desserts

happy v-day

Posted on Feb 13, 2013

A few good­ies to make for your favorite Valen­tines on this day of splurg­ing. Valen­tine Bon­bons Choco­late Almond Bark Straw­berry Banana Cake Melissa’s Choco­late Peanut Butter Cups     




gluten-free pumpkin spice cookies

Posted on Sep 29, 2012

I love fall — every­thing about it. On the west coast, we have a fairly nar­row cor­ri­dor of color com­pared to the rest of the coun­try, but as a native, I can always find a fall day in length­en­ing shad­ows … more →




gluten-free almond flour chocolate chip cookies

Posted on Feb 28, 2012

Elana of Elana’s Pantry came up with the orig­i­nal recipe for these deli­cious cook­ies. I’ve made a few changes here as a splurge, sub­sti­tut­ing but­ter for oil and brown sugar for agave syrup, which gives the cook­ies a bit more … more →




coconut pecan squares

Posted on Jan 11, 2012

I love the old adage, ‘Bet­ter Late than Never’; lately it’s become a theme of my life. This past Fri­day, we cel­e­brated my mom at a beau­ti­ful memo­r­ial ser­vice. My life has been on hold for the last month get­ting … more →




gluten-free raspberry bon bons

Posted on Nov 30, 2011

Choco­late and raspberries…what’s not to love? This is a fun project to do with kids. Candy molds are an inex­pen­sive pur­chase (I got mine at Michaels), and with the bon bon molds, you can fill them with any­thing you like. … more →




gluten-free pumpkin banana mousse tart

Posted on Nov 16, 2011

This is hands down, my son’s favorite recipe “in the world.” Last year for Thanks­giv­ing, he had three small slices and snuck another four, so he con­fessed the next morn­ing. This recipe, orig­i­nally from Ina Garten, is also my favorite now … more →




gluten-free pumpkin bon bons

Posted on Oct 9, 2011

I love any­thing pumpkin…bread, pancakes…watch for pump­kin soup later this month. So nat­u­rally, I fig­ured it would pair well with choco­late. This is a fun project to do with kids. Candy molds are an inex­pen­sive pur­chase (I got mine at … more →




spooky strawberries

Posted on Oct 3, 2011

Check these out! I found these on Recipe Diva, a great blog I con­tribute to. These are from the Diva her­self. What bet­ter way to cel­e­brate straw­ber­ries and choco­late for Hal­loween? And who wouldn’t like to eat a mon­ster with … more →




strawberry cupcakes

Posted on Aug 7, 2011

I tried using a mix for these cup­cakes — Pamela’s Vanilla Cake Mix, but hon­estly, they were very heavy, unlike the rest of Pamela’s mixes, which are airy and light. I highly rec­om­mend this recipe from Elana’s Pantry. If you … more →




ridiculously good cream cheese frosting

Posted on Aug 7, 2011

I found this recipe while look­ing for a Red Vel­vet Cake recipe for my friend San­dra. Being a Crim­son alum from the Uni­ver­sity of Okla­homa, she has a par­tic­u­lar fond­ness for Red Vel­vet Cake or as I like to call … more →




brownie s’mores

Posted on Jul 12, 2011

I am a con­su­mate believer in the slightly under­cooked brownie. Moist, gooey and not a hint of dry­ness is my cup of prover­bial tea when it comes to these treats. They do not, how­ever, resem­ble the clean edged brown­ies that … more →




melissa’s chocolate peanut butter cups

Posted on Jun 26, 2011

A busy mother of three, Melissa devised this fin­ger lick­ing treat which mar­ries two of life’s per­fect fla­vors: choco­late and peanut but­ter. Gluten and dairy free, but chem­i­cal and preser­v­a­tive free as well, your kids will love these. Adults too, … more →




maiah’s chocolate zucchini cake

Posted on Jun 26, 2011

Maiah sub­mit­ted this as an adap­ta­tion from a fam­ily recipe. Those of you who have a veg­etable gar­den can tes­tify that there is just so much zuc­chini you can eat or give to your neigh­bors! I love that this cake … more →




pineapple upside down cake

Posted on Jun 13, 2011

I per­son­ally love these old fash­ioned desserts that remind me of my early child­hood and church potlucks. And noth­ing says sum­mer like a pair of cat-eyed sun­glasses and pineap­ple upside down cake…1960’s style. Trust me, I have pic­tures of my … more →




coconut strawberry ice cream

Posted on Jun 1, 2011

Uber deli­cious and crazy quick. The only require­ment is an ice cream maker, which is one of those invest­ments that pays for itself the first sum­mer you use it. This coconut based ice cream is creamy and full of fla­vor. … more →




pamela’s chocolate chunk cookies

Posted on May 13, 2011

Another great short cut com­pli­ments of Pamela’s. GFCF, but with a bit of soy in the chunks of choco­late, these are my son’s favorite cook­ies, bar none. Using a mini-ice cream scooper makes beau­ti­ful, uni­form cook­ies every time. Prep time: 5 … more →




chocolate puffed rice treats

Posted on May 9, 2011

A clas­sic Amer­i­can treat that is almost always gluten and dairy free! You can use tra­di­tional marsh­mal­lows or get the more health con­scious vari­ety at your local co-op or Whole Foods. My son’s 8th birth­day party is tomor­row and this … more →




banana strawberry cake

Posted on Apr 22, 2011

I’m on kind of a berry kick at the moment. Now that spring is firmly here and I can feel the hint of sum­mer here in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia, I know per­fectly ripe berries are just around the cor­ner. That means … more →




berry port cake

Posted on Apr 22, 2011

I have those moments of rash jus­ti­fi­ca­tion when I tell myself that I HAVE to eat this to make sure it’s ready to share. My accom­plice was my 8 year old son, who like a small rodent, took a bite … more →




chocolate dipped strawberries

Posted on Mar 25, 2011

There is some­thing so famil­iar, yet deca­dent about a choco­late dipped straw­berry. You can do them the night before you serve them and they are per­fect the next day. Just take them out of the refrig­er­a­tor about a half hour … more →




chocolate cupcakes

Posted on Mar 25, 2011

I love a good short cut. Sof’ella makes an excel­lent choco­late cake mix that requires the addi­tion of water, eggs and but­ter (I used grape­seed oil with no prob­lem). I made a few changes — instead of 1 1/4 cups … more →




carrot cake & pumpkin muffins

Posted on Mar 23, 2011

This is a take-off of my pump­kin banana muffins, but car­rot cake style. I love using a mini muf­fin pan for these for tiny bite-sized treats that freeze beau­ti­fully. I know…it’s a lot of ingre­di­ents, but most of them are … more →




valentine bonbons

Posted on Feb 12, 2011

My friend, Simone, gave me the idea for these lit­tle nuggets. Using ready made choco­late sand­wich creme cook­ies (they look like Oreos) make these gluten-free, casein-free bon­bons a snap to make.  Add peanut but­ter to the mix and you’ve cre­ated … more →




chewy chocolate chip cookies

Posted on Feb 9, 2011

These gluten-free choco­late chip cook­ies are packed full of pro­tein, thanks to almond flour and quinoa flakes. The soft cak­i­ness of these cook­ies are great for my daugh­ter after her braces get tight­ened. Dipped in almond milk or cof­fee, they … more →




quickest ever GFCF peppermint bark

Posted on Dec 18, 2010

Short of bit­ing into a candy cane while you’ve got a mouth­ful of choco­late chips, this recipe is the eas­i­est way to pro­duce that won­der­ful chocolate-peppermint com­bi­na­tion but GFCF style — with­out the milk. No blocks of choco­late, no lay­er­ing … more →




peppermint bark

Posted on Dec 16, 2010

I love this stuff. It’s totally addict­ing, so I’m glad candy canes are only avail­able at Christ­mas, or I’d be in trou­ble. This is a fun thing to do with friends or with your kids. It’s a lit­tle tricky. Just … more →




dad’s tart

Posted on Nov 16, 2010

Last week­end, we brought our kids and their two friends to the Veteran’s Day Parade down­town. It started with high school bands march­ing in per­fect time with their shiny instru­ments, wip­ing beads of sweat from their fore­heads. Flag twirlers fol­lowed … more →




chocolate almond bark

Posted on Nov 2, 2010

These are inspired by the lit­tle can­dies I cherry pick from the box of See’s that finds its way into our home every Christ­mas. You can use solely milk choco­late or solely dark for this recipe, but I think half … more →




apple crisp

Posted on Nov 2, 2010

Like an apple pie but with­out the crust. Good for any time of year, but best in fall, I think, when the apples are per­fectly ripe. I’ve made it a cou­ple dif­fer­ent ways — with almond flour in the top­ping … more →




creepy cupcakes

Posted on Oct 29, 2010

If you’re look­ing for some fun treats for your child’s class party, these cup­cakes offer a bit of whimsy with a slight ick fac­tor. Just use a pack­aged mix — I like Cher­ry­brook Kitchen or Pamela’s Choco­late Cake mixes and … more →




quick chocolate chip cookies

Posted on Oct 11, 2010

Not just for lit­tle kids, but for big ones too — choco­late chip cook­ies are the uni­ver­sal com­fort food, right up there with mashed pota­toes and pop­corn. Busy indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies take heart. Cher­ry­brook Kitchen has a won­der­ful gluten, dairy, … more →




chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

Posted on Sep 29, 2010

Maybe the best com­bi­na­tion of all…chocolate and peanut but­ter. Prep time: 20 min­utes Total time:  45 min­utes Yield: 12 cup­cakes For cup­cakes: 1 bag Pamela’s Choco­late Cake Mix 2 large eggs 1 1/4 c. water 1/2 c. oil For frost­ing: 4 … more →




carrot cake muffins with cream cheese frosting

Posted on Sep 17, 2010

Remem­ber, this has a tiny amount of milk in it. Deli­cious with a cup of tea or cof­fee. Great for a grab and go break­fast on the way to work. Prep time: 20 min­utes Total time: 40 min­utes Yield: 6 muffins … more →




fruit platter

Posted on Sep 15, 2010

Never under­es­ti­mate the appeal of fresh fruit. When I bring an this to a party, fruit is always a nice con­trast to all the stan­dard heavy, creamy fare. Use what­ever is in sea­son and it makes a beau­ti­ful appe­tizer or … more →




chocolate chip muffins

Posted on Sep 15, 2010

Using Pamela’s mix makes these muffins a snap. Remem­ber, there’s a small amount of milk in these. Prep time: 15 min­utes Total time: 35 min­utes Yield: 12 muffins 2 1/2 c. Pamela’s Bak­ing & Pan­cake Mix 1/2 c. water 1/2 c. … more →




paige’s witch hats

Posted on Sep 14, 2010

Easy to make and a hit with every­one, not just kids. Prep time: 10 min­utes Total time: 25 min­utes Yield: 2 dozen cook­ies 1 c. peanut but­ter (I use organic, which pro­duces a less creamy cookie, but tastes great) 1/2 c. … more →