Calling my name

Temptation can be a terrible thing.

Yesterday, I baked cream cheese and gluten-filled chocolate cupcakes for one of the people I cook for. The smell that filled this house was amazing; I couldn't even get away from it outside. When whipping up the batter, I got a hint of the olfactory pleasure to come and managed to catch myself a nanosecond before it was too late... I had gotten some of the batter on my finger and without thinking, I had gotten that finger about half a centimeter from my mouth before the rest of my head suddenly flew out of my backside and shrieked HEY!!!It wasn't that I wanted a taste of the gluten-filled cupcake batter. It was all about losing control due to scent. Ever have that happen? The wonderful smell of chocolate (this stuff really should be an illegal drug - it's my crack) controlled my hand and forced it toward my face. Really. It did - I have witnesses.

After I made my delivery, I sat in the living room and chewed on pizza while mindlessly flipping channels, trying to figure out how I was going to make me some cupcakes, too. Because it was after 9 PM, there was no way I was going to start baking again. I had to be able to function at work. I shelved the thought, grabbed the furbabies, and went to bed.

I have an annoying habit (oh, hush - I know there's more than one). I wake up, all by my lonesome, without at alarm clock, by 5 AM every day - and I am immediately wide awake. If I sleep until 5:30, I consider myself to have slept in.

This morning, I woke up with an idea and a drooly pillow.

I ripped through The Vault and figured out which recipes to use when, coming up with temptation. I suffered through my work day, did some running after I closed the office for the day, and then finalized it all in my mind while preparing some din-din.

I seriously had to put these away, on a different floor (the basement fridge) or I was going to EAT. THEM. ALL.

On a side note, watch for big changes ahead (thanks to Natalie at Gluten Free Mommy for her input). I have been working on those big changes for the last two weeks, which is why I haven't been around here. Stay tuned, people. I promise it will be swell.

Note that I bit into it to show the innards- no way was I dinking around with a knife.

Temptation Cupcakes
(or Devils' Food Cupcakes filled with marshmallow and topped with whipped ganache)'
Adapted from The Vault

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup skim milk (there's got to be SOMETHING healthy in here)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a standard muffin tin (12) with liners.

In a mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In another bowl, sift together the brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, cocoa, and baking powder. Stir in the salt.

Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until the flour is mostly incorporated. Pour the milk into the butter mixture and stir just until blended. Add the remaining flour mixture and stir until incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan to a cooling rack. Continue to cool for another 30 minutes before filling.

For the ganache:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
4 tbsp butter, cut into pieces

In a 2-quart saucepan, whisk together the cream, sugar and corn syrup over medium-low heat until boiling. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Whisk briskly until the chocolate melts and the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the butter and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the ganache into a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until very thick. I actually throw it in the fridge and just peek in every 5 minutes to give it a stir because hey, I wasn't waitin' for no chocolate.

When ready to frost what you're going to frost, use the whisk attachment on your mixer to whip some air into that stuff until it gets nice and fluffy.

For the filling (Just so you know, this makes twice as much as you need. I am thinking ice cream topping, maybe. Or more cupcakes.):

2 tbsp hot water
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1-7 oz jar marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the salt and hot water in a small bowl; set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat together the fluff, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add the salt water and continue to beat until combined.

*************************
OK. Now the fun begins.

Remove the liners from the cupcakes and to make life easy, set them on their tops. Using a thin-bladed knife, carefully cut a plug of cake out of the bottom. I try to keep it cone-shaped. KEEP THE PLUG.

Fill a plastic zipper bag with the filling, clip a small section of a bottom corner off the bag, and start squeezing a dollop of filling into each cupcake hole. Break off the tips of the plugs, shovel the tips in your mouth, and then place the shortened plug back into the hole, on top of the filling. Press gently to seat and then flip the cupcake over so it is right side up.

When all of the cupcakes are filled, bring out the whipped ganache. Scoop it into a pastry bag (or plastic zipper bag) fitted with a star tip. Pipe the desired amount of frosting onto the top of each cupcake.

Makes 16 reasons to for me to go to the basement.

Tradition

Every time I think about the word "tradition," I hear the cast of Fiddler on the Roof singing in the background.

My first New Year's Day in Illinois was spent with The Man and two loaves of pizza bread, with which we used to make, well, pizza bread. He'd watch football and I would either read or crochet.


We did the same for the next three years. We kind of got away from it for some unknown reason but I decided at 5:00 this morning that it was time to bring this tradition back. The Man is playing in a euchre tournament this afternoon, but I am following through on the pizza bread, reading and crocheting (no football, thank you very much) until he gets home, when he will have his pizza bread.

This is one of the recipes from The Vault that I have no idea where it came from. All I can tell you is that it was damn good back when and it's nearly as good in this gluten-free form.



Pizza Bread
Adapted from The Vault

1 1/2 cups warm milk
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 tsps xanthan gum
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Combine the yesat, milk and sugar is the bottom of a mixer bowl. Allow to sit for 5 minutes so the yeast activates.

Add the flours, xanthan gum, and spices. Mix with a paddle attachment until well blended. Add the olive oil. Cover and place in a warm area to rise for 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Slice into 1/2" thick slices and top with your favorite pizza toppings, bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees for serving.

Mysterious

How is it possible that I am thinking of things to post about every day while Just Not Dinner was not in existence, which drove me nuts, and then since the day it came back, I haven't posted squat!

Very mysterious.

It's not that I didn't have anything to say, or recipes to post. The hectic pace of getting ready for the holidays just got in the way.

But now we are really back.

I made a scrumptious gluten-free dessert for Christmas Eve dinner with The Man's family, but I neglected to take a picture. Even brought the camera with me.

Luckily, I have a parental invasion occuring as I type, and after telling my father about the dessert, he said that it sounded really good. So I have the first half cooling and will begin the second half shortly.

So that will be coming posthaste.

But I also have a delicious coffee cake to share. This is one of those Vault recipes that I dug out recently because I have an abundance of pears taking up space in the fridge. Gotta use them somehow, right?

Pear Coffeecake

Adapted from a recipe in The Vault

2 cups thinly sliced pears

3 tbsp packed brown sugar

1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

2 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp almond meal

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Grease an 8" baking pan (I used a rectangular pan because it was handy, and it affected the thickness because the batter was more spread out. Keep that in mind). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan combing the brown sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and pears. Cook over medium heat until syrupy (5 minutes or so), stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.

Sift together the brown rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch and xanthan gum. Add the almond meal and set aside.

Combine the milk and 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and granulated sugar. Add the egg and vanilla, beating well. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat well after each addition.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread out until it reaches the sides (dough is kind of sticky so be prepared). Spread the pear mixture over the top of the batter and then top with the almonds.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

For the GF cookie tray: surprise package cookies

While I used to enjoy these cookies each Christmas season, they were more important to The Man and The Stepson. I skipped making them last year because of the whole unfamiliar-with-gluten-free-flours thing, but I decided that since I have had other cookie successes, I could slam-dunk this one. And I did. Gluten-eating taste-testers gave these two thumbs up.

Surprise Package Cookies
Adapted from The Vault

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp GF baking powder
1/3 tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
¼ cup cornstarch
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 ¼ tsp xanthan gum
1 pkg Andes Candies

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg and beat well. Add the vanilla.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until completely incorporated. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. With rice-floured hands, shape a tablespoonful of dough around 22 candies, forming rectangular cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies just begin to turn golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

When the cookies have cooled, melt the remaining Andes Candies and drizzle over the cookies.

The only time you will see me eat gravy

At some point during my childhood, I had a bad gravy experience. I remember doing my normal drowning of the mashed potato mound on my plate, taking a huge bite, and spitting the mouthful back out.

Was it overly salted? Generally nasty? I dunno. I was maybe 10 when this happened, so I have been essentially gravy-free for 26 years. Except for the gravy in beef stew.

I haven't had the inclination to make stew in several years. The furnace at my office has been uncooperative for a week, so we froze until yesterday, when my co-worker and I decided that we were being stupid and went home to work for the rest of the day. Today, I am feeling a bit under the weather, so I am snuggled up with The Gidge, tea and my laptop, plugging away at the work pile that only seems to get taller every day.

The thought struck me about 9 AM - something to nosh that isn't a lot of work but sticks to the ribs.

Have I mentioned that it's very, very cold outside?

On a side note, The Gidge was introduced to real, measurable snow on Tuesday night. The Man and I had a good belly laugh because she ran around like an idiot. Her little black face was white with snow because she kept shoving it into the cold stuff. We take her out with her little white coat and pink booties - particularly this morning, when it was only about 10 degrees. As long as she's got the boots and the coat happening, she romps through the snow like a pro. Take those off and she pussyfoots her way to the area we shoveled off for her use and then, with a long-suffering look at me, trudges her way back to the door.

Yes, we shoveled the grass. The snowfall we received Tuesday night comes up to her armpits....legpits....ah hell, her tummy.

Back to food. I had things lurking in the fridge from last week's organic delivery that needed to be used: parsnips, potatoes, carrots, onions. I had green beans from the garden that I had frozen during the summer. Ah, the makings of stew!

I also had a little bit of merlot in a bottle on the counter. I was all set. So I whipped up a batch of no-knead bread and set it to rise (no way was I waiting 18 hours - I set the bread proof cycle on my oven and popped it in there for 4 hours before baking).

Gotta have crusty bread to sop up the stew gravy.

Sorry for the crappy picture - forgot to take one until I was preparing to put the leftovers in the fridge.

Beef Stew - My Way

For the CrockPot

1 pound beef stew meat

3/4 cup diced onion

1 cup diced carrots

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt plus a pinch or so

1 cup diced parsnips

1 cup diced red potatoes

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup green beans, cut into 1" pieces

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 cups beef stock

1 cup red wine

1/2 tsp ground thyme

2 bay leaves

In a large skillet, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the stew meat, a pinch of salt, and onion; cook until meat is browned and onion is tender (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cornstarch; toss to coat. Add the mixture to the CrockPot.

Pour the beef stock and wine over the meat mixture. Add the the remaining ingredients and then stir together. Cover and set the CrockPot to cook for 6 hours on high heat.

Don't forget to fish out the bay leaves before serving.

For the GF cookie tray: butter cookies

I have been using the gluten version of this recipe for years to make spritz cookies, which are probably my favorite Christmas cookie, next to Santa's Whiskers. Last year, I bypassed this one because I didn't really know how to play with the various gluten-free flours yet.

That was last year. This is now.

In October, Ferrara Pan's Red Hots were gluten free. So I picked some up back then with the plan to make these cookies. They may still be - I don't know. I wasn't taking any chances.

Also, you can certainly purchase colored sugar - but it's a heck of a lot cheaper (and safer - what the heck is the "wax" that's on the labeling of every package? Why does sugar need WAX?) to make your own. An added bonus is you can make only as much as you need. Just put a scoop of white sugar in a bowl, add food coloring, and stir (add more coloring to get your desired depth of color). Spread out on a plate to dry and you've got colored sugar to decorate your cookies with.

These cookies are very tender and buttery with a hint of sweetness and a kick (the red hot) at the end. If you have patience (I don't), you can press the dough through a cookie press. I started out that way but the press mysteriously grew wings and flew when the dough wouldn't stick to the cookie sheet.

Christmasy Butter Cookies

GF'd from the Vault

1 cup white rice flour

1/3 cup tapioca starch

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup sweet rice flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup powdered sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

Green decorating sugar

Red hot candies

In a medium bowl, sift together the white rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, sweet rice flour, baking powder and xanthan gum. Set aside.

In a mixer, combine the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the vanilla and almond extracts. Add the egg. Mix well. With the mixer on low (unless you like the ambience of flour on your walls and cabinets), add the flour mixture by spoonfuls until well combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge. Have a couple of nonstick cookie trays handy (ah...the reason for the dough not sticking with the press. Duh.). If you are using a press, now's the time and heaven help you.

For the rest of us, scoop small amounts of dough and roll into 3/4" balls. Place the balls about 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie tray. When you have filled the tray, use the pads of your fingers to gently press down the top of each ball so it's flat and the cookie is about 1/2" thick.

Sprinkle each cookie with green decorating sugar and place a red hot smack-dab in the middle. Bake for 8 minutes or until the cookies are just barely beginning to brown.

Makes 52 cookies.

A pain in the rear becomes something good

The Gidge had to go. At 4:30 this morning. I took her out and because we don't allow her outside alone when it's dark, I stood outside and froze while she debated if she was going to step paws on the frosted grass to actually GO. The answer on the first round was "hell no." So we came inside, put on a little pink and brown coat and her pink booties and tried again. And again, "hell no."



So we came in to take off the booties, hooked up the retractable leash, and went for a walk. Still nothing.



It had been 45 minutes of mostly being outside by this point. I was starting to get seriously ticked with The Gidge. My ears were frozen, my nose was running, and my toes were cold. When we got back from the walk, I hooked her back up to the lead and prayed.



Still nothing. Good God.



Out of desperation, I fed her an hour early, which I am probably going to regret later. But by golly, SHE POOPED.



While all of this was going on, I came up with an adaptation of a Vault recipe and once I had feeling back in my fingers, started making a delicious breakfast.






Baked Banana Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
from The Vault



2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/8 cup lukewarm water
3/4 cup slightly warm milk
1/6 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 tapioca starch
1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum



Pour the water into a mixer bowl and add the yeast. Allow to bloom for 2 minutes. Add the milk and shortening; mix for 2 minutes.



In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, teff flour, sweet rice flour, and xanthan gum. Set aside.



In a small bowl, combine the mashed banana and egg. Pour into the yeast mixture and mix for 2 minutes. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until all of the flour is incorporated. The dough will be somewhat loose and sticky.



Line your working area with plastic wrap; spray it with cooking spray. Place the dough on the prepared plastic wrap and then cover with another large piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray (spray side down). Use your hands to pat the dough down to 1/2" thick.


Spray your doughnut cutter/2 different size biscuit cutters/drinking glass and shot glass with cooking spray. Cut the doughnuts, removing the centers. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.



Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the doughnuts for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Glaze with chocolate glaze.



Chocolate Glaze



3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla



Put the chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds, until all is melted together. Add the vanilla and stir. Dip the doughnut tops into the glaze while it (and they) are still warm.

I got 16 doughnuts out of this batch. You may get more or less depending on how large you make them.

Bananas for breakfast & a great way to pass the evening

I de-glutened another recipe from the vault a couple of days ago, but because of the barn, I was unable to get it posted before now. Such is life, I guess, at least for another 3 weeks.



But first, because it's fun, I am going to rip on a couple of people:

--The adult female that came out of the barn crying shortly after a 7-year-old that was visibly upset yet not crying.

--The high-end (read: at least 17) teenager that got the dry heaves after going through the barn.

Ripping done.

This evening, I received a box from Amazon, which contained a much-anticipated book written by Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl fame. As soon as my boss left with 4 days worth of food tonight, I put on my most comfortable jammies and curled up on the couch under a snuggly blanket, sipping a blackberry Izze (I love this stuff!), and read contentedly while the zoo competed for lap space.



Shauna unknowingly paid a huge part in my decision to get tested through Enterolab. Back in 2006, I was reading Bakerina's website while she was taking part in Blogathon. I had just been diagnosed with a multitude of environmental allergies, two of which were wheat and rye. I was researching if environmental allergies could affect digestion and reading Bakerina's hourly posts at the same time. I sent her an email asking if she had ever tried converting her bread recipes to wheat-free and she replied promptly with a link to Shauna's site. I clicked on the link and went out to our back porch to have a cigarette.

Food Network was playing on the TV. I lit my cigarette and had a drag. I don't remember which show was playing - all I remember about that moment was what happened next... The show cut to commercial. Normal time-wasters played and then when I started paying closer attention, a woman was in a green kitchen was talking about eating gluten free. My mouth fell open, the cigarette falling to the floor to burn a hole in the carpet, when she said she had a website called Gluten-Free Girl.

Holy shit.



I take omens and the like seriously. I took this as a sign that I had to do some more research immediately. I went back in the house (after picking up my cigarette and making sure the carpet wasn't going to start on fire) and read every post that night. Every symptom she described, I had.



Holy shit.



I made the decision to go gluten free that night. It took some stops and starts, but now that I have been gluten free for a year, I can honestly say that I feel better now that I ever have in my life. For someone who had a cold or bronchitis every couple of months, pneumonia every year, and a host of other issues that were "all in my head" according to the rest of the world, I can report that I have not had even so much as a sniffle - unless I have been glutened. Enough said, there.



So, thank you, Shauna, for helping bring Celiac and gluten intolerance to the forefront. Oh, and for writing this great book.





I better get this recipe posted so I can get back to reading it!






Banana-Chocolate Chip-Walnut Coffee Cake
Adapted from a recipe from The Vault



1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
3 tbsp milk



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.



In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Set the streusel aside.

Sift together into another bowl the rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixer bowl, combine the egg, butter and sugar, mixing until light and fluffy. Add the milk and bananas. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix well.



Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the prepared pan (I have found that the very edge of a rubber scraper works well for this - just move the batter a little at a time). Sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter, then spread the remaining batter on top of that. Sprinkle the remaining half of the streusel on top.



Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan; serve warm.

The Vault

I have scads of recipes laying around here. It's an addiction - I cut them out of magazines, pull them off the web. I have a stack of old 3x5 cards that contain recipes from my Junior Chefs class in the seventh grade (everyone had to bring recipes to share with the whole class). Maybe it's not an addiction. It's probably a sickness.

My whole reason for reading magazines OF ANY TYPE is to see if they talk about food. Scientific American sitting on a doctor's waiting room table? Hm. Maybe they'll mention something Alton-Brownish. I will flip through briskly in hopes of a score. If I find something in a magazine, regardless of whether or not I will actually make the dish, I will surrepticiously tear the recipe out and stash it in my purse.

Yes, it's me doing that everywhere. It's a sickness, remember?

I have started calling this recipe collection "The Vault." Any future recipes I pull out of this monstrous pile will be marked as "From the Vault".

Without further ado, here's another one I have converted from The Vault. It's a different way to enjoy your PB&J - a recipe from my 7th grade Junior Chefs class.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

From The Vault

1/2 cup unsalted butter, brought to room temperature

3/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapoica starch

1/4 cornstarch

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup jam of your choice (I used my homemade cherry almond)

Preheat the oven ato 350 degrees, Spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the egg and peanut butter; continue to beat at medium speed until well combined.

Sift together the salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch and sweet rice flour. Slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture, beating on low until all of the flour is incorporated. Add the vanilla, beat to combine, and turn off the mixer.

Evenly press 2/3 of the batter into the bottom of the prepared baking dish, making sure the batter is level. Pour the jam on top of the batter and spread evenly. Using the remaining 1/3 of the batter, use your fingers to pinch and drop little pieces of batter on top of the jam.

Bake 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.