how embarrassing.

Boy are my cheeks red.

It's been eons since I've put up anything remotely titillating. But I want to change, I really do. I want to treat you right, baby. And I will. I've been baking hard and experimenting with some succulent little treats and I have the thick, semi-permanent powdered sugar coating on my tongue to prove it.

In the meantime, get yourself addicted to Smitten Kitchen, which I am now happily hooked on thanks to my dear friend and gorgeous gastronome Marina (who docks her boat here).

Anyway, prep yourself now because I've got a thing for sandwich cookies that just won't quit.

--M

a few of my favorite things.

1. Fiori di Sicilia Extract

AKA liquid sunshine. Adds a delicate, mysterious, intoxicatingly delicious hint of lemon blossoms and vanilla. Super next-level. I wish I could bathe in it (and probably should). Get it from King Arthur Flour.

2. Silicone Spatualas and "Spoonula"

Candy-colored and a cinch to clean. They also withstand heat like a dream, so they won't become melty wrecks if you accidently leave them sitting in a hot pan.

Plus Spoonula makes it sound like Dracula and your favorite stirring spoon were having a torrid affair and accidently sired the best tool ever. Williams Sonoma.

3. ISI Silicone mixing bowl

A miracle of the modern age. Folds, bends, pours, drizzles, and withstands heat up to 450°F (so you can even stick it in the oven). It's also dishwasher safe and stink-proof. I got mine at the Bowery Whole Foods but you can also grab one here for the same price. Mine is blood red.

4. Ball jars

Classy, classic and cheap. I store all my flours, sugars, nuts, rice, garlic and gear in these guys. Pick them up at Fishs Eddy (19th & Broadway in Manhattan) or go to their website and stock up.

5. Santoku knife

Supersharp, precise, and practically eternal? Yes please. And for every one of these babies sold, Kyocera donates $5 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation with a guaranteed minimum donation of $10,000. Good for your kitchen and your karma.

Happy feasting,

Miss Muffet

curioser and curioser.

I recently re-read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and I'm so taken with it. I'd forgotten how bizarre and droll and darkly hilarious Alice's adventures actually are! Not to mention delicious...as soon as she's down the rabbit-hole, our pedantic, treat-loving little heroine is already sipping magic cordials and nibbling petit-fours like there's no tomorrow:

Alice ventured to taste [the drink], and, finding it very nice (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffy, and hot buttered toast), she very soon finished it off...

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words "EAT ME" were beautifully marked in currants. "Well, I'll eat it," said Alice, "and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!"

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself "Which way? Which way?", holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing; and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size. To be sure, this is what generally happens when one eats cake; but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

In fact, Adventures in Wonderland engages itself entirely with indulgence; at the very least, the adventure of eating and drinking. In Wonderland, a potion or poundcake has the power to change you (and it tastes good too). That's my kind of story!

Needless to say, I'm both jealous of Alice and inspired by her escapades. So I set to work making a whimsical treat fit for a mad tea party. I'm sure Lewis Carroll wouldn't object to me making it gluten-free...

Ta-da!

(Gluten-Free!) Currant Cream Cake

with European Buttercream

Better than a fairy tale...

Illustrations: Arthur Rackham (top), Gwynned M. Hudson (middle).

addendum.

I spent a long time feeling left out of "regular" cooking/baking (that is, recipes for people with normal digestive systems that use flour and the like), and I don't want anyone who can eat regular flour to feel left out either. I don't want to scare away Gluteners.

So if you're feeling intimidated by words like "xanthan", or don't approve of my alternative flour alchemy, let me make things easy for you right now.

Any of my recipes can be simplified by using

• AP flour (if you can eat it)*
• Unblanched almond flour* (NOTE: almond meal and Bob's Red Mill almond flour will not work)
• Coconut flour (which is a bit lighter than almond flour)*
• or any other blend of gluten-free flours/mixes you prefer

instead of my flour suggestions and swapping them with your choice of flour on about a 1:1 basis (some tweaking may be necessary, but some trial-and-error, creativity and experimentation is what makes baking fun!).

So if a recipe calls for 1/2 C cornstarch, 1 C rice flour and 1/2 C potato starch/tapioca flour/whatever, simply substitute 2 C total of whatever flour/flour blend you want to use.

Make sense? From here on out I'll be experimenting with recipes with fewer, simpler ingredients. Ok. There. I'm relieved of the burden of truth.

ALSO:

Go read this book,

Melanie

*you can omit the X-gum if you bake with these! Hooray! That biz is expensive...

the beatles had it wrong.

Happiness is a warm muffin. Specifically this one, made in honor of fall and to heal all my hung over Halloweeners who caroused a bit too hard last night. (I personally blew it and fell asleep at 9 PM.)

Honey Crisp apples are easy to find in any green market around these parts, and add a delightful warm sweet-tart little crunch against the soft, dense pumpkin crumbs.

(Gluten-Free) Pumpkin Honey-Crisp Muffins w/ Maple Butter

1/2 C brown rice flour

1/2 C cornstarch

1 C gluten-free flour mix (like Bob's Red Mill)

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

2/3 C dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp finely ground sea salt

1/3 C butter, softened OR unsweetened applesauce

1 C canned pumpkin puree--not pumpkin pie mix

2 eggs

1/2 tsp maple extract (optional)

1 Honey Crisp apple, diced

Sift and mix dry ingredients. Chop Honey Crisp into adorable little cubes, place in a bowl and drizzle maple extract over so it soaks in. In a separate bowl mix stir wet ingredients, then add to dry, making sure not to overmix. Work in apple/extract duo and spoon batter into greased or lined muffin tin, filling almost to the brim. Bake for 25 minutes at 350F or until you stab one and your stabbing mechanism comes out clean. Cut 'em open and slather with maple butter immediately after baking for a piping hot pumpkin treat.

Makes 12 muffins.

Maple Butter

1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened for maximum mushability

1/4 C maple syrup (I used Grade A Dark Amber because that's what was in my fridge)

Smash butter with a fork until it's soft and really malleable then add maple syrup and beat the hell out of it. I'm like insanely buff (aka too poor to buy any kitchen appliances) but if you're not looking for a workout whip it like crazy with an electric mixer. Spread on EVERYTHING.

home fries.

No, unfortunately I'm not talking about this cinematic gem. I'm talking baked-in-a-skillet sticks of sweet potato slathered in the dreamiest fixins I could find in my fridge.

Thus

• 1 sweet potato, cut up all fry-like
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 wands (rods?) of scallion, diced
• a handful of cashews

tossed with

• 2ish TBSP olive oil
• chili powder
• sea salt
• ground pepper
• fresh cilantro and shredded gouda-parrano (after cooking)

cooked in a cast-iron skillet at 450F for about 45 minutes (checking and re-tossing occasionally)

became:

There was only one small hiccup:

Nice second-degree burn, dumbass. Now it looks like I have ring worm. And all because I didn't double-wrap my superheated skillet handle. Sigh.

I also went all Julia Childs--literally--and made my own mayonnaise from scratch (see it here but halve the recipe). Then I made it into a spicy aioli by adding a ton of Sriracha.

Poverty never tasted so good.

Until we eat again,

MK

gluten-free chocolate & port cakes.

SECRET: these are simply my voluptuous Red Velvets recipe minus a gallon of red food coloring and plus Evenus Zinfandel Port. Not only does it come in a lovely bottle (observe), it's not too bad for sipping surreptitiously while baking with it.

Also got to try out my new frosting tips. Above: #32. Check them sexy peaks.

Do you trust me?

thirty days has september...

Hopefully it won't take me that long to post again.

But life has been more than a bit hectic lately between adventures in Canada and moving to New York. Sigh. I'd love to get some more delectable treat pics up soon, but groceries ain't cheap (read: gluten-free flours, all new sugars, spices, mixing bowls and muffins tins...) and I'm still vying for a dreamy baking job in the city. Thus, no recent activity in the kitchen.

In the meantime, my few and far-flung readers, satiate yourselves with these Sweet Potato Ricotta Cinnamon Rolls. Or, even better, my reeeeal sexy, even tastier GF version:

Honeyed Pumpkin-Pecan Brunch Buns.

Once we finally get some furniture in this joint I'm going to bust out these suckers for a September Sunday morning Bed-Stuy brunch. How, you may ask? EASY.

• Swap out the 2 C AP flour (BORING) with my signature GF flour re-mix:

1 C rice flour

1/2 C cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1/2 C potato starch/flour or tapioca starch/flour

• Since we've nixed traditional flour, make sure to add 1 tsp Xanthan Gum to bind your dough. I'd also sprinkle in a bit o' baking powder for good measure.
• Ditch the veg. oil for applesauce.
• No ricotta? Just blend some organic cottage cheese till creamy.
• Add a nice sloppy tablespoon of pure vanilla extract. OR...
• If you have chai from concentrate (especially Bhakti or a similar peppery, ginger spice chai) try adding a tablespoon of that instead of vanilla. It's really delicious nuzzled up against that pumpkin flavor.
• Substitute 1 C canned, pureed pumpkin--not to be confused with yucky pumpkin pie mix--for the sweet potato, which some of us just don't have time/energy to peel, boil, cool, mash and erect a monument for.
• Once your buns are rolled and in the pan, sprinkle on some charming chunks of pecan and drizzle with raw honey or maple syrup if you're feeling superfancy. Then dust them buns with cinnamon, cardamom, maybe a little allspice...
• Devour remorselessly alongside a huge cup of Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate and a heap of scrambled eggs with cracked pepper and gruyere.

Anyway, stay tuned for more belle-cake bakery porn (hopefully coming soon)...and keep your fingers crossed that I charm myself into a tasty new job!

more than just a pretty cake.

i also occasionally (manically/maniacally) roll my own sushi. behold!

flavor sensations include (from the top down):

• MK veggie - red pepper, spinach, carrot, cucumber, avocado
• salmon avocado roll
• the phoenix - salmon, avocado, cream cheese, red pepper and cilantro topped with lime-soaked jalapeño slices
• cucumber avocado roll

• le sucre - honey-drizzled pear and cucumber spears; topped with blackberry-serrano preserves before eating
• the goldenrod - avocado and cream cheese innards topped with ripe, sweet mango (everyone's favorite)

all rolls (excluding the salmon avo & cuc avo) are my own creations. each roll was made with brown rice. pretty good for a self-taught, landlocked, Nebraska-raised cupcake queen, eh?

never fear.

O my sweet belle-cakes, I didn't forget about you. But after my first foray into petit four territory went sour (real sour...except for a sweet almond-y Tiffany-blue fondant I shall always remember fondly) and a jaunt out of state, I haven't done much bakin' or homemakin'. Be patient, my pet. I'll have more for you soon.