Bite into Bliss

How do I say this without sounding cocky? I think I've concocted one of the most amazing, gluten-free baked good in the history of gluten-free baked goods. Obnoxious? Full of myself? Ya, ya, I've heard it before and besides, I've been called worse.

Gluten-free baked goods are often dry and crumbly, but not these moist, tender lovelies. Mexican chocolate, browned butter, cinnamon, sugar. Have I got your attention yet? Make them for yourself and then tell me they aren't pretty damn fab and worthy of such bragging.

Mexican Chocolate and Browned Butter Bliss Cakes

2 cups brown rice flour

1/3 cup tapioca starch

2/3 cup potato starch

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 tablespoon gluten-free baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

8 grated tablespoons of Abuelita Mexican Chocolate

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients, except for the grated Mexican Chocolate and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar and add the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredient mixture a third at a time, adding one third of the milk between each addition until all ingredients are just barely incorporated. Mix in the Abuelita by hand until well incorporated.

Spoon the batter into muffin pans and bake for 20 minutes. I use silicone muffin pans, so I don't need to butter the pans, but buttering metal pans would likely be necessary and you may need to adjust the baking time with metal pans. Cakes are done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Here's where it really gets interesting....

While the cakes are baking, mix 1 cup of sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Melt 1 stick of butter over medium heat until it starts to turn golden brown. Be careful because the point in which it's lovely, fragrant and has a slightly nutty, rich flavor and is just starting to brown and the point in which it starts to burn is mere seconds apart, so don't walk away from the stove! Set your browned butter aside.

Once the cakes are baked and cool enough to release from the pan and handle, dip them in the melted, browned butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Eat them while they're still warm and then die and go to heaven. Yes, they are that good. Makes 16 blissful bundles of fabulousness.

Afterthoughts: These really are best served warm, so dip them in the butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture just before serving. If you're not serving them straight from the oven, wrap the naked cakes in foil and reheat them in the oven for a few minutes. Make the browned butter as needed and dip the warm cakes in the cinnamon sugar mixture right before serving.

Foodie Fight

Many of you know what I’m talkin’ about. You’ve been fighting with food. Your body’s been battling with itself, perhaps unbeknownst to you until recently, because of what you’ve been eating. Perhaps this has resulted in allergic reactions, intolerances and aggravated auto-immune conditions.

So you've made the change because you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, having stomach problems, experiencing achy joints, feeling bloated, developing hives or acne, feeling moody, experiencing sinus problem and a whole host of other "indelicate" issues we really don't want to discuss about on a food blog. Well, welcome my friend. You are not alone. One in twenty-five Americans has food allergies. The number of people with food intolerances is even higher and those who suffer from auto-immune conditions may have far more serious problems due to what they eat.

For me, gluten is the biggest offender. Dairy, soy and corn don’t go over too well in large quantities, either. I still eat those in moderation because they don't affect me in the horrible way gluten does...and you can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can’t take the Wisconsin out of the girl. I just haven’t been able to completely break up with cheese or frozen custard (more on that later). So, what does a foodie who loves to bake, cook and eat do when she’s diagnosed with gluten and dairy intolerances? Well, initially I got angry. Like most changes in my life that were not my idea, I entered this new phase kicking and screaming. Well, not literally, but there was a whole lot of grumbling. But then I mustered up all my creative powers to redesign my eating habits and relationship with food and, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, redesign my philosophy on life.

Food was wagging a war on my body, so three years ago I started fighting back with healthy ingredients, a new attitude, my computer, my library card, understanding friends who also happen to have food restrictions and/or are great cooks, and whatever else comes up along the way to help the process. And I’m astonished at how much better I feel. After just two weeks of eating gluten-free, I woke up and thought “Oh, this is what it feels like to wake up and not have a stomach ache everyday of my life!”

So, I hope you’ll join me on my continuing quest to better health and a new relationship with food. I hope you’ll find my ideas, information and recipes helpful, healthful and tasty. I hope you’ll bear with me as I continue to modify my culinary creations so that they’re yumliscious and accessible to people with all sorts of dietary restrictions and philosophies. Grab a gluten-free cookie (stay tuned for recipes) and a beverage of choice (no gluten in wine!), pull up a chair and join me!