8th Day of Christmas Treats: Gluten Free Amish Peanut Butter

I fell in love with Amish Peanut Butter in an Amish restaurant in Shipshiwana, Indiana.  Lucky for me it's a cinch to make and a great gift to share with others!  This is great on bread, poured over ice cream, or used as a fruit dip.

Amish Peanut Butter

1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup marshmallow creme

Mix everything together until well combined.  Store in an air tight container.

7th Day of Christmas Treats: Red Velvet Gluten Free Whoopie Pies

I am totally in love with anything red velvet so when I saw this recipe on better homes and garden's website I knew I had to try it gluten free.  These are fantastically delicious!  I swapped out the flour for gluten free and added xanthum gum.  I also used cream cheese frosting instead of the filling they suggested.  With their bright red color these are perfect for bringing a little Christmas cheer to anyone who's lucky enough to get one!

Red Velvet Gluten Free Whoopie Pies

2 cups gluten free flour mix
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
.5 ounces red food coloring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.  Sift together gluten free flour mix, cocoa powder, xanthum gum, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low while slowly adding the buttermilk. Stir in food coloring and mix on medium for 1 minute until well combined.

Drop cookie dough by tablespoons (a cookie scoop works best to keep them all the same size) onto the parchment paper and bake for 11 minutes or until tops are set.  Allow cookie to cool. Frost bottom side of cookie with cream cheese frosting and sandwich with the bottom of another cookie.  Store whoopie pies in the refrigerator.

**I had some leftover chocolate frosting from my husbands birthday so I used it in place of the cream cheese for some of the whoopie pies.  They were delicious and I'm really not sure which I like better!

6th Day of Christmas Treats: Christmas Guacamole

Every now and again it's nice to have a savory treat grace the table.  This guacamole with chunks of avocado and tomato looks just like Christmas!  Guacamole is a great appetizer to share at a holiday party but simple enough to throw together for a fun snack to munch during a college bowl game.

Christmas Guacamole

2 large ripe avocados removed from their skin and pits removed
1 small tomato, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
salt to taste (1/2-1 teaspoon)
tortilla chips for serving

Place avocados in a bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in the other ingredients.  Only add part of the salt at a time and taste before adding more.  Serve with tortilla chips.

5th Day of Christmas Treats: Gluten Free Chocolate Haystacks

I was planning on making butterscotch haystacks swapping out the chow mein noodles for rice chex. As I was opening the butterscotch chips I glanced at the ingredients and did a double take as I saw "barley protein" listed.  I jumped online and sure enough, butterscotch morsels are NOT listed on Nestle's gluten free product list.  Not to be deterred, I swapped out the butterscotch chips with semi-sweet and came out with yummy results.  Lesson learned - Aways double check your ingredients!!!

Gluten Free Chocolate Haystacks

1 cup gluten free chocolate chips (I used Nestle)
1/3 cup peanut butter
6 cups rice chex

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir in peanut butter and microwave for 30 more seconds.  Stir rice chex into chocolate mixtures and drop onto wax paper in golf ball size mounds.  Let haystacks set before eating.

4th Day of Christmas Treats: Gluten Free Chocolate Covered Pretzels

 Okay, technically these are made from white morsels and not white chocolate, but since I'm not really a connoisseur of white chocolate, these taste good enough for me!  I followed the directions for melting the morsels found on the back of the package (I used Nestle, but any kind will do as long as they're gluten free).  3 for the neighbors, one for me...yum!

Chocolate covered Pretzels

1 cup chocolate chips or white morsels
1 teaspoon oil
40-50 glutino pretzels (or any brand you like)
sprinkles if desired

Place chips and oil in a microwave proof bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir mixture and if chips aren't melted microwave for 15 more seconds, stir, heat 15 more seconds, stir etc...until the mixture is smooth.  Place a sheet of wax paper on your work surface.  place a few pretzels in the bowl with your melted chocolate, coat both sides (I used a toothpick to help turn the pretzels around), let the excess chocolate drip off and then place the pretzels on the wax paper to set.  If you want to use sprinkles, add them before the chocolate sets so they will stick.   If your chocolate mixture starts to set up in the bowl before you're finished, place it back in the microwave for 15 seconds to re-melt it.