Gluten & Fibro Free

My hubby is a huge Futurama fan and has been really excited that new episodes have returned. In honor of his birthday, I decided to make some really special brain slug cupcakes. Thank you Alicia Policia, the original creator, for your creativity! My version is gluten free!

With a three year old, I wanted these to be as easy as possible to make, so I used some mixes for less measuring, less stress. For the cupcake batter I used Bob’s Red Mill Vanilla Cake Mix. After mixing the batter my son helped me pour the batter into 20 foil cups. I love that this cake mix is so moist!

While the cupcakes were baking in the oven I started mixing up the gum paste for sculpting the brain slugs. I used Wilton’s gum paste mix, but you can make your own. I think next time I will try making my own marshmallow fondant. I’ve read it tastes much better than the gum paste.

The gum paste needs to sit for 15 minutes before you can sculpt with it, so I moved onto the next step which was mixing up the brain icing. For the icing mix, I chose to use Namaste’s Toffee Vanilla Icing. This makes a darker frosting, so when I mixed the red food coloring in, it gave the brains a nice color. The difficulty here is getting the right whipped consistency so that you can pipe out all of the curves in the brains using a pastry bag without making your pastry bag explode. The toffee icing has a great flavor, but I think it would have been easier to use a basic buttercream frosting to get the right texture of the brains. Mine were a little runny, but still tasty.

By this time, the cupcakes were out of the oven and placed on a cooling rack so they could be ready to ice. I should have kept track of how many times my son Corbin asked if he could have one. I decided to keep him occupied by helping me make the Brain Slug’s eyeballs. We made these by rolling some of the gum paste in to tiny balls a little smaller than the tip of your pinky finger, and then squeezing them down to flatten them out. Then Corbin put a miniature chocolate chip in the center for the pupil. I think he ate more chocolate than what he used on the eyeballs, but he likes to help out. Plus it kept him occupied so he momentarily stopped asking if he could eat a cupcake yet.

After making the eyeballs, we had to make the slugs themselves. I knew I was going to use the rest of the gum paste on the slugs, so I kneaded in blue and yellow food coloring to give the slugs their green color. After the coloring was consistent, I divided the gum paste into 20 servings. Then I rolled each into a ball and shaped the slugs by pulling the “legs” out. For finishing the slugs, I used a little bit of the icing to attach the eyeballs and added the flower stamen for the slugs’ antenna.

All that was left then was piping the icing on the cupcakes to make them look like brains. Just make squiggles back and forth and don’t be afraid to swirl the icing around a little bit. At first I was trying to be precise, but then I just went with the flow. I think that they turned out pretty good. Plus they won’t make me sick and that is a bonus! Sickly sweet and fun, this is a great treat for your Futurama fan.

Products, Recipes Bob's Red Mill, cooking, Food, Futurama, Namaste, Recipes

Bob’s Red Mill has some awesome products. I especially love the chocolate chip cookie mix.

When I first went gluten-free I heard about how great their mixes were and decided to try them. At first I was having a hard time mixing them with my bread maker, but I contacted the company for advice and they were nice enough to help. I must say, it helps to follow directions. On the package it says to use the basic or white bread setting and I was trying to make the cinnamon raisin bread using the fruit bread setting. So read the fine print on the package and you will have some wonderful gluten-free bread.

I am offering a package of the cinnamon raisin bread and the hearty whole grain bread mix to one individual that would be willing to write a brief paragraph reviewing the product to be published on GlutenFibroFree.com. Just something short and sweet. If you are interested in receiving this package, here are the steps to be eligible:

1. Leave a comment on this post saying that you are interested in writing a paragraph reviewing these products by Friday, July 16, 2010.
2. An individual will be chosen randomly on Sunday, July 18 to receive the mixes.
3. I will mail out the package the following week. I would like for you to try out the mixes and submit a brief paragraph via email on each by the end of August 2010.

You may also post a review on your website if you have one, and I can just link to the content. However, you do not have to have a blog or website for eligibility. Even if you have tried these mixes before, you can still sign up to review the products for the freebies.

Unfortunately, I realized after the first batch of cinnamon raisin bread, that I also have a food intolerance to cinnamon. Likewise there is something in the other mix I am intolerant too, but they are GFree. I hate that I seem to have other food intolerances, but I love that the gluten-free community has been so supportive. Look for more give-aways this summer, as I pay it forward.

Update 7/19/2010: Winners have been selected and notified. Thanks to all that chose to participate. Look for more give-aways in the near future!

Giveaways Bob's Red Mill, Food, Giveaways, Gluten-Free