Carmel, Peanuts, Macademia Nuts...oh my!

I have some passionate 'taste testers'. One by the name of Cliff. Cliff suggested I make chocolate chip cookie with macadamia nuts. I said no. At first. He kept asking (along with cranberry oatmeal) and so I caved in. Not a bad relinquishment of cookie power, it's a win-win:

His second request is one modeled after my favorite candy bar. Snickers. So I went to work, and it's pretty close, except the carmels are not gluten free, so I need to find another carmel supplier, and maybe use peanut butter without the nuts...

When life gives you bruised bananas....

Make banana bread!

My first venture into gluten free baking was banana nut bread. And I believe it was the only one (I adapted the recipe from Fanny Farmer) where it worked the first time.

The most important ingredient is bananas. They can't be just ripe. And they can't be black. They have to be in between. The one on the bottom is just right!

This banana bread contains the good stuff. A mix of gluten free flours, including almond flour. Toasted walnuts and chocolate chips finish it off. These little loaves (no one seems to like the name breadlet) weigh in at 200 calories. Much less than one of those HUGE muffins you see in the store! Some of which contain upward of 400 calories! YIKES.

I am finally listing them on the What's Baking page. Sold in boxes of 4 for $7, they are fun to make. And fun to eat. Some ideas were recently brought to my attention...

Split one down the middle and pan fry (oh there goes the 200 calories!) and slather with peanut butter. I have not tried this yet. But I have oogled the wheat containing banana bread french toast...now there is another idea!

Another fine idea is to maybe toast them a little and spread with Nutella. While packaging up a box for a someone, this came into mind as this person recently discovered Nutella. Or how about a fluff sandwich with peanut butter and fluff? Like I said, so much for the 200 calories...

So when life gives you bananas, make banana bread. Just make sure you make it before the bananas get too ripe then...well...you can compost them :)

No rain, all cookies...

Today was a cookie order day. Along with cranberry orange muffins. Still wrestling with the online shopping cart. Some of the formatting makes no sense. I guess I should just do it and stop trying to reason every tag and font!


Chocolate chip:

Oatmeal raisin:

Who doesn't love a cookie? And if you can't eat wheat, these cookies will love you back :)


Cranberry Orange Muffin, which is made with real cranberries from the local area (NOT OCEAN SPRAY). I would not suggest this if you don't like tart. I tried to keep it from becoming a 'cranberry cocktail' which is nothing like cranberry juice (what a surprise eh?).  Cranberries are good for you. Eat up!

Ever have a perfect cranberry orange muffin model? Me neither. This muffin knew how to work the camera:

Okay muffin, ready for your last close up?

Shifting gears, the landscape is giving in to Autumn...holidays are getting closer!!!

During a mountain bike ride in Freetown, a big fat moon welcomed dusk. Hunting started this weekend so if you venture in the woods be sure to wear ORANGE!