Please, sir, may I have Samoa?

Who needs gluten-filled Girl Scout Cookies when you can have gluten-free Samoa Cupcakes??

As I said yesterday, I have a serious weakness for Samoas, aka Caramel deLites. When I stumbled on this idea for Samoa cupcakes, I was sold. Not only is it a brilliant idea, but I loved the special touches, like the "caramel" sauce made from dates, agave, and coconut oil. I didn't use her chocolate cupcake or frosting recipes, but I did follow the general idea. I toasted my own coconut, and used it for the coconut-goo and mixed it into the butter cream. Also, I loved her idea of the caramel center, although I was lazy and just injected the caramel instead of cutting out the center of the cupcake.

I had way more caramel than I needed, so I just let it ooze out the top. If the cupcakes had been a little warm still, the caramel would have been infused more thoroughly into the cupcake, but there's nothing wrong with the caramel on top! Next came the toasted coconut butter cream.

Everything is better toasted, right? It's true for coconut, certainly! I toasted it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and that made it much easier to transfer. Finally, a dollop of gooey-caramel-toasted-coconut, and a drizzle of dark chocolate, and VOILA!

I also experimented with a dark chocolate-filled red velvet cupcake tonight. I started with a non-gluten-free recipe and swapped out the regular flour for Jules Gluten Free Flour. I'm not a fan of the absurdly red color of many red velvet cakes, so I went easy on the food coloring, and used gel instead of liquid. The history of red velvet cake is somewhat contested, but I don't think the original was insanely red. The recipe made 12-13 cupcakes, but next time I would do a lot less chocolate for the filling. The chocolate balls were too big for the cupcakes, affecting the structural integrity. Maybe this is only a problem because I was making them gluten-free.

Ready to be topped with more batter

Not quite enough batter left to cover the massive chocolate mounds!

They turned out pretty well. I used dark chocolate for the filling instead of milk. I liked the contrast of the slightly bitter chocolate with the sweet cupcake and frosting.

I topped them with a standard butter cream instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting because they are going to an outdoor event tomorrow.

Quite tasty, although I may recommend that they be eaten with a fork.

The only semi-fail of the night was the mint chocolate chip frosting. I waited until last to frost the minis, and by that time, the kitchen was 88 degrees! (I brought a thermometer into the kitchen out of pure curiosity.) The frosting looked great in the container, but as soon as it warmed up a little, and I wrapped my warm hand around the pastry bag, the chocolate pieces in started to melt. For all of you art majors out there - what happens when you mix light green frosting with dark chocolate? You get a funky color.

I was going for a soft-serve ice cream look, but next time I won't pipe this frosting. I'm thinking a melon baller will create a lovely hand-scooped effect. The good news is that the frosting still tastes divine in spite of its somewhat bizarre color!

Looks like it's time to clean out the fridge, or else find a cupcake fridge, (is there such a thing??), because the cupcakes barely fit inside. I love my cupcake carriers, but they are rather bulky.

All good things must come to end. A great night of baking, but the 9-5 (er, 8-5) job awaits me in the morning. Considering all three of the animals are zonked out on the bed, only opening an eye occasionally as if to say "Why are you still awake?", I believe it's time to sign off.

Now that I've made my Girl Scout Cookie confession, what's your favorite Girl Scout Cookie? And which camp are you in - Samoa or Caramel deLite?

To Garden or Bake... That is the Question.

When the cats are away, the mice will play. Or garden. Or bake?

The Architect is traveling this week, and I was all set to spend the evening gardening. I'm supposed to get the garden ready to frame out a few more raised garden beds. Currently, the garden looks like an experiment in local flora. Read: weed garden with a few perennial herbs and onions. However, when I got home tonight, I wasn't feeling inspired to go outside. I'm a bad gardener :-)

Fortunately, I'm not a bad baker. I was feeling more inspired to play with new recipes. I've been eying a recipe for mint chocolate chip butter cream frosting. All I can say is WOW. Here's an unimpressive shot of a small bit where I added the mint chips.

You'll have to trust me on how tasty this is. Like the perfect marriage of butter cream frosting and mint chocolate chip ice cream. This is headed on top of some chocolate mini cupcakes!

I also started prep for another recipe I've been eying. Rather, drooling over. Samoa cupcakes. Samoa Girl Scout Cookies were my absolute favorite before I found out I was gluten intolerant. I spent a few years as a Girl Scout Troop leader, and let me tell you, I could put away a whole of those things in one sitting! Some of you may know them as Caramel deLites, but those aren't quite as good. (Explanation) I got as far as the "caramel", which is made up of dates, agave, and coconut oil. I was very glad for the Blendtec on this recipe, which called for 5 minutes of blending. Super blender did it in about 2 minutes. And another OH MY GOODNESS moment when I tasted the caramel sauce! For anyone in the crowd who's counting, yes, I used several points taste-testing frosting this evening. Points well spent, in my humble opinion. Like the above, this shot doesn't do the caramel justice, but I'm looking forward to it turning into a Samoa cupcake!

On an unrelated note, I've been dealing with iPhone battery issues. This is the second time I've had a phone drain its battery in less than 5 hours. Not good. However, I took it to a Genius today, and after a complete wipe of the phone, without getting to fully restore my apps and setting (as it appears I was reloading whatever was causing the problem), I think I'm back in business. It's incredible how quickly you realize you rely on your phone once you can't use it! Anyhoo, on to re-downloading all of my apps.

I'll post the final products of these cupcakes. Stay tuned!

New Gluten-Free Cupcake Flavors

Happy Spring, blogosphere!

Hard to believe it's already May, right? It's supposed to be a lovely day here in Beaverdale, and it looks like a great weekend for gardening. I'm going to take a break from baking and try to build (or watch The Architect build) more raised garden beds this weekend. The plan is to convert the whole garden to raised beds. Next year, I'll take over the front yard. Year after? World domination.

It's been a while since I posted anything here. That's the bad news. But here's the good news: I've been baking up a storm!

As my family and friends can attest, I've been trying out many new recipes. I've had a blast, and some great successes, too. I'm really excited about the new flavors (all gluten-free, of course!):

Kahlua Creme
Chocolate cupcakes infused with homemade Kahlua, topped with Kahlua Whipped Creme. Just try to eat only one... I can't!

Kahlua Creme

Fresh Strawberry Shortcake
These coconut flour-based cupcakes have a light and not-too-sweet flavor. Topped with strawberry whipped creme. Bite into fresh strawberries throughout!

Fresh Strawberry Shortcake

Chocolate Tiramisu
Chocolate cupcakes, filled and topped with decadent Tiramisu marscapone frosting. Great for the sweet-tooth!

Chocolate Tiramisu

Chocolate Raspberry
Chocolate cupcakes, filled and topped with raspberry buttercream frosting. A chocolate-raspberry match made in heaven!

Chocolate Raspberry

Mimosa (middle)
Orange cupcakes, infused with champagne syrup, topped with champagne marscapone frosting and a homemade candied orange. Cheers!

Maple Pecan (left side)
Coconut flour-based pecan cupcake, topped with maple buttercream frosting. Cupcakes for breakfast? Yes, please!

Maple Pecan - Mimosa - Chocolate Raspberry

More excitement around Beaverdale Homestead - I discovered an Iowa company that makes fabulous bakery and cupcake boxes: BRP BoxShop. I now have boxes for a dozen regular cupcakes and two dozen mini cupcakes! They are very lovely and all natural - NO weird chemicals to leech into your cupcakes. This also means I'll be switching over to selling cupcakes by the dozen (or two dozen, in the case of minis). Look for updates on the GOODIES section of the blog!

What should I experiment with next for cupcake flavors?? Any requests?

Homemade Almond Milk

Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm addicted to Pinterest. I was not one of the first to jump on the bandwagon, which is a little embarrassing since the co-founder of Pinterest was a year behind me in high school. I think *everyone* else from our high school discovered the awesomeness that is Pinterest long before the general public (myself included) became addicted. However, I've been a huge fan of Pinerest since I discovered it! It's a fantastic way to save things, such as recipes and DIY projects, that I want to come back to later.

Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered a couple of Pins describing how to make your own almond milk, showing how simple it is to make! While I am not officially lactose intolerant, my body doesn't seem to like cow's milk, so I've been drinking almond milk for quite a while. I prefer unsweetened vanilla - Blue Diamond's seems to be the least processed, but I was intrigued by the idea of making my own. I used this post from Oh Nuts as a starting point, and gave it my own twist.

I didn't want to make a ton of milk, so I halved the amount of almonds and water used in the Oh Nuts post, although kept the vanilla at full strength. I learned that you can start with whole raw almonds, skin on, but you have to rub the skins off after the first soak. Supposedly, the skins cause a bitter taste. I might try them sometime without peeling, since blanched almonds are quite a bit more expensive than blanched.

Almond Milk
Yields 2.5 cups milk - doubles easily.

• 3/4 cup whole blanched almonds
• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

As you can see, I have plenty of almonds left over for future batches, so the cost-comparison is in favor of homemade (big surprise!).

Cover the almonds with water, and soak 4 hours to overnight. I soaked mine for about 14 hours, and they worked just fine. After soaking, drain the almonds and toss them into the blender. Add about half of the water and blend several minutes until the mixture is a smooth paste.

Once you have a smooth paste, continue blending and add the remainder of the water. If you want a thicker beverage, such as a coffee creamer, just add less water.

Continue blending until you have a smooth, creamy beverage.

The next step does not require "special equipment" - it can be accomplished with a strainer and cheesecloth. However, when I considered the cost of using and replacing cheesecloth on a regular basis, I decided to invest $8 in a nut milk bag. I'm thinking I can also use it to make vinegar/lemon cheese.


Pour the mixture into your nut milk bag or cheesecloth/strainer, with a container below to catch the milk.

If using the bag, use whatever kitchen tools appropriate to rig up a way to have it drain for a while. I used a trusty wooden spoon, and wound the bag tightly around it so it would drain well.

After a few hours of draining, I squeezed the bag to get out any remaining liquid. The almond that is left in the bag can be dried - it's known as almond flour, different than almond meal, which has the skins as well as the "meat" of the almond. I'm looking forward to baking with my own almond flour! When you consider that I can use all parts of the almond in the project, it's a fantastically frugal project.

I ended up with just enough milk for the week. Keep in mind that it does not contain preservatives, so only make as much as you can consume in a short period of time. (I am currently out of town, and left the remainder of this batch in the fridge, so this could be an interesting experiment waiting for us when we get home!) It does tend to separate in the container, so just give it a good shake before using it.

The verdict? I LOVE the flavor! It definitely tastes more like almonds than store-bought almond milk, and when I used it to make chai, it didn't separate in the hot liquid like the store-bought kind. Success! Next, I can't wait to make chocolate almond milk! Any suggestions for other flavors I should try?

Homestead Goodies!

A description of Beaverdale Homestead Goodies is now up! Click the Homestead Goodies tab above to see the goodies I'll have for sale this weekend.

Come see me Saturday and get your very own Beaverdale Homestead Goodies:

Westminster Holiday Treasures Craft Fair
Saturday, November 12th
9am - 3pm
4114 Allison Ave. (the corner of Beaver and Franklin)
Des Moines, IA 50310

**Credit cards and Dwolla accepted (and of course cash and local checks, too)**

Not enough hours in a day!

Where did the last few weeks go?? It might have something to do with all the traveling I've been doing lately. Over the past month, I've been out of town (both in state and out) for a few days every week! Unfortunately, that means a lot less time at home to work on Beaverdale Homestead projects, including the blog. I'm a day late for a Wordless Wednesday post, so I'll do an Abbreviated Thursday post!

As promised, a little bit of Honey Marshmallow love...

 I made marshmallows once before I had a stand mixer, but I wouldn't recommend it! You'll get a sore arm, and possibly burn out your handmixer motor! I have a Kitchenaid hand mixer, and it did fine, but it's still a long time to hold the mixer, and the marshmallows won't be as fluffy as stand-mixer marshmallows.

 There are a lot of recipes online for marshmallows - essentially, you soak a few packets of unflavored gelatin in cold water, make a sugar syrup, and mix the hot syrup with the gelatin. And mix. And mix. Most recipes call for corn syrup in the sugar mixture, which I've done (and they're delish!), but I wanted to try marshmallows that used honey instead of corn syrup. I'm happy to report that they are also very tasty!! They do taste like honey (big shock), and aren't pure white, but I'm a fan. Don't mind the oh-so-professional labels below. I cut this batch into rather large squares - I think I'll make them a bit smaller in future batches. These wouldn't fit into some mugs!

In the background, you can see my infused sugar jars. I'm making vanilla sugar and mint sugar. I looked everywhere online to find a mint sugar recipe made this way, and I came up blank. All of the mint sugar recipes I found involved blending the sugar and mint in a blender and serving it "wet", such as on the rim of a  mojito. I wanted to make an mint infused sugar using the same method as traditional vanilla sugar (scrape vanilla bean into sugar, put vanilla bean pods into sugar, mix every day, and voila, vanilla sugar!). I figured it should work for mint, too, even though there's a higher moisture content in mint as compared to vanilla bean pods.

The good news is, it seems to work! I may have to dry out the sugar once the infusion is complete, but the sugar smells VERY minty! I'll be using these sugars in my hot chocolate mixes to make flavored hot chocolate. I'm not sure how well vanilla bean hot chocolate will work, but I'm excited for the mint hot cocoa! My homemade hot cocoa mix is made with raw cacao powder from my favorite Northwoods store, Wilderness Family Naturals. I also use their cold-pressed coconut oil in my handmade lotions. Yummy!

This weekend, I'll be repeating my newest recipe for pumpkin spice cupcakes! They were a huge hit when I brought them as treats for choir rehearsal... such a hit, that I didn't even have a chance to take pictures! I don't meant to toot my own horn, but they were incredible, and you never would have guessed they were gluten-free! They may also have to make an appearance at the Craft Fair in a few weeks! I'll snap some pics of them this weekend. Stay tuned for more snippets of my preparations for Beaverdale Homestead's debut!


Westminster Craft Fair
Saturday, November 12, 9am - 3pm
4114 Allison Ave, Des Moines, IA
**Free Admission**

While you're there, check out my friend Judy's original artwork. She's selling her Peace Art and Flower Note Cards. We're supporting each other in our debut into the "crafting" world. (I'm pretty sure neither one of us fits the traditional definition of a crafter, but we're going to have a blast!) Find Judy over at her SPLIT IN TWO blog.

Hope to see you on Nov. 12th!

Drumroll, please.... Homestead Goodies!

You may have noticed the new logo at the top of the blog. And the URL switch to www.beaverdalehomestead.com. These are both parts of my master plan, er, side project. I’m going to give some sneak-peeks into my adventures over the next couple of weeks. I’ll try to keep the shameless self-promotion contained, but I’m pretty darn excited about the whole thing. Here’s how it all started…

Gorgeous church in Debrecen

We spent some time in eastern Europe this summer, specifically Hungary and Prague. As far as gluten-free goes, Hungary was very easy to negotiate. While bread as a side is a staple in Hungarian meals, they don’t use tons of flour or other gluten-containing ingredients in traditional meals. (Prague was a completely different story… don’t get me started on the dumplings!) We had a native Hungarian with us in our travels throughout the country, so he was able to help ensure I didn’t get gluten-ed anywhere we ate. Since bread is an important accompaniment to meals, he wanted to make sure I had gluten-free bread to eat while I was there. I figured it was unlikely that we’d find anything, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! When we arrived in Drebrecen, the 2^nd largest city in the country, but still only 1/10^th the size of the capital, Budapest, our Hungarian friend led us on the hunt for gluten-free bread.

Statue of Lajos Kossuth (pronounced Ko-shoot in Hungarian), namesake of Iowa’s Kossuth County

We first stopped at a little shop that looked like your standard vitamin/health food store. I poked my head in, and saw a lot of shelf-stable items, including mixes to make GF bread, but no sign of any fresh foods. When our friend emerged empty-handed, I assumed it was because they didn’t sell any actual bread, just the dry ingredients to make it. He said no, it’s just that they had sold out for the day – we’d have to come back in the morning to get a loaf. Hmmm… really? He told me that they gave him the name of another place that might still have some GF bread, and he was going to call his sister to have her check it out. I wasn’t too concerned, since I mostly go without bread. We continued with our site seeing, and next thing I know, our friend’s sister shows up with…. freshly baked gluten-free bread! And I mean FRESH – it was still warm! As you can see, I can hardly contain my excitement (which was important since we were in beautiful, historic church and it would not have been appropriate to jump around yelping for joy, as I was tempted to do!).

Not the most flattering picture, but am I ever excited about the bread inside that bag!

Not only was the bread freshly baked, it was, by far, the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever eaten: full of whole grains, seeds, and nuts; rich and hearty, but not too dense; baked to perfection; and clearly not a preservative to be found. So this little (or not so little – it was generously sized) loaf got my wheels turning. If Debrecen, population 208,000, has at least two places that sell freshly baked gluten-free bread, why doesn’t Des Moines, population 204,000 in just the city proper, have a source for fresh GF bread? Sure, you can buy GF bread in the freezer at many mainstream grocery stores in addition to the health food stores. You can also find shelf-stable GF bread at health food stores and Hy-Vee Health Markets. And as much as I appreciate the convenience of those options (see my last blog post), they are still at least semi-processed, contain plenty of preservatives, and, let’s face it, aren’t nearly as good as fresh bread.

And so, an idea was hatched… since I often bake my own GF bread, so why not bake a little extra and see if a few other people in the Des Moines-area would want to buy it? Our church has an annual craft fair, as many churches do, and I’d been bouncing around the idea of selling some of my wares there. My mom has been encouraging me to do it since last year’s fair (shout out to my mom, the designer of the adorable logo at the top of the blog!), and I thought, maybe this was just the venue to test out a GF bread venture, among other things. Thus begin the sneak peeks… I’m going to give you snippets of the Beaverdale Homestead goodies I’m working on. Everything coming out Beaverdale Homestead is handcrafted in small batches (no mass production here, folks!) and is as natural, organic, preservative free as I can muster! So if you’re in the Des Moines area, put November 12^th on your calendar, and come on over to the Westminster Craft Fair, on the corner of Beaver and Franklin, from 9am – 3pm to see for yourself!

Here’s a couple shots of my whole grain sandwich bread, and the packaging I’m testing.

Topped with Chia seeds and kosher salt

A little condensation forming as it cools

 The bread bag is compostable, so you can toss it on the compost pile when the last crumb of bread has disappeared! I’m testing a few other flavors of this bread… maybe rosemary and sea salt, or kalamata olive. Do you have a favorite bread you’d like to see? What do you think about a source for fresh gluten-free bread in Des Moines? I'd love to hear your thoughts, and stay tuned for more sneak peeks - next up, honey marshmallows with NO corn syrup!