Picture it, my living room, three or so years ago. I was at the tail end of an elimination diet (no sugar, dairy, or gluten), which I’d undertaken in desperation after having been told by my doctor that nothing was wrong with me. Yeah, right.

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Glazes, drizzles, and any confectioner’s sugar based frostings have become the bane of my sugar free existence, so we’re just going to ignore the fiasco of an attempt at an orange glaze on what is otherwise a very nice cake. Okay, now that we’ve gotten that unpleasantness out of the way (and, hey, if you’re on a sugar free diet and have come up with a nice glaze or drizzle recipe, I’d love to hear it!), I want to talk about my new favorite flour blend.

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Cookies have been one of my biggest challenges since I started a gluten and sugar free diet. Cakey cookies are usually no problem, but crunchy, crispy, or chewy cookies? It just hasn’t been easy for me to replicate these textures with the ingredients that I use. I’m sure it’s down to chemical makeup and reaction or non-reaction, which I’m certainly finding out more about as I go along, but I’m no expert … yet. However, I am starting to get better cookie results, so I guess I must be learning something. Or it’s dumb luck. Either way, I’ll take it.

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You didn’t think that I’d leave you hanging with a recipe for luscious buttercream and nothing on which to slather it, now, did you? Well, I guess I did leave you hanging for a few days, but I’m here today to tell you all about the most incredible whoopie pies (aka gobs) that I’ve ever eaten. I’m not speaking in hyperbole, either. These things were awesome, better even than the gluten and sugar-filled version, in my opinion, anyway.

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For months, I’ve been mulling over the idea of making a sugar free Swiss meringue buttercream, but every time it would cross my mind I would worry that the xylitol wouldn’t work in the meringue and that the whole thing would be a flop.

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The February issue of Gourmet has a recipe for orange polenta cake, and the accompanying photo was enough for me to get a mean polenta cake craving. I’ve actually been looking for an excuse to make some sort of polenta/cornmeal cake, so this recipe served as a perfect reminder.

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