(Gluten-Free) Baking with Dorie Project

I am so excited! Last night I noticed a great photo on Photograzing's web site for lemon poppy seed muffins. (This is the same site where I got the idea for the tie-dyed cupcakes. Apparently Photograzing is my muse this week!)

After clicking on the photo, I was taken to Susi's Kochen und Backen Adventures where I learned Susi and Grapefruit, from Needful Things, are organizing a group called "Bake with Dorie". They are planning on making recipes out of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and posting their results.

Tie-Dyed Gluten-Free Cupcakes

This morning I saw AMAZING cupcakes posted on The Girl Who Ate Everything's blog. What made these cupcakes amazing? Um, they were brightly colored rainbow cupcakes! And they were gorgeous!

I decided to make a batch. I usually don't bake with food dye. Since it's my birthday, I figured I have an excuse!


I proudly present, Gluten-Free Tie-Dyed Cupcakes!

Gluten-Free Banana Cream Pie

I'm fairly new to Twitter and it is already making me do bad things. Well, is making a banana cream pie a bad thing? Nah. I don't think so either. Anyway, Domino Sugar tweeted that March 2 was National Banana Cream Pie day. My first thought was: "Who comes up with these holidays?" My second: "Oh my! I want a piece of banana cream pie right now!" So, I made one.

Banana cream pie is one of those classic American desserts that I adore. Creamy custard, bananas and pie crust? Perfection on a pie plate!

While I love everything about this pie, I especially love the filling. It's a homemade vanilla custard. (And don't let that scare you. All you need to do is boil some milk and whisk in some eggs and cornstarch. It's easy. I promise!) I could write reams and reams about how much I love making custards. Standing at the stove, boiling milk, adding eggs and watching a custard take form is one of my favorite things. It just makes me happy!

I use a homemade pie crust for this pie. If you don't feel like making a crust, you can always substitute a crumb crust.

Happy Belated Banana Cream Pie Day! 

Gluten-Free Powdered Sugar Doughnut-Muffins

This recipe is my mom's fault. Okay, maybe not "fault" because who would want to blame someone for inspiring powdered sugar doughnut-muffins? Anyway, she was watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Snack Attack" on The Food Network and someone mentioned Doughnut-Muffins. That's right. Muffins that taste like doughnuts. My mouth was already watering when she said, "You should make a gluten-free version."


Since I try to be a good daughter, I listened to my mom. The doughnut-muffins from The Downtown Bakery (the bakery that serves the gluten-filled doughnut-muffins) are rolled in melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. While that sounds divine, I love powdered sugar doughnuts and wanted to try making a doughnut-muffin version.


Taking a cue from Mexican wedding cookies, I rolled the muffins in powdered sugar right after they came out of the oven. It worked! The sugar stuck to the warm muffins. 

The muffins have a bit of crust that gives way to a tender interior. The next time I make them, I think I'll fill them (after baking) with a little jam. Jelly Doughnut-Muffins, anyone?