Coconut snowman, Nerds, neopolitan, Elvis, Harry Potter, spumoni and more ultra fun cupcakes

All these cool cupcakes are by the bakery Confectioneress Cupcakes and Sweets in Zionsville, Indiana, via their Facebook page. Wow! Love the creativity. Contact at mica at confectioneress.com or 317-873-0880.

Also from Facebook, up to the minute: "today's flavors are butterbeer, cotton candy, cookies and cream, chocolate peanut butter, carrot cake, "the king", chocolate chip cookie dough, malted vanilla caramel, red velvet, pumpkin pecan caramel, choc/choc, choc/van, van/van, van/choc."


chocolate snowman


Nerds cupcake: "vanilla cake speckled with nerds inside. Then it is topped with our vanilla buttercream frosting and rolled in nerds."


Neopolitan


The King (Elvis) cupcake: "Banana cupcake with a peanut butter and honey cream cheese buttercream frosting. Topped with peanuts, local honey, and some candied bacon."


pretzel cupcake


Harry Potter butterbeer cupcakes (from July, but still cute)


Spumoni: "Chocolate cake with pistachio and cherry buttercream, then topped with a hand dipped dark chocolate cherry."


chocolate mocha crunch


personalized cupcakes


and....80's cupcakes!

The cutest Cookie Monster cupcake I've ever seen

And trust me, I've seen a lot of Cookie Monster cupcakes, but these, by blogger Angry Asian Creations, just have that that something extra. The eyes are big, the blue coconut is bursting with color, the cookie is so bold. So fun. Color me impressed. And I'm not the only one: it won Best Decorated cupcake at Charm City CupcakeCamp.

Coconut Wampa cupcakes

These are coconut Wampa cupcakes by Geeks are Sexy, where they've also got some Wookie cupcakes. And no, I'd never heard of Wampa before this post because, as I think I've blogged before, I've never seen Star Wars. Please don't stop reading this blog because of that (kidding, kind of). Via Neatorama.

Gluten-Free Raspberry Coconut-Almond Bars

Gluten-free almond raspberry bars with coconut are sweet temptation.

Let's be honest. I am here today to tempt you. To coax you. To seduce you with a vegan holiday dessert worthy of the calories. In full transparency, I am admitting up front these are not fat-free. Or sugar-free. These aren't diet food. They're not proper for breakfast (unless you serve them with Champagne). And you won't be able to sigh ever-so-wistfully at parties and mention, off hand, how hard it is to eat gluten-free during the holidays. Because, Darling Reader, you'll score zero sympathy points once people sink their teeth into the luscious raspberry jam filling nestled between buttery toasted coconut-almond crunch topping and tender hazelnut cookie crust. Nope. In fact, these decadent raspberry coconut-almond bars should come with a warning:  

Be careful who you share these with.

Because they are sure to fall madly in love with you.


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Idli,Sambhar and Chutney

Idli
For making fluffy soft idlis you need:
4 cups idli rice
1 cup split urad dal
1\2 cup Fenugreek (methi) seeds

Soak:
* Wash and soak the urad dal, idli rice and fenugreek seeds separately in water for at least 6 hours.
To Grind:
* Drain the extra water from fenugreek seeds, rice, urad dal and mix all together.


* Grind this material in mixer with adding minimum water.


* Make a smooth batter and add salt. The final batter should not be too thick or too watery.


To make idlis:
* Allow the batter to ferment for at least 12 hours.

Preparation:
Step 1: Heat 1 cup of water in idli cooker.
Step 2: Add the 3 tablespoons of batter in each of the idli plate and put it in idli cooker. Close the idli cooker with lid.


Step 3: Cool for about 10-12 minutes. Let stand for 1 minute and unmould.


Step 4: Serve hot with chutney of your choice and sambhar.



Cooking Tip:
* Well fermented flour will give really fluffy and soft idli’s.
* If you live in US or any cold country, try keeping the flour in a conventional oven and keep the light on inside the oven.
* Fenugreek seeds is good for health so I add this in batter.

Sambhar

Ingredients for sambhar masala:
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
6 curry leaves
1\2 tbsp asafetida powder
1 tbsp urad dal
4 cloves
2 small pieces of cinnamon

Method for the sambhar masala:

Step 1: Roast all the ingredients individually in a pan.

Step 2: Grind them together in a grinder.

Step 3: Make smooth powder. If you made more than you required than you store it in an air-tight container and use it when required. I was always made fresh smabhar masala for nice aroma.

Ingredients for sambhar:
1\2 cup chopped white gourd
1\2 cup chopped carrot
2 big size drumstick (diced)
1 big size finely chopped onion
2 cups tuvar dal
3 tbsp sambhar masala
Few curry leaves
1\2 tbsp cumin seeds
1\2 tbsp mustard seeds
1\2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
A pinch of hing
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish.

Method for the Sambhar:

Step 1: Wash the tuvar dal. Cook it in cooker with sufficent water. Grind with grinder.

Step 2: Boil the vegetables and add salt to taste.
Step 3: Drain extra water form cook vegetables.

Step 4: Heat the oil in another pan and crackle mustard seeds. Then add cumin seeds and a pinch of hing.

Step 5: Add finely chopped onion in it and fry for few minutes.

Step 6: Now add the vegetables in it and cook for one minute.

Step 7: Pour the tuvar dal and add turmeric powder, red chilli powder in it.

Step 8: Add sambhar masala and simmer over medium flame for 15 minutes.

Step 9: Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Idli and dosa.

Tips:
* To ensure that the smabhar tastes fresh, do not use sambhar masala that is over two month-old.
* If you prefer your smbhar strong, then add a pinch of clove powder to tuvar dla while soaking it.
* If the smabhar is too thick, dilute milk in water and add it to the smabhar.
* If you add more water while cook the tuvar dal then can be reused to cook vegetable this will help retain the flavor and nutrition of the sambhar.

Idli Chutney

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh/frozen coconut

½ cup dalia (Pottu Kadali/ fried gram dhal)

4 green chilis

Salt to taste

For seasoning:

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tbsp mustard seeds

1/2 tbsp urad dal

3-4 curry leaves

Method:
Step 1: Grind coconut, ½ cup dalia, salt and chilies to a smooth paste adding required amount of water.

Step 2: Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add urad dal.

Step 3: When dal turns slightly brownish, add curry leaves. Fry for a little while. Pour this seasoning over chutney.

Step 4: Mix well and serve with hot dosa or idli.

Vegan Coconut Bars

Chocolate and coconut vegan heaven.

Sometimes you just need a treat. A recipe with coconut and chocolate. After all, you've been so good. You've been munching fresh veggies and brown rice. You've been slurping healing soup with cabbage and drinking green tea. You've been diligent checking labels for gluten, casein, and soy. So it's time for something sweet. Something moist and chewy and perfect with a cup of tea.

Egg-free baking is tricky. And at high altitude, even trickier. Truth be told, I've tossed a dozen egg-free experiments into the trash this summer. But these little vegan gems?

These were keepers.

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Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake- An Easy Gluten-Free Recipe

Use a gluten-free pancake and baking mix to make cake!

 

This is one of my most popular gluten-free cake recipes- a divinely simple gluten-free coconut cake studded with chocolate chips. And so easy to make if you keep Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix on hand. We are leaving for Los Angeles on Friday and Yours Truly in Gluten-Free Goodness will be off-line for a bit. I thought I might leave you with something sweet to nosh as I prepare for our much anticipated sojourn into Hollyweird.

A simple recipe. No fuss. No frosting. Cake for those of us who aren't gifted with ganache. The kind of cake you can grab on the go (how very un-Zen!) or nibble politely over coffee and a hot flash inducing debate with friends about why naturally beautiful, smart and talented women inject military grade toxins into their foreheads and goddess-knows-what into their lips and bursting apple cheeks until all you can do, Dearest Reader, is stare in frozen horror wondering, What the Tap-dancing Hades have you done to your face?

Please, women. I beg you. Stop.

Your once expressive faces (your numero uno tool of the trade in theater and film) now look like masks or worse. You look like a sky-diving plastic blow-up doll. You do not look younger, I'm sorry to tell you. You look weird. Vacuous. If not desperate. There's an uncanny vinyl aura oozing from a visage that's had "work done" (I guess the new phrase is "been refreshed").

Trust me. Be strong. Be authentic. Think: What would Frances McDormand do?

And go eat some cake.

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Almost Sausalito Cookie Bars

The nubby chocolate chip landscape of a favorite gluten-free cookie bar.

I ask you. What beats coconut and chocolate in a cookie recipe- especially if they happen to be gluten-free? Coconut and chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Okay, I confess. My all-time favorite cookies in those innocent pre-gluten-free days were not some hoity-toity gourmet bakery confection but those bagged big and bumpy Pepperidge Farm chocolate chunk cookies you could get in any East Coast grocery store. Yup. If memory serves me well, my go-to favorite featured coconut and chocolate. They might have been called Sausalito. Or some such California-evoking moniker.

In our quest to tweak one of our favorite dessert bar recipes this week my cookie-making husband and I came up with a chocolate chip coconut cookie bar that tastes an awful lot like those beloved crunchy-chewy Pepperidge Farm gems. We didn't happen to have any macadamia nuts on hand- but if we did I would have added some to the recipe.

And for those of you who loved dunking those Pepperidge Farm Nantucket Cookies into a glass of ice cold milk- Babycakes, these are dunk worthy.

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Maui Wowee Cookie Bars with Coconut & Chocolate Chips

Gluten-free cookie bars with coconut and chocolate.

Ah. Savor this Maui Wowee goodness- a delicious coconut chocolate chip cookie bar recipe. But first, a little back story. I remember the first gluten-free cookie I ever ate. I was a week into this new gluten-free lifestyle, knowing- by my body's dramatic response to giving up gluten- I was on the right track. I was feeling hopeful, deprived, relieved, angry and curious all at once.

So, Dear Reader, I took my first bite.

The store-bought cookie tasted like dog biscuit dust. Like a thawed frozen pizza box whizzed in a Cuisinart. Like a stale corner crumble from last year's abandoned Christmas cookie tin from your aunt that can't cook and pontificates about politics over instant coffee, Sara Lee pound cake and her gently crushed pack of Virginia Slims.

My husband and sons felt sorry for me (though they masked it with humor, tossing cookies out the back door into the night like so many flying hockey pucks). The worst of it? They felt powerless to help.

That's when I knew.

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