Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a couple months, but the holidays got me, and only now am I getting back to a somewhat normal routine. During that time I made gluten-free pumpkin scones twice, and they were sooo disappointing. I made them a couple times last year, when we lived in Portland, and they were fabulous — couldn't even tell they were gluten-free! But when I made them here in Minnesota, they just didn't turn out right. The dough wouldn't come together (the air is terribly dry here in the winter-time), so I added a little extra liquid to get it to work for me. The flavor was good, but they wouldn't brown and the texture was heavy and slightly doughy. Simply under-baked? I don't think so. I can't figure it out, so if you have any thoughts or advice, please share.

Also during the holiday season, I made this apple crisp a few times, and each time it turned out great. Once, however, I made it with a dairy-free substitute instead of butter, and rolled oats instead of quick oats, and it wasn't quite as good.

There's really nothing complicated about gluten-free apple crisp. You just have to make sure you use gluten-free oats and a gluten-free flour blend in place of all-purpose wheat flour. Since there's no pastry or dough of any kind, you don't need to worry about details like xanthun gum to thicken and bind. (Although the flour blend I use happens to contain some xanthun gum, I doubt it has any effect on the crumble topping.) So, if you have a favorite recipe already, just go with it.

This is the recipe I use, which I've adjusted to my liking. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and has a little lemon juice added for tartness. On different occasions, I've used Fuji, Honey Crisp, or  Granny Smith  apples. (Granny Smith are pretty tart, so you can probably leave out the lemon juice if you use those.) Once I even threw in a pear because I was short one apple.

Sometimes I make my own gluten-free flour blend, but my favorite pre-made one is Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend. It recently became available at Costco in a 5-pound bag, and it's much more affordable than the same product (in a smaller bag) at either my local natural foods store or what the people in my area call the "gluten-free store."

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp PRINTABLE RECIPE

6 apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup gluten-free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Quick-Cooking Oats)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (I use Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter - cut into small pieces

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°.

2. Toss apples with lemon juice, white sugar, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Pour into a 9-inch square baking dish.

3. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, oats, GF flour, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter or fork to mash the cold butter into the oat-flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Spread over the apples to the edges of the dish and pat gently until even.

4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the sides are bubbling.

Chocolate Chip Blondies (Gluten-Free!)

One of the last, delicious baked treats I remember eating before going gluten-free was chocolate-chip blondies (AKA butterscotch brownies) made by my neighbor. They were so darn good! And I knew I was about to phase out gluten, so I suppose I enjoyed them even more because of that.

Occasionally, I get a craving for these blondies, and I've looked for gluten-free recipes online, but they all seem kind of odd to me. For example, one recipe calls for almond flour, which is out at my house because of my son's nut allergy. Another – a no-bake recipe – calls for pre-made vanilla wafer cookies. Other recipes claim to be wonderfully cake-like, but I don't want cake-like. I want moist, a bit chewy, brownie-like. I finally found a fairly standard recipe (standard for gluten-free, that is), but my results were just OK, not great, and worst of all, they were dry and crumbly.

I decided to take the traditional blondies recipe from one of my cookbooks, a recipe I know to be excellent when made with regular wheat flour, and make the substitutions myself. I used a gluten-free brownies recipe as kind of a guide... Three eggs? No, too much – that would make them cakey. I decided on two.

They real key, I think, is the bake time. Over-baking makes the bars too dry. Under-baking leaves you with gooey cookie dough. Check them often, as ovens vary; the changing weather seems to affect things; and other mystery factors do too. Mine were just right, this time, after 25 minutes.

Blondies with Chocolate Chips  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
3/4 tsp xanthun gum
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet - your choice)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8" square baking pan (mine is glass) with non-stick spray.

2. With an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and sugar until smooth; then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the salt, flour, and xanthun gum and mix until well combined.

3. Stir in the chocolate chips; then pour the batter in to the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until just set in the middle - do not over-bake!

4. Cool completely (be patient) before cutting.

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free!)

I got this recipe off a bag of Namaste Foods gluten-free Perfect Flour Blend. They call it "Best Banana Bread" and it really is the best! No one would even guess it's gluten-free.

I recommend Namaste Foods flour blend as well as the recipe, but in the interest of saving space in my pantry and not having a bunch of different flours and mixes in there, I adapted the recipe ever so slightly to use a homemade brown rice flour blend that I like to keep on hand.

If you like, you can add half a cup or so of chopped nuts or seeds to the batter.

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas - mashed
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325° and lightly spray 9" x 5" loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour blend, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together sugars and oil. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla, and stir until well blended. Fold in dry ingredients.

4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack.

Dangerous Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free!)

I love food TV. Admittedly, some of the shows are pretty goofy and others are just plain bad. But over the years, I've learned a lot about cooking from these shows, mostly long before the Food Network or the Cooking Channel were even around. Nothing against the current food and cooking programming – I certainly watch a few of the shows. If it's about food, after all, it's pretty easy to draw me in.

One evening recently, my son was watching with me. It was one of those shows where they feature the best restaurants and bakeries around the county. They were spotlighting Chocolate Doughnut Muffins. They didn't sound particularly amazing to me, but my son was enthralled and could hardly go to sleep that night because he wanted to travel to this bakery in Durham, North Carolina that very night to get one of their delicious confections. I told him there was no way we were traveling to North Carolina anytime soon, but we'd look for a recipe and try to make our own. I actually thought he'd forget all about it by the next day, but he did not.

So, I found a recipe online. Of course, I had to convert it to gluten-free if I was going to be able to partake. So, I took the recipe I'd found, and a doughnut recipe from a gluten-free baking book I have, plus what I learned about the doughnut muffins from the food show, and came up with a recipe I thought might work. The kids helped me to mix it all together. After baking, we rolled them in melted butter – I guess you have to do something to make up for the fact that the "doughnuts" are not fried – and then in cinnamon and sugar.

Guess what? They were good, really good! Softer and springier than a cake doughnut – definitely more like a muffin,  but that touch of nutmeg in the batter and the cinnamon-sugar on the outside gave them that doughnut quality. They're dangerous because after eating one, you really want another, if only to ponder the question: Is it a muffin or is it a doughnut?

Chocolate Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1-1/2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

COATING:
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray a standard muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. Combine flour,  cocoa powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl and whisk together.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour mixture, and then the oil, milk, cream, and vanilla. Mix for about a minute on low speed. The batter will be a little lumpy.

4. Divide the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin center comes out clean.

5. Let the muffins set in the tin for about a minute or so, then remove to a wire rack. While they cool a bit, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. In separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave; or melt on the stove top in a small saucepan.

6. Roll the warm muffins in melted butter to coat all over; then roll in the cinnamon-sugar, again coating all sides.

Delicious warm or cool.

Sunday Morning Scones (Gluten-Free!)

I'm a coffee person. I make my own most days, but I like to stop by a local coffee place once in awhile too, and get a nice latté. As you know, those little coffee shops almost always have a tempting offering of pastries: donuts, croissants, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, muffins, cookies, and – my favorite – scones. Since going gluten-free, I suppose I've saved a few dollars and a few calories by passing on the morning pastry, but I do miss it and sometimes I feel so bummed and left out that I can't get a baked treat along with my kids or my friends on those occasions when we stop for coffee. There was a little place in town that carried gluten-free scones and other pastries that were pretty decent, but sadly, they went out of business. There's another place that has gluten-free donuts, but BLAH! They're no good!

I prefer not to make my own scones because you can't make just one (can you?). And when I have half a dozen or more in the house, I tend to eat them up far too quickly. Getting a single one at the coffee shop, not more than once a week, works out far better for me and my belly. But, I finally gave in recently and baked some for myself. This morning, I made another batch, with a few modifications, and the recipe is good enough to share.

If lemon poppy seed is not your thing, omit the last three ingredients below and leave them plain or add nuts, blueberries, chocolate chips... whatever you like.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter - cut into tiny pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk (or, for richer scones, use cream)
2 tsp (approx) finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 425 -->° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until very light and foamy.

4. Add flour mixture, milk, lemon zest, juice, and poppy seeds to the eggs and mix on low for about a minute.

5. On a lightly floured surface, pat out the dough (a little flour on your hands will help as the dough can be sticky) into a one-inch thick round. Cut into eight triangles and place on the baking sheet.

6. Place the scones in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375°. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden/lightly browned.

Serve warm. These scones are best if served right away. You can store them in an airtight container, but you'll notice that by the next day the texture just isn't the same. So plan a tea (or coffee) party with your scone-loving friends and eat them up before it's too late.

Now, if only there was a gluten-free recipe for my other favorite – the buttery, flaky, chocolate croissant. I have a feeling there's no gluten-free version of the croissant that would come close to the original, but if you think you can prove me wrong... please do!

Peppermint Bark

My 7-year-old had a homework assignment to have Mom or Dad help him follow a recipe to make a holiday treat. I thought about it and informed him we would be making peppermint bark – didn't even give him a chance to make suggestions. One of my sisters makes the best peppermint bark that she sometimes sends to me at Christmas-time. It's super pepper-minty – I love it! I thought it would make a nice, homemade gift for our neighbors too. After a little more thought, I decided not to try to replicate my sister's awesome recipe, but make chocolate peppermint bark instead.

To be honest, although my son usually loves to help me in the kitchen, he wasn't that into the whole peppermint bark thing. But he was a good little cook, followed directions, smiled sweetly for the camera, and even took a few snapshots himself.

The stuff turned out terriffic! If you like strong peppermint flavor, I'd recommend adding peppermint extract as we did, otherwise leave it out. And definitely use semi-sweet chocolate as opposed to milk chocolate. We used pretty red, green, and white candy canes, but obviously you can use whatever color you like. Just watch out for those crazy, fruit-flavored candy cane imposters.

This will make at least two tin-fulls, if you're thinking about making Christmas gifts.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark  PRINTABLE RECIPE

24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
24 oz. white chocolate chips
16 peppermint candy canes
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract (optional)

1. Unwrap the candy canes and place them in a food processor. Pulse a few times until the candy is crushed into small pieces. The largest pieces should be about 1/4" and some of it will basically be powder.

2. Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

3. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate in a double boiler. Pour the melted chocolate onto the prepared baking sheet and, using a spatula, spread to a little more than 1/8" thick, up to 1/4" thick at most (ours was on the thick side and it was fine). It doesn't have to be perfectly even or reach the edges of the pan. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator until the chocolate is completely hardened.

4. Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate in your double boiler. As it's melting, stir in the peppermint extract and most of the crushed candy canes. Set aside 1/4 cup or so of the candy.

5. Remove the baking sheet from the refrigerator and spread the white chocolate over the semi-sweet chocolate.

6. Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy over the entire surface and press down ever-so-gently to ensure it sticks. Place the baking sheet back in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until the white chocolate is hardened.

7. Remove the peppermint bark from the refrigerator and break, by hand, into small, uneven pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. (Don't let it get too warm, for obvious reasons.)

The Crust: Butter Pecan Turtle Bars

I do not love pie. What I love, is pie crust. I love it. And I’ve been known to pop a frozen pie crust into the oven, bake it to a nice, flaky, golden brown and eat it up just as it is – no fillings, no toppings, no sugar sprinkles – just butter, flour, and a pinch of salt baked to deliciousness.

The crust is what makes the pie filling worth eating, be it tart apples, key lime custard, or sugary pecans.

Then there’s quiche and pot pie – oh, what a bit of crust can do for eggs and cheese or chicken stew!

And shortbread – a little sugar and lemon zest added to that ever-so-simple butter-flour combination – heaven!

Tarts – I think of fresh berries and cream on a crusty, crumbly shell – so good!

And bars – mmmm, lemon bars. I’ve eaten quite a few, from lots of different bakers and every one was delicious. But can you imagine that sweet, tart lemon filling without the crust? No way – it wouldn’t work. It’s the crust that makes it so yummy.

My bar specialty is butter pecan turtle bars with a thick crust of butter, flour, and brown sugar. I’ve made them for many a pot-luck and a few bake sales too. They’re always a hit and requests for the recipe are common. I’m happy to share, of course.

This is not an original recipe, but I don’t remember exactly where it came from – some cookbook I no longer have.

Butter Pecan Turtle Bars  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter - softened
1-1/2 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup butter
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Combine flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter. Blend until crumbly. Pat mixture firmly into bottom of an ungreased 9" x 13" baking pan. Sprinkle pecan halves evenly over the crust and set aside.

2. In small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2/3 cup butter. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, still stirring constantly. Then pour the hot caramel mixture over the pecans and crust.

3. Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes, until caramel layer is bubbly and crust is light brown.

4. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly as it melts. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Peanut Butter Honey Balls: No-Cook Kid Treats

When I was a kid, I had a funny little children’s cookbook my mom gave me. I remember only a few things I used to prepare, all of which happened to involve the use of bare hands. To make a cheese ball (think 70’s cocktail party) I kneaded grated cheddar with my warm little hands until it was soft and pliable. I then sprinkled the doughy cheese with chopped onions and shaped it into a ball. Sounds scrumptious, doesn’t it? It must have been torture for my poor parents to taste it and pretend to enjoy. Hopefully, at least, my hands were clean – well, we all lived anyway.

I also made pretzels. It was a basic yeast dough recipe with minimal rising time. I kneaded, then rolled (with hands, of course) the dough into snakes and shaped them into pretzel knots. I added a little egg wash, sprinkled with salt, and with Mom’s help, baked them in the oven. As I recall they weren’t particularly good, but I thoroughly enjoyed making them!

Finally, I remember making what my cookbook called, Joann’s No-Cook Candy. These hand-rolled bites of peanut butter, honey, and powdered milk were my favorite thing to make and eat. Sometimes I still crave the strange concoction and wish I had powdered milk on hand (I never do), so I could whip some up.

I no longer have the cookbook, and the few times I’ve made them since childhood, I’ve just added a bit of each of the ingredients until the right consistency and the right sweetness was achieved. Since I wanted to write about it however, and give you the correct proportions, I looked for the recipe online. I found nothing called Joann’s No-Cook Candy, but there were variations galore, of course, for Peanut Butter Honey Balls. The recipes have additions such as chopped nuts, sugar, graham crackers, wheat germ, raisins, and corn flakes.

Here is the very basic recipe. If you like, try rolling the balls in wheat germ, chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, or whatever. I like to put the balls in the refrigerator to chill before eating, but there’s really no need to wait. You could even just eat the mixture straight out of the bowl with a spoon!

Peanut Butter Honey Balls  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 cups instant dry milk (do not add water)
up to 1 cup honey

1. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter and dry milk. Add honey to taste and mix well. If the mixture seems too sticky, add a little more dry milk.

2. Roll into a log and cut into one-inch pieces, or use your hands to roll into one-inch balls. We used to wrap the individual pieces in squares of waxed paper (so they looked kind of like salt water taffy pieces), but this is optional. Store in the refrigerator.

Real Strawberry Shortcake

I grew up in Minnesota and knew strawberry shortcake as a slightly sweet biscuit topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It was very popular in the summertime, and on the Fourth of July, blueberries were added along with the strawberries for a patriotic, red-white-and-blue dessert.

I don’t know if it’s a west coast thing or if old-fashioned strawberry shortcake is being forgotten nationwide, but at least out here, most people make strawberry shortcake with pound cake or sponge cake. The combination is good, but it just isn’t shortcake. I looked it up to make sure I wasn’t confused – maybe we Minnesotans had it wrong. I found that traditional shortcake is indeed, “a sweetened biscuit pastry, plenty of sliced strawberries, and a generous dollop of whipped cream.” (See About.com or Wikipedia for more.)

It’s a pretty straightforward concoction, but I set out to find just the right recipe. They’re all pretty similar, but I mixed and matched ideas from a couple and put it all together last night. It was so good, I almost cried – even better than I remembered. I wish I'd taken a picture because it was so pretty, and I can't find a decent picture of real strawberry shortcake anywhere.

The biscuits were perfect! The kids liked them so much, they were happy to eat them without berries or whipped cream. A couple of the extras mysteriously disappeared from the cooling rack. (I guess you can’t go wrong with over a cup of heavy cream!) I used two tablespoons of sugar for the biscuits, and I thought they were just right when combined with the sweetened strawberries. If you like though, you can add a third tablespoon of sugar to make them a little sweeter.

If your strawberries are really sweet and delicious, and you can’t bear to add sugar to them, you can certainly just slice up the strawberries and leave it at that. Adding the sugar, however, allows the strawberries to develop juice that the biscuits will absorb nicely.

My final tips: 1) Assemble while the biscuits are still slightly warm. You’ll be glad you did. 2) Make your own whipped cream. It’s easy, and it adds a nice, homemade touch. If you want to add a little extra pizazz, add 1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon zest along with the vanilla. Your friends will be so impressed!

Strawberry Shortcake  PRINTABLE RECIPE
(makes 6 servings + extra biscuits)

STRAWBERRIES

1-1/2 Lbs fresh strawberries – stemmed & quartered (or sliced if the strawberries are large)
3 Tbsp sugar

Mix strawberries and sugar, and refrigerate while juices develop – about an hour.

CREAM BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
milk (for brushing tops of biscuits)

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add cream and stir just until a dough forms. Gather into a ball and knead gently about 6 times on a lightly floured surface.
3. Roll out the dough to 1/2" thickness. Cut out rounds (or any basic shape – I made diamonds) using a 2-1/2" cutter dipped in flour. Place biscuits on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Re-roll the remaining dough and cut out more biscuits to make a total of 10.
4. Brush the tops of the biscuits with milk and bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

BASIC WHIPPED CREAM

1 cup chilled heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectioners' (powdered) sugar – or more to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract

Use a mixer to beat the cream and sugar until soft peaks form – about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix just until blended.

ASSEMBLY

Use a fork to split the biscuits into top and bottom halves. Place the bottom halves on small plates. Spoon some of the strawberries with their juice onto each shortcake bottom. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and then the biscuit top. Enjoy!

My Favorite Cookies: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip with Oatmeal

On second thought, maybe they're not my favorite. It's just too hard for me to pick favorites (I don't even have a favorite color). There are simply too many good things out there to settle on just one. Today though, these cookies are what I want. I haven't made them in years because my poor little boy is allergic to peanuts and other nuts. So, you'll have to give them a try for me and let me know how they turn out. While you're at it, make a few without chocolate chips for my husband - he likes them better that way.

I know peanut butter and chocolate chips doesn't sound like anything special, and it's true - they're nothing fancy. But these cookies really are fantastic. I think maybe it's the oatmeal...

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies PRINTABLE RECIPE
(makes about 2-1/2 dozen)

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Cream together butter, peanut butter, sugars, and egg.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then add gradually to creamed mixture, stirring by hand, until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Form into 1" balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten with fork (or other utensil) to about 1/2" thick.

5. Bake at 375° for about 12 minutes. Move cookies to cooling rack immediately.

Memories of the Corn Carnival (with recipes for Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes and Cornbread Casserole)

Growing up in Minnesota, I used to go with a friend to her grandmother’s house each August for the Cokato Corn Carnival. It was a small-town carnival with rides and games, fried food and frozen treats, and of course, corn. I remember riding the tilt-a-whirl again and again, playing bingo (with dried corn kernels to mark our squares), and eating blue raspberry snow cones. At a certain time of day, a train whistle would blow signaling the corn on the cob was ready, and free for carnival attendees. We’d get in line for an ear of buttery sweet corn to eat right then, and more to bring back to the grandmother’s house for that night’s dinner. The Cokato web site tells me the carnival is still going strong. This August will bring the 60th Cokato Corn Carnival, complete with the coronation of Miss Cokato and a parade. And the corn is still free!

When I think of the Corn Carnival, I also remember the grandmother’s house, sleeping on the porch, picking zucchini in the garden, watching As the World Turns, and eating these fantastic chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling. After many years, I recently got a craving for them. The grandmother has died, but I emailed my old friend for the recipe. They somehow aren’t quite what I remembered, but they're still incredibly yummy, and my kids love them!

What made me think of all this? It was actually cornbread casserole – something I tried for the very first time last month. I don’t know how I managed to grow up in Minnesota, where corn is the king of vegetables and the “hot dish” rules the dinner table, and never get introduced to this casserole. No one else at the dinner last month seemed particularly excited about the corn dish, but I thought it was wonderful. Creamy and comforting like macaroni and cheese. Moist and crusty at the same time, like pie.

So today, I have two recipes for you. I’m sure there are dozens of versions of each of these midwest recipes. Here are the ones I’ve tried and enjoyed:

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes  PRINTABLE RECIPE

8 oz cream cheese - softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg – slightly beaten
1/8 tsp salt
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Blend cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, egg, and 1/8 tsp salt in a small bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

4. In yet another bowl, sift together flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt.

5. Add the flour mixture to the water and oil mixture, and mix well.

6. Fill paper cupcake cups 1/3 full with chocolate mixture. Then drop a large spoonful of cream cheese mixture on top of each.

7. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cornbread Casserole  PRINTABLE RECIPE

15 oz can cream style corn
15 oz can whole kernel corn - drained
8 oz box cornbread/muffin mix (Jiffy is recommended)
2 eggs - beaten
1/2 cup butter - melted
1/2 cup plain yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine everything in a bowl and mix well.

3. Pour into a greased 9" x 9" baking dish and bake at 350° for 1 hour.