Homemade Gluten-Free Cheddar Cheese Crackers

Makes 70 crackers, 1 inch size

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 stick butter, cold
1/4 cup kefir
1 tsp. sea salt, optional
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine the butter, cheese and kefir in the bowl of a mixer

and beat at slow speed until blended. Gradually add the flours until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. The dough should have all pulled away from the sides of the bowl and formed a ball.

Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin until the disk is about an 1/8-inch thick. Cut with a cookie cutter shape no bigger then 1 inch.

Place dough 1 inch apart on the lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Let the crackers first rest in fridge for about 20 minutes and then transfer the pan to bake for 12-16 minutes or until golden.

Cool on baking sheets or wire racks for 20 minutes.
When completely cooled store crackers in an airtight container.

Enjoy!!

Makes 12 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chunk
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sunflower seeds (grind)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon organic vanilla sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Using double broiler melt chocolate chunks with tea spoon of milk and tiny bit of butter. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally till smooth, set aside.

Grind the sunflower seeds.

In a stand up mixer bowl add cold butter, sugar, egg, vanilla sugar, melted chocolate.

Mix just for a few spins, then add all the flours. Texture should be like a dough.

With hands roll the dough and form balls adding few chocolate chunks and if wanted extra pieces of sunflower seeds for the crunch.

Pop cookies in the oven for 14 minutes.
Let them cool and if you like you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

Fantastic aroma and texture combination of trail mix and great cookie.
Enjoy!!

Ducky pool theme party can be at your local Gym, YMCA or any other indoor pool facility available for party rental.

In this case cupcakes were gluten free red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Few tips:

In your pool party invitation, ask the party guests to bring their swimsuits, a change of clothes, flip flops and a towel.

Use fun pool party supplies to pull in the summer theme, oversized beach balls are always a hit!

The entire party time will be taken with the kids swimming and playing together in the pool. Hopefully, you will dive right in and lead some games, or have a few parents who are interested in getting in as well so they can lead games too:

- Have a rubber duck race. Give each child a rubber duck and have them use their noses to move it to the other side of the pool. First one there wins!
- Play water volleyball!
- Have a splash contest from the diving board to see who can make the biggest splash! Make sure to follow pool rules, however!
- Play Shark! Have the birthday kid start off as the shark and tag the fish (the rest of the kids in the pool). As the fish are tagged, they also become sharks. The game is over when the pool is full of sharks!

For additional info on rubber duckies fondant cupcakes or cake decorations please visit:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/petitfondantcreation

Thanks!!

For the cookies:

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sweet rice flour (mochi)
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1 stick of sweet cream butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tbs vanilla sugar extract
lemon zest

For the frosting:

1/4 cup mascarpone
1/4 cup fresh strawberries, mashed
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Fondant decorations, optional but sweet

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder and salt.
In a stand mixer, beat butter with sugar on high, until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg, add vanilla and lemon zest.

With the mixer on low, fold in flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Remove from mixing bowl, form into a large disc.

Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface to a little less than 1/2 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut to desired shapes.

Place into the cookie sheet, ready to bake!!

Bake cookies until just puffed and set for about 11 minutes, before they have begun to brown around the edges. This will ensure a soft cookie!

Cool completely before icing.

To make the frosting: Prepare strawberries.

Place confectioner’s sugar in a medium bowl. Add mascarpone and strawberries, whisk until smooth to achieve desired consistency.

Decorate and serve!!
Enjoy!!
Happy Valentine’s Day!

So this year there is a new machine in our kitchen and have to say that we all are very happy with the purchase. It works fantastic, makes amazing espresso shots with perfect crema. Milk foam is the way it should be. If you prefer cappuccino, milk can be fluffy and for latte very creamy. Excellent machine and affordable price.

The DeLonghi EC155 lets you create delicious espresso 2 different ways. You can use the Sempre Crema Filter to brew using your favorite ground coffee beans, and depend on a smooth layer of crema every time you brew. The EC155 also comes with a special filter basket for use with ESE pods for added convenience—no grinding, dosing, or tamping needed.

A dependable pump means consistent, well-extracted espresso shots and lots of steam. The DeLonghi EC155 features a powerful 15 bar pump to create a consistent extraction every time. It’s also self-priming—a rare feature for a machine at this price point. This feature means you don’t have to worry about complicated set-up when you first get the machine or after a long period without being used.

A dial on the front of the machine controls the EC155 and it features 5 different settings. From left to right, they are steam, power off, power on, coffee/hot water dispensing. Indicator lights are also located around this center dial and will illuminate when the machine is on and when the machine is at proper brewing or steaming temperature.

Great heat stability and durability are the major qualities of a stainless steel boiler. They are less vulnerable to pitting and damage from scale build-up. Not only does the EC155 have a stainless steel boiler, it also has 2 separate thermostats so that the proper temperature is always reached for brewing or steaming.

I like to buy whole espresso beans, local or imported, brewed espresso coffee tastes great every time. Also for the milk, non fat makes fantastic foam, but if you prefer soy, almond or rice milk- excellent choices too.

Depends of type, texture, aroma and cup size of the day, you can always make your own cup of amazing espresso.

Have to add that steamer can make fantastic hot chocolate or cocoa for the kids or adults, super cramy and delicious:-)

Thanks for reading and have a Happy and Healthy year.

Greetings of the Season and Best Wishes for the New Year!!

Love to share a Birthday cake, homemade, decorated by me, Cute Monsters and Uglydoll Birthday Cake for my 8 year old son.
The cake was fantastic, chocolate explosion, layers of chocolate wonderland and chocolate mousse topped with chocolate ganache.
Theme was Little Cute Monsters inspired by the whole world of cartoon creations. I did my best and created few new characters with help from my kids, my biggest inspiration.

For more decorating ideas, themes, fondant decorations and toppers please visit my store, http://www.etsy.com/shop/petitfondantcreation

Happy New Year, best wishes from My Wandering Spoon!!

This year Thanksgiving lunch will be delicious and gluten free:-)
We will be making boneless turkey breast wrapped in pancetta and homemade gluten free stuffing with:
sweet carrots, flavorful parsnip, crunchy celery, red onion and just a few strips of goodness of pancetta to compliment flavor of the bird.

You will need these ingredients:

1 loaf gluten-free sandwich bread, Rudi♥s, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 large red onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 medium carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
2 large eggs
4 strips pancetta,chopped
4 cups chicken stock, heated

Heat the oven to 350°. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet. I love to sprinkle bread with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. This is optional.
Put the baking sheet in the oven and toast the bread. After 10 minutes or so, toss the bread cubes around to another side. When all sides are toasted, about 20 minutes.

Set a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, celery, carrots, parsnip. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are golden. Add bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.

Toss stuffing together with the bread cubes. Put them all into a greased 8 x 12-inch casserole pan.
Whisk the eggs vigorously and slowly drizzle into the hot stock.
Pour this stock evenly over the stuffing. Cover the casserole pan with foil.

Bake the stuffing for 30 minutes, then take off the tin foil. Bake additional 10 minutes until the bread cubes are firm.
If you like you can pop the dish under the broiler for few minutes for nice golden crust.
What an amazing side dish. Flavor is rich, you can tell that is homemade, feels good.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Still on my track with gluten free baking. Just amazed how all baked goods taste so delicious.
This banana bread, or what is left from this bread is a fantastic recipe-:) Texture is light, inside fluffy, outside just how the bread should be, amazing flavor. Highly recommend this recipe.

Banana bread, gluten free

1/2 cup stick of sweet cream butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
1 cup ground pecans
1 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon organic vanilla bean sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder, gluten free

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one 9×5 inch pan.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, then bananas. Add pecans, flour, soda and vanilla stirring just until combined.
Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour (or till toothpick comes out clean). Remove from pan and let cool and serve. Leftovers store in refrigerator or freeze.

Check out my new cupcake and cake creations, and have fun, super cool, happy and safe trick or treating-:)

Happy Halloween everybody!

Yesterday I made bite size mini donuts using brown rice flour, olive oil, cinnamon and some semi sweet chocolate just to make them a little bit yummier.

Perfect when served with ice coffee or cold soy milk for the kids.

Ingredients:

Donuts:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder, gluten free
pinch of cinnamon
1 large egg
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp plain nonfat kefir

Glaze:

1/2 tsp butter
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2-3 tbsp chocolate rice milk, as needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Whisk together all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg, sugar, oil and kefir well with mixer. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Grease the donut pan with non stick spray and fill each form half full.
Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.
In a small saucepan or using double broiler, over low heat, heat butter and chocolate chips stirring constantly. Continue to stir, until chocolate is melted. Add few drops od milk if needed and stir till sauce is smooth.
Dip every donut in a sauce, lay on a serving plater and enjoy!

Now, for parties and celebrations you can make things even more fancy and adorable by adding totally cool decorations. Any party or celebration will be looking even better with cakes and cupcakes decorated with fantastic themed toppers.
For more info on super cute fondant toppers and decorations for occasions please visit my online Petit Fondant Creations store.

Thank you, and have a sweet day-:)

Hilo’s Farmers Market, offering fresh local produce

Sweet Rice Taro with Young Coconut

Macademia Nut Butter

Goat Cheese, different flavors

White Sugarloaf Pineapple

Cafe Pesto, Hilo Bay, lovely restaurant

Sandalwood Sandwich, toasted with Japanese eggplant, marinated artichokes, sun dry tomatoes, rosemary gorgonzola cheese on fresh baked French roll, served with purple sweet potato mash

Pesto BBQ Chicken Pizza

Hakalau Sandwich, warm with kalua turkey, spinach, mango chutney, carmelized onions on garlic French bread served with baked potatoes

Kids Meal Harry Potter’s Pizza with cheese and pepperoni

Here is the list of must see must try places:
Breakfast or Lunch place- Dave’s Coffee Shack, delicious pancakes and sweet bread French toast-:)
Lunch place Lighthouse Liquor and Delicatessen, best ever baked whole wheat pretzels, fantastic selection of sandwiches.
Lunch or Dinner, Village Burger, great selection of burgers, great flavors.
There are many more great places to visit, Macademia Nut factories like Mauna Loa, Hamakua plantations, Donkey Balls chocolates, Coffee Farms and many more.
Macademia nuts are most popular nut on the islands, at it comes in many different flavors: sweet, salty, savory or something between. Also very popular are coffee beans dipped in chocolate and made locally delicious brittle candy.

Hope you will like the post, useful guide for the future travelers.
Mahalo!