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Betty’s fabulous fudge

This is a fairly common recipe, but I want to get it in a place I can find it again. The one written for me is grease stained and getting hard to read. It was given to me by my fathers wife. Not my favorite pair of people but good things can come from anything. This is really good and much easier than traditional fudge.

3 cups (18 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips

1c (two sticks) butter NOT MARGARINE

1 package (10.5 oz) mini marshmallows

2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

4.5 cups sugar

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine chips, marshmallows, and (optional) nuts in a very large, heat proof bowl. Set aside.

In a large, heavy bottomed stock pot put sugar, milk, and butter.

Cook on medium heat to a roiling boil. At a boil, set timer for six minutes. Keep the boil roiling the whole time.

Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients, in the pot or in the bowl.

Stir until all is melted and combined.

Pour into BOTH a 9 x 13 AND a 9 x 9 pan OR a big jellyroll pan. Butter the pans or line the bottom with parchment.

Let cool completely and cut into 1 x 1 or 1 x 2 inch pieces. This improves in texture and density over time. A couple days is best if its for company. In my house it doesn’t last that long. Can be frozen.

Makes 5 pounds.

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Mocha Cake

My mom was good enough to make me a birthday cake this year.  She adapted this recipe from Pilsbury’s “The Complete Book of Baking”.  It was one of the best GF cakes I have had to date.  Very moist.  Its structure comes largely from the chocolate.  When I made it, I used duck eggs which are larger and have a stronger protein than chicken.  I still used three as they were about the size of extra large chicken eggs.  That’s a little smaller than duck eggs usually are.

 

Heat oven to 325

1 1/2 cups strong black coffee

1/2 cup (one stick) butter

2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (use a good brand like Ghirardelli)

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp almond extract

2 cups gluten free flour.  I used half Bobs Red Mill All Purpose (the one without rice) and half almond flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

 

In a saucepan or microwave gently melt the chocolate and butter with the coffee.  Stir until smooth.

Stir in sugar and extract.  Place in mixer bowl.

Into a separate bowl, put flours and baking soda.  Stir to combine.

Put these into chocolate mixture and mix on low until moist.

Place eggs and vanilla into a bowl and mix slightly.

Add eggs to mixer bowl and mix on medium for one minute.  It will look way too thin for a cake.  Don’t add more flour.

Prepare a 12 cup bundt pan by greasing generously.  I recommend a spray like Pam.

Bake on 325 for 60 – 75 minutes

Give it a light poke with your finger or a blunt thing.  It should spring back when done.

 

***You can replace 1/4 cup of the coffee with amaretto.

***Moms tip for getting it out of the pan- put a plate or other lid on the cake pan and leave it for 15 minutes.  The steam should loosen the cake.

***You can also bake this in three 9 or 10 inch round pans.  Bake for 40 minutes.

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A photo at last.

This is the cookbook I learned the most from. My mom gave it to me when I got out on my own. I think it was a wedding present to her in 1970. My roommate in college set it on fire. It is the Fargo Lutheran church cookbook. Mom has an updated version I kind of envy.

This is the cookbook I learned the most from. My mom gave it to me when I got out on my own. I think it was a wedding present to her in 1970.
My roommate in college set it on fire. It is the Fargo Lutheran church cookbook. Mom has an updated version I kind of envy.

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Lemon Bars

This is my first attempt at an old favorite from pre-gluten free baking.  These things are like crack. Kiss your diet goodbye.

Recipe from Fargo Lutheran Church cookbook, heavily adapted by me.

Crust

1.5 sticks of butter

1.5 cups of Bobs Red Mill gluten free flour blend

.5 cup (6 tablespoons) powdered sugar

Mix thoroughly and pat into a 9 x 13 pan or large fluted tart pan.  Mine was 11 (round) inches and it was pretty tight with slopping over the edges.  12 or 13 would work better.  This dough was surprisingly easy to handle.  I didn’t need to chill it or grease my fingers at all. Bake 15 minutes at 350-375.  Gluten free things seem to need higher heat. Should be slightly brown and look dry.  May rise some.  Let it cool a bit before adding:

Filling

1.5 cups white sugar

3 tablespoons flour blend mentioned above.

3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

3 eggs, beaten

Mix these and add last,

One lemon, Juice and zest chopped fine

Mix and pour over crust. Return to oven for 25 minutes.

Frosting

1 cup powdered sugar

1.75 tablespoons butter, soft or melted

Juice of one lemon, abt 3 tablespoons.  More if you like things tart. Add additional lemon juice one tablespoon at a time and taste in between each addition.  Seems to work best to blend the sugar and butter until it is a kind of paste, then add the lemon juice.  It tends to be lumpy.  A little warming on the stove where the oven vents helps with the lumps.

Pour over cooled bars in pan.  Or add over hot bars for a different texture.  Both ways are good.  If hot, it blends more with the filling and looks more clear. If cool, it sits on top, looks white, and gives three distinct layers of flavor.

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Maple Ginger Divinity

I was asked for this recipe after I made it for a party.  I was winging it but it came out really good.  Responces were all good or all bad.  Some people didn’t like the whole concept.

Divinity is also good made from any recipe with added 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or spicy paprika.

Short answer: Joy Of Cooking page 731. Replace sugar with brown sugar. Replace corn syrup with maple syrup. Add 1 tsp powdered ginger.

Long answer:

On a DRY day (winter)

2 egg whites. Room temp

Boil in heavy pan:

1/2 cup water

1/2 maple syrup

2 c brown sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar-

When boiling cover and let boil for three minutes or until the crystals are dissolved from the side of the pan.

Remove lid and continue to boil over moderate heat until it reaches 254 or hard ball stage. (mine always gets too hot)

While syrup is cooking whip egg whites until they just hold their shape.  Pour syrup, hot, over whites in a thin slow stream while whipping slowly.  Some will stick to the sides of the bowl. Do not scrape. Toward the end, pour and whip faster.

Add ginger, (or nuts or peppermint candy or spicy paprika or whatever)

As soon as it will hold a shape drop by spoons onto a buttered surface or waxed paper.  Quickly, as it sets up fast especially if you got the syrup too hot.

Notes

-you might try adding the ginger to the cooking syrup. Ginger gets hotter when it cooks.

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Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cake

I got this recipe originally from The Old Farmers Almanac.  I have adapted it quite a bit.

Pre heat oven to 375.

Put a full kettle of water on to boil.

1 1/4 cups raspberries fresh or frozen.  If frozen, drain off some of the excess juice before measuring.

Add to that,

2 tablespoons sugar

Into your mixer bowl put:

1/4 cup soft butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

Beat these to begin the creaming process.

separate

3 eggs.  Add the yolks to the butter and sugar and continue beating on medium.

In a small bowl mix

1/3 cup GF all purpose flour.  I like Bobs Red Mill’s new mix with NO rice flour.  It has all the flours I use in my home made mix.  Bobs a smart guy. 🙂

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum, rounded

Mix the dry ingredients together a bit and add slowly to the butter and eggs alternately with:

1 c milk or milk substitute.  I have been using almond milk with good results.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides to make sure all is incorporated.  Put it back on medium.  While that is blending to smoothness,

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks with a hand mixer or a good wire whisk if you don’t have two mixers.  I once did this with a fork.  it took a while.

You will also need to produce the juice and zest of one lemon.  The juice should come to about 1/3 cup.  If is is less than 1/4 cup, supplement with bottled juice.  You can use bottled juice alone and omit the zest.

Chop the zest into very small pieces. 1/16th inch or smaller.  Each piece should at least look more like a square than a strip.

Add the juice slowly to the blending mixture.  It will change the texture a bit.  Keep mixing until it looks smooth again.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of the zest last.

Add one third of the egg whites to the batter and gently mix them in.  Then fold in another third, then the last third.  If you beat the eggs too long there will be lumps but they will melt with more folding

Butter a 2 qt sufle or flan dish.  This is a round ceramic or glass dish with tall straight sides.

You will also need a larger roasting pan the first dish fits into.

Put the raspberries into the bottom.

Spoon the batter on top.  If you pour, do it very slowly.  You don’t want the batter to drill through the berries to the bottom. It should float nicely on top.

Put the dish into the roasting pan and both onto the center rack of the oven.  Then pour the boiling water (remember the tea kettle?) into JUST the roasting pan so it comes up 1/3 or at least 2 inches up the side of the dish.  Gently push the rack in so the water doesn’t slosh all over.  Make sure the pan is in the middle of the oven.

Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes.  When it is done, it won’t slosh in the middle at all, though it will remain quite soft.

Remove to cool for at least an hour then chill over night. Serve cold.  The batter will separate and some will be on the bottom and some on the top.  The top will be cake like and the bottom more of a pudding.  The raspberries go to the middle.  I have no idea why this works, but it is cool.

Notes:

The first time I made this I didn’t have a lemon so I used almond extract in the batter instead.  It was quite good.

I served this to guests recently and they couldn’t believe it was gluten free. 🙂

Because this is a pudding, I don’t recommend using a butter or egg substitute.  Margarine might be OK but not great.

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Cheezy buscuits

This is adapted from the Red Lobster recipe.  The one I got was already adapted to make a loaf.  I cannot speak to its authenticity.
3 cups GF mix  Garbanzo, cornstarch, sorghum, tapioca in roughly equal parts
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper-I used half-sharp Hungarian papricka
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded  I used a big handfull. Probably 1 1/4 cups.
1 1/4 cups milk -I used coconut
3/4 cup sour cream- I used plain coconut yoghurt
3 Tablespoons of butter, melted you could use any solid fat like coconut oil or lard or shortening
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Carefully stir in cheese until covered in flour mixture, this will help prevent your cheese sinking to the bottom.

In a different bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients except butter.

Fold the wet mixture into the flour and cheese mixture, stir until just combined.  Add the melted butter and stir that in too.  GF flours are OK to stir a lot more than regular wheat flour.

Fill muffin cups.  I used two six cup pans and had a lot left over.  Two 8 cup pans might be better.  Or you could use less liquid to make a thicker dough and drop onto cookie sheets.

Like most of the GF breads these are great for about ten minutes out of the oven.  I am ageing them on the counter to see if, like cookies, they improve over time.

Hmm.  Not really. They will still be good in or with soup though.

 

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Chocolate cake Gluten free AND dairy free

I don’t usually bake without dairy but a good friend needed a birthday cake for a large event.  It is her birthday, and she is both gluten and dairy free.

This is a modification of a very basic chocolate cake recipe.  Any cake where you whip the butter, sugar, and eggs into a fluffy base will adapt well to gluten free ingredients.  I used coconut oil for this one.  The taste of it with the sugar and eggs was very similar to butter in the same recipe.  The consistency was the same as well.

No gluten free cake will be as light as one made with wheat cake flour.  This one has a nutty flavor and smooth consistency.

2 1/4 cups four bean flour.  mostly garbanzo, some sorghum, some corn starch, tapioca.  I would recommend this mix rather than any one flour.  They each make a different contribution.

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt.  Original recipe said 1/2 but without butter I though the extra was called for.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

4-6 oz good quality semi sweet chocolate.  I used a 70 % bar meant to be eaten rather than one made to be baked with.  I used 6 oz.  Original recipe called for 4.

1/2 cup hot water

Place water and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes on defrost or melt together in a double boiler.  Stir until smooth.  Set aside to cool slightly.

1 cup coconut based buttermilk.  I bough some plain coconut ‘yogurt’ and thinned it with coconut milk.  1/4 c milk to 3/4 c yogurt. Then I added some lemon juice because it was still very sweet and the point of it is the acidity.

1 teaspoon vanilla.  I never measure vanilla. I like a lot and buy it by the gallon in Mexico.

Mix vanilla in yogurt mixture. Set aside.

1 cup coconut oil (or butter)

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

Mix coconut oil and sugar with whisk attachment on high until fluffy.  Oil must be room temp or warmer.  Even melted is better than too cold.  It will stiffen up as you mix it and the eggs can be cold when you add them.  Add eggs one at a time mixing after each addition.  Scrape down the sides at least once before final mixing.

Add chocolate to egg mixture slowly and allow to mix thoroughly.  Mixer on medium.

Turn mixer down to low or stir. Add flour mixture alternately with yogurt mixture in at least two additions of each.  So, half the yogurt, half the flour, half yogurt etc…

I really like silicone baking pans.  But you can also use glass or metal ones.  If they are not silicone, grease and flour the pans.  Either two 9 inch rounds or a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Bake at 350 for  45 minutes.    My cake on the top shelf was done at sooner.  The bottom shelf required another 10.  I have a quite small gas oven.  You can switch them around half way to avoid this problem.

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“Grahm” Crackers

These are not entirely unlike gram crackers.  A little less delicate.  Still tasty.

2.5 cups 4 bean flour.  This batch of the mix was  mostly garbanzo.  Some corn starch, some sorghum.  Just a bean flour should work fine.

1.5 cups oat flour.  I use a certified gluten free oat meal and ran it in the food processor until it was a grainy flour.  This is to simulate the gram part.  Using a prepared oat flour would work just as well, if not better.

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon cinnimon

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl place:

1 cup butter soft

3/4 cup brown sugar. Light or dark

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Mix with the paddle beater on medium high until light and fluffy. 3-5 minutes  Add flour mix and mix on low until blended.  It is more difficult to make a gf dough tough, so don’t worry too much about over mixing.

You will need a bit more flour for working the dough.  A cup or so. Oat or bean is fine.  I do not recommend using rice flour.  But mostly because I don’t like it.

Mix your dough by hand a bit and see if it comes into a ball easily. If it is too sticky, add flour 1/3 cup at a time until it forms a ball when stirred by hand.  Turn it out on a floured surface and divide into 4 equal parts.

Cut four or five pieces of parchment paper into roughly the size of your baking sheet.

On each piece roll one part of the dough into a rectangle about 9 x 6 inches and about 1/8th inch thick.  You can roll them between two pieces of paper if you want.  Flour the paper and the top of the dough to prevent sticking.  If you decide to trim them up neatly, use the scraps to make a fifth rectangle.

You can score them into cracker shapes at this point if you want.

Stack the papers with the rolled dough on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.

Take out one at a time and bake at 350 for 11 minutes or until nicely browned.  Remove and let cool a minute on the sheet then transfer to a rack to cool completely.  Store in an air tight container.  All of this type of cookie will improve greatly after three days stored at room temperature.

I made these just to crumble for a pie crust.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  🙂

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Variation on pound cake: Apple upsidedown pound cake

1 cup butter. soft

1 1/4 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat butter and sugar in mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time.  Mix until sugar is dissolved and all is very fluffy.  Add almond extract and beat some more.  While beating mix flours.

2 1/4 cup total flour to include:

1 cup protein flour like Garbanzo/fava or Oat.  I used Oat.

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3  cup corn starch

1/3 cup sorghum  + 1/4 cup

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum or other binder like arrowroot flour (optional)

Sift flours and salt  into a bowl.

once butter mix is very fluffy, with mixer on low, add flour mix alternately with:

1/2 cup milk or milk substitute.  I used coconut milk.  (Sour milk or buttermilk would also work and would add a richness.  If you use sour milk add:

1 teaspoon baking soda)

Prepare pan:

smear a large cake pan with a half stick of sort of soft butter. (10 x 15  approximately. If all you have is 9×13, use fewer apples to allow room for the batter)

Sprinkle that with 1/4 cup brown sugar

Cut up and peel 4-5 medium baking apples. I like braeburn but any baking apple is good. sprinkle them with

1-2 teaspoons good quality cinnamon, and

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar and toss all together.

Spread the apples in the bottom of the pan over the butter and sugar.

Spread the cake batter over the apples making sure no apples poke up through the batter.

bake at 350 for 1 hour

This could easily be made a spice cake by omitting the almond extract and adding to the flour:

2 teaspoons or more of pumpkin pie spice

or

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

1-2 teaspoons cinnimon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

powdered ginger optional 1-2 teaspoons

1 teaspoon powdered turmeric will add a bright yellow colour, very little flavour and a lot of health benefits

Bake as before over apples or in a greased and flowered 9 x 13 cake pan

Neutral sweet glaze:

2 cups powdered Sugar

1/2 stick butter softened

1-3 tablespoons water or milk or substitute (I used a spicy tea but couldn’t taste it)

with a whisk, whip the butter until smooth. (This assumes you used a microwave to soften the butter)

Add powdered sugar slowly while mixing until it forms a ball around the whisk.  Add 1 scant tablespoon liquid and mix until smooth.  Slowly add more sugar until it is all incorporated, adding small amounts of liquid as needed. Sifting the sugar first will make mixing easier but is not necessary.

Spread on hot cake as soon as it is out of the oven.  Be gentle and patient.  Let the heat of the cake soften the glaze until it spreads easily.