| Friday, August 13, 2010 |
| Sugar and Flour |
Thank you for all the birthday wishes for my big guy yesterday! It turned out to be a great day for him. You know it's a birthday when the major food groups that need to be covered are sugar and flour.
I would say we hit those groups head on yesterday. Since all Jay requested was pizza and a cookie cake, I knew what had to be done. Jay's birthday hits so close to the beginning of the school year, he doesn't really do a party. So, we typically go out to eat for his birthday. For normal people, going out for pizza would be easy. For our family, not so much.
I read recently that some Mellow Mushroom locations are offering gluten free pizza. See honey, all that time reading about food on the internet has paid off! So, I called around and found one that was currently selling it. In fact, this was the first official one they made! The illustrator really liked it. The manager came over and asked what he thought. He gave them some feedback on maybe cooking it a little longer. He said the flavor of the crust was really good, but that it needed to crisp up a little more. They appreciated the info since the guy cooking it was quite nervous about it. In the end, it was just nice that we could all go out for pizza together as a family. We have to order three different pies, but still totally worth it for a special occasion!
For me, I got a cheeseless pizza with tomatoes and spinach! I loved it! I hear Mellow Mushroom is going to start serving Daiya at some point, but honestly, after having pizza without cheese for so long, I don't miss the cheese part. In my opinion, it just makes it greasy. I think I enjoy the flavor of the toppings more without the cheese. Oh, and I ate three pieces without feeling gross!
Sugar...anyone, anyone? Truth be told, I am not much of a cookie person. I know, get that shocked look off of your face. I am a muffin or cupcake person. However, the rest of the family is all about cookies. The cookie cake tradition started a few years back because of Max...
the boy is not a fan of cake (unless it is angel food cake, who can blame him though). So, we started the tradition of making cookie cakes. I was very nervous years ago doing this because there is a texture very specific to the cookie cake. This is my recipe that I use and it comes out perfect every time. I halved it this year since the illustrator can't have it, otherwise we would leave way too much cookie hanging around. I am definitely going to work on the gluten free version. You all know I love a good baking challenge!
I go simple with the decoration and just load it up with icing as requested by the birthday boy. Since we were on fat and sugar over load, I used Smart Balance Light. I know some people think what's the point, but for me it is a balance and if I can cut back somewhere, I do. You can't tell with the icing, so this is what I do...
Simple Faux Butter Cream Icing
1/2 cup Smart Balance Light
2 cups powdered sugar (more if you want it thicker)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix it with a mixer until smooth.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (1/2 cup for darker chocolate)
2 TBSP dairy free milk (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk)
1/4 cup Smart Balance Light
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix it with a mixer until smooth.
Cookie person or cake person? Which are you?
On a complete side not...my best friend from high school (the one that has the same tattoo as me, but we got it at separate times in our lives unknowingly) she had her first baby...a boy yesterday! Twelve years later than me, but still the same day! Congratulations Claire and Rob!Labels: bars, breads, cakes, cookies, gluten free, holidays, main course, product reviews, vegetables |
posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 10:25 AM  |
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| 24 Comments: |
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Your kids definitely know where it's at- I'll take a cookie cake any day over regular cake! I think it's because I like the more dense desserts... And it looks like it turned out great- they're hard to master because the middle always cooks sooo much slower!
Love that you found a pizza place that will do gluten free! My friend Annie searched high and low for one when I came up with her other friend a few years ago who can't have gluten- the girl really wanted to try deep dish, but we couldn't track a place down!
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Looks like a great birthday celebration indeed!! I LOVE Mellow Mushroom pizza, but haven't had it since I moved away from SC. I miss it!
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cookie! that crust looks great!
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I wish we had a Mellow Mushroom around here. How cool that you guys got the first gluten free and the manager took the time to ask for inputs. That'd keep me going back for certain. Daiya on pizza is sooooo good.
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Happy birthday to your "big guy"! :)
That's so cool that you found a pizza place to accommodate everyone's tummy. Awesome. I think cookie cakes sound better than regular cake! :)
Jenn
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Aaw, happy belated birthday to your son!!
That cookie cake looks delicious!! I have to admit, I LOVE cookie cake. Especially the ones from Dominicks where the cookie doesn't even seem cooked. It is just greasy and chewy. Gosh, I really want one now. lol
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your kids are precious!! love the cake.
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Oh my goodness your kids are cute! And that first one really has GREAT hair! lol
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I am most definitely a cake person
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Your boys are just so adorable!! :)
I had no idea MM was serving gluten free now!! I'm going to call the ones around us so we can try it out!! AWESOME!! Have you ever tried Z Pizza's GF pizza? They have a couple locations here in Alpharetta.
I LOVE cookie cake!!!! In fact, I just finished off a chocolate chip cookie sandwich (with lot of buttercream icing inside!!) from Publix. Sooooooo stinkin' good. Let's just hope I don't give birth to a 10 pounder b/c of it!! ;)
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i love the cookie cake - i am a fan of cookies, and cakes, so why not both!??! happy bday to your boy!!!
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Congratulations to your friend!
That is great that Mellow Mushroom really wanted your take on the pizza. I love when restaurants show that they truly care.
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Cookie cake girls all the way. We grew up on cookies cakes, love them. Chocolate chip cookies are my fav so making a cake version is even better ;)
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Happy birthday! My Mellow Mushroom actually is already using Daiya cheese. I plan on taking my son there soon!
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happy bday to the kiddo!
anyway when i was a kid i loved both cookies AND cakes and adored when my mom would get me something like a cookie-cake.. YUM!!!
except many times those things if store-bought are hard and not soft and gooey the way i like em :)
just wanted to say thx for all your love and support and that i hope you have a wonderful weekend w/ your fam!!
xoxo
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happy bday to him! that pizza place sounds great!
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That is so awesome that you were able to find a place with gluten free pizza so you all could enjoy. The Mellow Mushroom sounds very accomodating to intolerances, what with offering Daiya soon, too! That's great.
And the cookie cake looks awesome!! I'm not much of a cookie or cake person (I love muffins, though! aha) but would probably opt for a cookie :) It's just funny because I've become so picky about them - often times a normal cookie is too sweet for me, as I discovered again yesterday. I'll love it the first couple of bites, and then I'm just "ehhhh this is very sweet..." haha.
Sounds like you had a lovely little birthday party, hope the night was a good one, too :)
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That's so great that you were able to find a place where you could all leave happy!
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how lucky was he to have such a gorgeous cake to munch on!! 12 already! WOW! <3
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I went to Mellow Mushroom yesterday as well! Best pizza ever. Didn't know about some places doing gluten-free though, that's pretty cool! I recently discovered Brixx will use a dairy-free cheese. Hooray!
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I went to Mellow Mushroom yesterday too! I had a salad though. I really like their salads.
I'm not really a cookie or cake person. I prefer ice cream.
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Cookies! I don't like cake either. Hmm, my birthday is in October, perhaps I should special order one of those gorgeous "cakes" from you? :)
So awesome about that pizza place, and I'm with you - love cheeseless pizza!
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I am a cookie AND cake person!
Yours looks great!
Happy Birthday to your boy!
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Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen
Home: Atlanta, GA, United States
About Me: Lactose Challenged
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Your kids definitely know where it's at- I'll take a cookie cake any day over regular cake! I think it's because I like the more dense desserts... And it looks like it turned out great- they're hard to master because the middle always cooks sooo much slower!
Love that you found a pizza place that will do gluten free! My friend Annie searched high and low for one when I came up with her other friend a few years ago who can't have gluten- the girl really wanted to try deep dish, but we couldn't track a place down!