Fruit Pizza....so so so so yummy

This has always been one of my all time favorite desserts.  I always look forward to summertime when I can make it.  And, you can snack while you eat because there is always leftover fruit!

The original recipe for this fruit  pizza comes from an old ward cookbook I have.  From Denise Schwab.  So thank you Denise because I was able to adapt it to make it gluten free.

Here is the original recipe:

Sugar Cookie Crust:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar

Orange Sauce:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. orange peel, finely shredded
1/4 tsp. lemon peel finely shredded
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tsp. cornstarch

Filling:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla
7 cups fresh fruit pieces (peaches, nectarines, kiwi, bananas, mandarin oranges, grapes, apples, and/or berries)


****Changes that I made:
-instead of 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour I used:  1 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup sorghum flour, 3/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1 tablespoon potato flour, and 2 tsp. xanthan gum

-in the orange sauce I used more like 1 tablespoon of orange peel and 1 tablespoon of lemon peel.  Because I felt like it. :)  It was still yummy.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly grease 2 (12 inch) pizza pans.  Or one 12" pizza pan and one cookie sheet.  Just make sure you make it about 1/2" or less thick.
2. To prepare crust, cream butter, the first 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract, beating well.  Combine flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Add to butter mixture, beating thoroughly.
3. Divide dough in half.  Pat dough into prepared pans with lightly floured hands (this worked well).  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crusts are golden.  Let cool (really important).
4. To prepare orange sauce, combine the sugar, orange and lemon peel, orange and lemon juices, and the cornstarch in a saucepan.  Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture is thick.  Cook and stir for two minutes more.  Cover and cool the sauce without stirring.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare filling, beat cream cheese, the remaining powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy.
6. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crusts.  Top with fruit.  Glaze the fruit with the cooked sauce.  Chill the pizzas until serving time.  I ended up doing one pizza on my pizza stone and another bar type  on a cookie sheet.  It yielded 24 servings.  12 of those in pizza (triangular) slices and 12 as bars.

As you can see I had fun arranging my fruit.  But I was RUNNING out the door to deliver half of them to a friend that babysat my kids for FREE!  And preparing the other half to go to one of my hubby's work parties.  So all you get is a crappy cell phone picture.  But, everyone loved it.  LOVED IT!

So enjoy.

Peach Orange Spice Cake

Well it's official!  We're moving away from Maryland and down to Alabama.  At least that's the plan right now.  I'm sure our lives are full of upcoming twists and turns.  It would be nice to say that my husband has found an awesome job, but for now we're still searching.  The real challenge that's on my mind right now is that when we move to Alabama I'll be 7 months pregnant and have no insurance or doctor/midwife to deliver the baby that is coming!  So that's a little stressful.  So to relieve stress...I bake!

This is a new recipe that I just found, it comes from Living Without (a super awesome magazine that has recipes and articles on living with allergies and they cater mainly to people who cannot have gluten!).  I made this for a few friends of ours when they came over to play music and games with us.  They LOVED it!  So of course I needed to share it with you!  And, it looks so pretty. :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup gluten free flour blend of your choice (I used 3/4 of a cup of this blend: 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch)

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. xanthan or guar gum

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons sugar, divided

8 Tablespoons butter, room temp

1 1/2 tsp. orange zest

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon orange juice

4 ripe peaches, sliced (about 8 slices each...my peaches were HUGE so I used less)

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

whipped cream, for topping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly oil a 9" springform pan. 

2. Combine flour blend, sorghum flour, baking powder, xanthan/guar gum, and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.

3. Beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter until fluffy.  Add dry ingredients and orange zest and beat until crumbly.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add orange juice and beat to incorporate.  

4.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Arrange peach slices on top, form concentric circles that cover the batter.  Press lightly.

5. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon.  Sprinkle over top.

6.  Bake 55-60 minutes until golden and tester comes out clean.

7. Serve with whipped cream. 

Apple Pie, Babies, and Job Hunting

I apologize for my hiatus from writing.  I have some good reasons though!  We're expecting baby number two in November right around Thanksgiving.  Another girl, and we are so excited.  So you can probably guess that the last time I wrote was the last time for quite a while that I felt like creating anything in the kitchen!  But now, I'm back to baking and cooking all the time.

My husband has been job hunting all summer long.  I don't think I've ever been so anxious about something (even having a baby) as I have been about waiting to hear back from job interviews.  It should be any day now that we hear either something AWESOME or totally lame.  I feel like I haven't been able to plan anything more than a few days in advance.  Are we moving?  Are we staying?  Do we have enough money for this month?  Should we move in with our parents for a little while?  How do you stay motivated?!  And on top of it, I'm pregnant and I want to paint the girls room, buy a big girl bed, know where I'll deliver the baby, and just stay sane in the process.  So baking has been quite a release for me these last few weeks.  And that said...I have several blog posts for you!

Apple Pie

I love this Apple Pie recipe.  When I first went gluten free there were lots of things that I missed.  And one thing in particular was my mom's apple pie.  I've tried about a dozen different pie crust recipes and this one works the best!  It tastes delicious, is flaky, is easy to use (which I haven't been able to say about ANY OTHER GLUTEN FREE PIE CRUST!), and is everyone's favorite.  This pie crust complements apple pie very well and I haven't tried it with any other pie.  The other amazing thing about this pie crust is that I've made this in 3 different locations.  Low altitude, average humidity; high altitude, dry as a bone; and low altitude, very very humid.  And in every location, it has performed beautifully!  The recipe for the crust comes from the book "The Wheat-Free Cook" by Jacqueline Mallorca.  

The filling for this pie is my mom's original recipe (with a tweak).  

Ingredients: 

Crust:

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 cup sweet white rice flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. xanthan/guar gum

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut in small cubes

1 large egg

Filling:

6 cups (2 lbs.) thinly sliced, peeled, Granny Smith apples

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup sugar

dash of ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tablespoon butter

1 egg yolk

cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions:

Step 1: Process the cornmeal in a food processor for 2 minutes until more finely ground.  Add the rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, xanthan or guar gum, and salt, and process to combine.

Step 2: Add the butter, and pulse until it forms pea-sized lumps.  Add the egg, and process briefly to mix.  Add 1 tablespoon ice water, and process briefly to make a ball of dough that barely clings together, adding another teaspoon of water if necessary to make a damp dough. 

Step 3: Turn the dough out, crumbs and all, onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and form into a log with your cupped hands.  Cut in half.  The dough is now ready to use or can be enclosed in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours.  

Step 4: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Have ready a 9" pie pan.  Combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar, nutmeg, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Toss to mix.  Set aside.

Step 5: Working with half the dough at a time, roll out between sheets of plastic wrap (I usually use a couple sheets on the bottom overlapping, and a couple sheets on top...but if you buy the HUGE rolls of plastic wrap you may be able to just use one on bottom and one on top.)  Lift the top sheet and tuck in the rough edges (this really helps!), into 11 inch circles.  Set one aside for the top crust.  Use the other circle to line the pie pan. Peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap and flop the dough into place, then carefully peel off the remaining sheet.  

Step 6:  Fill the pastry lined pie plate with the apple mixture; dot with butter.  Cover with the top crust and flute the rim (which actually works with this pie crust, if it's not working seal it with the tines of a fork).  

Step 7: Combine the egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of water, and brush over the top, but not the rim.  Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Cut small slits or prick with tines of fork to let steam escape.  Place the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips.  

Step 8: Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking until the filling is tender and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.  I usually have to cover my crust for the last 10-15 minutes with aluminum foil so that it doesn't get too brown.  

Step 9: Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  :)

Rainy Days...

Usually, I love rainy days. The days where you turn up the girly music and open up the blinds and enjoy the drizzle on the window panes. But sometimes, rainy days make me feel a little blue. Chocolate strawberries are the perfect answer for those days. My daughter helped me by drying the strawberries. I think more made their way into her mouth than into the chocolate.

1 cup chocolate chips

1 Tablespoon shortening

Heat for 1 minute in the microwave at 100%. Stir and dip.

I hope that your blue days pass by quickly. We have so much to be thankful for and look forward to.