Baking and Birds

I have been slowly progressing toward a wheat-free existence. This week, I will remove all wheat pasta, flour and wheat containing packaged food that's been hibernating in my pantry, which will remove a big temptation.

I've had successes in baking, one thing that I'm very fond of. Last month, for a spinning get-together, I made a pumpkin spice cake, substituting GF flour for the regular. It was a hit. I was stoked - I can DO this!!

So with the addition of GF pasta, life was swimming along, with an occasional lapse, until yesterday, when I attempted to make GF red velvet cupcakes for the next spinning gathering. The first recipe was an actual Red Velvet recipe, and encouraged by my previous substitution success, just made it with GF flour.

They fell, the stuck to the wrappers, and after addition of additional flour and oiling the wrappers, they tasted funny (like the food coloring, of which you use a lot). Knowing that I would/should not eat 4 dozen substandard mini-cupcakes, I took them to the birds.

The chickens weren't too sure about these red things flying into their pen, until I cracked them open.

The turkeys weren't as shy (Mr. Big was "protecting" his girls from the flying red missiles).

The peafowl were interested, with the peacock taking the opportunity to "impress" the hens.

Back to the drawing board. I searched out a GF recipe and settled on a white cupcake recipe that I modified by adding cocoa and red food coloring. The were topped with cream cheese icing.

Success!! They are a bit dry, but I will tweak them further by adding a little more moisture and more cocoa to boost the chocolate flavor (it was very subtle). I only came home with 2, which were last night's desert.

The local weaver's guild meeting is Wednesday, and I'm one of the hostesses. I'll be bringing another load of these to the meeting, with the addition of little flat heart candies on the top.

I need to work on a good bread recipe - I have "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread," but a lot of her recipes use bean flour, which I'm sure works, but I'm a little leery of it, because, well,  you know what beans do... I'd rather my bread didn't do that. The addition of soaked psyllium husks or chia or flax seeds produces a "slime" that helps with replacing the gluten's action in breads - I'll try that first.

Happy Valentines Day!