Sugar Free Red Raspberry Crumble Bars (Note: they are wheat free too)

 

 

I've been craving the raspberry crumble bars I make (sugarfree and lowcarb - keto) but hadn't had time to make them or even start to think about being able to (yep, it's been that insanely busy around here for the past 6 weeks or so) but today I was not only still craving them, but accidentally stumbled upon my old post featuring them from June of 2019... I'm taking it as a sign!  I have a lot going on this morning and early afternoon but I'm holding out that around 3:pm I'll be able to sneak in a little kitchen time to get a pan of these into the oven!  SO GOOD.

 

Red Raspberry Crumble Bars

2 c almond flour
2 T coconut flour
2/3 c Erythritol with Monk Fruit (you can use a granulated sweetener of your choice)
1/4 t sea salt
6 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
2/3 c sugar free red raspberry preserves or jam of your choice

Whisk together the dry ingredients; almond flour, coconut flour, sweeteners and salt.  Melt the butter in cup in the microwave and add the vanilla to it.  Pour this into the dry mixture and mix with a spatula until it starts to come together.   Press just over half the dough into a greased 8X8 inch pan. 

Bake this bottom crust for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes. 

Place the preserves in a bowl and microwave for a minute or so to soften the preserves for spreading. Spread the raspberry filling over the crust, getting up into the corners and sides as well.  Now crumble the rest of the topping over it all and press down lightly just to adhere to the raspberry preserves, but don't flatten it.  Return to the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes until turning golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool completely to cut. 

Repost from June, 2019.

I keep various jams and preserves on hand for my husband's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I had Smucker's brand in the refrigerator.  You can use whichever brands you like.

Melt it a bit in the microwave for easy pouring and spreading over the crust.

Fresh out of the oven!
 

I keep these in the refrigerator - they slice easily and taste... incredible!

 

 

 

 

Buffalo Hot Wings with Homemade Buffalo Wing Sauce

 

 

This is a 'quick and sloppy' post - in which I literally am uploading a couple photos from my old cell phone - not even brightening them to make up for the ugly yellow lighting in the kitchen.  I really just want to make sure I get the wings recipe posted - although I'm sure I've posted it a couple times previously over the years; when your site has been active since about 2006, there are a lot of recipes for the search engines to wade through - and many of my pages are not google indexed for weird reasons that I have no idea about or how to fix... so it is what it is.

When I post recipes it's usually for my own personal collective use, but often they are with a particular child of mine in mind.  I want them to be able to find the recipe(s) when they need or want them.  This one is for my son.

Buffalo Hot Wings

Chicken wings and drumettes - as many as you wish
1 c hot sauce like Frank's or Crystals
1/3 c oil (olive, canola, vegetable)
1 t cayenne powder
1-2 t minced fresh garlic
1-2 t sugar or sweetener
1/2 t worchestershire sauce
fresh black pepper - about 1/8 - 1/4 t
1 egg yolk
2 t water
2-3 T cornstarch or 1/2 t xanthan powder

Cook the wings as you like (oven, grill, etc.)  While your wings are cooking according to package directions or your preference, make the sauce.  In a saucepan, mix the hot sauce, oil, cayenne pepper (optional - can leave out for less hot wings), garlic, sugar and worchestershire and pepper.  Whisk or stir briskly and heat until it comes to a slow boil.  As that is heating blend the egg yolk with water and corn starch.  Whisk in to the hot mixture and stir as it thickens.

Take the chicken wings/drummies and baste, spoon or pour some of the sauce over all, as heavy as you wish.  Return to the oven and bake or broil a few minutes until the sauce is nicely adhered and a bit drier.  Remove from the oven and serve - goes well with celery and ranch dressing and/or salads.  Serve the extra sauce in a dish along side for dipping the wings in.

 

 

 

Spicy Shrimp Queso Dip

 

 

This week is 'Use Up All the Food" Week in our household.  This means using up all the foods we bought for our celebration(s) last weekend before we get back to our normal eating of typically low carb and sugarfree.  Last night was opening and using a bag of tortilla chips, as well as a package of 'queso' Velveeta cheese.  The dish trying to use both of those is obvious but I also wanted to start using up a bag of frozen shrimp that we've had in the deep freeze forever so.... shrimp queso it was!

This is being posted for my youngest daughter who wants me to make this for her, but I am making sure to post it so she can make it herself!  Ha.  

I didn't measure anything, so everything is estimated or just use as much or little as you like - like jalapenos; lots if you love them, little if you don't. 

And cheeses - use whatever you have on hand in your refrigerator.  Monterey Jack or Colby Jack would be yummy but I didn't have those - I ended up using White Queso, Smoked Provolone, Cream Cheese and then some mozzarella, which I only used to sprinkle on top because there was literally a cup of it sitting on the counter and I didn't want to put it back in the package in the refrigerator.  I actually liked it better without as it was on top and formed a cheese crust on top while the rest was all melted and blended.  Yours?  Play with your food - do what you like.

Spicy Shrimp Queso

A mixture of spices to blacken your shrimp:  black pepper, salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, a little garlic salt
Onion, diced
Tomato, diced
jalapenos, diced
fresh garlic
Velveeta, Cream Cheese, Mont. Jack cheese, Colby Jack Cheese, Mozzarella, Provolone, cheddar... whatever!
Shrimp

Toss the shrimp in the spices while you heat a cast iron pan and add just a bit of oil until very hot.  Add the shrimp in a single layer and cook quickly to blacken and crisp.  Remove to a plate.  Turn down heat and add a little more oil to the pan; toss in about 1/2 cup or so of onion and fresh tomatoes.  Cook briefly and add garlic and jalapenos.  Cook for a minute or two and then add all the cheeses.  Stir off and on til melted.  While cheese is melting, chop the shrimp, leaving a few whole.  Add the chopped shrimp to the cheese in the pan.  Top with shrimp.  Bake at 400 for about 8 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Mixture of spices

 

Blackened in a cast iron skillet 

 

 

Some tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and garlic



Adding lots of cheeses

Melted smooth
 

 

Chopped shrimp into the cheese

 

Topped with a few of the whole shrimp 

 

Into the oven to warm through for about 5-8 minutes til bubbly.

A black leather purse cake! (Or handbag cake if you prefer)

 

Another Birthday Cake!  As I mentioned in the previous post, this past weekend we had our big family celebration of... all the things.  Our family gathered from across the country and we celebrated 2 birthdays, Christmas and New Years; all between Friday and Monday.

This post is MOSTLY here because I think my oldest daughter might want to make this in the future and I wanted to jot down and save photos of the process for her.  But I keep my blog public so it can help others as well; so maybe someone else (you) would like to see the process I used as well.

I'm not a 'cake maker' and I'm just a Mom who makes birthday cakes for her family.  I saw this cake idea, I had no idea how I'd make it, but I figured I'd look online for a few items and make it up as I went along.  I went to a decorating site I use and put in a search for a "purse logo mold" and this one showed up, so I ordered it.  On the "you might be interested in..." that they add to the page, I saw a mold for chain link.  I had wondered how I'd make those - so I ordered that too.  Then I ordered some yellow gold fondant and some glittery gold edible food dust... just in case I needed it.

Normally I make my fondant but getting a deep black was going to be difficult so I checked and they sold black fondant in a brand I like and tastes good so I ordered a small container of that too. 

And that was it.  I tucked those away without a plan...

Here are a few more photos of the cake as I set it up on the dining room table - literally MINUTES before they were due to arrive.  The birthday girl and her family plus my son were all arriving after about a 15 hour drive, in which they also had car trouble and stop for a new alternator.  I put this on the table, got the stuff surrounding, and they arrived in less than 10 minutes.  PERFECT because she needed a happy, uplifting 'birthday party' after a long, frustrating drive.

We enjoyed cake, a quick dinner, laughter and hugs... and then everyone went to bed, exhausted.  LOL.

The birthday girl and her cake.

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For this cake I wanted something sturdy to work with and it just so happens the birthday girls favorite cake is Red Velvet so that worked out perfectly!  A couple days before they were due to arrive, I found time during a 2 year olds nap to make the cake so I could fill and freeze it.

In my head I figured a bread pan would make a great cake pan because I wanted that sort of shape. 

I baked the cake in a bread or loaf pan as well as an oval Scandinavian Almond Cake pan but you can also just cut the top of a loaf/bread pan baked cake to be a rounded shape.

I made traditional frosting to go with the Red Velvet Cake because people that pair a true, traditional Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting are committing a cake-baking sin! 

 

 

The cake was made, the frosting filled between a couple layers and then a little bit of a crumb coat, and it was popped back in the freezer.

On "put it together day" I got out the random things I had ordered, thinking I may or may not use them.

FIRST:  I used some gold/yellow fondant to form the Gucci logo for the front of the cake.  I knew I would have to let it set up to dry and harden a little before I could use it.  I did not make the chain at this time because I knew it would still have to be somewhat soft in order to form to draping... not too hard and not too soft. 

SECOND:  I didn't know what I was doing but I grabbed a hunk of black fondant and started to roll it out.  I measured the cake to get a rough estimate of how wide and high a piece needed to be to cover the back, and a little over the front as well. 

I cut it out and put it over the cake. 

NOTE:  LEARNING CURVE:  I didn't do the diamond pattern first.  I tried to add that after the fondant was on the cake, which was difficult to get even, so for the front I did the pattern first, then draped it on the cake.

I cut two pieces for the sides in the general size and shape I wanted, and placed them on the cake with a little clear decorating gel to hold them.  Then I used a sharp knife to cut the fondant down a bit so I could smooth it with my fingers to meet the top fondant piece on the cake.  See photo.

 

 

With the back and sides in place, I now had to the front to figure out.
First I did a piece across the bottom front (see photo). 
Then I laid out my fondant and did a guesstimate measure to start the last piece at the top of the cake where a 'seam' would be, and down about half way in the front like a purse flap.

 

 

 

 

When I was deciding what to use to make the diamond leather pattern for the purse, I tried a couple things, but ended up just flipping my knife over and using that to gently press in lines that overlapped to make the pattern.

I draped the last piece of fondant over the purse cake and....  this was the moment I realized I might actually pull this off!  It was really looking like a purse!

And a couple minutes later my hopes were dashed and I figured I was really screwing it all up because I then attempted the chain links to make the purse strap for the cake and I actually put everything down TWICE and was going to just stop.  I almost just cut black fondant to make a simple black strap... but I'm glad I didn't stop in the end.  I persevered.

  

NOTE:  LEARNING CURVE - fondant is really soft for this.  I think a gum paste or something similar would work better and I know professionals have other things they use - but I only had fondant.  I popped out the chain link the best I could. 

I tried using the edible gold to paint it on before placing it on the cake because I didn't want to accidentally get paint on the cake by doing it after... mistake.  This didn't work at all and the fondant just wanted to break.  MAKE THE PURSE STRAPS AND PUT THEM ON THE PURSE FIRST.  And if you can use gum paste or something other than fondant, you will be happy you did.

 

While I let the fondant chains sit on parchment for a little bit so they would (hopefully) get hard enough I could pick them up without them falling apart on me... I went back to the cake to attempt to find something to make it look like the seams were sewn.

Maybe they have something to do this design, I have no idea.  But I was grabbing things from all over my kitchen to try, including an icing pick, a straight pin, the head of the straight pin, a long twisted wire, etc. Just use whatever you have in your kitchen to make little indents all over the edges for a fake seam.

And finally... cleaning it up!  On some cakes I just use a brush and brush the extra powdered sugar or cornstarch off; or sometimes get the pesky spots brushed off with a little water, but to make the fondant shiny, I wanted to use shortening. 

I brushed the whole cake with shortening to make it shiny and keep it soft.

 

 

 

   

 

HERE is right after I carefully carried and draped those darn pieces of fondant chain over the cake and down across the front.  I pieced them together as best I could and yes, they were breaking since they hadn't had much time to set up.  I placed a few straight pins in to hold them in place while I got some pieces of black fondant rolled out, and cut them into tiny rectangle shaped pieces about 3/4 of an inch long and a little less than a half inch wide.  Basically about the width of the gold chain links.

Each little piece I poked the indents on, then pinched each end of it and tucked it into the chain links to look like a leather strap was weaved between the gold chain to form the cake's purse strap.

I wanted to make a little circle where the straps attached to the purse, so I grabbed a bottle cap from a random bottle (I think it was a taco sauce bottle) and with a perfectly clean and dry cap, cut out two little circles, with an indent of two tinier circles inside, to which I placed the ends of the purse 'strap' fondant pieces.

And that's it!  I called it "done" and rushed to get it on the table along with some random items like plates and little gold forks and gold and black napkins - added the birthday gifts and then, they walked in the front door!   :)

 

The Mirror Glaze Ocean Beach Cake with Edible White Chocolate Seashells

 

This cake didn't have a plan so much as a general idea of what I wanted. 

Last weekend we had a dozen people staying at our home from Friday through Tuesday in order to celebrate 'all the things'.  Christmas, New Year's and 2 birthdays.  I made a purse cake for the first birthday, which we celebrated Friday night.  Saturday was our Christmas.  Sunday was our New Year's and Monday was another birthday.  So it was CHAOS and LOUD and CRAZY and here I was... attempting to make a cake in the midst of the hullabaloo. 

And I had NO PLAN.
And I had NEVER attempted a mirror glaze before.

So there you go.

I had made the cake ahead of time and although it should have been frozen solid, I had no room in a freezer to do so (because of the 12 people staying at the house and all the food I had to have on hand for meals).  Instead, it was in a 'really cold refrigerator'. 

I did make the seashells ahead of time with white chocolate candies.  That's all I had planned or prepped.  A four layer cake and the shells.  Everything else I just decided to 'wing it' when the time came.

Here is a close up up the pretty shells.  I added those around the edge at the last minute to cover the base and to use them up as I had made a handful 'extra' because I didn't know what I would want when I used them.

I added a ribbon I found in the drawer that matched the colors - and then, needing something 'more' to add some texture and color, I sprinkled candy sprinkles around.  I finished LITERALLY just as the birthday girl and her family were walking in the front door!  Ha.

The Cake

The cake recipe has been posted far too many times to count since this website began around 2006.  It's my 'go to' and I love it.  However, it makes enough for about 4 layers depending on the pans you use; so half it if you only need 2 layers.

White Cake

2 boxes white cake mix
2 c flour
2 c white sugar
1 1/2 t salt
2 2/3 c water
1/4 c canola oil
2 t vanilla
2 t almond extract
16 oz. sour cream
8 large egg whites, room temperature

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat just to blend. Add the water, oil, vanilla, almond extract, sour cream and egg whites and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into 2-4 greased and floured pans (shape of your choice, 2  9X13 or 4 smaller round), filling each pan about half full. Bake at 325° F oven until cake tests done in the center. Cool and use as you wish.

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The Mirror Glaze - I looked at and ran off recipes for about 5 (?) of them from the web.  They were almost similar - almost exactly similar actually.  I ended up choosing this one because it had the ingredients in grams and ounces instead of just the American 'cups' and such.  I was nervous about my first time making and using a mirror glaze so I wanted to be exact.

All recipe credit goes to ChefIso's website

I followed their directions and because I anticipated I would screw up something and wish I had more glaze, I made the 'large' sized recipe which is far more than I needed, but I didn't care - better safe than sorry.  I followed everything exact - even weighed out my ingredients on my scale for exact grams and ounces. 

Makes glaze for a dozen 10-inch cakes. You can halve or quarter the recipe for a smaller yield.

• 700 grams white chocolate (24.5 ounces)
• 300 grams water (10.5 ounces, 1 1/4 cups)
• 600 grams sugar (21 ounces, 2 2/3 cups)
• 400 grams condensed milk (14 ounces, 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 38 grams powdered gelatin
• optional food dye for colored mirror glaze

(half portion below)

• 350 grams white chocolate (12.25 ounces)
• 150 grams water (5.25 ounces, ~1/2 cups)
• 300 grams sugar (11.5 ounces, ~1 1/2 cups)
• 200 grams condensed milk (7 ounces, ~2/3 cups)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 19 grams powdered gelatin
• optional food dye for colored mirror glaze

Bloom the gelatin in cold water and set it aside while you heat the liquids.
Heat the water, sugar, and condensed milk.
When the sugar is fully dissolved and the liquid is hot, turn off the heat and stir in the gelatin.
Pour this mixture over the chocolate.
Wait about 5 minutes for the chocolate to melt.
Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend this mixture until smooth.
Strain this through a sieve and allow to cool, gently stirring every so often to prevent a film from forming on top. Depending on the container you are using and your starting temperature, the cooling can take up to 2 hours, which an ice bath can accelerate.
Your target temperature is about 92°F (33°C). When the glaze is between 90°F and 94°F (32°C - 34°C), it is ready to be poured over the cake. At this point be very careful not to introduce bubbles since the glaze is very viscous and they will not pop on their own.
You must manually pop them or strain the mixture through a sieve. Pour the glacage over the frozen cake
You can pour starting at the sides in a circular motion working towards the center, or start from the center and work out to the sides.
Allow the glaze to chill on the cake for a few minutes.

LEARNING CURVE because I did not have a frozen solid cake:  I did my pour when it tested at 91 degrees and it was still too warm.  By the time I tried to 'fix' it and had mixed and poured a couple more attempts, it was cooler, which would have worked better for me as I wanted it to resemble water.  But the marble effect in the end was good enough.  IF (And that's a BIG IF) I ever work with a mirror glaze again, I'm going to make SURE my cake is frozen solid - which I couldn't do this time and then do a 'test' pour - and if needed, wait until it's just a tad, smidgen bit cooler.  Maybe 87 ish verses the 91 degrees.  

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*Note - because I was decorating the top of mine and not doing the traditional mirror glaze left plain, I had to put my graham crumbs and little seashells on right away before it set up.

I colored three colors separate at first - a lighter blue, darker navy blue and a white.
I saw on other sites where they pour them separate and 'swish' them with a knife to form water.  Mine didn't turn very well for my first try, and even though it was 91 degrees, it poured too quickly for the look I wanted since my cake was not frozen solid;  so I poured a little more, then mixed the two blues together and poured again.  I added a few back-and-forth pours of white for the waves and then tried to swish... nope.  So I got out the hair dryer and tried to blow it to be wave-ish.  Nope.

In the end I used some leftover white frosting from the filling to form waves and by that time it was set up anyway and I couldn't work with it anymore!  Ha ha.  So it was what it was.

 

 

 

 I had a 6 year old helping me decorate and he had a blast putting down the 'sand' and some of the seashells.  This is my hand placing a few more shells.

 

 

 

I had a bunch of shells I had made (not really having a plan to start, I just made stuff....)
So I ended up placing shells around the cake at the base as well.  I loved this addition.