1/2 of a 17/3 oz. pkg (1 sheet) frozen puff pastry, thawed

3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tsp shortening

1 recipe Chocolate Cream Filling OR Nutella

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Unfold puff pastry. Using a sharp knife, cut pastry into 1 1/2 inch squares. Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Set a wire rack on either a plate or a baking sheet. Melt chocolate and shortening, either in the microwave or over the stove. Dip top halves of pastry squares into melted chocolate, and place on wire rack.

Chill until set (at least 15 minutes).

Split each square in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Spread bottom halves with chocolate cream filling

OR Nutella and place the chocolate-dipped half on top.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

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If you are not allergic to wheat, eggs, or dairy, then by all means, try the filling in a pie. It’s absolutely delicious. For those of you that are allergic to those things, however… sorry, you’ll have to wait till I can come up with an allergy-free pie crust…

Apples, pears, and plums most definitely do!!! go together! But I’m not too impressed with the topping recipe that I tried, so we have to work on that.

For the filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp rice flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
2 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
2 plums, pitted, and sliced thinly

For the topping:
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup melted shortening

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine sugar, cinnamon, rice flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add the prepared fruit and mix well. Transfer filling to a 9 inch pie dish. Set aside.

Combine topping ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Can be served immediately if desired.

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2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
3 tbsp sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, cream butter and cream cheese. Beat in melted chocolate and sugar, scraping down the sides as needed. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge. (I wouldn’t leave it for more than a few days, though.)

Yields about 1/3 cup.

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Hmm… I am not too pleased with this. I used all shortening instead of half shortening and half butter, but that ought not have been the reason for it turning out the way it did; it does have a note saying that replacing the butter with shortening for a lactose-free pie crust is fine. I also used egg replacer, but I don’t think that would have been a problem…

Basically, it was too soft, and too sticky. I chilled it longer than it said to, and even left it in the freezer overnight, and it was just too soft to roll out. Eventually, I pressed it into a muffin tin with my fingers to make mini-somethings, but after working it for maybe half a minute, it was more a matter of… well, sort of smearing it, more than pressing it into shape.

How does it taste? Well. It crumbles very easily… it does not taste unpleasant, but the texture is not very much like a regular pie crust. It tastes fine, though. Kind of melts in your mouth. That’s sort of nice…

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Oh, if you HAVE to resort to rolling it out, make sure you only fold it, NEVER shape it into a ball. That’s the whole point of puff paste. It puffs up like that because it has been folded and re-rolled numerous times.

When unfolding, I find it best to slip a butcher’s knife between the folds, instead of trying to pull it apart with your fingers, which will stretch the dough.

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The Pictures:

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1/2 cup wheat-free baking mix
1/2 cup almond meal/flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer + 6 tbsp warm water (= 3 eggs)
2/3 cup rice milk
1/4 cup fresh orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Combine mix, flours, starch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugar. Add the egg replacer and milk, followed by half of the flour mixture at a time. Fold in the zest.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Leave to cool in loaf pan for at least an hour before turning out and serving.

Note: You most definitely want to fold in the orange zest, trust me. You don’t want to whisk it in, because the zest catches on the whisk and you’ll spend some time un-tangling it off. You don’t want to waste one bit of that zest.

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In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and chives. Cut butter and cream cheese into mixture with 5 second pulses, until the mixture looks like slightly moist crumbs, like so —

Transfer mixture to a bowl and fold in the buttermilk. If the mixture is too wet to be handled,

gradually gradually add up to 1 cup more flour, until the dough comes together, and is still slightly sticky, but can be kneaded.

Turn out onto a lightly floured (I stress the ‘lightly floured’) surface and knead into a cylinder. Do not work the dough too much or it will become too tough. Roll into an 8 x 11 inch rectangle, about an inch think. Use a bench scraper or an offset spatula to neatly lift the ends of the dough and fold into thirds, like a letter. Turn the rectangle 45 degrees, roll out to the same dimensions as the first time, and again fold into thirds. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for half an hour.

Return to dough to the slightly floured work surface, and repeat the rolling out and folding into thirds twice more. After the second time, roll out into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Cut into 12 squares (or rectangles). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the biscuit is golden and the edges have browned slightly.

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Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line standard 36 size muffin cups with muffin liners and set aside.

Whisk together the four flours, starch, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups water, canola oil, chopped apricots, raisins, cinnamon, ground cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil and stir (without lowering heat) for three minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for ten minutes. While it’s cooling, dissolve the baking soda and salt in the remaining 2 tsp of water. When the mixture has been allowed to cool for ten minutes, add the baking soda solution. The mixture will foam up. Stir well.

Fold in the flour mixture.

Spoon warm batter into lined muffin cups.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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For the fondant:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp almond extract

35 red maraschino cherries, well drained

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vegetable shortening

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, butter, sugar, and cocoa, and beat at medium speed of an electric mixer, until a soft dough forms.

With your fingers and a spatula, press the dough into a 7 x 11 glass pyrex.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the fondant. Combine confectioners’ sugar, butter, milk, and almond extract, and beat at low speed of an electric mixer until smooth.

With your fingers and a spoon, spread the fondant evenly over completely cooled base.

Arrange cherries over fondant in 5 rows of 7.

In a microwave-safe glass measuring cup, melt the chocolate chips and shortening. Spread over and between the cherries, completely covering the fondant.

Chill until set, before cutting into 35 squares.

(I’ll post pictures of the cut bars… when I take ‘em.)

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