From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Makes about 15-20 bite sized pieces

Ingredients:

• 1 piece of fresh salmon filet, about 8 oz. in weight
• 1 Gala, Fuji or Braeburn apple with bright red skin (don’t use a Granny Smith)
• 1 Tbsp. sweet hot pepper jelly
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• Chives or skinny green (spring) onion
• Orange juice or 1 cup water with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or white Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Cut the salmon into strips about ¼ inch thick, ½-1 inch (2 cm) wide and a bit shorter than size of apple slice. A skinny, little finger size strip.

2. Wash apple, but do not peel. I make a cut down either side of apple to give 2 fat “cheeks” of apple with a flat edge. Then cut the remaining 2 sides of the apple. I like to use a fluted cutter for extra eye appeal.

3. Cut apple “cheeks” into slices about ¼ inch thick. They need to be thick enough to pick up in your fingers and not bend or break under weight of salmon. Put apple slices in enough orange juice or water with lemon juice/white balsamic vinegar to cover, to stop apples from browning.

4. Preheat broiler and place pan you are going to use on the oven shelf to preheat.

5. Place slices of raw salmon in a single layer on top of a piece of foil. Leave a little space between so they can cook better.

6. Mix pepper jelly with oil and brush on top of salmon. Do a test run first to see how much pepper jelly you like for taste. This quantity only gives a mild, “Mmm, what’s that?” sort of flavor. It doesn’t burn your lips, so you might want more or a hotter jelly. That’s your choice.

7. Once broiler and pan is hot, slide the salmon on the foil onto the pan under the broiler. Broil for 1-2 minutes until salmon looks cooked and pepper jelly is looking a little caramelized. The hot pan underneath means you don’t need to turn the salmon over.

8. Remove pan from broiler and let salmon cool slightly. It will break easily when it is this thin.

9. Drain apple slices and arrange in a single layer on serving platter. Lift each piece of salmon with a thin spatula, pastry slice, etc., and put a slice on each piece of apple. Sprinkle with finely chopped chives or very finely chopped green onion for color and flavor contrast.

10. Serve.

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Makes 8-9 generous portions.

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of soft Gluten-Free Ladyfingers (you will have some left over)
• ¾ cup strong coffee, fresh or instant
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp coffee liqueur or sweet marsala
• 1 lb. of Mascarpone cheese at room temperature
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup heavy or whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Choose a 6-8 cup attractive serving bowl that is wide and shallow (a nice vegetable serving dish will do).

2. Put a layer of soft ladyfingers in bottom of bowl and arrange more ladyfingers standing up against the sides of the bowl like flower petals, rounded side out.

3. Mix sugar and1/4 cup of liqueur into hot coffee. Taste and see if you want more liqueur or sugar.

4. Spoon/drizzle coffee mix onto ladyfingers until they are completely saturated. Coffee might pool at the bottom of the bowl, so rotate the bowl to help the fingers absorb more coffee liquid.

5. In a 4-cup mixing bowl, whisk cream, powdered sugar, and remaining 2 Tbsp of liqueur until stiff.

6. In separate bowl, gently stir mascarpone with a spatula to soften it. Add cream mix and gently fold into mascarpone until blended. Taste and see if you want more sugar. I find that at this stage I sometimes add up to ¼ cup of liquid heavy or whipping cream to soften the mix without making it runny.

7. Gently spoon cheese mix into bowl and smooth top.

8. Take a piece of parchment paper and cut into long ½” wide strips. Place the paper in parallel lines about 1” apart on top of cream cheese. I like to make lines on the diagonal across corners of the dish, not in line with the edges. Press the paper slightly into cheese at edges if it won’t stay. Place more strips of paper at almost right angles on top of the first row of paper. You are aiming for a latticework of paper with cheese mix showing through, including at the edges.

9. Place cocoa powder in a fine strainer or sieve (a tea strainer is great) and gently tap or stir cocoa to fall onto the open portions of cheese – so you are filling in the gaps with a fine dusting, not thick mounds.

10. Carefully lift the cocoa-covered paper strips and discard. The bowl should now have little diamonds or squares of cocoa powder alternating with white squares or diamonds.

11. Preferably chill for a few hours to allow flavors to mellow.

12. You can finish dessert with cream piped around edges and ‘scattered’ on open sections of top. Dust with grated chocolate or chocolate curls.

Tips & Alternatives:

This is very rich, so only give small portions.

Mascarpone is highly perishable, so treat the package carefully. The same goes for leftovers.

If using an 8 x 8 dish: Use 1 1/4 cups coffee and 6 Tbsp sugar, but keep the same ¼ cup liqueur.

Pour coffee/liqueur mixture into dish, then top with ladyfingers. Pour more coffee/liqueur mixture to saturate the ladyfingers, then spread the cheese mixture over the cake. Cover the cheese layer with more saturated ladyfingers, then another cheese layer. Finally, top with cocoa. Kahlua syrup topped with cake layer, more syrup so ladyfingers are saturated, cheese layer, moistened cake layer, cheese layer, top with cocoa.

Ingredients:

Loaf

• 4 T. butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ginger

Topping (Optional)

• 2 T. butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat together butter, sugar, egg and pumpkin.

3. Add remaining loaf ingredients and mix completely. Pour into greased 8″ x 4″ loaf pan.

4. Mix nut topping and smooth evenly over batter. Pat lightly into the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup butter, margarine or oil
• ¼ cup rice flour – use regular rice flour, not sweet rice flour.
• 1 cup whole milk or half and half
• 1 cup gluten-free chicken or turkey stock (you can use some wine as part of this stock quantity)
• 2 Tbsp. of tomato paste (Optional – this is to enhance color)
• Salt and pepper
• About 2 cups of leftover, cooked diced turkey or chicken thighs
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of additional vegetables – sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives, capers, etc.
• ½ lb. gluten-free rotini pasta cooked according to packet directions and drained. Undercook the pasta, as it will absorb more liquid when you cook it with these ingredients.
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (I use pizza blend)

Directions:

1. Melt butter or oil in a non-stick saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth and cook over gentle heat for about 2 minutes. This cooks the flour and prevents the grainy, raw flour taste.

2. Slowly stir in milk and stock, bring to a boil and cook over gentle heat for about 3 minutes until sauce thickens slightly. Add tomato paste.

3. Add turkey, vegetables, cooked pasta and 1 cup of cheese. Mix well. Pasta tends to absorb the sauce and the melting cheese thickens it, so I can add up to one more cup of milk or stock to make the mixture runnier. Taste and adjust seasoning.

4. Pour into greased lasagna pan, top with remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese (or ½ cup Parmesan cheese, if you prefer). You can also crush some Gluten-Free Corn Chex and mix with the cheese for a crispy topping.

5. Cover and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until bubbling. Let cool, then serve immediately or store in the fridge and reheat when company arrives.

Tips & Alternatives:

This white sauce can be a very versatile ingredient. Use it to layer in a gluten-free lasagna, jazz up real or packet gluten-free macaroni and cheese, put in a pie plate with gluten-free pie crust and bake, top with hash browns and bake, or even top a gluten-free pizza crust with a sauce and meat mix.

Courtesy of ShopRite

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:15 minutes

Makes about 1 ½ lbs. of toffee

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ShopRite Granulated Sugar
• 8 oz. ShopRite Unsalted Butter
• 1 tsp. ShopRite Salt
• 1 tsp .ShopRite Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup ShopRite Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup ShopRite Sliced Almonds, toasted

Directions:

1. Lightly grease an 18”x13” sheet pan.
2. Melt the butter, sugar, and salt over medium heat in a heavy sauce pan. Gently stir the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase heat to medium high and cook without stirring until the mixture becomes light golden brown. Using a candy thermometer, cook the mixture to 285ºF.
4. Pour the toffee onto the sheet pan and allow to cool 3-4 minutes.
5. Evenly sprinkle chocolate chips onto the warm toffee, spreading the melted chocolate evenly using a spatula.
6. Sprinkle the almonds on top of the chocolate.
7. Once the toffee has completely cooled, break into serving size pieces.

Photo Credit: Daisy’s World. While some of Daisy’s recipes are not gluten-free, many are wonderfully tasty and naturally gluten-free.

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (4 oz.) of soft butter
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoon almond extract
• Grated zest/rind of 2 medium- to large-sized oranges
• 2 cups almond meal or almond flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon finely grated fresh nutmeg (mix this with the almond meal)
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamon (mix this with the almond meal)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup golden raisins soaked in 2 Tablespoon brandy or rum
• ¼ cup finely chopped sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Put soft butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in sugar, almond meal, nutmeg, cardamom, baking powder and salt. Depending on when you stop beating, mix will either appear as crumbs or thick dough.
3. Add vanilla, almond extract, and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Once all eggs are added, beat well for 2 minutes and mix will become very fluffy.
4. Stir in orange zest, raisins with liquid, and sliced almonds.
5. Scoop batter into greased and gluten-free floured 10” Bundt pan and level the top. Bake for 35-45 minutes. Cake will be a golden brown across the top, no cracks, softly firm and flat (not domed).
6. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, loosen sides with thin spatula and then turn out onto cooling rack to finish cooling. Don’t let it go cold in Bundt pan as sugar content will make cake stick to pan.

 

 

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Makes about 1 1/2 lbs. total weight cooked.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Oonagh’s Gluten-Free Flour mix
• 1/2 cup almond meal (or just add another 1/2 cup of gluten-free flour mix)
• ¾ cup cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 Tbsp potato flour (not potato starch; optional – makes moister bread)
• 6 Tbsp sugar (you can reduce this amount if you find it too sweet)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional – add for sweet muffins and leave out for corn bread stuffing)
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup milk (fat-free is okay; can also use buttermilk, lactose-free milk or almond milk)
• 1 stick of butter (4 oz.) melted or ½ cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, butter or oil and vanilla together.

4. Pour wet mix over dry mix and gently stir together. Don’t over work; you can use an electric mixer, but make sure to mix in all the dry bits. They don’t disappear on baking. Mix will look very wet, so let batter rest for about 2 minutes until it thickens from the baking powder and xanthan gum.

5. Pour batter into greased muffin top pans, muffin pans or 8 x 8” square pan. If you use muffin top pans, fill only halfway, then wet your fingers and spread the mix out to the edges.

6. For muffin tops and muffins: Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown but the tops are barely colored. The muffin tops won’t mound above the pan, but will rise evenly. Each oven is different, so start checking at 12 minutes and cook longer than 15 minutes if needed.

For 8 x 8” pan: Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown. Insert a fork or toothpick in the center to make sure the bread is cooked through.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for 10-20 minutes before removing from pans.

Tips & Alternatives:

The dairy-free versionof this tends to look very pale. It also lacks the buttery flavor. I used Earth Balance butter substitute and plain almond milk.

For egg-free: Half the recipe (to make 6 toaster muffins), then add 2+1/4 Tbsp water, 2+1/4 Tbsp extra oil and 1 Tbsp extra baking powder. You can also use egg replacer or flax seed meal to substitute the eggs.

I cut corn bread pan into 3 inch squares, cut each square in half and then toasted each side. Spread with mayo, then top with turkey and tomato for an open face sandwich. My son also approves of serving cooked bacon on top of warm cornbread as a breakfast.

To restore the ‘just out of the oven’ taste and softness, microwave or toast the bread.