Asher Pancakes

I made some very good pancakes tonight and thought I'd share them.  They are Asher-friendly but are so good that I would highly recommend them to anyone, regardless of whether you have to be food-allergy conscious or not.  They are pretty healthy so to counter that (because they seemed almost too good for us) I added some blueberries or dairy-free chocolate chips to half of the batch.  Both were excellent combinations with this batter.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancakes
from The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelly Rudnicki

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat griddle on medium heat and oven to 200F.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.  In a large liquid measuring cup, combine water, soy milk, and oil.  Pour the water mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until just combined.  Do not overmix, a few lumps are fine.

Spray the griddle with dairy-free cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the heated griddle, and cook until small bubbles start to form on top.  Flip and cook the other side until lightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack in the warmed oven and repeat.

birthday cake #1

Addilyn had a rainbow-themed birthday...mostly because I wanted to make this cake.  It wasn't super hard to make, just time consuming, but it was so pretty that it was well worth the wait.

I started with enough cake batter to make one 8-inch double layer cake.  You could double it and get much thicker layers (and therefore a lot more cake) but for our little party, this would be more than enough.  I used the white cake recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook but you could just as easily use a cake mix.  I divided my batter into six dishes and tinted them (I promise there was six; I just didn't take pictures until my first set was in the oven).  Despite the yellow lighting in my kitchen, the colors were really quite pretty.  After dividing and tinting came the tedious part.  I cut out a circle of parchment to fit in my pans and then greased and floured and parchmented  (I may have made up that word) my two pans.  I added two colors to their respective pans and baked them.  Since these layers were so thin, they took less time to bake so I had to watch them carefully to make sure they didn't burn or overbake.  Then I let the cake layers cool in the pans and removed them to cool completely on racks.  I repeated this two more times (wash pans, parchment, grease, flour, bake, cool, remove, cool) for my two other sets of colors. If you happen to have 6 pans that are the same size and shape, that would make this much less work.  It's doubtful anyone does though, so this tactic works just as well.

After all the layers have baked and cooled come the fun part: assembly and frosting.  I used the white frosting recipe from the same Better Homes and Gardens cookbook but, again, you could use the stuff from the can and be just as happy.  Look at all those pretty layers all stacked up! This could be another fun and attractive way to serve this cake...with all the layers exposed.  So pretty!

Now all the layers are hidden and ready for the surprise upon cutting.

My husband calls this view "Flamboyant PacMan".  I love it!

Here it is all cut up and ready for eating.  Such pretty colors and such rainbow fun!  This idea has been floating around out there for a while so if you haven't tried it already, get going!  It is fun for birthdays or whenever your day needs some brightening.  Enjoy!

Honey Roasted Chickpeas

Here is another Asher-friendly snack...although the other kids love them as well. They are especially great because of all the protein they pack into such a sweet and delicious form.Honey Roasted Chickpeas
Barely Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves (any or all are good)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and drain chickpeas. Let dry completely on a paper towel (don't skip this step!).
2. Whisk together oil, spices and sugar in a small bowl. Add chickpeas and stir to coat. Spread on a large baking sheet and cook 40-45 minutes.
3. Place hot chickpeas in a bowl and coat with honey. Spread coated chickpeas back on baking sheet and allow to dry.

The final product: these are a wonderful snack to have around. They make your house smell divine while they are baking. They are just a little bit sticky but if you wanted to coat the honey-coated chickpeas in some granulated sugar, I'm sure that would solve the problem and be absolutely delicious. As I would like to avoid the extra sugar for Asher, we'll keep the recipe as-is. Enjoy!

Kettle Corn

I'm not going to completely ignore the fact that it's been 3 months plus since my last post. I moved. That's the only excuse I have to offer. I'm going to restart though and we're going to ease our way back into things with this super-light, yet really fun recipe. This is an Asher-friendly snack that the whole family loves. It's super simple and makes your house smell amazing. Enjoy!!

Kettle Corn
from sweetsavorylife at tastykitchen.com

1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt

1. Add the oil to a large (but light) pot. Throw in a couple of kernels and turn heat to medium. Wait for the kernels to pop and then add your sugar and the rest of your popcorn. Stir. Cover with a lid and wait for kernels to start popping again. Once they start, lift the pot off the heat and give it a quick shake every 3-4 seconds and then return to heat. Do this until the popping subsides. Immediately transfer popped corn to a big bowl and stir in salt. Enjoy warm (because it's heavenly that way) or store in an airtight container.

Mom's Pecan Pie

I don't really like nuts. I never have. My husband doesn't like them either which just kind of vindicated me. I've already adapted quite a few recipes to exclude them...banana nut bread becomes banana bread, cranberry nut muffins becomes cranberry muffin, etc. So why, you ask, would I even try making pecan pie? I don't know; it seemed like a good idea at the time.

My Mom has a really good recipe for pecan pie. Ironically she doesn't eat pecan pie either (although she does like nuts in general). Everyone she makes it for just raves over it though. I made it a while ago and I managed to mess it up. I misread her recipe. Well, that's not 100% accurate (and Tyler would be hugely offended if I wasn't accurate). This is actually what happened. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup butter but in parentheses it said 1 stick. I glossed over the 1/4 cup and just went with the 1 stick. After I had mixed everything up, I occurred to me that the average stick of butter is 1/2 cup and not 1/4 cup. I came up with 2 possible options for the discrepancy. Either my Mom put the wrong measurement down or she buys half sticks. While the pie was already in the oven, I called my Mom to see which it was (because I could do absolutely nothing about it then anyway). Unfortunately, it was the second option. So I stared at the pie and let it bake an extra 15 minutes and it turned out great! Really though, can you go wrong with too much butter in a dessert? So here is the adapted recipe.

Mom's Pecan Pie
with an accidental adaptation by Erin

4 beaten eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 1/2 cup pecans
pinch of salt

1. Mix eggs, sugar, syrup, flour, and salt. Add melted butter. Stir in pecans and pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes (start checking on it at 1 hour).
   

The final product: sweet, buttery and delicious. As this was my first taste of pecan pie, I don't have anything to compare it to but I thought it was ooey, gooey and wonderful. I took it to a potluck dinner and it got rave reviews from all the pecan pie connoisseurs there. And look how pretty it is! I'm a sucker for pretty and sweet so I'll probably make this frequently.

Elias' Birthday Cupcakes

It's a month and a half later and I'm finally posting about Elias' birthday cupcakes. Some might say that I should just have forgotten about them but they were so good that I can't.

I'll be honest...I don't really like cake. It's usually dry and covered in overly sweet frosting. I'd much prefer something ooey and gooey. I wanted to keep with tradition for Elias' birthday though. How can you not have cake on your first birthday?!! So I went in search of something yummy to make for him. I hit a spot of inspiration when I saw apple cake. Elias loves apples!! Although the apple cake I've had before was also dry and a bit lack luster in flavor as well. I decided to combine a couple different recipes I found to see if I could solve the too dry/too mellow problem of apple cake.

Double Apple Cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened (1 jar of baby food works perfect for this)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 apple, finely diced

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and beat to combine. Add applesauce and combine well. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and whisk together.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the batter and then add half of the buttermilk (or soured milk: stir together 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup regular milk and let sit for 5 minutes). Combine completely and repeat.
5. Add apple chunks and scoop batter into liners until they are each 2/3 full. Bake them for 22-25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

This most certainly goes best with a cinnamon buttercream frosting. Here's my own recipe for that as well.

Cinnamon Buttercream

2 sticks butter, salted, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat butter with mixer until fluffy
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until completely mixed.
3. Add cream and mix well. (Add a splash of milk if needed to reach desired consistency).
4. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon until completely combined.

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

The final product: Elias certainly liked it. Granted he's one and that was his first taste of cake. I really liked it as well (as did the rest of the guests). The cake had good apple flavor (from the diced apples) and wasn't dry at all (from the applesauce). The frosting was really divine as well. The combination was all around good and is certainly something I'll pull out each fall when apples are especially delicious. It's a super simple recipe but add a drizzle of caramel sauce or a cute caramel candy and this is ready for even the swankiest party or dessert shop display case. Try it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate chip cookies are classic. Everybody loves them. How can you go wrong putting all that yummy goodness in pie form? You can't, that's how.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
From HowSweetEats

2 whole eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
1 whole unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Beat in flour, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Blend in melted butter. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell and bake for 60 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

You'll be pretty excited to know that I've finally found my pie crust recipe. I can credit its origins to Tyler's cousin, Denita (who can credit it to a chef friend). I'm pretty stoked because I've tried quite a few and was getting pretty frustrated. What makes this THE recipe is its forgiving nature. While I still add a bit of liquid compared with the original liquid (and I'm still tweeking a bit), it is still pretty dry. That might sound like a bad thing but in this situation it isn't. It may not be the easiest thing to roll out into a pretty sheet but it pinches back together so well that it doesn't really matter. It's pinchability (yeah, that's not a word) means no more holes and cracks that pull apart when you prebake a crust. Oh and the taste, it's far superior to all the others I've tried. Seriously good and flaky.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
7 Tbsp shortening, cold
4 Tbsp butter, cold
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 baking powder
1/4 cup milk
10 drops vinegar

1. Put the flour in a large bowl and cut in the COLD shortening and butter with a pastry blender. It should look like coarse crumbs (a little smaller than pea-sized) when you're down.
2. Mix in the salt, sugar, and baking powder. Mix in milk and vinegar and form a ball. It should be dry and crumbly. If you absolutely can't get the ball to stay together, add a few more drops vinegar and milk, 1 tsp at a time, until you can just get it to stay together (it normally takes at least 1 or 2 tsp to get the desired consistency).
   
3. Roll it out on a well floured surface and transfer to a pie pan. Chill for 15-20 minutes before prebaking or filling (to allow butter and shortening to cool and to help it keep it's shape).
   

The final product: decadent. I couldn't get this to bake up as much as the original recipe showed (even though I baked it longer than the recipe touts) but it was still SO good. The center was ooey, gooey and oh so chocolaty. This would be wonderful with a scoop of ice cream for sure.