I was cruising around on TheKitchn the other day when I came across a post about making a giant cookie in a cast iron skillet. How could I pass up a recipe like that! It also fits in nicely with Gluten-Free Homemaker’s Monthly Gluten-Free Challenge to make a dessert bar.

Turns out TheKitchn writer used Martha Stewart for the guidelines. (Don’t we all at some point or another? Well, I do, like when I made red velvet cupcakes.) I hopped over to her site, looked over the recipe, thought up the necessary gluten-free changes, plus a few other adaptations (namely making the cookie hazelnut flavored) and we were good to go. (Mike always gets scared when I want to adapt recipes. As he explains it, 3/4 of the time the changes are good; 1/4 of the time he ends up with kale in his food.)

• 1 cup hazelnut meal
• 3/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons hazelnut extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix flours, salt, and baking soda together. Combine well.
3. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter together. Then add in egg and hazelnut extract.
4. Once thoroughly mixed, add in the flour. Stir until just mixed, then stir in the chocolate chunks.
5. Press into a 12-inch skillet. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove and allow cookie to cool completely before cutting.

( Serves 8 )

The hazelnut flavor was very prominent, which was my main goal. However, because of the high proportion of hazelnut meal to other flour this cookie is not quite the same texture as “regular” cookies. (It had a dense chocolatey middle, with a crispy crusty top.) If you can’t find hazelnut extract, plain old vanilla works too.

I used chocolate that was 71% cacao, because I love dark chocolate. It makes for a very rich flavor. Semi-sweet or milk chocolate work as well.

Martha’s original recipe calls for a 10-inch skillet. I only own a 12-inch. If you use a 10-inch adjust the cooking time upward. She says to bake for 40-45 minutes.

Cast iron holds heat well, so remove the cookie before it gets too brown. It will continue to bake after you remove it from the oven.

You have to wait for the cookie to completely cool before cutting it up–unless you want gooey crumbly mess. Granted, warm gooey, crumbly cookie mess is not that bad of a thing. But if you want actual bars, you’ll have to wait.

This recipe is shared in Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

It’s Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger time–a time to share another gluten-free blogger’s recipe with you lovely readers. (As an aside, I hit 500 subscribers last week! Thanks to everyone who has been reading. I appreciate the support. It’s nice to know the recipes are reaching someone and not just floating around in the abyss.)

I just recently came across Lauren’s site: Celiac Teen. I was immediately drawn in because I’m a sucker for good food photography. And she’s good. After some browsing, it also became clear that she’s quite the baker. (I’m kind of jealous.)

I decided to try her gluten-free orange cornmeal muffins. I have been playing around with a muffin recipe that involves cornmeal. And I’m still working on it. But in the interim, why not try this one?

Like Lauren mentions in her post, this recipe straddles the border between muffin and cupcake. They are very light and sweeter than you might expect for a muffin. I really liked the orange flavor. (She calls for the zest of one orange. We used a navel orange, which is kind of big, but I liked the final result.) They also had a slight crunch around the edges, which was delightful.

Mike also thought they were tasty.

And so, furthermore, heretofore, I give this recipe my stamp of approval and suggest you give it try. You can have your own batch in 30 minutes if you start now. The recipe is right here.

• 5 – 6 cups sliced and peeled tart apples (I opted for granny smith)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Pamela’s Ultimate Baking Mix
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp melted butter

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup Pamela’s Ultimate Baking Mix
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp butter

I absentmindedly purchased way too many green apples over a week ago and haven’t been around to eat them. Lucky for me, a “blizzard” has shut down the city, and I’ve been indoors for the last two days–thereby giving me time to throw together this apple cobbler.

First things first: Grease a 9 x 9 inch casserole pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel, core, and thinly slice all apples. Mix all ingredients except the apples together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Place in the casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg until slightly bubbly. Next add all the dry ingredients. Melt the butter and add into the mixture. If you want to add a bit of crunch to the cobbler, you can add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the mixture. Gently drizzle the mixture over the apples with a spoon or spatula. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
(Serves 8 – 10)

For the dough:

• 2 1/2 cups Pamela’s Ultimate Baking Mix, plus extra for the counter
• 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Cinnamon Filling:

• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons milk or cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a 9-inch round baking pan with butter or vegetable spray. Make the cinnamon filling first. Melt the butter, then mix with the remaining the ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Next make the dough. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, then mix with the buttermilk in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and combine with a spatula or spoon. Use a lot of flour to coat either a large cutting board or the counter top. Turn the dough out onto the counter top and begin to flatten into a rectangle.  The dough will be very sticky so continue to sprinkle more flour while flattening the dough. I used my hands but you could use a rolling pin. Make the rectangle around 12 inches long and about 8 or 9 inches wide. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush over the top of the dough, then spread the cinnamon mixture over the top. Gently pat into the dough.

Start rolling the long end of the dough into a giant cylinder. Now you will find out whether you put enough flour on the counter earlier. I did not. My cinnamon rolls stuck to the cutting board. After all the dough is rolled, take a knife and cut the roll into 8 sections. Cut one at a time because they can be messy and fall apart. If that happens just scrunch the dough into a ball and throw it in the baking pan. ;)

After all the rolls are in the pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and brush it over the top of the rolls. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Prepare the frosting while the cinnamon rolls are baking. Melt the butter. Mix the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar in with the melted butter. Stir until creamy and combined.

Let the cinnamon rolls cool for around 5-10 minutes, then apply frosting to the top the rolls. You may need a spatula to help loosen the rolls from the pan while serving. As a side note, you do not have to use all of the frosting or cinnamon mixture. If you feel it is too much cut the amounts down to the size you enjoy.

(Serves 6-8)