Gluten Free Strawberry Cobbler

There's some pretty exciting news on the home front here at Charm Hour.  Not only have a I graduated from nursing school with my MSN, but I am also now registered to take the national licensing exam in just a few weeks.

And while it's totally awesomely wonderful that I don't have to go to school, take tests, or attend meetings about how totally in debt I am, it is a little sad that I won't be seeing all of my friends so regularly without any of the planning and coordination that real life requires.  

This is only more true for my dear friend Sydney.  Like me she came all the way out here from the other side of the country, except she's my opposite being from California.  She also happens to have Celiac Disease, which is the impetus for all of the gluten free recipes making their appearance.  If you haven't tried it yet, think about making this gluten free pumpkin bundt cake - it's really delicious.  This cobbler came about because Sydney generously offered to leave me all of her extra non-perishable foods when she moved back to California.  It was seriously SO much food.  And considering both of Joe and my incomes are just loan overpayments, and now I'm done with school we are very much scrounging, so this is definitely a saving grace.  It was the least I could do to bake her a little something before she left- and this seemed like a pretty darn good option.  

The only problem with a lot of gluten free recipes is that they take a lot of weird flours.  It's a pretty serious investment if you're just trying to make one person a thank you gift, or make a guest-friendly dessert.  Which is why this particular dessert is extra awesome.

This uses gluten free cake mix- meaning you don't need to hunt down any strange ingredients.  I used Bob's Red Mill Vanilla Cake Mix, but there are plenty of other types out there.  All you need is the mix, whatever ingredients it calls for (probably an egg and oil) and your fruit of choice.

You'll Need:

gluten free cake mix

additional item the mix calls for (probably an egg and vegetable oil)

your fruit

a small amount of sugar

First, you're going to mix up the cake batter.  Add whatever it says it needs, and mix it all up.  Feel free to get creative and add some spices at this step like cinnamon or allspice.

Next you're going to get your fruit ready.  This is where it may diverge if you're using a different type of fruit. 

For strawberries, I just rinsed them, diced them up,mixed them with a couple table spoons of sugar and left them to sit for a few minutes.  I probably used about 2 cups of fruit, but I didn't measure or anything.

This would work for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and any of the softer fruits like peaches.

If you're working with something harder like apples, I would sauté them with a pad of butter and brown sugar on low heat until the butter and sugar combine and the apples start to soften.

Then all you do is grease your pan, fill it 2/3 full with cake mix, and pour your fruit mix over the top.

I forgot to mix in spice with my batter, so I sprinkled mine on top.

If you've got batter left over, go ahead and make yourself some cupcakes.  You deserve it!

And then bake!  You can go with the temperature on your package, or just bake at 350 for about half an hour, or until it looks golden brown and a knife in one of the more battery parts comes out clean.

Take a big bite and enjoy!

And to Sydney- I wish you all the luck in California.  Stay in touch!

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

As you can probably tell by this being by third strawberry-related post in a row, buying two pints of strawberries might have been a bit much.  The better part of the first batch went into sauce for our french toast and some strawberry rhubarb crisp.  A few days laters the already ripe strawberries were getting a little harried by our very warm kitchen and our fridge that has a tendency to freeze things.

Before they got squishy and gross I figured I'd be best to bake them up.  I scoured the internet for a recipe that I could bring to work with me so it wouldn't go to waste.  Most recipes seem to be in the cobbler/pie variety- which are delicious but pretty impractical for nurses running in and out of the break room in a jiffy.  And then I came across these muffins!

You should know if you're considering making them that they're a little time intensive.  There's a couple steps, and they take probably 2 hours or so.  It's good for a summer day when you're doing other things and can jump in and out to check on them.  It's not terribly complicated, but maybe not worth the trouble if it's not a labor of love.  For me, I was enjoying a nice summer morning where I didn't work until 3, so I had time to bake and stress-relieve.

They end up being the consistency of a nice gooey banana muffin, with a light, sweet strawberry flavor on the inside and a strong tangy flavor from the roasted strawberries on top.  And, of course, they're best warm and fresh from the oven.  This makes 1 dozen muffins.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

As I said yesterday, I went a little gung-ho on the strawberries and rhubarb at the farmer's market. While I was making up some Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce for our french toast, I started the prep work for this dessert while I was at it.

I know I've said before my family wasn't huge on dessert, but my brother has always loved apple crisp.  It's really the only thing I remember my mom regularly baking from scratch. I've made a lot of cobblers in the past few months (the mango and raspberry varieties haven't hit the blog yet), so I thought I'd try something new!

What I like about this dish is that you can do your prep work in advance before dinner, toss it in the oven when you sit down to eat, and have it warm and toasty by the time you're finished.

You'll Need:

1+ 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

3/4 cup brown or white sugar

1 cup oats

1/4 cup flour

4 TB cold, unsalted butter cut in pieces

1/2 tsp salt

Start by chopping up your fruit.  I used most of a pint of strawberries, and maybe four sticks of rhubarb?  But feel free to adjust to what you have.  Peeled green apples would also go mighty fine in this.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

It's officially summer!  Our farmer's market was filled with strawberries today.  Being overly excited I bought two pints of them, along with a cluster of rhubarb (it's strawberries BFF- they go together like chocolate and marshmallow).

After getting the exciting new that my shift was cancelled tonight, I figured I'd use my surprise extra time by baking with all my fresh fruit!  We opted to have a light breakfast for dinner, so I thought making a strawberry rhubarb sauce would be the perfect accompaniment.

It's so freaking hot in our kitchen, so I had to take breaks in my fruit cutting to cool off and keep from getting too grumpy.  And as evidence that I picked the best boyfriend ever, Joe called into me from the kitchen, where he was helping me chop, "Do you want to do Charm Hour?"  Honestly, he's perfect.  He even made us the drinks- one that merits it's own post.

Anyways, this sauce is very simple but it does take about half an hour to simmer, so time your cooking accordingly.

You'll Need:

1+ 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

2/3 cup chopped rhubarb

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

The first step is obviously to cut up all that fruit.

These strawberries are perfectly ripe.

Crepes!

I really really like crepes.  I particularly love having an excessive number of leftover ones to keep in the fridge so I can wrap anything and everything in one for the next week.

This week's crepe invasion started as many do- I have way too many strawberries.  Three pounds of strawberries, to be precise.  They were only five dollars and I couldn't resist!  But now I have to figure out how to eat three pounds of them before they get mushy and gross.  Therefore, Joe gets sucked into over an hour of crepe cooking!  He's a very good sport about all this, really.

Before you get started, know that they take a long time.  At least they take me a long time, because as I said, I make about 5 times more than I need (I doubled the recipe below).  Dozens of crepes!

The recipe itself is simple.  Mix together 1 cup flour, 1 tsp sugar, and a dash of salt in a small bowl.  Mix 3 eggs and 2 cups of milk in a big bowl, stir in that flour mixture until smooth and a little frothy. Add 2 Tb of melted butter.  Pour a few tablespoons worth into a buttered pan on medium heat, flip when browned, and serve as you like!

As a note:  the first crepe is always terrible as it picks up all the pan's butter and looks ugly.  But from then on your pan should be just greased enough that you can just keep on churning them out.

 after you pour, turn your pan to get an even layer

You can tell this one's ready to flip as the edges are crispy, it looks mostly cooked through, and the underside is browned nicely.

 perfect!

stack 'em up! 

My all-time favorite filler is nutella and strawberries.

Simply spread your nutella in the middle:

throw on your berries:

And roll up burrito-style!

we always eat while cooking.