Between gentle, wise nudges from our friend Shauna Ahern, aka Gluten-Free Girl, and a slew of questions on _blank...
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What you'll need: butter (lots of it), rice flour, baking powder, Parmesan, egg, sour cream, sugar and sesame seeds.
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These light, airy cakes get their lift from good old-fashioned baking powder.
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Rice flour, baking powder and salt get whisked together.
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Merrill borrowed one of her mother's favorite tricks for buttering the muffin tins: she used the wrappers from the two sticks of butter that go into the recipe.
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The batter starts off as a cloud of butter, sugar and egg.
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Make sure to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go!
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Another egg...
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Then, a full cup of sour cream goes in.
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The "wow" ingredient here is the the cheese (we used Parmesan) -- it really lifts the cakes to a whole other level.
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The dry ingredients go in last.
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Do you see the texture of this batter? Gorgeous.
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The cakes are topped with a sprinkle of sesame seeds -- a nice, subtle touch.
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We loved the way the edges browned, while the centers stayed snowy.
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Breakfast is served!
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The ingredients for the blondies: egg, almond flour, vanilla, hazelnuts, dark chocolate, light brown sugar, butter, dried cherries, and coconut flour.
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Lining your pan with parchment is always a good idea when you're making bar cookies.
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First step: combining the melted butter and brown sugar. (Amanda's on vacation in Florida, but you'll see her again next week!)
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After a couple of minutes of vigorous whisking, the butter and sugar turn into a gorgeous caramel.
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Now for some egg ...
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And then two whole tablespoons of vanilla. (Any self-respecting blondie has lots of vanilla, right?)
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In go the almond and coconut flours, along with 1/2 teaspoon salt (nishis says you can use 1/4 teaspoon, but like her, we prefer the larger amount).
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Time to switch over to a wooden spoon.
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Toasted hazelnuts!
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We chopped ours up a little for even distribution.
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Folding in the nuts, chocolate chunks and dried cherries.
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Into the pan!
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There's Jennifer in the background!
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Time for a snack.
