There's nothing like a refreshing salad on a hot summer's day; this gluten free Arugula Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette hits the spot.  Finding gluten free salad is easy (arugula and raspberries don't contain gluten).  Finding gluten free salad dressing is another story altogether.

Gluten lurks in the strangest places.  And salad dressing can contain various binders and flavorings (such as soy sauce) that are not gluten free.  That's why I like to make my salad dressings from scratch --it's a lot cheaper as well.

You can make this Raspberry Vinaigrette ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to a week.  And feel free to mix and match the dressing with other greens from your garden.

The flavors in this salad complement each other nicely --the sweet raspberries offset the sharp flavor of the savory (spicy) arugula.  This festive looking crowd pleaser is a great dish for potlucks, barbecues, or a simple everyday treat.  Adding fruit to a green salad is a little trick that I use to get my boys to eat more veggies.  This makes your salads visually appealing and just a bit more enticing as well.

Here are some of my other gluten free salads and vegetable based dishes that have a sweet element to them to lure your little ones into getting more greens:

Happy Birthday Dad!  These gluten free cupcake bites are all the rage right now, very popular.  And since you're celebrating a big birthday, I thought I would make up a batch in your honor.  With love, here are some delicious, mostly healthy, gluten free cupcake bites for you!

Dad, I warn you, these are not easy to make, so don't try this at home!   Maybe Mom can make some for you to tide you over until I get there for the celebration.

And by the way, these cute little gluten free cupcake bites are not my own invention.  The idea for them comes from Bakerella's book, Cake Pops.  You may want to check it out, it's a gorgeous, fun and original cookbook. Speaking of which, if you haven't already, check out my recent recipe for gluten free Chocolate Raspberry Cake Pops.

My husband and children thoroughly enjoyed these decadent little gluten free treats.  Though my husband said that instead of calling them gluten free Cupcakes Bites I could call them "Cake in a Cup."  He could not believe that the "wrapper" of the cupcake was made of chocolate and edible, telling me he thought it was a paper wrapper until he bit into it.

Gluten Free Cake in a Cup (Bakerella's Cupcake Bites)Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
1 Chocolate Cake, from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, page 84 (view the PDF)
½ cup raspberry jam
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate
1 package gluten free organic sprinkles

Special Equipment:
-medium sized candy cup mold (cavity openings 1 ½ inches wide)
-small paint brush

1. Bake Chocolate Cake as directed on page 84 of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook; cool completely
2. Once cake is cooled, crumble into a big bowl, making sure there are no large pieces
3. Mix raspberry fruit spread into crumbled cake, using the back of a large metal spoon to thoroughly combine
4. Mixture will be moist enough to roll into 1 ½ inch balls and still hold a round shape
5. After rolling, place on a parchment lined plate and set aside
6. Melt dark chocolate in a very small pot, over very low heat
7. Paint dark chocolate into the candy mold, coating thickly
8. Place a rolled cake ball into each chocolate painted mold
9. Place the filled candy mold in the freezer for 20 minutes to let set
10. Remove candy mold from freezer
11. Separate the half coated cupcake bites from the mold
12. Melt white chocolate in a very small pan over very low heat
13. Holding bottom of cupcake bite, dip top in melted white chocolate, until it meets the edge of chocolate coating
14. Decorate with sprinkles right away, before chocolate sets
15. Transfer to a plate to set
16. Serve!

Makes 22 Gluten Free Cupcake Bites

This may be the most complicated recipe I have posted here.  Ever.  As you can see, there are quite a lot of instructions above.  Don't be scared though, if you can organize all of your equipment before you get started on making the actual cupcake bites, this project will not be quite so daunting.

Here are some other cake bite type recipes from other food bloggers:
-Carrot Cake Bites from Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
-Raw Chocolate Brownie Bites by Ginger Lemon Girl
-Coconut Cake Bites from Healthy Indulgences

In honor of Celiac Awareness Month, I have decided to make May my own personal cupcake month.  Today's post is Jelly Donut (or Doughnut) Cupcakes, and I'm going to attempt to do a gluten free cupcake recipe every time I post in May --wish me luck!

These gluten free Jelly Donut Cupcakes are filled with yummy raspberry jam and oozing with fruity goodness.  My husband liked them so much that he took the entire batch to his office to (hopefully) share with his co-workers.  That is saying a lot since my sweetie is more of a chocolate guy than a fruity, vanilla type.

Jelly Donut CupcakesNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

for the cupcakes:

3 eggs
½ cup apple sauce
½ cup grapeseed oil
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

for the filling:

½ cup raspberry jam
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

for the topping:

2 tablespoons xylitol

1. In a food processor combine eggs, apple sauce, grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla and pulse together
2. Pulse in coconut flour, salt and baking soda
3. Allow batter to sit and thicken just a bit
4. To prepare filling, combine raspberry jam and arrowroot powder in a small bowl and stir vigorously
5. Next, line a cupcake tin with unbleached paper liners
6. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons cupcake batter into each cupcake liner
7. Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of jam mixture (on top of batter) into each cupcake liner
8. Spoon another tablespoon of batter onto cupcakes to cover  jam mixture
9. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes
10. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes
11. Spoon a scant ½ teaspoon of xylitol "sugar" onto top of each cupcake
12. Cool and serve

Makes about 10 cupcakes

Just a tip about getting the xylitol "sugar" to adhere to the cupcakes --allowing the cupcakes to cool for 20 minutes allows the sugar to stick without melting into the cupcakes completely.  If you wait until the cupcakes are completely cool, then the "sugar" will not stick and will just roll off.

My children enjoyed these cupcakes as much as my husband did.  They thought the "sugar" on top was really neat.  Some people (like myself) cannot digest xylitol very well.  For those types, you may wish to omit the xylitol topping from a couple of the cupcakes.

Just a reminder, I have a really nice cupcake recipe in my cookbook, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  I also have some cupcake recipes on this website.

What is your favorite cupcake (regular or gluten-free?) What cupcakes would you like to see recipes for during the Elana's Pantry cupcake festival?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Also, If you would like to be notified every time I post a new cupcake recipe you can sign up for email updates (if you aren't signed up already). Or follow me on Twitter.

Valentine's Day is approaching, which means lots of bad candy and useless merchandise will be sold in the next week or so.  Over here, we're having fun making our own (healthier) candy --especially these Chocolate Raspberry Bonbons.

My boys made an entire batch of these sweet confections last night and had a great time.  They love taking over my candy projects, the little rascals! I like making these too.  Using a small paint brush to spread the melted chocolate into the molds somehow reminds me of painting in kindergarten --where there were no mistakes.

These bonbons use the same mold found in my Chocolate Covered Cherries recipe.  If you are looking for a candy recipe that does not use a mold, check out my Nut Butter Balls.

Today is World Nutella Day. The website featured a roundup of everything Nutella, including my own Homemade Nutella Recipe. Have a great weekend and happy Nutella day!

Recently I was paid a visit by the lovely Eve who not long ago gave up gluten and white sugar.  We had tea in my kitchen and chatted about things, oh, I don't really remember what, just that we had such a pleasant time together.  It wasn't really the content of our conversation (that was great), it was more about making a connection.

Eve emailed me yesterday asking for a gluten free Hamantaschen recipe.  While I do have this one from last year, I wanted to create something for Eve that was every bit as tasty, though maybe just a bit less fussy.  I do love my old Hamanataschen recipe, however, sometimes we want Hamantaschen express, also known as McHamantaschen.

And here it is!  Your drive through gluten free, dairy free treat for Purim.

Raspberry HamantaschenNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
2 cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
some raspberry jam

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt
2. In  a smaller bowl, combine oil, agave, vanilla and water
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
4. Chill dough in refrigerator 1 hour
5. Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment ¼ - ½ inch thick
6. Cut dough into circles (size of your choosing)
7. Make a light indentation with your forefinger in the center of each circle
8. Drop ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam into the center of each circle
9. Fold the dough in to create 3 sides; pinch each of the 3 corners to form a triangle shaped cookie
10. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes until cookies are golden brown around the edges
11. Serve

.  I used a scalloped cookie cutter that was 1 ¾-inches in diameter and rolled my dough to approximately ¼ inch thick; my yield was around 2 dozen little cookies.  It was challenging to get an exact yield as my younger son was eating these almost as fast as I baked them.

Tonight, my older son and I sat and discussed the ingredients list and method for this recipe.  He was not happy that I did not have an exact measurement for the raspberry jam.  I don't. Again, that is really dependent on the size of your cookies and how much of a jam-a-holic you are.

We also talked about the corners of the Hamantaschen.  In some of the first batches I made, the corners opened up during baking.  To remedy this, I pinched them together while still warm and they looked just fine.

In later batches I pinched the dough very firmly and it did hold together during the baking process.  He and I were debating which adverb to use in order to describe how to pinch the dough.  His suggested phrase was, "pinch the dough a little bit more than tenderly."  That'll work for me!

Ok, so in yesterday's "reach out and touch someone" post I failed. In fact, I fell flat. On my face. Do you know how many comments were posted? One. Not much community in one post.

To cheer myself up, I can always read some Dooce. That woman makes me laugh out loud. Or I can listen to the Captain and Tenille's Love Will Keep Us Together. Either way, I do not despair, Passover is near and for me, this occasion provides endless activity and distraction.

For the Jewish Betty Crocker in all of us, here's a delectable cake recipe for Passover.

Vanilla Torte with Raspberry Filling and Chocolate FrostingNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
2 cups blanched almond flour
¼ cup coconut flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
10 eggs
1¾ cups agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup raspberry jam
1 batch vegan chocolate frosting

1. In a medium bowl, combine flours and salt
2. In a larger bowl, whisk together eggs, agave and vanilla
3. Whisk flours into egg mixture until well blended
4. Line bottoms only of 3 nine inch cake pans with parchment paper
5. Divide cake batter evenly between pans
6. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes
7. Remove from oven when cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
8. Cool cakes for at least one hour
9. Run knife around cake to loosen from pan, remove from pan and peel off parchment paper
10. Place bottom layer on a cake plate and spread with jam
11. Add next layer of cake and spread with jam
12. Place top layer on cake and frost entire cake with chocolate frosting
13. Serve

Serves 12

This pareve torte is rich and sweet. Though it is a tad sweeter than most of my desserts, that's because a) this one is for a holiday; b) my husband really liked it that way.

Still the cake has enough protein that it will not leave you with a high-carb hangover after your Pesach Seder. Now, if you eat too much matzah, well, that's another story.

Update: Please see my updated Gluten Free Bread recipe!

We spent New Year's in the mountains and partied a bit too hard with our friends Peter and Patrice. Though I did not drink a drop of alcohol, I somehow ended up with a contact hangover. Everyone around me was imbibing and I must have become intoxicated by association.

As part of my "post holiday" status, I will be baking and sharing recipes that are not dessert until the urge to bake sweets returns. Of late, several people have asked me for my gluten free bread recipe. I am satisfied with it, though not thrilled. It seems though, that so many people are in need of a quick and easy gluten free bread that it is time to divulge mine. May be good for hangovers.

This low carb, high protein, gluten free bread is a cinch to make. It is especially tasty toasted with a smear of creamy roasted almond butter, my favorite raspberry jam and a sprinkle of salt.

My favorites are orange and raspberry jam, though they come in a large variety including rose hip, which is quite tasty as well.

Update: This product has been renamed Rigoni di Asiago. It is still the same product and I continue to enjoy using it. However, the Italian company bought out their American subsidiary and are using the Italian name for the product.

This Paleo/primal-friendly orange ginger chicken recipe is a great way to roast an entire chicken. The recipe is also child friendly --it is my younger sons all time favorite dinner.

My husband called and said he had to work late tonight. However, the boys and I were much too hungry to wait. So, before we ate, I snapped a photo of dinner and emailed it to him. I kept a plate warm in the oven, until he made it home.

We had this orange glazed chicken with Oven Roasted Broccoli and smothered it in Cranberry Sauce and Gravy.