Banana Bread Cookies

A few weeks back, I had bought a bunch of bananas and forgot about them.  They got too overripe to eat, which makes the perfect for banana bread.  While banana bread is delicious, I wanted it to be something a little sweeter, and I had cookies in mind because they're easy to travel with, and normally stay fresh in a container for a few days.  So then the idea of making banana bread cookies came to me.  They're light, fluffy, almost cake like texture perfectly captures the texture of banana bread while still being a cookie.  The banana flavor really comes out and balances perfectly with the coconut and chocolate.  Banana bread has a comforting taste, there's just something so warm and homey about it.  These cookies capture that feeling.

Banana Bread Cookies

Recipe adapted from my Sweets Treats and More
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
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Ingredients

- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp gluten free vanilla
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1/4 cup white rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 cups gluten free rolled oats
- 1 cups chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut plus extra for topping

*These would probably be delicious with chopped walnuts as well, but I recently became slightly allergic to them so I didn't include them.  But if you like walnuts I definitely recommend you try it!

Gluten and Sugar Free Devil's Food Cake

When I was a kid, more times than not there was an Entenmann's Devil's Food Cake with Marshmallow Icing in the freezer.  It was always my dad's favourite cake (and eating it frozen was the only was to eat it).  A few years back though he found out he had diabetes so he couldn't really eat the cake anymore.  This year for his birthday I wanted to take a stab at trying to recreate it not only gluten free, but also completely sugar free.  The devil's food cake recipe and the way I alter it to make it gluten free yields a moist, rich, delicious devil's food cake.  I actually would love to try this recipe again for myself with real sugar.  I used Splenda, which I do have to admit has a little bit of an aftertaste, but I think because of the flours I chose to use it was an extremely minimal aftertaste.  The icing is what through me off.  At first I tried to make my traditional marshmallow icing I make which is basically whipped egg whites and add basically a boiled homemade simple syrup, but that was a bit of a disaster with splenda instead of sugar.  So I did some research, and someone recommended using Sugar Free Jello Instant Pudding with heavy whipping cream and to my surprise it worked out great!  It actually was pretty damn close to Entenmann's for being Gluten Free AND Sugar Free!  And like I said, if you're not sugar free this would probably make a great just gluten free devil's food cake!

Gluten and Sugar Free Devil's Food Cake

Cake recipe adapted Food Network Kitchen
Made Gluten Free and Sugar Free by Jesicakes
Makes about 2 9" round cakes
Print Recipe for Cake and Icing

Ingredients for the Cake

- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 12 Tbsp butter, room temperature
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp Splenda for baking*
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder (I use Hershey's...any that isn't Dutch processed is fine)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/4 cup almond milk, or milk of choice

*It is important to use the baking Splenda because it is a 1:1 replacement...if you use regular granulated Splenda this will be intensely too much sugar.  Just make sure if you buy the Splenda to check it's recommendations for the ratios.  And if you want to make this with regular sugar you can replace the Splenda with the same amount (2 cups + 2 Tbsp).

Ingredients for the Icing

Icing Recipe by SugarEd Blog
- 1 Large box of White Chocolate Sugar free Jell-O pudding mix
- 1 cup low fat milk
- 2 cups heavy cream

Earl Grey Madeleines

Jesicakes' second Madeleines!  I visited my mom and grandma this past weekend and wanted to bring them a treat.  Since I just made the Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies for my mom the week before, I wanted to make something a little more on the lighter side for her this time.  She didn't get to try my last batch of Madeleines so it seemed like the perfect treat.  I wanted to use Earl Grey tea as the flavoring this time.  They came out light, fluffy, and cake like but with the perfect touch of sweetness and delicate floral notes from the Earl Grey tea.  I made some changes from my original recipe.  I substituted out some of the sugar for honey for a more subtle sweetness.  I also added vanilla to marry with the Earl Grey flavor.  There's still lemon in there but slightly less.

Although I mentioned the last batch was best fresh because they were glazed, these I just dusted with powdered sugar.  They actually tasted better after they had rested a day or two, and even got softer and more moist than when first out of the oven.  The flavors all seemed to burst the day after I baked them.  It may be that I needed to let my dough rest more in the fridge, but either way they still wound up being delectable.  And of course, they're perfect to dip into or pair with a nice warm cup of Earl Grey tea.

Earl Grey Madeleines

Recipe adapted from my Lemon Thyme Glazed Madeleines, which were adapted from Annie Eats
Made Gluten Free by Jesicakes
Makes about 2 dozen standard Madeleines
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Ingredients

- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 Tbsp honey
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 1/3 cup sorghum flour
- 1/3 cup white rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 9 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temperature- zest of 1/2 a lemon (or to taste)
- 3 tea bags of Earl Grey tea (I used decaf since my grandma and I both avoid caffeine)

-extra melted butter and white rice flour to grease and dust the Madeleine mold.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies

If I could only have one dessert, it would probably be a brownie.  I'm a sucker for anything chocolate, but there's something about the moist, dense texture of a brownie combined with the rich chocolate taste that makes them irresistible.  Last weekend my family went on our annual wine tasting trip, and I wanted to make a treat to bring along.  I wanted to make something that everyone would like and something that would also travel well.  While I love brownies, they're not the best thing for traveling.  Even dense, fudgelike ones can tend to be smashed and squished while being carried unless they're in their own separate container or bag.  

I looked through all my cook books and found the answer in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  Her Double-Chocolate Brownie Cookies (pg. 75) were the perfect solution.  A cookie is sturdier than a brownie because its whole exterior has been baked, almost like it has a protective shell, whereas a brownie really only "set" on the top (or sometimes sides if it was on the edge of the pan.  This cookies are similar to the Andes Fudge and Peppermint Bark Cookies I made, except those definitely had a texture and taste more like fudge (hence the name), while these have dense cake like texture very similar to a brownie.  

I decided to alter her recipe a bit, using a mix of granulated sugar and light brown sugar instead of just granulated.  I also decided to make them Triple-Chocolate Brownie Cookies instead of double-chocolate.  She suggests that you can add walnuts or any kind of nuts really, but since I have a mild allergy to walnuts I left nuts out altogether.  And of course, I made them gluten free.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Recipe adapted Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook Double-Chocolate Brownie Cookies (pg. 75)
Made Gluten Free by Jesicakes
Makes about 30 cookies
Print Recipe

Ingredients

- 3 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2 oz 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate (I use Ghiradelli), roughly chopped
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup sorghum flour, sifted
- 1/4 + 1/8 cup brown rice flour, sifted
- 1/4 cup white rice flour, sifted
- 1/8 cup tapioca flour, sifted
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 oz 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate chopped into 1/4" chunks

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

When Justin and I lived in Philly, there were these brownies by BT Baking that were pretty much the greatest idea ever.  They were Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies.  What could be better than that?  Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies are pretty much the two ultimate comfort foods and combining them is simply bliss.  I always keep some chocolate chip cookies frozen in individual balls in the freezer for cookie emergencies, which is the easiest way to make the cookie brownies.  If you don't have chocolate chip cookies on hand, you'll have to make a small batch of chocolate chip cookies as well as a batch of brownies.  And what makes these special is they're completely gluten free!!  They combine crispy, chewy chocolate chip cookies with soft, rich, decadent brownies.  They're the ultimate indulgence!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

- 16 1 oz chocolate chip cookie dough balls from Jesicakes' original Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- 1 full recipe of Gluten Free Blissful Brownies

Butterfly and Circles Decorating Tutorials

 This weekend I helped out at Compost for Brooklyn's Block Party.  I donated packs of decorated gluten free sugar cookie butterflies with gluten free chocolate chip cookies for their bake sale.  I also helped out at the booth then lead a decorating demo for the kids at the block party and let them have their go at decorating!  Afterwards I came home and made video tutorials for decorating butterflies.

Decorating using "pulling" is such a fun way to decorate.  I think every butterfly I made was different.  It's such a great way to experiment with what you can do with royal icing!  It's a process that requires speed though, so I couldn't really do photo tutorials so I tried my go at videos!  Unfortunately I didn't put my camera quality on high, so the video isn't HD (by any means) but I think you can still see everything fine and hopefully I explain it well too.  So the first video is the butterflies above, and also these "monarch" style butterflies:

I also did a second video for decorating circles with pulls to make borders and starbursts.

Butterflies for the Community

This Sunday (June 3rd), I'll be donating 24 packs of gluten free cookies with one chocolate chip cookie and one of these butterflies to Compost for Brooklyn.  It's a local community project about ecological restoration and reducing and recycling waste with their compost program.

They're having a block party this Sunday:

If you're in the area you can stop by, buy some delicious baked goods, enjoy live music, and even get a free tree!  Also, I'll be doing a decorating demonstration! I'll show how to make these butterflies, how to make monarch style butterflies, and basic techniques in pulling. 

If you can't make it out, Justin will be taping the demo and I'll post it as my first video tutorial! This is a technique that requires immediate action once you've flooded the cookie so it's difficult to take step by step photos. 

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