"Reese's" Peanut Butter Cupcakes (Gluten Free, Soy Free, Casein Free)

Pardon the sweet indulgence.

Sometimes I just need to BAKE sweet and thankfully I have a meeting so co-workers can help me eat the rest of these lovely cakes.

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"Reese's" peanut butter cups are one of my favorite candies. I've always loved peanut butter. During summers when I was a little girl, my parents would drive us to a state park in southwest Virginia called Dougthat. On the way to Dougthat was a small shop that sold camping supplies, fishing lures, and Hershey's handscooped icecream for .25 cents a scoop.

These people knew how to serve ice cream. They didn't give you little scoops, they were big whoppin' bowl-size scoops right there in your waffle cone. I always ordered either mint chocolate or peanut butter cup. My favorite was the latter because it had huge frozen peices of peanut butter swirled in the chocolate ice-cream. A perfect sweet and savory combination.

Yesterday my co-worker Jennifer and I were discussing a recent television birthday party. The cake served at the party was a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. And I immediately started wondering why I hadn't thought of this before.

I had the perfect opportunity to get creative last night and whip up a batch of my favorite chocolate cupcakes and I came up with this delicious peanut butter frosting.

Michael and I tried the cupcakes with the new frosting last night and we sat in pure peanut butter heaven. Michael said, "Do ALL of these cupcakes have to go to work with you tomorrow?" ;-)

You be the judge... and tell me what you think! Are you a peanut butter fan too?? If you are, you'll love these cupcakes!



"Reese's" Peanut Butter Cupcakes
(Gluten Free, Soy Free, Casein Free)

1 batch prepared ** everyday chocolate cupcakes **
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)

Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup allergen free chocolate chips
1 tablespoons oil (I used grapeseed oil)
3-4 tablespoons water


In a large bowl mix peanut butter with powdered sugar. Add vanilla and non-dairy milk. You can add more or less milk to create the consistancy you prefer. My icing was almost a glaze consistancy. I may try to make it a bit thicker next time, but I really like the glossy look of the thinner glaze icing.

Spread peanut butter icing over completely cooled cupcakes.

In another glass bowl melt chocolate chips and oil in the microwave on high for 1 minute at a time until melted. Whisk in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get a drizzling chocolate sauce consistancy. Drizzle glaze over frosted cupcakes.

Serve immediately or chill.

Makes 12 frosted cupcakes.

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Carrie's Notes:

- On baking the cupcakes: I made 12 cupcakes and baked them for about 20 minutes. You will need to watch these cupcakes carefully in the oven as they will dry out quickly if they are baked TOO long. Start with a baking time of 15 minutes and gently touch the top of a cupcake, if it bounces back it's done. If the top of the cupcake is still a bit doughy continue to bake until it bounces back or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Check out Ginger Lemon Girl @ $5 Dinners

Please check out my guest post for Erin of $5 Dinners fame. This article is a great introduction to simple,healthy, and naturally gluten free meals for your family! I have written a short series of posts for Erin and they will be posted in the upcoming weeks!

Erin's blog focuses on frugal, inexpensive, and healthy $5 meals. Erin started making frugal meals for under $5 several years ago and it has become a passion. Many of Erin's recipes are gluten free, use gluten free ingredients, or are naturally gluten free! I highly encourage you to visit her fantastic website!

Erin was featured on the Rachael Ray show a few weeks ago, and she just announced she has signed on to write a book about her $5 dinners!! Congratulations to Erin and MANY thanks to her for allowing me to guest host on her blog!

Enjoy!!

Homemade Almond Cheese (Gluten Free, Casein Free, Soy Free)

Nut cheese

Stop laughing... seriously, that's what it's called! And it's good! And you're still laughing.. ;-P

It's okay... laughing is good for you! I hope most of my posts bring a smile to you! I'm all about smiles!

So once again... today's post is about nut cheese.

I used to think it was funny when vegetarians or people who didn't eat meat, dairy, you name it.. ended up cooking and eating what I considered "fake foods." Not necessarily foods that were bad, but foods created to make up for the loss of something like say a hamburger... people ate soy burgers or bean burgers. I just thought that was plain silly. My thinking used to be "If you're not gonna eat a "real" burger, than just don't eat one... don't try to substitute, that will only make things worse."

Once again... huge foot in mouth!

Since going gluten free I have definitely learned how to make healthy and delicious substitutes. I HAD to learn how to make those foods effectively when I couldn't eat wheat. Gluten free versions of biscuits, pancakes, bread... and now? I can't even tell the difference. I understand why people need substitutes.

About a year into the gluten free diet I became aware of allergic reactions I was also having to soy products: soy sauce, edamame, tofu, soy flour, you name it and my throat would swell up. Not a pleasant feeling. I realized that by default I had been avoiding soy for months because I always reacted after eating it.

And nearly 3 months ago after eliminating foods, I realized I was also reacting to dairy and casein products. In hindsight this makes a lot of sense. It's very common for people who are sensitive to the gluten protein to also be sensitive to the proteins in dairy and soy since they are so similar in nature.

While I had trouble cutting wheat and soy out of my diet, it honestly was not as difficult as dairy and casein. I love anything dairy... and to cut out cheese, yogurt, milk, ICE CREAM? Oh my... I just was not sure I could do that.

Which is why I decided to learn how to make substitutes with nuts. Almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts... they have become close friends! ;-)

I would be lying if I told you that this almond cheese tastes exactly like real dairy cheese. It does not. But it makes a wonderful substitution and definitely fulfills a cheese craving!! This cheese reminds me in taste of a flavored cream cheese and sour cream with a touch of hummus! In texture, it's very similar to ricotta! If you miss having real cheese, it's definitely worth your while to try!

Today's recipe once again uses almonds. I love almonds for their delicate taste and their absolute versatility in cooking and baking!! We'll make an almond-dill cheese with a few simple ingredients, a white cotton cloth or sprouting bag, and your blender!

(For a great online photo-tutorial of making nut cheese, please click here.)




Almond Dill Cheese

1 1/2 cups raw almonds, soaked 12 hours
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons hummus
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or oil of your choice)
juice from 1-2 medium lemons
1 tablespoon dill weed
1-2 teaspoons sea salt (or more to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon pure garlic granules or (garlic seasoning of your choice)


Method:

Rinse almonds thoroughly in fresh cold water, drain and put into blender. Add 1 1/2 cups spring water. Blend on highest setting for 3-4 minutes. Stop blender, add remaining ingredients and blend until very, very smooth (an additional 3-5 minutes.)

Open and place sprout bag or cotton cloth in a large bowl or pitcher. (In the pictures below I actually used a clean white cotton pillowcase, that I also use for wringing water out of greens!)

almond cheese just beginning to drip, you can see a very small amount of whey in the pitcher

Pour the almond cheese mixture into the bag and close with drawstrings, rubber band, or a twist tie as I did. Place bag of almond cheese mixture in pitcher or bowl so that it will drip and strain for 12 hours. Place draining cheese in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours to thoroughly drip. You can also let the mixture ferment slightly (to further sour and develop the flavor) by allowing the cheese to strain on the counter for 6 hours and then moving it to the refrigerator to strain for the remaining time period.

When the cheese is ready, serve chilled with gluten free crackers (or my favorite pretzels) or carrots and celery! Enjoy!!

Store cheese in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just be aware... you might get addicted to this delicious nut cheese!

almond cheese after straining for 6 hours, notice the amount of whey that has drained

Carrie's Notes:

* The leftover drained liquid is WHEY, you can still use this liquid or you can toss it. It's up to you. If you like to soak grains in Nourishing Traditions style, such as buckwheat, millet, brown rice, or even dried beans you can use some of this liquid to quicken soaking time and assist grains and beans in the sprouting process. For more information on how you can use leftover whey, click here (keep in mind most of these suggestions are using items with gluten or dairy, but you can also use whey with almost any kind of gluten free flour or food.)

* You can use all different kinds of RAW nuts in this recipe, macadamias (although I have heard not to soak them, as it can alter the taste), cashews, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, etc... I prefer using raw almonds because they are so mild in taste and really give a beautiful white color to the cheese.

* You can add ALL kinds of wonderful savory additions to this cheese!! Green onions, chives, parsley, garlic... you name it, you can probably add it!! Let me know what you add to your almond cheese!

* I highly recommend soaking the almonds ahead of time. It begins the sprouting process which makes the almonds more nutritious and much easier on your blender! Don't skip soaking!! ;-)

* I am thoroughly looking forward to using this nut cheese as a replacement for ricotta cheese in lasagna!! I will probably slightly change the seasonings for a ricotta/cottage cheese type sub! If you try the cheese in this manner, please let me know what you think!!

Homemade Almond Milk (Gluten Free, Casein Free, Soy Free)

straining homemade almond milk and dill-almond "cream cheese"

I had no idea along this journey to health that I would need to give up so many traditional foods. Wheat... No problem! White sugar... No problem!!

But cheese? Milk? Butter? Those things I grew up literally loving to eat... and yet always had a tummy ache and a stuffy nose afterwards. Once I gave up gluten, although I felt SO much better... I knew there were other foods causing problems. I was just REALLY crossing my fingers that milk would not be one of them.

Yet, I realized through a process of elimination that it was. And I have to tell you dairy was NOT easy to give up.

Thankfully though, after nearly 2 months of casein free living, I've realized life is still tasty without milk!

I do not need dairy anymore.

And I am learning how to make substitutes that are SO much healthier for my body and I love being able to create these foods in my own kitchen!

One thing that I've been making a lot in the past few weeks is almond milk.

I tried to make homemade nut and rice milks in the past, but my old blender just wasn't powerful enough to effectively blend them into a delicious beverage.

Enter Meghan Telpner... again... ;-)

A few weeks ago when I followed Meghan's Green Smoothie Cleanse program, I learned a few tips from her website for making easy homemade almond milk.

Tip #1: Pre-soaking the almonds. This procedure not only creates a healthier almond milk because the nuts begin the sprouting process and therefore are able to release more nutrients, but they are also softer and easier on your blender.

Tip #2: Straining the almond milk after blending. Why I didn't think of this when I tried making it previously I will never know... sometimes the best tips are the most simple!

Once I began soaking raw almonds and straining the blended mixture to create homemade almond milk, I couldn't believe how EASY it was!! Almond milk is SO delicious and it's a snap to make at home with a good blender! It's fresh, quick, and very healthy!!

I use this easy unsweetened homemade almond milk cup for cup in any recipe calling for milk. If you prefer a sweetened milk add 1-2 tablespoons of agave nectar or honey while blending. Later this week I will post about other wonderful things you can make with fresh soaked almonds such as almond cheese, and chocolate chip cookies! The best thing about making fresh almond milk at home other than it being incredibly easy and healthy, is that it is also VERY "green." You don't have to waste or throw away any part of the almonds, the almond milk, or the leftover almond pulp. This week I'll teach you how to effectively use those raw almonds without creating any waste while making incredibly delicious and healthy foods!



Homemade Almond Milk
Yield: 1 quart

1 1/2 cups raw almonds, soaked for 12 hours (rinse with fresh cold water before using!)
5 cups fresh, filtered water, divided
* 1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey (optional)


Method:
In your blender add almonds and 3 cups of water *If you choose to sweeten your almond milk add honey or agave nectar to blender with water and almonds. Blend/process on the highest setting for 2-3 minutes to create a thick, creamy almond milk. Using a fine metal or plastic strainer pour blended almond meal mixture through strainer and into a large bowl. Scoop the remaining almond pulp left in the strainer back into the blender and add additional 2 cups of water. Again blend mixture on high setting for several minutes and again pour mixture through strainer. Scoop remaining almond pulp out of strainer and store in refrigerator . At this point you can store the strained almond milk in a quart size glass jar in the refrigerator (for up to 10 days), or you can double-strain your milk using the instructions in the notes below.

*If you enjoy cooking demonstration videos, here is Meghan's FANTASTIC tutorial on homemade almond milk. I highly recommend watching it!





Carrie's Notes:

• I generally like to strain the almond milk a second time because my husband won't drink the milk unless it is very, very smooth!! SO, to strain a second time, I line the strainer with a thin cotton cloth, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter and strain again. The 2nd straining can take 10-15 minutes. I place the strainer over a large bowl, line the strainer with a cotton cloth or a coffee filter (in the picture above I used a coffee filter) and slowly pour in the almond milk. As the milk slowly strains, gently pour in remaining milk mixture. You can speed up the straining process by using the back of a spoon to stir and press the mixture around the strainer (as shown in Meghan's video). Once the mixture has finished straining save the remaining almond pulp in the fridge to use for other recipes.

• I personally LOVE using fine mesh plastic strainers! I have a whole set of these and I use them nearly every day in my kitchen for making things from scratch! They do not cost much, and are easy to clean and are quite durable!! They are also perfect for straining homemade coconut yogurts and other foods made with starters because they contain NO metal and therefore do not disrupt the natural fermentation process.

• Reader Sara pointed out that making homemade nut milks is MUCH easier using a cotton sprouting or nut milk bag! I couldn't agree more! You won't have to double strain the milk. I actually ordered some of these bags last week, but I haven't received them yet! They will save you a lot of time and kitchen clean up if you have them available.
  

• Soak almonds in clean fresh filtered or spring water and make sure to rinse thoroughly before using in homemade almond foods.

• You can use all different kinds of RAW nuts in this recipe, macadamias (although I have heard not to soak them, as it can alter the taste), cashews, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, etc... I prefer using raw almonds because they are so mild in taste and really give a beautiful white color to the milk.