Craberry Bliss Granola Balls {No-bake and Gluten free!}

I'm all about no-bake snacks lately. There's just a laziness in my bones that knows no bounds.

Gluten Free Hostess Cupcakes

Whether you've been missing Hostess since they went bankrupt or since you've gone gluten free, you're sure to love this new and improved GF version.

And don't tell the folks over at Yammie's Noshery, but I actually made theirs gluten free too. They'll never know the difference.

Hostess Cupcake Copycat

For the Cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour mix
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup soft butter (or lard, my sister swears it makes it way more moist)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup brewed, cooled coffee or water
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Add the butter or lard and mix for about a minute. Add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like wet sand. Combine the milk, coffee or water, and vanilla and add all at once. Beat for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Fill tins 1/2 full. Bake about 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen (I think).

For the Filling:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter (or use a whole cup of shortening if you want it to be dairy free)
6  cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk

Beat together the butter and shortening until smooth. Alternately add powdered sugar and coconut milk. Beat until fluffy.

For the Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup butter (or non-dairy butter or shortening)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 cups powdered sugar

Melt together the butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Stir in the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix until smooth.

Assembly: Cool cupcakes completely. Pipe the filling into the cupcakes with a long skinny cake tip (mine is a Wilton 230). Fill just until the top looks like it's about to crack. Peel off the cupcake liners and dip each cupcake into the glaze. Pipe the a swirl of the filling onto each cupcake using the same tip.

(Cupcakes based on King Arthur Flour)

Pizza Hut Style Pan Pizza Crust {Gluten Free Copycat}

I know, you probably find my lack of cheese disturbing. I don't blame you. I did put on every sort of topping I could find to make up for it though. Besides, this time the crust is the star.

My family is pretty split about crust types. We've got a few freaks that like thin and crispy and a couple fools that like a chewy hand-tossed, but I personally go for a nice deep dish pan pizza. In fact, since going gluten free, Pizza Hut's pan pizza is probably one of the things I've missed the most. That fluffy dough and that blessed, crispy, greasy bottom! It is a miracle among pizzas, I tell you.

So today, we're going to make our own. You start out by beating up some egg whites.



Just till you get some nice peaks, not too stiff.

Meanwhile you'll mix together your yeast and water and stuff and let it sit for a few minutes. When the whites are ready, pour the yeasty mixture into the whites and beat on medium speed until it looks like this...



Kinda freaky, but never fear! Now you can dump the dry ingredients in all at once and beat it for another minute on high speed. The dough will be like a thick batter.

Press your batter/dough into a couple of well greased cake pans. You'll want to get your hands really wet to press the dough in because it's very sticky.  Also, you'll want to use a good amount of oil in the pan if you want it to have that fried quality to the bottom. This makes it kind of hard for pressing the dough in, but you can do it!

 Let it rise for a while now so it's nice and fluffy.

Then throw on some toppings and bake it and you'll be back in the old hut of pizza before you know it. 

Also note: to warm it up, I usually microwave a piece for about 30 seconds and then I turn on the toaster and set it on top of that so that the bottom can crisp back up.

What I do in the name of food.

Pizza Hut Style Pan Pizza Crust
Makes about two 9 inch pizzas*

3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup oil (I used light olive oil)
3/4 cup warm water (somewhere between 105ºF and 115ºF)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 egg whites
2 cups tapioca flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix together the sugar, oil, water, yeast, and vinegar in a bowl, set aside. Beat the egg whites until peaks form (see photo above). Add the yeast mixture and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on low speed until combined and then on high speed for about 1 minute. The dough will be like a thick batter.
Grease two 9 or 10 inch cake pans with at least a few tablespoons of oil (I used vegetable). The more grease you use, the more "fried" the bottom of your pizza will be, but it will also make it difficult to press the dough into the pans. Make sure you get your hands wet before pressing the dough in or else it will stick to your hands.
Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes or until it's about doubled (no need to be too precise). Top with desired toppings and bake at 350ºF for about 45 minutes or until the crust is browned. 

*I had about 3/4 of a cup of leftover dough using 9 inch pans so I baked the extra in a mini loaf pan. If you like your crust a little thinner, you might be able to stretch it into three 8 inch pans. Let me know if you try it!

This recipe was lightly based on this bread recipe

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