A stack of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.
Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Gluten-free artisan bakeries typically pop up when a family member has gluten intolerance. In this case, its husband and co-founder of Lucky Spoon Bakery in Salt Lake City, Jim Schulte.

Both Jim and wife Pam have MBAs and years of business experience; but Pam also had serious baking skills. So she set out to re-invent gluten-free cookies and muffins that were every bit as tasty as their fully glutenized counterparts.

Lucky Spoon Bakery has succeeded in changing the way people think about gluten-free baked goods. The products are moist, fresh and delicious.

“Gluten-free has always been code for ’taste-free’ or ‘you can eat it but you probably won’t like it,’” says Jim. But, as has been proved by other artisan bakers of gluten-free goods, if you spend enough time, money (on the best ingredients) and love, you can produce bread, cakes, cookies, muffins and other products that everybody loves to eat.

To us, the compliment we bestow is, “No one would know it’s gluten free.”

Gluten-Free Cookies

Instead of wheat flour, the cookies are made with a blend of white rice flour, potato flour and almond meal; plus sugar, butter, eggs, quality chocolate or peanut butter, vanilla and other ingredients of good cookies.

 
Gluten-Free Muffins

?White rice flour and potato flour instead of wheat flour. As with the cookies, sugar, eggs, butter and quality flavorings combine to make moist, tasty muffins:

Lucky Spoon Bakery is a find for the gluten-free nibbler.Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

To find Lucky Spoon products, check the store locator on the company website.

For a festive Easter dish, look for purple potatoes. You can serve them baked, boiled with parsley, as fries, mashed or in other favorite dishes. You can make purple gnocchi and potato chips. Hash browns can become hash purples.

We turn them into a red, white and blue July 4th potato salad, mixed with white potatoes and red grape tomatoes. The starch level is medium, so purple Peruvians are an all-purpose potato. They have a creamy texture like russet potatoes and are rich in flavor. Some varieties have a charming nuttiness.

Once a rarity, purple potatoes can now be found markets nationwide. In addition to the Purple Peruvian there’s a purple-fleshed Okinawan sweet potato, a staple in Hawaii. Look for it in Asian markets.

Your favorite potato dishes can now be charmingly purple. Photo courtesy Wandering Chopsticks. Here’s the recipe.

Millennia ago, potatoes grew wild in the foothills of the Andes Mountains of Peru. Along with many other varieties of potatoes, they were cultivated around 3,000 B.C.E. by the Incas. Today, purple potatoes are grown around the world. Here’s more about purple potatoes and a recipe for a colorful purple potato and beet salad.

For Easter, how about a purple sweet potato pie? Keep it hidden and surprise your guests with the bright purple filling, evocative of jelly beans.

Here’s a purple sweet potato pie recipe from Stokes Foods, a North Carolina grower of purple potatoes, which includes a photo of the bright purple pie.

Purple Peruvian sweet potatoes. Photo by Mona Makela | IST.

PURPLE SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPE

Ingredients

Optional Topping

 
Preparation

1. COVER potatoes with water in a medium saucepan. Boil for 45 minutes until fork goes all the way through. Let cool; peel and place in a large mixing bowl.

2. PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Melt butter.

3. ADD all other ingredients to mixing bowl with potato. Use an immersion blender to liquefy ingredients.

4. POUR sweet potato mixture into pie shell.

5. BAKE at 425°F for 5 minutes, then at 350°F for 10 minutes until firm.

6. MAKE the topping while the pie is baking, Melt butter in a sauce pan. Mix in flour, brown sugar and pecans. Stir until thoroughly blended and set aside

6. ADD topping to pie. Bake 350°F for 15 minutes until done.

VARIATION

You can use this recipe to make 12 mini pies using mini graham cracker pie shells. After adding the pecan topping, only bake for 10 additional minutes instead of 15 minutes.

Find more purple potato recipes at StokesFoods.com.

Three shades of green for St. Patrick’s Day. Photo courtesy McCormick.com.

We love this festive cake from McCormick. It’s an ombre cake: Ombre is the French word for shade, and each layer is a different shade of green. Keep that a secret until you cut the cake: Everyone will be delighted.

You can bake the cake from scratch or use a good white cake mix. Just be sure to have lots of green food color on hand.

Serves 12.

GREEN LAYER CAKE RECIPE

Cake Ingredients

 
*Ingredients as required on Duncan Hines White Cake Mix. Use whole eggs instead of the egg whites directed on the package.

Preparation

1. PREPARE cake mix as directed on package, using whole eggs. Stir in vanilla. Divide batter evenly into 3 bowls.

2. STIR 50 drops (about 1/2 teaspoon) food color into one of the bowls, tinting batter dark green. Stir 15 drops food color into another of the bowls, tinting batter medium green. Stir 2 drops food color into last of the bowls, tinting batter light green.

3. POUR each bowl of batter into a greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan. Bake as directed on package. Cool layers on wire rack.

4. FROSTING: Beat butter and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating well after each addition and scraping sides and bottom of bowl frequently. Add milk; beat until light and fluffy.

Green food color does the trick. Photo courtesy McCormick.com.

5. PLACE dark green cake layer on serving plate. Spread with 1/3 cup of frosting. Top with medium green cake layer. Spread with 1/3 cup of frosting. Top with light green cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Garnish as desired.
 
OMBRE CAKE FOR OTHER OCCASIONS

You can use the same recipe to make a stunning ombre cake for other special occasions. Simply replace the green food color with your color of choice.

Make this delicious beef pot pie. Photo and
recipe courtesy BettyCrocker.com.

Remember your high school math: Pi (3.14159) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Math geeks have declared 3.14 (March 14th) Pi Day. But we’re adopting it as “Pie Day”; and why not, since a pie is a circle, and you can use pi and the diameter of your pie plate to calculate the circumference. (Lame or a good excuse to bake a pie? You be the judge).

Why bake a savory pie instead of a sweet one? The original pies were savory. Fruit pies and other sweet versions did not evolve until the 1300s and later.

There are plenty of delicious savory pies, from that American favorite, pot pie, to British steak and Stilton pie. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, how about a beef and Guinness pie?

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PIE

The ancient Egyptians, who were great bread bakers, also worked out the details of early pastry. But don’t salivate at the thought of it: Until relatively recently, the pastry was tough, inedible and used as a cooking vessel. Pie was a savory dish scooped from the crust—more like a casserole.

In the millennia before baking pans were invented, a dough of flour and water paste was wrapped around meat or fish to soak up the juices as it cooked. Pastry as we now know it was developed in the Middle East (a baklava, made of phyllo dough layered with nuts and honey, was brought to Mediterranean Europe by the Muslims and Greek seamen around the 7th century.

What about those noted gourmands, the Romans? Greek and Roman pastry did not progress as far as it could have because both cultures used oil, not butter, which can’t create a stiff pastry. It wasn’t until much later, in medieval Northern Europe, that the traditional use of lard and butter instead of oil for cooking hastened the development of other pastry types.

The Renaissance saw a pie-baking boom in England, but still they were meat pies, including the legacies of shepherd’s pie (lamb and vegetables) and cottage pie (beef and vegetable). Both have a mashed potato top instead of top crust.

By the 17th century, flaky and puff pastries were in use, developed by French and Italian Renaissance chefs. Pastry began to become highly decorated, with pastry chefs working intricate patterns on the crusts.

PIE BAKING TIPS

 
CHECK OUT ALL THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PIES IN OUR PIE & PASTRY GLOSSARY.

Easy spinach and Parmesan pie. Photo and recipe courtesy BettyCrocker.com.

Ordinarily we don’t eat out-of-season foods; for one thing, our sustainable self would feel wasteful of the fuel miles consumed by transporting produce from below the equator.

Secondly, weeks in transport mean that what arrives isn’t necessarily the freshest produce; and often the flavor suffers.

But a few weeks ago, on one of the coldest days of winter, we received a gift of a generous amount of Chilean blueberries—firm, plump and bursting with flavor. They brought sunshine into our kitchen; we relished every berry.

With organic-, antioxidant- and mental acuity*- focused Americans snatching up blueberries year-round, imports continue to grow. All through our winter, these summer fruits are available nationwide. Shipments, which began in mid-December, will continue through April (the U.S. harvest begins in May).

Plump, sweet blueberries from Chile. Photo courtesy FreshFruitPortal.com.

If you’ll be in baking mode this weekend, consider the delicious blueberry tart recipe below, courtesy of the Chilean Blueberry Committee. You can find more recipes for fresh blueberries at FruitsFromChile.com.

Tart versus pie: What’s the difference? There are quite a few, actually. Here’s the scoop on the differences between pies and tarts. We far prefer the thicker, buttery, cookie-like tart crust to a thin, soft pie crust. It’s a personal choice.

There’s no need to wait until June for a
luscious blueberry tart or pie. Photo courtesy
Chilean Blueberry Committee.

DELICIOUS BLUEBERRY TART RECIPE

PREP TIME: 22 minutes active preparation, 3.5 hours refrigeration

Ingredients For Crust

 
Ingredients For Filling

Preparation For Crust

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F.

2. WHISK the dry ingredients together in a medium-size mixing bowl. Then cut in the cold butter, using a pastry cutter or two forks.

3. WHISK together in a small bowl the egg yolk, vanilla and water; then stir into the dry mixture. The dough should be crumbly and hold together when squeezed.

4. ROLL out the dough; press it into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch round tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom. Prick it all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.

5. PRE-BAKE (blind-bake†) the crust: Weigh down the crust with pie weights or a nesting pie pan, or top it with foil or parchment and fill with rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crust is set. Remove weights, pan or foil/parchment and return crust to the oven to bake for another 6 to 8 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely before filling.

Preparation For Filling

1. BLEND: In a medium sauce pan over low heat, whisk juices with cornstarch until cornstarch is dissolved. Add 4 cups of the blueberries. Increase the heat and bring mixture to a boil until juices are clear and bright in color. Let mixture cool one minute.

2. STIR in vanilla and remaining blueberries.

3. POUR into pre-baked pie tart shell. Refrigerate for three hours prior to serving.

NUTRIENTS PER SERVING: 227 calories, 2 g protein, 8 g fat, 5 g saturated fat/72 calories from fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 3 g dietary fiber, 51 g sodium.

*Blueberries are one of the highest anti-oxidant foods. And according to the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, research “firmly establishes blueberries as a memory-protecting food” that can improve brain function.

†Blind-baking, also called pre-baking, is the process of baking a crust or other pastry without the filling. Blind baking a pie crust is helps prevent the pie crust from becoming soggy from its filling, among other benefits.

You’ve got plenty of time between now and Sunday night to bake a batch of these impressive Oscar statuette cookies, developed by Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com.

You don’t even have to buy an Academy Award-shaped cookie cutter: Here’s a free downloadable Oscar cookie template and circle for the statuette base..

The recipe makes approximately two dozen coookies.

ACADEMY AWARD (OSCAR STATUETTE)
COOKIES RECIPE

Ingredients

Everyone wins with an edible Oscar. Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

The dough can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

1. WHISK flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.

2. COMBINE cream butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is pale and blended.

3. ADD eggs, one at a time, mixing until eggs and extra yolk are fully incorporated into sugar mixture. Add vanilla extract and beat. Reduce mixer to low and add flour mixture, a little at a time, until dough is fully combined, taking care not to over-mix.

4. DIVIDE into two disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate dough for at least one hour, or preferably 2 to 3 hours.

Coat the royal icing with edible gold glitter:
You’re ready to hand out the awards! Photo
courtesy The Baker Shop.

Preparation For Baking

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it sit for a minute or two so it is easier to roll out.

2. PLACE dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out with a rolling pin to approximately 1/8″ in thickness.

3. CUT out statuette and circles with cookie cutter or template, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you are using the template, simply place it on top of dough and cut around it with a sharp knife. You may already have a 2.5″ diameter circle cookie cutter for the base. If not, look for a small cup or glass to use in its place.

4. CUT slits into the middle of the circle cookies that are big enough to fit the base of the Oscar cookies. Bake 10-11 minutes, or until cookies are just starting to become golden in color around the edges. Remove from oven, and if the slit in the circle cookies has filled in during baking, use a sharp knife to re-cut the slit before the cookie cools.

ROYAL ICING RECIPE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. MIC all ingredients together for 7 to 10 minutes, until icing stiffens. If icing appears too stiff, add more water, one teaspoon at a time. You want the icing to be thin enough that you can pipe it easily. Tint the royal icing gold (see instructions below) and frost the circle cookies for the base.

2. DECORATE cookies when cool. Place royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a very small round tip.

3. OUTLINE the outside of the cookie. Keep the tip about 1/2 inch above the cookie as you ice. This helps achieve a straighter line.

4. FILL IN or “flood” the cookies, adding about a teaspoon of water to the remaining royal icing until it becomes more of a liquid consistency. Fill a squeeze bottle with the “flood” icing and squeeze the icing inside the outline you just created, so it almost covers the cookie. Then take a toothpick and gently move it around to help fill in the cookie completely.

5. DRY the cookies completely (usually 1 to 2 hours). Then, lightly moisten the surface of each cookie with water using a paint brush. Coat in edible gold glitter. Affix statue to base by inserting statuette cookie into base.
 
You’ve worked hard: Give yourself an award!
 
TO TINT ICING GOLD

1. PLACE 10 drops of yellow food color in a mixing dish. Add one drop of red food color; mix with a toothpick.

2. TEST the color on a piece of dough or white bread; let sit for 3 minutes to see the color when dried. If the color is too light, add another drop of red to your mixture and retest; if the color is too dark or too orange, add more yellow.

3. BLEND color, a bit at a time, into the royal icing.

From left to right: It’s My Party, Oh My
Ganache! and Va Va Velvet. Photo courtesy
Dawn Foods.

Fans of Buddy Valastro, TLC Channel’s Cake Boss, don’t have to pilgrimage to Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey for a cake.

Buddy has struck a deal to deliver cakes to stores nationwide, beginning with six buttercream cakes “inspired by the flavors, techniques and styles of the cakes featured on the show.”

The cakes are produced by Dawn Foods, a long-time supplier to Carlo’s Bake Shop, using Buddy’s recipes and designs. The Cake Boss himself has been involved every step of the way to ensure that the cakes meet his quality standards.

At $27.99 for a seven-inch cake, they are not an everyday purchase.

But for a special occasion, the cakes, which can be found in the bakery department of supermarkets and other food stores, are better than most store-bought cakes. We tried three varieties; our notes are below.

The line is kosher certified by OU. Cupcakes and fondant cakes are expected later this year. The buttercream cake selection* includes:

Bada Bloom, Dulce de Leche and Whole Lotta Carrots. Photo courtesy Dawn Foods.

 
Next Step: Check the store locator and look for a special occasion.
 
*Each retailer may only carry a partial selection.

A tiny heart turns a simple cupcake into a
Valentine celebration. Photo courtesy
BellaBaker.com.

Just one little candy heart turns seemingly plain cupcakes into a perfect Valentine’s Day treat.

The flower design was added inspiration, but we actually prefer the minimalist approach—heart only—for its elegant simplicity.

Head to the bakery and buy some cupcakes. Head to the candy store and grab some themed candy. If you only have a supermarket at hand, decorate with red or pink sprinkles and top the sprinkles with a chocolate kiss.

You might not have time to bake these double lemon cupcakes today, but they are simply splendid: a lemon cupcake topped with lemon cream cheese frosting. Get the lemon cupcake recipe from BellaBaker.com, and put it on your “To Bake” list.

Because we’re crazy for lemon curd (and all things lemon), we turned the recipe into Triple Lemon Cupcakes:

THE REAL RED VELVET

And now for that all-American favorite, red velvet cupcakes.

Bella Baker herself, Lauryn Cohen, makes them as they should be: with beets, not red food color.

We find that most red velvet cake is bland: all color, no flavor. If you, too, don’t understand what all the fuss is about, bake a recipe that uses beets.

Here’s Bella Baker’s red velvet cupcake recipe.

THE NIBBLE wishes you a Valentine’s Day filled with love—and some great things to eat.

Turn red velvet cupcakes into Valentine cupcakes with a sprinkle of tiny hearts. Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

“I absolutely love surprises,” says Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com. “Imagine a cupcake surprise…biting into an already delicious cupcake and finding a second delicious surprise inside.”

So she created Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes, a lovely treat for Valentine’s Day.

The cake is tender and light and gets its strawberry flavor puréed fresh strawberries added to the batter. The surprise is fresh, sweet strawberry jam that provides a burst of strawberry goodness. Strawberry cream cheese icing brings a bit of tang for contrast.

“So make these cupcakes and shhhh, don’t tell anyone about the jam in the middle.” says Lauryn. “Make it a surprise that’s sure to put a smile on everyone’s face.”

RECIPE: STRAWBERRY SURPRISE CUPCAKES

Ingredients

 
FOR THE ICING

A delicious surprise. Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. BEAT butter at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat about 3 minutes, until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Add 1 1/2 cups of strawberry puree.

2. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in food coloring.

3. PLACE in mini baking cups and bake 10-12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool completely.

4. FILL the cupcakes: Cut cone shapes out of the top dome of each cupcake. Fill a Ziplock-type bag with fresh strawberry jam and snip the corner. Fill the hole in the cupcake to the top with jam then place the cone shape back on top.

5. MAKE THE ICING: In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter at medium-high speed with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth. Add strawberry preserves and vanilla, beating until well combined. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt, beating until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Garnish as desired.

Danny’s Macaroons update the classic
coconut macaroon to 21st century flavors.
Photo courtesy Danny Macaroons.

We grew up loving Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars, but as our palate for better chocolate grew, we switched to chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons made by artisan bakers. Ah, sweet addiction!

A brief history of macaroons: Coconut macaroons exist mostly because of Passover, the Jewish holiday that proscribes leavened baked goods, among other foods.

The original macaroons were almond meringue cookies similar to today’s amaretti, with a crisp crust and a soft interior, made from egg whites and almond paste. While details are unclear, some historians believe they were first made by Italian monks in the late 15th century.

Benedictine nuns brought the recipe to France in 1533, where the baked treat later evolved into the ganache-filled sandwich cookies—macarons—that we know and love today.

Meanwhile, back in Italy, Jews adopted the cookie because it had no flour or leavening and could be enjoyed during the eight-day observation of Passover. The recipe was introduced to other European Jews and became popular as a year-round sweet. Over time, coconut was added to the ground almonds and, in certain recipes, replaced them.

Coconut macaroons have remained popular in the U.S. and the U.K., where they appear on cookie platters year-round. Here’s the full history of macaroons and macarons.

Dan Cohen, the founder of Danny Macaroons, learned his craft 10 years ago, baking macaroons for Passover and tweaking his recipe over time. Unlike commercial varieties, the centers of Danny Macaroons are soft and moist, while the exteriors are appropriately crisp.

Following the flavor zeitgeist, Danny developed 45 different flavors, which are available in rotation. Currently on the menu: plain macaroons plus Black Chocolate Stout, Baileys McRoons, Bourbon, Chocolate Almond, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Dipped, Guava, Maple Pecan Pie, Red Velvet and Salted Caramel.

Buy them online at DannyMacaroons.com. The macaroons cost from $12 to $18 per half dozen, depending on flavor.

Are they an appropriate Valentine gift? Absolutely!

FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE COOKIES AND COOKIE RECIPES.