Brownie Pops Flower Bouquet

What You’ll Need:

One GF brownie recipe (Try Gluten-Free Girl’s recipe or a mix from the Gluten-Free Pantry or Betty Crocker.)

Wilton Round Brownie Pop Mold

Brownie Pop Sticks

Cupcake Paper Liners or construction paper for the petals

Directions:

1. Mix the brownie batter according to the package or recipe instructions.
2. Lightly spray the pan with oil. Then, fill the pan cavities 3/4 full and bake at the recipe/package recommended temperature.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until done.
4. While the brownies are baking, prepare a vase for the brownie pops. I filled a ceramic vase with floral foam to hold the pops in place. You can cover the foam with tissue paper or wrapping paper to make it look prettier.
5. Cut the cupcake papers to make flower petals. Fold the paper liner in half twice, and cut the bottom out. You can also do this with construction paper, but the cupcake liners are quick and easy.

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6. When the brownies are done, gently remove them from the pan and let them cool on a rack.
7. When the brownies have cooled slightly, slide a pop stick into each of the brownies.
8. If desired, dip the brownies into melted chocolate or candy and let dry completely before putting on the paper petal ring.
9. If you’re not dipping the brownies into melted candy, simply slide the paper petal ring over the brownie pop and slide a pop stick into one side of the brownies. The stick will help keep the petals in place.
10. I made 16 brownie pops with one brownie recipe.

Additional Notes:

You can really use your imagination to come up with more ideas on this one.

• I cut the edges of the paper liners on some of these to make more-defined flower petals. You could also cut petals out of construction paper or wrapping paper for brighter colors.
• You can dip the brownie pops into a variety of colored candy melts, for a more vibrantly colored flower. Add sprinkles or sugar while the candy is still wet so it sticks.
• Insert the pop sticks into the brownies at various angles, to give the bouquet some variety.
• If you don’t have the pop sticks, try Craft Sticks or chop sticks.
• You can also make these without the sticks. Scallop the edges of the cupcake papers to look like a flower, but don’t cut out the bottom. Then, just place the brownie bites, flat side down, into the cupcake papers. A plate of these brownie flowers would be a great way to offer a treat at a party. And thanks to the papers, no plates or napkins would be needed.
• These would make a great gift for teacher appreciation, mother’s day, or a flower theme party.

Notable Links:

• Recipe for Gluten-Free Brownies at Gluten-Free Girl are made with brown rice flour and tapioca flour.
• Elana’s Pantry makes Chocolate Chip Brownies made with almond butter and agave nectar, but no flour.
• Emeril Legasse makes Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Brownies made with brown rice flour, applesauce, and banana.
• The Spunky Coconut has Grain-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free Brownies and a Vegan version too.

I really wanted to make gingerbread houses this year. I had a lot of leftover Halloween candy that I thought would be great to use on them. I thought about buying a gluten-free kit (A & J Bakery or Cherry Blossom Cakes), but I had already bought Jules special flour mix for making graham crackers and gingerbread. So, I didn’t buy the kit and I haven’t even opened the gluten-free graham flour. There are only a couple days left until Christmas and I’m thinking about finishing my shopping, wrapping presents and sending out the last of the Christmas cards.

So, I’ve decided to do what I did last year: use pre-made gluten-free graham crackers (Josef or Kinnikinnick) to make two small houses, one for each of my kids to decorate. It really worked out well last year. It was nice for each of my kids to have their own house to decorate. And, the small size was perfect for their attention span (then ages 3 and 5). Now that I’ve made that decision, I just have to make the gluey frosting to stick the graham crackers together. I have two different recipes for the frosting listed below: one that uses egg-whites, and one that uses meringue powder. Both work well, but I used the egg-white recipe last year. I put the icing in a pastry bag with plain decorating tips, but you could just put the icing into a zip-style bag and clip the corner with scissors. Last year, we used gum drops, M&Ms, candy-canes, and some holiday-shaped marshmallows. Of course, you can use whatever gluten-free candy you have on-hand.

This would be a great project for a support group for celiac kids (R.O.C.K. or Cel-Kids). The project is quick enough to be done in a reasonable amount of time, takes little preparation for the organizer, and the houses are small enough for each kid to take home.

Royal Icing using Egg Whites

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Beat egg whites until fluffy and add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.
2. Mix in the other ingredients and beat until thick and stiff.

Additional Notes:

• Once you’ve made up the icing, be sure to keep it covered in the bowl so it doesn’t dry out.
• This makes a large batch of icing. It’s probably enough to make 6 small (cracker-size) houses.

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Royal Icing for Gingerbread Houses

(I got this recipe from my sister, who says she got it from Better Homes and Gardens.)

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
4 tsps Meringue Powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 Cup warm water

Directions:

Combine sifted powdered sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tartar. Add warm water. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until combined, then on high speed for 7 to 10 minutes or until very stiff.

Additional Notes:

Add 1 to 4 Tbsp of water, 1 tsp at a time to make glaze of desired consistency.

Want to make your own gluten-free gingerbread cookies or houses from scratch? Try one of these recipes:

Gingerbread House Heaven
Jenn Cuisine
Only Sometimes Clever

For more gluten-free holiday treats, check out this week’s edition of “What Can I Eat That’s Gluten-Free?” at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.

As a kid, we started with a bottle of ground cinnamon and just started mixing in the applesauce until we got the right consistency. Recently, I’ve had good luck using the recipe below from the McCormick website. (I may have slightly modified the wording.)

Last year, we made two batches of these and gave them to all of the kids’ teachers for Christmas. The kids loved being able to give all their teachers, aides, coaches, instructors, etc. something that they made.

Cinnamon Ornaments Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup applesauce
1 large bottle (4.12 ounces, or 1 cup + 2 TBSP) ground cinnamon

Equipment and Other Supplies Needed:

cookie cutters
drinking straw
oven and baking sheets, or wire drying rack
colorful ribbon
fabric paint or glitter glue to decorate

Directions:

1. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in a small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. Adjust amount of applesauce and cinnamon as necessary to get a good firm consistency — not too crumbly nor too sticky.
2. Using about 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut dough into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
3. Make a hole in the top of ornament with a drinking straw if making ornaments. Place ornaments on a baking sheet.
4. Bake 2 1/2 hours at 200° F. Large or thick ornaments may need a little longer to dry. Cool ornaments on wire rack. (Or, to dry ornaments at room temperature, carefully place them on wire rack. Let stand 1 to 2 days or until thoroughly dry (turning about every 12 hours).
5. For ornaments, insert ribbon through holes and tie to hang. Glitter glue is great for decorating them.

Additional Notes:

• Makes about 16 medium-sized ornaments.
• For my frugal friends, visit your local dollar store. You’ll find everything you need for this project, even the applesauce and ground cinnamon (which can be pricey).
• If you like the gingerbread smell, consider adding ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger to the dough. Making gingerbread boys and girls to hang on the tree? Add some googly eyes and glitter glue to give them some dimension.
• You can also use these as air freshners — a bowl full of balls in the bathroom or some flat shapes to put at the bottom of the kitchen trash can or the ashtray in the car. The scent should last 3-6 months. You can add cinnamon oil to them later to extend the scent.

Fruit kabobs are a great activity for kids. You can use almost any fruit, they are in bite-size pieces, and the kids can put it together themselves (or with minimal help, depending on their ages). Melon is a perfect fruit to use on the kabobs because it is so easy to cut. I did the big cuts, and removed the rind from the fruit with the big, sharp knife. But then the kids could use a butter knife to easily cut the melon into bite-size pieces. They thought it was great. We had a cantaloupe, but watermelon and honey dew would be good additions. You can see from the picture that we used strawberries and grapes, too. Go ahead and use up whatever you have in the house. Of course, some fruit turns brown quickly, so if you’re making them in advance you’d probably want to avoid those.

Cutting the fruit. If your kids are older, consider letting them cut the fruit themselves with Rachael Ray’s Young Cooks Cutting Set. If they’re younger you could cut the fruit yourself, and just let the kids put the pieces on the sticks. If your kids are somewhere in between, consider letting them use butter knives or plastic knives.

The Sticks. You can use a variety of sticks for skewering the fruit: toothpicks, bamboo skewers, coffee stirs, small skinny straws, or even chopsticks. But my favorite is plastic swizzle sticks, or Drink Stirrers. They are just the right size, not too sharp, and colorful.

Good for kids and the family. This activity encourages kids to help out in the kitchen. Kids feel good about what they created. They get to pick the fruit they want, and then eat it! With the kids going back to school soon, I’m also thinking this activity is great for helping kids build fine motor skills.

Now that I got the kids back in the kitchen, I’m hoping to continue it more often. So, when I sit down to plan our meals for next week, I’m going to include one or two items that the kids can help prepare. Planning in advance will allow me to schedule around after-school activities and give us plenty of time to get it done. If you’re looking for some kid-friendly recipes, or maybe a little more inspiration, check out these online posts and articles:

Gluten-Free Kids in the Kitchen

Getting Your Children to Cook

Happy Kitchen Jam Tarts (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free)

Kids in the Kitchen: Spaghetti and (Gluten-Free) Meatballs

Stir Fry Kid Style

Other Online articles about Kids in the Kitchen:

Benefits of Cooking with Kids

Cooking with Kids Teaches About Simple Snacks

Dads and Kids Cooking Together

Why Invite Your Kids Into The Kitchen?

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Cantaloupe is the theme ingredient this week for Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. So check it out for more gluten-free recipes with cantaloupe.

School’s Out! Today is the last day of school for my kids  — at least until September. So, I’m trying to line up some craft projects to keep us busy, and not glued to the TV. Here’s an idea to get you inspired, too: Photo/note holders. The kids made these for their teachers for an end-of-the-year thank you. Originally, I thought I would let the kids paint flower pots, but found these boxes at the dollar store and thought I would use them instead.

Actually, I got all of the supplies at a local dollar store. I love to go to dollar stores to come up with crafty ideas for the kids. They also had some great educational and activity books, including practicing writing letters, phonetics, simple math, telling time and more. They’ll be great for road trips and for those days when I need a quick distraction for the kids.

Wire Photo and/or Note Holders

Supplies:

• 

  Box to hold the wire photo holders (Instead of a box, consider using flower pots, vases, coffee mugs, or get some clay and make your own base.)

• Paint and paintbrush (Decorate any way appropriate for you and your kids: markers, stickers, stamps, etc.)
• Glass beads to hold the photo holders in place and add weight to keep it all from tipping over. (You could use sand, pebbles, coins, or even floral foam if you don’t need extra weight.)
• Decorative floral wire to hold photos and/or notes. (Could also use 20 gauge wire. Forks would be cute to use for a recipe card holder.)
• Needle-nosed pliers and wire cutter
• We also used photos and cut flowers out of card stock paper for finishing the project.

Directions:

1. We started by having the kids paint the boxes with their choice of colors. At the same time, I had them paint some flowers drawn on card stock paper. Let them dry a couple hours or overnight.
2. Next, I shaped the floral wire. Start by pinching the wire on one end with the pliers and turning in a tight circle. Then continue to bend the wire around the circle leaving space between. You can even make different shapes, like stars, flowers, hearts, etc. Use wire cutters to cut the holders at a point a few inches longer than you need it.
3. Now bend the other end of the wire to help it stand up nicely on the bottom of the box. Place the photo holders in the box in the way you want them arranged.
4. Fill the box with glass beads or other weighted filling. As you’re filling the box, arrange the photo holders how you want them to stay.
5. Put notes, pictures, cards, etc. in the photo holders.

Additional Notes:

• This was a fun project for me and the kids (ages 4 and 5-1/2). They did all the painting. I did the actual bending of the photo holders. They helped put it all together, including a thank you note on which they drew pictures.
• Worried about gluten-free paint? Common-Allergen-Free Products available at Discount School Supply
• Great project for teacher gifts, mother’s day gift, father’s day gift, summer camp activity.

Other places to find more arts & crafts and printable activities for kids:

• Gluten-free play dough and Gak
• Printables 4 Kids – summer printables, printable coloring pages, mazes, word-searches, activities, educational
• Discount School Supply – Free Activities
• Family Fun – crafts by age, printables, games
• DLTK – crafts, printables
• AmazingMoms – crafts, holiday activities, playtime ideas

I first discovered DSS more than three years ago while I was looking for a gluten-free play dough. My son was 2 at the time and was always putting things in his mouth. I didn’t want any play dough with gluten getting into his mouth, so I made my own at home.  But I still wanted to see if I could find some pre-made. DSS was carrying the only commercially available gluten-free play dough I could find: Colorations Wheat & Gluten-Free Dough. It comes in a large plastic bucket that contains eight different colors of gluten-free play dough inside.

It was perfect for when my son started preschool. I gave the whole bucket to the teacher to keep in the classroom so they could use it whenever needed. The texture of the dough is a little different from other gluten-containing doughs. It’s smoother and not as squishy or grainy. My son’s teacher actually preferred it because it smells better. The bucket of Colorations play dough lasted about a year before it started to dry out and get too tough to work with. I make my own play dough at home at least once a year, but it’s nice to have the option to buy it. I also bought some of the play dough tools, including these
Dough Presses at DSS for my kids to take to preschool. That way I don’t have to worry about cross-contamination by sharing tools with others at school. My daughter has some for her class, my son has some for his class, and we keep some at home, too.

In addition to play dough, DSS has a lot of arts and crafts supplies that are labeled for gluten/wheat allergies as well as other allergies. The content of Gluten/Wheat, Dairy/Casein, Latex, Egg, Peanut/Tree Nut, and Soy is indicated on paint, ink, glue, and other craft products. Over 200 items are in the Common-Allergen-Free Products category at Discount School Supply. And, now they have a new line of items for helping kids with other Special Needs, too.

I’ve really found DSS to be a great source for arts & crafts and school supplies at very reasonable prices. I usually make one or two large orders every year to take advantage of their free shipping offer. And, this week they are offering Free Delivery on in-stock orders over $49! It’s a great time to check them out, and get ready for summer.

Related Celiac Family articles: Elmer’s Glue & Gak Recipe, Gluten-Free Play Dough Recipe

This week, my kids’ preschool made Gak for the kids to play with. Gak is a gooey, stretchy mixture that’s just fun to play with. I was happy that the teachers asked me about the gluten content of the ingredients before my kids played with it. And, I was even happier that I was able to confirm that every ingredient is indeed gluten-free.

Over the past few years, I’ve heard differing opinions about the gluten content of Elmer’s School Glue. The Elmer’s website confirms that their school glue is all-synthetic, no gluten or dairy: “[Their] products are derived from synthetic materials, not any type of animal or milk protein” “All of [their] products are gluten free except for the Elmer’s Finger Paints. The finger paints contain wheat and oat products.”

So, if you’re still having rainy weather and need an indoor project try this Gak recipe.

Gak

Ingredients:

2 Cups Elmer’s glue
1 1/2 Cups water, warm
1 1/2 TBSP Borax*
1 Cup water, hot
food coloring or tempera paint, optional

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix 2 Cups Elmer’s glue and 1 1/2 Cups warm water until thoroughly combined.
2. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring or a tsp of tempera paint. Mix thoroughly. Add more coloring if you prefer a darker, brighter color.
3. In a small bowl, mix 1 1/2 TBSP Borax with 1 Cup hot water.
4. Now, pour the small bowl mixture into the medium bowl and mix well. Once the mixture starts to pull together, you can knead it with your hands. Pour off any excess liquid. If it’s too sticky, add a little more Borax.
5. Have fun! Store in zip-style plastic bags or airtight containers.

*Young children should be supervised while using this product and older children should be instructed not to eat it. Everyone should wash hands after playing with it. Borax is a natural mineral compound that can be toxic in large doses. Similar to other household cleaners, Borax should be kept out of reach of children.

Gluten-Free Play Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup rice flour
1/3 Cup potato starch or cornstarch
1/3 Cup salt
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
1 pkg unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Cup warm water

Additional food coloring optional
Extra potato starch or cornstarch for kneading dough – We use a lot to get a preferred consistency.

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the rice flour, potato starch or cornstarch, salt, xanthan gum, Cream of Tartar and Kool-Aid powder.
2. Add the oil and the warm water to the flour mixture and mix well. (If you want to add food coloring, mix it first with the warm water.)
3. Heat the mixture on medium heat for about one minute or until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.
4. Turn the dough out onto a cornstarch-floured surface or parchment paper.
5. Knead in enough potato starch until the dough is no longer sticky.
6. Store in an airtight container or bag when not in use.

Notable Links:

• Don’t want to make it? Try Colorations Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free Dough at Discount School Supply.