The only hard part it not eating them all before you’re done making them.

My mom made some cake balls for Easter yesterday, and they looked so good that I wanted to make some, too, but Annie-friendly style.

Things you need:

Foods

• Betty Crocker Gluten-free Yellow Cake Mix (which needs water, margarine, gluten-free vanilla, and eggs)
• Vanilla frosting
• White or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Materials

• Cake pan
• Mixing bowls (one large, one small)
• Spoon
• Wax paper

Step 1: Make your cake according to the directions on the box

Step 2: Gather materials for innards

Step 3: Throw cake into large mixing bowl

Step 4: Crumble it up

Step 5: Add 1/2 can of frosting

Step 6: Roll into balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes

Step 7: Put chocolate into smaller mixing bowl and melt

For those for you (like myself) who don't know how to melt chocolate in the microwave without burning it, microwave it for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until totally melted.

Step 8: Roll the cake balls around in the melted chocolate until totally coated

Step 9: Put them on the wax paper to dry. I stuck them in the fridge to dry the chocolate faster

Step 10: ENJOY!

*OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM*

I needed some bread, and I found a mix by Gluten Free Pantry (which I believe is owned by Glutino) that was about the same price as the pre-made loaf. Everyone knows homemade is better. The mix was super super easy, a packet of yeast was included in the box, but the mix DID contain milk and whey, so if you’re allergic to casein, it could be a problem. Totally ok for the GF-only crowd though!

I forgot my camera so these are via my crappy phone camera:

SO TASTY

Betty Crocker came through for me again!  I haven’t had chocolate chip cookies since I became allergic to gluten and dairy, almost a year ago.  Last night I made a batch, and there is no way any of these will be left by tonight.

Now all I need is a big glass of soy milk

ENJOY SOME TASTY PICTURES

These were pretty decent. In hindsight, I would have added some vanilla to the cookie dough. I also would have told myself that making yourself believe that baking soda and baking powder are substitutable does not make it true. And I would have used regular salt as opposed to popcorn salt.

Someday, when I’m done being a college student, I will have big kid ingredients in my apartment.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (for dairy-free, replace this with margarine)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs (to make this vegan, replace this with 2 TBSP flaxseed and 6 TBSP water)
• 2 3/4 cups flour (to make this gluten-free, replace this with 2 3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour)
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix butter (or margarine), 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs (or flaxseed and water) thoroughly in a large bowl.
3. Combine flour (or gluten-free flour), cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
5. Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
6. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.
8. Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.
9. Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.
10. Remove from pan immediately.

Bet this picture makes you wish you could grab it out of your computer screen and eat it.

*drool*

I made some gluten-free cupcakes using a Betty Crocker mix from the grocery store.  They were pretty good!  The cakey part sticks to the wrappers more than regular cupcakes, and it wasn’t very sweet, but the icing was enough sweet for me.  I’m not really into super sugary stuff, so these were perfect!

Also, my awesome cow, dinosaur, dolphin, and teddybear sprinkles were a wonderful finishing touch.

But it can refer to some pretty crappy food.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a gluten allergy* (not Celiac’s) and a dairy allergy (not lactose intolerance).    These allergies are only recent, as of this past January, so I’ve been trying to adjust.  With twenty gluten-and-dairy-filled years behind me, I have pretty high standards for this new food, and I’ve been let down quite a bit.

For example, yesterday I made these brownies with a gluten-free brownie mix from Trader Joe’s (which I LOVE)

Despicably deceiving baked goods.

The familiar smell radiating from my dorm oven was intoxicating, and the brownies themselves looked to-good-to-be-true when I finally pulled them out.  And they were.  I followed the directions exactly (except replacing the oil with applesauce and the egg with flaxseed, both healthier and tasty common alternatives).  The fact that they have almost a gummy-chewy consistency didn’t bother me, but the brownies tasted like nothing.  There is a faint chocolate taste, but nothing to justify the 1,200+ calories in the little 8×8 cake pan.  I didn’t even bother to finish eating them.  I just threw them out.

I’ll probably start posting some of my better recipes, most of which are things I create out of what my school’s cafeteria has to offer.

*Because I don’t have Celiac’s, things like seasonings and vinegar don’t normally bother me.  If you have Celiac’s, you should double check anything I write about before eating it.

There are a lot of vegans in the indie music world.  Not so much in the regular world.  I love baking for people, especially boys in bands, but I never know what the freak to make for them.  When I think of vegan food I picture tofu tofu tofu.  Ew.  No milk, eggs, or butter?  I might as well spend the rest of my life nibbling on cat grass.  JUST KIDDING!  My cousin Michelle pointed me to this recipe from john&kristie.  Yes, it does contain tofu (!!!WOAHWOAHWOAH!!!).  Shocking.  I know.  BUT!  It’s tofu cream cheese.  How can you go wrong with cream cheese?  These cookies are so good.  I’m not a vegan, but I could sit around and eat these all day.  Personally, I’m not a big sugar person, so I’ve actually made them for myself without the icing and they’re just as good.

This recipe has been a huge hit with this band Ludo, whom I am halfway obsessed with.  The first time I ever made the cookies for them, they were so happy they made a video about it.  I make up about 15,000+ of the 16,000+ views.  The dough is perfect for cookie cutters, so of course I got creative with pacmen, pacman ghosts, dinosaurs, and sea creatures.

Here’s the original recipe, a few of my edits, and a couple pictures of my cookies:
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