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Desserts

Red Velvet Amaretti Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of almond flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp. cocoa powder
  • 2 egg whites, whipped
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tube of gluten free red food coloring (I used Betty Crocker)

Directions:

Separate yolks from egg whites.  In a bowl use a hand mixer to whip egg whites until it quadruples in size to a thick foam.  Set aside.  Mix almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.  Stir thoroughly until it looks like you have dried brownie mixture.  Add in whipped eggs and blend well until you get a peanut butter texture.  Add in vanilla extract and red food coloring.  Mix well until the batter is bright red.  Add about 2 tbsp. of powdered sugar to a bowl or plate.  Use a teaspoon to scoop up cookie batter and roll into a ball.  Toss in powdered sugar until it looks like a snow ball.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.


Amaretti Italian Almond Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Directions: Separate yolks from egg whites.  Whisk egg whites in a mixing bowl for about 8 - 10 minutes until it turns into foam.  Add vanilla extract, powdered sugar and almond flour.  Form dough into balls and toss in extra powdered sugar, shaking off excess sugar.  Place cookies on a greased baking sheet and gently press down on cookies.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.


Apple Pie

Ingredients:

  • 1 store bought gluten free pie shell
  • 1 cup of gluten free Bisquick mix
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1/2 stick of salted butter (frozen) + 1 tbsp.
  • 1/2 cup of ice water
  • 3 apples
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. fresh ginger (optional)


Blackberry Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups gluten free baking flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1.5 sticks salted butter
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • juice from 1 lemon or lime wedge
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1.5 cups blackberries

Directions:  In a mixing bowl, add 1.5 cups of gluten free flour, brown sugar, 2 eggs and 1.5 sticks of butter.  Once the dough forms a cookie dough like texture, split it in half.  Grease a baking dish and start pressing half of the dough into the bottom layer of the dish.  Take the other half of dough split in half, set one half aside and use the rest to finish bottom layer of crumble.  In a sauce pan, cook blackberries, 1/4 cup sugar and a drizzle of water until sugar dissolves.  Set aside and let cool.  Add cream cheese, 1/4 cup white granulated sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, vanilla extract, lemon juice and 1 egg to a mixing bowl.  Whisk until creamy.  Pour cream cheese layer on top of bottom crumble layer.  Add cooled blackberries on top of cream cheese.  Take remaining crumble dough and crumble over top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes.


Cassava and Plantain Donuts (Accra - West African Street Food)

Ingredients:

  • 2 - 3 cups of grated cassava
  • 2 overripe plantains or bananas
  • 1 cup of gluten free flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup of powdered sugar

Directions:  Peel and finely grate cassava (or process in a blender, making sure to remove hard stem/ core) until you have about 2 - 3 cups worth.  Squeeze out excess liquid from cassava and place in mixing bowl.  Peel and chop plantains, add to mixing bowl with egg, flour, sugar and baking powder.  Blend well and form into balls.  Fry in neutral oil (canola, vegetable) and then quickly toss in a bowl of powdered sugar.


Castagnole Ricotta Fritters

Ingredients:

  • 1 15 ounce container of whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1.5 cups of gluten free baking flour
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • lemon juice

Directions:  Add ricotta cheese to a mixing bowl and whisk with an egg.  Slowly add in flour, baking powder and sugar.  When the batter is firm enough (not too sticky or wet) roll the dough into balls and set aside.  You'll need at least a few cups of oil to deep fry the ricotta balls in a pot/ pan.  Heat neutral oil (canola oil, vegetable oil) until it sizzles when water is flicked over oil or toothpick forms bubbles around it.  Fry balls, flipping occasionally until golden brown.  Drizzle with honey or powdered sugar.


Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

  • 1 29 ounce can (3.5 cups) of peaches
  • 1.5 cups of sugar
  • ground cinnamon (be generous)
  • 1 cup of gluten free Bisquick mix
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1.5 cups of milk
  • 1 stick of salted butter (1/2 a cup)

Directions: In a large pot, add canned peaches, 1 cup of sugar and a generous helping of ground cinnamon.  Let cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, long enough for the sugar to dissolve.  In a mixing bowl mix gluten free Bisquick mix, baking powder, 1/2 a cup of sugar, milk and ground cinnamon.  In a 4x4 baking dish, place half a stick of butter and place in a 350 degree oven until melted.  Once butter melts in baking dish, use oven mittens to carefully roll melted butter along sides of dish.  Pour excess butter into Bisquick mix.  Pour wet batter into baking dish.  Then drop peaches along with the syrup in wet batter in sections.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Serve with ice cream and enjoy.


Plum Galette

Ingredients:

  • 4 - 5 plums
  • 1 1/4 cups gluten free baking flour, plus extra for rolling out dough
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 stick of salted butter
  • 1/4 cup ice cold water
  • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1 egg (egg wash)

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, add gluten free baking flour, baking powder and white granulated sugar.  Mix well.  Cut up a stick of salted butter into small slices and mix into flour.  Use a fork to break up clumps of butter.  Add ice cubes and water to a glass.  Use a spoon to pour ice water onto dough (not likely to need a full 1/4 cup of water, just enough to get dough to reach the consistency of play-doh.)  Press dough until you can no longer see pieces of butter.  Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.  Clean and thinly slice plums.  Place in a bowl and coat with a few dashes of nutmeg, ground cinnamon and 2 tbsp. brown sugar.  Set aside.  Lay parchment paper or plastic wrap on a large, flat surface and dust with gluten free baking flour.  Place dough on top of dusted surface and press down with hands to flatten.  Then use rolling pin or tall coffee container to roll out dough.  Once you reach desired shape, carefully lay dough on oven safe baking sheet.  Arrange plums (or apples, peaches) on the center of the galette and work your way outwards.  Carefully fold dough over fruit and brush outside with egg wash (whisked egg.)  Add extra bits of butter in between wedges of fruit.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes.  Serve with ice cream and enjoy!



Sweet Potato Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sweet potatoes (3 small sweet potatoes)
  • 3/4 cup chopped chocolate bark
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup of raw honey
  • 1/2 stick of melted butter

Directions:  Rinse potatoes and poke with holes using a fork.  Wrap potatoes in foil and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour.  Peel potatoes and press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl.  Melt the chocolate bark with butter and add to sweet potatoes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.  Pour brownie mix into a greased baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


Sweet Potato Donuts

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup of whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup gluten free 1:1 baking flour
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • ground cinnamon

Directions:

This is a slightly modified recipe from my Italian donuts / Castagnole Ricotta Fritters.  Since I've added an extra ingredient of sweet potatoes, I used less flour and less ricotta cheese from the original recipe.  I also cut out the lemon because in my mind, lemon doesn't go with sweet potatoes.

Clean and poke holes into a small sweet potato, preferably a long, skinny shaped one.  Place in foil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes.  Let potato come to room temperature or cool off in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Remove skin from sweet potato and to a measuring cupt making sure you only use 1 cup of sweet potatoes.  In a large mixing bowl, use a potato masher to get lumps out of sweet potatoes until nice and creamy.  Add in 1 egg and 1 cup of ricotta cheese.  Blend thoroughly until nice and smooth.  Add in sugar and ground cinnamon.  Sift in 1 cup of flour slowly, stirring as you add more flour.  Don't forget to add the baking powder - you need this to make the donuts light and fluffy inside.   The dough is ready to shape into balls when you can easily form it into balls in your hand without too much dough sticking to the palm of your hand.  Place raw donut balls onto a large plate, being careful not to let the donuts touch each other.  You should get about 19 - 21 donut balls.  Don't make the balls too big or else the inside won't cook properly.

Fill a pot with enough canola oil to reach the knuckle on your index finger.  Turn on high heat.  Use a tooth pick or spritz the oil with water to see if the oil is hot enough.  If the toothpick is surrounded by tiny bubbles or if the flick of water makes a frying noise - the oil is ready for frying your donuts.  Use a slotted spoon to carefully drop each donut ball into the oil.  Don't overcrowd the pan.  Donut balls may flip over themselves.  You want to cook them until they are a nice golden brown color, carefully turning them on each side as they fry - about 3 - 5 minutes total.  You may need to adjust the heat for the next batch, turning the heat down to medium so the donuts don't cook too fast or burn.  Adjust the heat from medium to high as needed.  Place cooked donuts in a bowl lined with paper towels.  Once you're done frying, take the pan off the heat, turn off the stove.  Coat with powdered sugar or drizzle with honey.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 gluten free frozen pie crust (Try MOM's organic market, Wegman's or Giant)
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar (at least)
  • 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 stick salted butter
  • 1 egg
  • seasoning mix: ground cinnamon, 2 tsp. vanilla extract, nutmeg

Directions:

Make sure your gluten free pie crust contains butter.  If not, you will need to melt 2 tbsp. of butter and coat pie crust with melted butter.  Trust me - I bought a pie crust that was vegan and it did not include vegan butter so it ruined my dessert.

Clean and poke holes into 2 large sweet potatoes.  Place in foil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap and bake at 400 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes.  Wait for sweet potatoes to cool down enough to handle, skin should be soft enough to peel off by hand.  Use a potato masher or potato press to mash potatoes into a large mixing bowl.  Add 1 egg, condensed milk, a heavy amount of ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and a little bit of nutmeg.  Add in brown and white sugar.  You can add a bit more brown sugar if you feel led to do so.  Stir together until your pie mix is an orangish brown color without any lumps.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Follow instructions for frozen pie crust - some require pre-baking before adding filling.  Remove pie crust from oven and add in filling.  Use a spatula or spoon to smooth out the top.  Place on a center rack in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes, checking after 25 minutes to make sure crust edges aren't burnt.