Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Squares

Mmm... Rice crisps with chocolate and peanut butter, and one cup of sunflower seeds to reduce the guilt by a smidgen. But not too much. Try other nut butters or other nuts and seeds if you like, or substitute cornflakes for some or all of the crispy rice cereal.

1 box gluten free crispy rice cereal (about 7 cups)
1 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup unsweetened smooth organic peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan.

In a large bowl, combine crispy rice cereal and seeds. Stir lightly.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture just begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips until well blended and chocolate is melted.

Stir peanut-butter mixture into cereal and seeds. Press into the prepared pan and allow to cool before cutting into small, rich squares.

Chocolate-Glazed Fruit Bars

These have a sweet and sticky fruitiness with a pleasing crunch, too. They also look pretty. Press them very, very firmly into the pan to ensure they hold together well enough to cut easily -- oh, and cut them small, since the dates make them quite sweet.

1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped raisins
1/2 cup finely chopped apricots
1/4 cup sliced almonds
4 cups gluten-free corn flakes, crushed to 1 1/2 cups
3/4 cup chocolate chips

In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter with sugar.

Add chopped dates, cook, and stir for 5 minutes, until thoroughly combined and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in raisins, apricots, almonds, and cereal. Press into a greased 9” square pan. Chill until set.

Melt chocolate chips and spread over squares. Chill again until ready to cut into squares.

Two-Bite Brownies

These are rich and chocolatey and slightly chewy. Yummm. You could add up to 1 cup of chopped walnuts or more chocolate chips to stretch the batter to make more brownies. Whatever you do, be sure not to overcook the brownies. If you have great willpower, you can eat these brownies in four bites, but no one will fault you for eating them in just one bite.

1 cup sugar
3 tbsp amaranth flour
1 tbsp potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips

Lightly grease and rice-flour 18 tartlet tins (more if you have added extras to the batter).
Preheat the oven to 325F.

Whisk flour, starch, xanthan, and sugar together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place butter and cocoa in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Allow to cool slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. In a medium bowl, beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in dry ingredients, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Spoon into prepared tartlet tins, to about 2/3ish full.

Bake for 20 minutes, until set but moist in the centre. Allow to cool five minutes in the pan, then turn out on a rack to cool completely, or until their scent overcomes your willpower.

Makes 18 two-bite brownies.

Chocolate-Chili Sparklers

Another cookie recipe, adapted from a seasonal brand promotion for products I am allergic to or don't buy. Still, these cookies are scrumptious -- absolutely gooily decadent fresh out of the oven after a Mexican meal, and still soft and yummy the next day. This is chocolate the old-fashioned way. I mean REALLY old-fashioned, like the Mayans and Aztecs liked it, with cinnamon and hot peppers.

1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup lard or shortening
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 extra large egg

2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs.

In a small bowl, whisk cocoa, flours and starches, xanthan gum, soda, cinnamon, and peppers.

Blend dry ingredients into butter and sugar mixture; mix in chocolate chips.

Roll into small (3/4"); roll balls in cinnamon sugar (3 tbsp sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp cinnamon). Place on parchment paper or a silicone baking pad on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes, until somewhat cracked and flattened but still soft in the middle.

Makes 3 dozen.

Blackbottom Cups

These rich cupcakes have a chocolate base, a chocolate-chip cheesecakey filling, and a sprinkle of nuts on top! They are ba-a-a-ad for you and have almost no redeeming health benefits, unless you are so deprived of calcium that cream cheese counts as your daily intake. And almonds are reputedly good for us these days . . . Hmm. I've almost convinced myself . . .

For cheesecake filling:
6 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
6 oz chocolate chips

Cream together until well combined.

For topping:
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Mix in a small bowl. Set aside.

For black-bottomed cups:
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well, without overmixing.

Half-fill 18 muffin cups with blackbottom mixture. Spoon some cream cheese mixture into each. Sprinkle with nut and sugar topping. Bake at 350F for 20 to 30 minutes.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This is the time of year one's garden would ordinarily be overrun with zucchini aspiring to the size of small coffeetables, if one's zucchini plants weren't half-drowned by the torrential rains this year, and if one's life-partner had not planted so many "Mammoth Russian" sunflowers that they cast shade in all directions until nightfall. This recipe works very well with grated frozen zucchini, if one has a surplus instead of a crop failure.

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour (or more rice flour)
1/2 cup potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 mounded tsp soda
2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp cocoa

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla

2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini, centre seeds scooped out if excessive
1 cup chopped walnuts, or pecans, if you insist
1 cup chocolate chips

Grease tube or bundt pan. Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients until well-blended.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs, oil, sugars, and vanilla.

Beat wet ingredients into dry ingredients, stirring just until blended. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips, and nuts.

Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely.

When completely cooled, spread with cream-cheese frosting, if desired: Blend 1 pkg (4 oz) cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, and 2 cups gluten-free icing sugar until no lumps remain.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe can be doubled or tripled for special occasions. No one will know there chewy crisp cookies are gluten-free unless you tell them.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup fine unsweetened coconut

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets. Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and other dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut. Drop by 1 tbsp about two inches apart on prepared pans.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until light golden. Cool cookies on racks, if they last until cool.

Makes almost 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Self-saucing pudding cake that’s easy, rich, and incredibly decadent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup potato or tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 rounded tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/3 boiling water
1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours and starches, first measure of cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts. Spread in an ungreased 8” square pan.

In yet another bowl, whisk brown sugar, second measure of cocoa, and boiling water. Pour over batter in the baking pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out with a few crumbs adhering to it. (The bottom layer of the cake will be wet and puddingy.)

Serve hot!

Makes 9 medium servings.

Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

These "muffins" are cupcakes, really. They adapted surprisingly well to gluten-free flours -- the rice flour makes them a little crisper on the edges, but it’s a nice texture. The recipe makes 9 full-size muffins. I'm not sure how well they keep -- they got eaten up too fast at the potluck we brought them to!

75 g cream cheese
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup brown rice or amaranth flour (or a combination)
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp (heaping) baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk

Beat cream cheese and 2 tbsp sugar until light and fluffy. Set aside.

Combine flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt and whisk well. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, oil, and milk and whisk. Combine wet and dry ingredients with a light hand.

Spoon 2 tbsp chocolate batter into each of nine prepared muffin cups, drop 1 tsp cream cheese mixture on top, then cover with remaining chocolate batter.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.

Mocha Refrigerator Cookies

These are adapted from a recipe by pastry chef Anna Olson from Canadian Living’s December 2005 issue. These cookies are not too sweet -- a bonus in my books. After being puverized in a food processor, they also make great chocolate/mocha cookie crumbs to use as a base for cheesecake.

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup GF icing sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee
1/4 cup hot water
4 tsp GF vanilla
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line cookie pans with parchment paper.

Dissolve coffee in hot water.

In a large bowl, lightly beat butter with icing sugar; beat in dissolved coffee and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk flours and xanthan gum with cocoa and salt. Stir into butter mixture and stir until combined. Divide into three parts. Shape each into a log one inch around. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, until firm.

Slice logs into generous 1/4” thick rounds. Place 1” apart, on parchment paper-lined pans. Bake one pan at a time at 325F until tops of cookies are firm to the touch, about 25 minutes.

Pour sugar into shallow dish. Coat warm cookies, a few at a time, in sugar. Let cool on rack.

Makes about 5 dozen.

Darling Clementine Chocolate Cake

I adapted this, tho' not significantly, from the recipe in Nigella Lawson's "Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame" in her book, Feast. Mostly, I replaced oranges with clementines and adapted the measurements from weights to cups, for those North Americans unequipped with a kitchen scale. (How they survive, I know not.)

With or without a dollop of whipped cream, this cake is even better from the refrigerator the second day.

4 small clementines (approximately 375 g total weight)
6 large eggs
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups ground almonds (almond flour)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Scrub the clementines and put them in a saucepan with some cold water. Bring them to the boil and then simmer for about an hour, or until soft. Drain and, when cool, cut the clementines in half and remove any seeds. Put whole clementines, peel and all, in a food processor and chop until fairly well pulverized but some flecks of peel remain discernible. Chill until fully cooled.

When ready to assemble the cake, grease a 20cm springform pan. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Transfer clementine pulp to a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients, give a good stir, and then mix well with an electric mixer on medium speed until homogeneous and glossy.

Pour into the prepared springform pan and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, checking after 45 minutes. The cake is done when only a few crumbs cling to a tester poked into the centre.

Chewy Chocolate-Butterscotch Chip Cookies

An adapted version of a recipe from an old Harrowsmith recipe. These were popular when I made them yesterday, though I can't comment on how well they might keep, since they didn't last long enough . . .

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups ground oatmeal (gluten-free oatmeal pulverized in a food processor)
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 oz chocolate chips
2 oz butterscotch chips
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars, then eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk oatmeals, flours and starches, xanthan, soda, and baking powder.

With the electric mixer running, blend flour mixture into butter mixture. Add chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut, and almonds and mix with the electric mixer until well combined.

Roll into balls, one large tablespoonful at a time, to make 36 balls. Place 2" apart on a parchment paper-lined or silicone sheet-lined pan. Flatten balls slightly with your hand. Bake for 10 minutes, until beginning to brown lightly. Allow to cool a few minutes on the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Mousse-Filled Chocolate Tartlets

I tried this chocolate pastry for Valentine's Day and, other than overcooking it so it was a bit smokier than hoped, it was delicious. Filled with mousse and chopped toasted nuts, it was even better.

I wished I had sprinkled a little cayenne pepper into the pastry, for a subtle hit of hotness. A teaspoon of pulverized instant coffee granules would also have been good. I imagine that using ground hazelnuts in the pastry and chopped hazelnuts in the cups would be just as delicious as almond flour and chopped almonds.

1/3 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
3 tbsp potato starch flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
pinch of salt

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and starches, cocoa, xanthan, and salt. Using an electric mixer on a low setting, mix flour mixture into butter mixture until well combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator and from the plastic wrap. Divide into 24 even balls, warming the dough as little as possible with your hands. Set out 2 12-cup mini-muffin or tartlet pans. Place one ball in each of 24 tartlet cups. Press gently and evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the little cups. Prick the bottoms with a fork.

Chill the pastry while the oven preheats to 375F. Bake for about 15 minutes, watching carefully in the last minutes to prevent burning. (The dough is so dark, it's hard to tell if the brown is edging to black.) Turn the pastries out of the pans to cool on a rack. Allow to cool completely before filling.

Chocolate Mousse: Finely chop 8 oz bittersweet chocolate. Place in a heatproof bowl. Heat 3/4 cup of cream in a small saucepan until just beginning to boil. Pour cream over chocolate. Whisk until smooth and chocolate is melted and glossy. Stir in 2 tbsp orange liqueur. Refrigerate for about 1 hour; remove from refrigerator and whip until light.

Assembly:

Coarsely chop 1/2 cup of toasted almonds. Reserving 1/4 cup of the chopped nuts for garnish, sprinkle the remaining nuts into the bottoms of the cooled pastry cups. Mound each cup with mousse, using a knife to make sure the mousse adheres to the outside edges of the pastry and seals in the nuts. Sprinkle the reserved nuts on top of the mousse.

Refrigerate the tartlets until ready to serve.

Makes 24 tartlets.

Golden Cornmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies have a lovely buttery taste, like chocolate chip cookies should, but they also have a hint of corn flavour that is very pleasant. Corn flour, which is like very fine cornmeal, is best; cornmeal is a little grittier, though equally nice in flavour. This is a great recipe for someone who is baking for a celiac friend and usually has cornmeal and other baking goods in supply -- the only "special" flour is the rice flour. The parchment paper is absolutely necessary, unless you have a silpat nonstick baking mat.

6 tbsp butter (1/3 cup)
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup fine cornmeal or corn flour (very fine cornmeal)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.

Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream sugars and butter until light. Beat in egg. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix well, then add chocolate chips.

Form into cookies by the tablespoonful. Place on the parchment paper-lined pan about 1 1/2” apart. Cook about 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on pan before transferring to a rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Opposite Cookies

White chocolate chips in a chocolate cookie -- the opposite of regular chocolate chippers.

The dough for these cookies will be a very stiff and a little sticky, and the cookies will not spread a lot change shape much from the shape you drop onto the pan, so you might wish to roll tablespoonsful of batter and then slightly flatten them.

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg (extra large)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth or sorghum flour (or more rice flour)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and then vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk up flours, cocoa, soda, and salt.

Beat flours into butter mixture with an electric mixer. (The dough will be too stiff to stir.) Mix in white chocolate chips, also using the electric mixer on its lowest setting.

Divide dough and roll into 30 balls, each a scant tablespoon or heaped teaspoon. Place 2" apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350F. The cookies will sink towards the pan at their edges and will crack attractively on top. Cool on a rack -- or eat warm. These are chewy and moist when warm, crunchy and dense when cooled.

Afghans (Chocolate Crunch Cookies)

When I lived in New Zealand, longer ago than I care to admit, my flatmates told me about afghan biscuits, the chocolate-cornflake crunch cookies their mothers made for them. I told them about the afghan blankets my mother knit and crocheted for me. Strange uses of the word "afghan" in this world. I wonder what Afghans think.

New Zealand "biscuits" are quite different from Canadian-style cookies: crisp and crunch and fairly short. Afghans have the distinction of also being frosted. These are like not-too-sweet chocolate shortbread cookies with lots of cornflakes. They are frosted with a light-coloured cocoa icing, to more than make up for the not-too-sweetness.

These adapted very well to gluten-free flours, and I might try more New Zealand biscuit recipe adaptations in coming weeks.

3/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato or corn starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup cocoa
3 cups GF (malt-free) loosely packed cornflakes crushed slightly to make 2 cups

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Whisk together flours and starches, xanthan, and cocoa until well mixed. Beat into creamed mixture. Fold in cornflakes, or mix with your hands.

Take small handfuls of dough and squeeze into balls to make 30. Set the balls 2" apart on the prepared cookie trays. Cook for five minutes, then remove from oven and lightly press down the warm cookies to flatten them slightly. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, to set. Remove from oven and cool, first on the pan, then on racks when cool enough to move. Frost with a swoosh of chocolate icing.

Chocolate Icing: Sift 1 cup of GF icing sugar with 1 tbsp cocoa. Blend in 1 tbsp softened butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Add 1 tbsp milk (or more, a wee bit at a time) to make icing of a spreadable consistency.

Makes 30 frosted cookies.

Easy Almond-Cashew Cookies

Gluten-Free Girl is the goddess of gluten-free writing on-line, which is why I'm sticking mostly to recipes on this blog. Well, two reasons for the focus on recipes, really: 1) I bow to Gluten-Free Girl's supremacy and 2) I have a baby who is keeping me preoccupied.

Recently, I experimented with the almond cookies she shared a recipe for, and I made a few variations that suited our household's tastes very well. All the ingredients I used were organic or fair trade. Just Us in Nova Scotia distributes fabulous fair trade coffee, sugar, and chocolate products that are easier and easier to get in stores in Atlantic Canada now. FYI -- Their chocolate has a "may contain wheat" allergy alert.

1 cup smooth organic almond-cashew butter
1 cup raw fair trade sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1 large egg
2 tsp GF baking powder
1 100g bar fair trade organic dark chocolate, broken into 24 pieces

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Combine almond-cashew butter, sugar, egg, and baking powder, stirring well until combined.

Divide dough into 24 small balls (about 1 tbsp of dough per cookie). Place balls 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined pan and press lightly with the back of fork to make cross-hatched lines and to flatten the cookies slightly.

Cook for 9 minutes. Remove from oven. Drop one small square of chocolate on each cookie. Return to oven for one minute or 90 seconds, just long enough to melt the chocolate. With an oiled or greased knife, spread the melted chocolate over the top of the cookie. Allow cookies to cool on the pan until they are solid enough to be moved to a rack to cool.

Makes 24 cookies.