Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free “Hostess” Cupcakes

Homemade Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free”Hostess” Cupcakes, why did it take me so long to try this?  I guess I forgot that “Fresh, Wholesome Hostess and Kids Go Together!” 😯

Did you notice the part about being fresh and wholesome?  I won’t comment on the “wholesome” aspects because I think we can all agree that we know that statement is not true.  But fresh?!  Have you heard the urban legends about the shelf life of these “wholesome” products?  Isn’t it like 84 years?  What do they put in these things that keep them “fresh” for so long? 😀

Anyhoo, can I tell you something?

It drives me insanely nuts when people look at me with pity and say any number of the following statements (yes, they have all been said to me at various times).

“OMG!! I would just DIE if I couldn’t have bread, pizza, beer, cupcakes, and McDonalds anymore!”  Why do people STILL keep writing those things in articles about gluten sensitivity??  We have come a LONG way since then baby!

“Oh you poor, poor thing, having to cook all your own food.” Actually, it’s been a gift to discover a new passion to enjoy with my family.

“It must suck having to live your life.” Actually, my life just keeps getting better and better, thank you.

“Poor Sam, it’s just not fair that he has to grow up not eating McDonald’s.  He’s going to miss such a special part of normal childhood.”  What IS your definition of “normal” anyway??

And the best one?  When my mom breaks into tears, saying “it’s just not fair that Heidi, S&L have all these health issues and can’t eat these delicious desserts anymore” (as she dives into whatever it may be, LOL!). I am just teasing my mom because she really just doesn’t get it yet that we are actually the lucky ones.  Heck, it took me several years and a lot of therapy and self-reflection to finally “get it” too (and is it any wonder after 34 years of being fed messages like the one in the commercial above)?

We do not live a life “without.”  No Siree Bob! 😀

The truth of the matter is that we can actually have “whatever she’s having.”

We just had to rethink things a bit.

We had to begin challenging ourselves to think outside the “processed box.”  Seriously, you’d think that people never ate prior to the the emergence of convenience foods in the 20th century! 😀

And yes, this does include thinking outside the “gluten-free processed box” too, because gluten-free is not necessarily synonymous with “healthy” (especially if one thinks the only way to go is with gluten-free prepackaged foods) nor is “gluten-free” synonymous with “free-of-gluten,” if you want to get really technical about it (again, this is a problem mostly with prepackaged and restaurant foods…well, and other contaminated grains).

Have you read the latest report by Tricia Thompson, MS, RD about Barley Malt Ingredients in Labeled Gluten Free Products??

Did you know that Lipton Onion Soup is no longer gluten-free?

Did you know that Boston Market’s Poultry Gravy is no longer gluten-free (they just made it low-sodium, but added wheat and soy in the process)?

I have recently been begun sharing my journey of changing the way I view food and the baby steps I have been taking for the past 18 months to reduce the amount of prepackaged GF foods I buy, in addition to increasing the amount of naturally gluten-free foods we now eat (those foods that do not come with a Nutrition Label).  I have experienced some rather startling health improvements along the way, so I have decided to amp it up a bit more and make this my final post sharing an idea using a boxed cake mix.  Woo-Hoo, I’m finally graduating! 😀

Of course, the recent discovery of my youngest son’s brand new (and still shiny) egg allergy plus the bonus addition of the positive blood tests for anti-casein IgG antibodies (which I just got back today… HUGE score for Dr. Fine and Enterolab, the blood tests confirmed his findings, which I originally shared here), certainly helped to push me off the edge of the cliff!  Why is it so hard to just let go sometimes??

There are dozens of gluten bloggers out there who have already embraced the idea of making their own Hostess-style cupcakes, so it was easy to borrow their idea and make my own GF and DF tweaks (see how this works?).

I had just purchased the new King Arthur GF Chocolate Cake Mix, so I just used that for my cupcakes (the mix requires 4 eggs, so I am not sure how well that will convert to an egg-free version…another reason I will begin seeking out a good GF scratch cake recipe)!

There is a great photo tutorial over at Bakingdom.com, so check that out for step by step photos on how to assemble the cupcakes.

I used my apple corer to pull out little cake plugs from the center of each cupcake (Cuisipro also makes a cupcake corer).

There are a lot of different recipes on the internet for the filling, but I just kept it simple and used some dairy-free whipped cream which I made from MimicCreme Healthy Top.

I used one of Carol’s recipes over at Simply…Gluten-Free for the dairy-free chocolate ganache.

I used a recipe for Simple Vanilla Icing for making the swirly Q’s on top, only I made an easy swap of the butter for Earth Balance buttery spread, which is dairy-free.

Here is a little tip I picked up from my cake decorating classes: practice your piping on a flat surface, such as a cutting board, silicone baking mat, etc., before you pipe the design on the actual cupcake!

Just say YES!

The winner of a FREE copy of The Gluten Effect and a FREE ticket to the Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Forum 2010 is:

Pat!

Pat said she would like Dr. Vikki Petersen to do an upcoming video segment on:

I would like to hear Dr. Peterson’s thoughts on how our medical and pharmaceutical community can be encouraged to learn more about celiac disease. So often it seems as if there isn’t much research done on it, maybe because there isn’t the incentive of the “glory” of developing a cure for a disease that we already know the cure — avoid all gluten. The longer celiacs go undiagnosed, the more they will need medical treatments for the damage that gluten causes to their symptoms.

Congratulations Pat, I will email you for your shipping information!