Making decorated cookies is fun--if you have the time. For holidays like St. Patrick's Day I don't often have the time to spend making cute cookies. Enter: Lazy Lizzie's Gluten-Free Shamrock Cookies. You tint the dough green before baking. This means they come out of the oven already adorable and ready to munch! . . . keep reading

Friends always tease me that I love the "browns": whiskey, bourbon, scotch. And I do! For Saint Patrick's Day, I thought it would be fun to create a recipe using Irish Whiskey. Since whiskey has a sweet-nutty-vanilla-y aroma, I decided to make a spicy quick bread with it. . . . keep reading

This recipe is my mom's fault. Okay, maybe not "fault" because who would want to blame someone for inspiring powdered sugar doughnut-muffins? Anyway, she was watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Snack Attack" on The Food Network and someone mentioned Doughnut-Muffins. That's right. Muffins that taste like doughnuts. My mouth was already watering when she said, "You should make a gluten-free version." . . . keep reading

I love apple cobblers! They have all the flavor of an apple pie but can be made in minutes. This recipe produces a classic apple cobbler that is just begging for a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. . . . keep reading

In the middle of winter, I sometimes long for a taste of summer. Since tomatoes aren't in season, I bring out their flavor by . . . keep reading

Maple + rice pudding. How could this recipe not be delicious? I took my favorite rice custard pudding recipe and replaced the sugar with maple syrup. I also swapped my square baking dish for individual custard dishes. The resulting dessert has a delicate flavor with a craggy top thanks to the grains of rice. . . . keep reading

I live in an area with an abundance of tiny Italian restaurants. One of the most popular meals served at these places is Chicken Parmigiana. If you aren't familiar with Chicken Parmigiana, you've been missing out! It's a chicken breast pan fried and then topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. (In my neck of the woods, Parmesan cheese is always missing from Chicken Parmigiana. )

Now this meal is always, always, always served with a side order of pasta and broccoli. So, of course, I've included those elements in my meal. Is this "hip and trendy" Italian food? Nope. But, I promise, it's really good! . . . keep reading

I once dated a man who didn't like marshmallow cookies. I should have known the relationship was doomed, I mean, marshmallow cookies.Mallomars. Pinwheels.Whippets. Remember these cookies? The gooey goodness of marshmallows sandwiched between chocolate and a cookie base. Love. Heaven. Bliss! All in one little cookie.

This is my gluten-free version of the mallomar. The base is a bit crunchier than traditional mallomars, but the flavor--oh the flavor-- is just right. . . . keep reading

Valentine's Day is almost here. Just for fun, I created a JUMBO chocolate muffin that is studded with chocolate chips and dried fruit. With a hint of vanilla and cinnamon, this muffin is perfect for anyone you love. (Did you know that some studies suggest men associate . . . keep reading

I think Spaghetti alla Carbonara is not only one of the easiest pasta dishes to make but it is also one of the tastiest. There are countless variations of excellent carbonara recipes. Since gluten-free pasta is a little different than wheat pasta, I've played with the recipe until the gluten-free version is just as delicious as the tradition wheat-based carbonara.

You'll notice my recipe uses . . . keep reading

A plate of warm pancakes, a mug of coffee and the New York Times is my favorite way to spend Sunday morning. Lately, I'd been avoiding the pancake part of the ritual because, frankly, I was bored with pancakes. So I began to tinker with a new recipe. This is the result.

The recipe combines whole grains, brown sugar and a pinch of ground cinnamon to create what might be my favorite pancake recipe to date. . . . keep reading

I've been a little quiet since 2010 began. So today I come bearing "World Peace Cookies." The original recipe for these cookies was created by Dorie Greenspan, food writer, cookbook author, and all-around baking goddess. For the start of a new year, I thought it would be fun to make them gluten-free.

Dorie created a chocolate sable (French buttery-sugar cookie) recipe that's salty. If you've ever enjoyed the amazing combination of salt and sweet (kettle corn, chocolate covered pretzels, fleur de sol caramels) you know how salt can wonderfully enhance the flavor of sweet foods. And if you've never had a "salty sweet", this is a great recipe to introduce you to the fun of this flavor combination!

To make this recipe gluten-free, I needed to tweak it just a bit. My version contains a little more salt than the original. Gluten-free baking often needs a flavor boost and I found that the original 1/2 teaspoon of salt simply faded into the background. This is not what we wanted. I also use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar. Again, this is a flavor issue. Light brown sugar, while good, didn't have enough "oomph" to make an impression on the cookies. Dark brown sugar, in contrast, was just perfect.

One last word about the salt. Dorie uses fleur de sol. And while I love this salt, I realize that you might not have it kicking around. Since gluten-free bakers don't need another expensive ingredient, I swapped out the fleur de sol for Kosher salt. Even with all of these tweaks, I think my gluten-free version stands up to the original.

So, World Peace cookies. Share these with someone you love. And, in the spirit of peace, maybe share them with someone you don't. Who knows what will happen after a bite of these cookies? . . . keep reading

For years, I have been meaning to make a caramel cake. Recently, while reading Maya Angelou's cookbook, "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table", I finally decided to head into the kitchen to bake one.

Ms. Angelou's book opens with a recipe for caramel cake. And while the recipe looked delicious, it wasn't exactly what I wanted. Her cake had a buttercream icing and I wanted a cake with a caramel sauce icing. I did notice that her recipe used caramel sauce in the cake batter. Now I liked the sound of that!

I dug out my recipe for caramel sauce and went to work. My caramel sauce is really rich and, for caramel sauce, fairly easy to make. Since the sauce needs to be made and cooled, I found it was easiest to make the sauce the night before you wanted to bake the cake. Hence the name, "Weekend Caramel Cake." You can make . . . keep reading

Latkes fresh from the frying pan are one of my favorite holiday treats. I know that everyone thinks their latke recipe is "the best." I'm no exception! This is the recipe I make each year and, I am happy to report, it always wins rave reviews. . . . keep reading