the dough 2 inches (5-cm) apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Baked until golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer to a brown paper bag-lined surface or a wire rack to cool.*Recipe from Cooking for Isaiah...I love that cookbook so much! It's just inspiring. You would never think that gluten-free food was bland after her recipes!
Our family has a tradition of Easter egg hunts and Easter desserts after our church's morning service. It's been something we've done since we were little, originally with the Pitcher family, but now it's evolved into a party of 32 people (sadly, without the Pitchers now)! With so many people over, what better opportunity to bake my heart out?! I love baking, so this was a mass baking time for my grandma and me! So fun.
We had lots of friends over, including the Bozon family, the Till family, the Rumbold family (all the way from Slovakia!), the Lobels with their one-month old baby boy, Carter, Katka, and our dear friends the Nemcovi who are living in our guest apartment at our house right now. Of course my grandparents were a part of our celebration as well!
I thought I'd share some of the recipes that were a hit at Easter. It was such a joy to host people and to offer them what I have to give.
First off...
Grain-free peanut butter banana muffins (by Carol Kicinski at www.simplygluten-free.com.)
Ingredients:
4 large eggs – separated
¾ cups creamy peanut butter
2 ripe medium bananas – sliced in ½ inch slices
¼ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agave syrup or honey
1 ½ cup walnuts – chopped -I used pecans here. Nuts are optional.
2/3 c. chopped chocolate or chocolate chips- my addition, and I definitely recommend it!
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
-Place muffin baking papers in muffin pan.
-In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
-In another large mixing bowl beat egg yolks with electric mixer until they start to lighten in color, about 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, sliced bananas, salt, vanilla and agave syrup or honey. Mix until well blended and the bananas are incorporated. Some small chucks of bananas are ok.
-Take a large spoonful of the egg whites and mix into the peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula. Add the peanut butter mixture into the egg whites and fold in well. You want to mix until no more white streaks are visible.
-Fold in 1 cup of chopped walnuts (or pecans!) if using.
-Fill muffin baking papers until almost full, if using nuts sprinkle additional ½ cups over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and set. A tooth pick inserted will come out clean.
Makes 12 gluten free muffins.
Next up...
Silvana Nardone's chocolate chip cookies (taste just like the real thing!)
Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes: 18 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons Silvana's All-Purpose Flour (or a store-bought gluten-free flour blend) - For Europeans- I buy my gluten-free flour at Marks&Spencer's! It's perfect!
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup all-vegetable shortening, at room temperature - Use real butter here if not lactose-intolerant or vegan
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large bowl and using a fork, beat together the shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix the flour mixture; stir in the chopped chocolate.
3. Using a 1½-inch (3.5-cm) scoop or a rounded tablespoon, drop the dough 2 inches (5-cm) apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Baked until golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer to a brown paper bag-lined surface or a wire rack to cool.
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And the famous...
Raspberry Lemon muffins with lemon drizzle (Sorry, I absolutely cannot find where I got this recipe! I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due! These muffins are amazing though!!)
Dry
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1 c. rice flour or sweet rice flour
1/2 cup of corn starch (+1 TBS to coat raspberries)
1/2-1 tsp guar gum or xantham gum (depending on how you like the crumb to be on your muffin)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
Wet
3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or other light tasting oil)
1 1/2 cup sugar (use organic if you can!)
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 TBS lemon juice (zest lemons first before juicing them!! I made that mistake twice!)
1/2 cup of milk
two lemons zested
1 cup of raspberries (I used frozen)
Glaze
1 cup of icing sugar
2 TBS of lemon juice
1 TBS of water
Directions:
- Preheat over to 350 F (180C)
- Line your muffin tin with papers
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups almond flour, 1 c. rice flour, 1/2 corn starch, guar gum, sea salt, baking powder and set aside.
- In a new bowl mix together wet ingredients: 3/4 c grapeseed oil, 1 1/2 c sugar, 3 large eggs, 2tsp vanilla extract, 4 TBS lemon juice, 1/2 cup of milk and two lemons zested.
- Get out 1 cup of ftozen raspberries and toss together with ! TBS of cornstarch
*This prevents the raspberries from overly bleeding into the muffin batter and making them pink
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combines. Add the raspberries in and mix until distributed throughout (be careful not to over mix or they will bleed!)
- Use a cookie scoop of 1/4 cup measurer and put a scoop of batter into each of the lined papers. Fill almost to the top of the paper.
- Bake regular muffins for 24-26 minutes
To make glaze:
- Mix together all ingredients until well combined. When muffins are cool to the touch, lightly drizzle the glaze over the top of the muffin. Delicious!
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| These are soooo good! They're Bapa's favorites- and he's not even on a gluten-free diet!! |
Stay tuned for recipes by Grandma!
Claire's note: Don't know how to make almond flour?? Check this guide out! It's great!
Claire's note: Don't know how to make almond flour?? Check this guide out! It's great!
