gluten-freelicious

Most mornings, my six year old will just finish two pancakes, and, if I’m lucky, my three year old might eat a few bites of one. Today, however, my eldest devored four banana pancakes, and his younger brother ate two without any encouragement from me. Blog worthy!

Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups 1% milk (skim milk will make them a bit runny)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large banana, well mashed

Directions:

1. Heat griddle to medium-high heat.
2. Mix Pamela’s Baking Mix, eggs, milk, oil, and cinnamon with whisk. Stir in mashed banana.
3. Grease hot griddle with butter.
4. Drop batter by the 1/4 cup onto hot griddle.
5. Turn pancakes when they begin to bubble across the middle.
6. Pancakes are done when both sides are golden brown.

We topped ours with butter and confectioner’s sugar. Sooo good! Enjoy!

I adapted this banana bran muffin recipe from allrecipes.com today, and my son promptly declared them “the bestest muffins” I’ve ever made. They are, indeed, quite scrumptious! They are sweet, flavorful, and moist, and the oatmeal gives them a bit of a chewy texture. I wish the aroma that permeated the house while they were baking was edible…it alone was fantastic!

Banana Muffins

2 cups Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
1 cup oat bran (I just ground one cup of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats to a consistency somewhere between oats and oat flour.)
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 TSP ground nutmeg
1/4 TSP allspice
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice (I didn’t have any, so I used the juice from one large can of pineapple plus enough water to equal one cup.)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed ripe bananas

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, juice, sugar, and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups almost to the top. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve warm.

When a calendar alarm went off thirty minutes before I usually wake up in the morning, I almost ignored it.  Thank goodness I didn’t!  Today is Marvelous Muffins with Dad at my son’s school, and, seeing as neither my son nor his dad can eat the gluten-ful muffins provided by the school, I needed to get baking!

My first thought was to make pumpkin muffins, but I had a cooked sweet potato in the refrigerator that begged to be used.  I’d had to substitute sweet potato for pumpkin in a recipe once before, and it was a victory in trial by error.  So, despite the fact that it added precious minutes to my dwindling preparation time, sweet potato it was.  I sliced off the skin and threw that sucker in the food processor.  (If you don’t happen to have a cooked sweet potato in the refrigerator, as I did, and time is of the essence, use one can of pumpkin instead.)

This recipe, thank goodness, is quick and easy (assuming the sweet potato is already cooked); I was able to whip up a tasty batch of muffins in a total of 45 minutes.  The muffins are moist, incredibly sweet, and, indeed, marvelous.

So.  Yum.

Sweet Potato Muffins (Adapted from Pamela’s Pumpkin Loaf Cake with Nut Topping)

Muffins:
4 TBSP butter, melted
2 eggs, large
1/2 cup sugar
1 large sweet potato, pureed or mashed to smooth consistency
1-1/3 cups Pamela’s Mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

Topping:
2 TBSP melted butter
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar (I used raw cane sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and sweet potato.  Add remaining muffin ingredients and mix completely.  Pour into 12 muffin cups.  Mix topping and smooth evenly over batter.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or when toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.  ENJOY!

This Sweet Potato Bread, courtesy of Pamela’s Products Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix, may be my favorite gluten-free food to date.  It’s not just gluten-free, it’s gluten-freekin’licious!  The amazing blend of flavors and textures leaves your mouth watering for more.  The bread is soft and moist with a wonderful blend of sweet and spice, and the brown sugar and walnut topping adds the perfect crunch.  So.  Very.  Yummy.

Sweet Potato Bread

I intended to make Pamela’s Pumpkin Bread, but pumpkin, apparently, even canned pumpkin, is a seasonal fruit.  I could not find it anywhere!  (Okay, so maybe I only looked in two grocery stores, but isn’t that enough?)  Actually, after searching the second store high and low, I finally found and bought what I thought to be a ginormous can of pumpkin and eagerly started to mix ingredients as soon as I got home.  I even doubled everything so as not to waste any of the precious fruit.  Only after I’d melted the butter, cracked the eggs, poured in the sugar, and opened the can did the sweet smell hit my nose, and I realized it was pumpkin pie mix!  Err.  If I wanted pumpkin bread before, I really wanted it now.

I don’t substitute.  I don’t experiment.  I don’t toy with recipes and ingredients.  I leave that to the experts.  But I wanted pumpkin bread!  I decided to take a big step.  Wait for it…I popped two sweet potatoes in the oven!  Craaazy! When they had baked to perfection, I slit the skin, slipped the sweet, mushy pulp into the bowl, and continued with the recipe.

The savory smells flooded the house as the bread baked.  When it was done, we waited mere minutes for it to cool before slicing in.  It was heavenly.  The first loaf lasted less than two days.  I froze the second loaf, and we took it to my mother-in-law’s house for a quick weekend visit; it was gone within a few hours.

I imagine the sweet potato adds a bit more sweetness, but I’m sure Pamela’s Pumpkin Bread is just as good.  If nothing else, it’s faster to open a can of pumpkin (if you can find it) than it is to bake sweet potatoes.  Still, this was one mistake I was happy to make.

Pamela’s Pumpkin (or Sweet Potato) Bread with Crumble Nut Topping

4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of canned pumpkin (or the pulp of one baked sweet potato)
1-1/3 cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Topping: (optional)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup of nuts (sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans)

Batter: Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and pumpkin (or sweet potato). Add remaining bread ingredients and mix together. Pour into a greased loaf pan (8 x 4). Mix nut topping ingredients and smooth evenly over batter to the edges. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or when toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.

Not everyone is meant to make a difference. But for me, the choice to lead an ordinary life is no longer an option. -Peter Parker

Spider-Man Chocolate Cupcake

These, my friends, are no ordinary cupcakes.  They were baked with love…and Pamela’s Products Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix.  Oh.  My.  God.  Pamela’s not kidding.  They are moist, fudgy, and, indeed, luscious.

We made our very first batch of Pamela’s gluten-free chocolate cupcakes for my son’s fourth birthday celebration with my husband’s family.  My son mixed and baked the cupcakes with his Gigi, and I decorated them with red and blue butter cream frosting.  I maxed out my artistic talent to appease my son’s love for Spider-Man.  They looked pretty cool, or at least my son thought so.  But how would they taste?  With just one bite, we all agreed; we were in cupcake heaven.  My brother-in-law and his girlfriend did not hesitate to take a few home.

Still, I was nervous.  My son’s fourth birthday party was rapidly approaching.  It was one thing to receive affirmation from a few close family members; it was another thing entirely to satisfy the gluten-craving tastes of a crowd of preschoolers and their parents.  Too intimidated to attempt the Wolverine cake my son hoped for, I decided, to his delight, to have the kids decorate their own cupcakes.  When the big day arrived, I brought out the tray of naked cupcakes and triumphantly passed them out willy-nilly to my son and his friends.  One mom quickly questioned, “Are these all gluten-free?”  The look on her face pleaded, “Please say no.”

“Yep.  They’re good!” I promised, with fingers tightly crossed.

The kids had a blast slathering on icing, sprinkles, and M&Ms and eagerly devoured their masterpieces the instant my son blew out his candles.  If smiling, cupcake smeared faces are a sign of success, then I was victorious.

I encouraged parents to help themselves to the separate tray of cupcakes I’d already frosted.  It may have been my imagination, but they seemed hesitant; word had spread that the cupcakes were gluten-free.  Slowly, cupcake after cupcake disappeared, probably more out of curiosity and politeness than desire, but, soon, the praise began to roll in.  I was pleased to hear the shocked, “This is really good!” and “It doesn’t even taste gluten-free!”  My best friend exclaimed, “These are gluten-free?  Seriously?!  They might be the best cupcakes I’ve ever had!”

Yes.  Yes, they just might be.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Every morning, I ask my son what he’d like for breakfast.  I really don’t know why I bother, because the reply is nearly always the same.  “Umm…waffles.”  Occasionally I’ll try to mix it up a bit and ask, “How about pancakes?”  I’m amused when his face lights up, and he exclaims, “Pancakes!  Yeah!”

I shudder to think what we would do without Pamela’s Products Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix.

When I made my first batch of waffles with Pamela’s mix, oh, so many months ago, I followed the directions on the back of the bag.  They were pretty good…for gluten-free waffles.  They were light and fluffy, and, thankfully, we didn’t detect any unpleasant aftertastes.  I’d read several reviews claiming Pamela’s mix to be the best out there, gluten-free or no.  We weren’t quite there yet.  They were likely the best gluten-free waffles we’d had.  They sure beat the cardboard frozen kind that require half a bottle of syrup to mask the taste and ease the passageway towards digestion.  But the best waffles ever?  Not yet.

With the next batch, I tried a trick we’ve found to improve just about any pancake mix out there, especially those of the gluten-free variety.  I used Aunt Jamima proportions with Pamela’s mix (see below), the main difference being the substitution of milk for water.  The result was absolutely gluten-freelicious.  Yum.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.

With this minor adjustment, Pamela’s mix makes amazing pancakes and waffles.  I’m not sure what makes them so good; perhaps it’s the almond meal.  What I do know is this: I would serve a hot, steamy batch of Pamela’s waffles to all my gluten-consuming friends and family without hesitation, and I would tout them as the best waffles ever.  Yes, they are that good.

Note: I paid $20 for our first 4 lb bag of Pamela’s goodness at our local health food store.  I like to support the locals, but…seriously?  I now have six 24 oz bags automatically delivered to our door once every two months through Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program for $28.77.  Sweet.

Gluten-freelicious Pancakes and Waffles (Pamela’s Mix, Aunt Jamima’s Proportions):

1 cup Pamela’s Products Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 TBSP oil (2 TBSP for waffles)