I've been making the most delicious chocolate oatmeal brittle for many years.  However, I've generally topped it with crushed candy canes or toffee pieces.  For a beautiful and delicious alternative, I came up with this tasty recipe.  I have been using Callebaut caramel chips for the most delicious and favorite version, however white chocolate chips will give the same beautiful look and also be tasty.  Enjoy! 

After chilling, and ready to slice and eat.  So delicious! 

Sliced and ready to eat! Yum! 

Beautiful Swirl Topped Chocolate Oatmeal Brittle

Makes 1 cookie sheet or ~ 24 pieces (depends on how you cut/break up the brittle)

Mix together in a mixer (or by hand in a bowl):
1 cup whole oats (make sure they're gluten-free if you're sensitive)
3/4 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/4 tsp baking powder

Add to oats/flour and mix until mixture is crumbly:
1/2 cup butter, softened

Mixed together, just until crumbly.  You do NOT want this to look too creamed or well mixed.

Add and mix in until mixture holds together:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mixed just until it holds together.

Press onto a 7" x 10" rectangle on a parchment paper lined pan, since dough will spread during cooking.

Pressed into a rectangle - don't worry about edges being even. 

Bake at 350 F for ~ 17-20 minutes, until brittle is a golden brown (edges will be slightly darker).

Immediately after removing from oven - make sure to immediately put on the chocolate chips so they can start melting!

Remove from oven and immediately top with:
1 - 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet and/or dark chocolate chips

They will start melting right away - you can spread a bit, then let melt a bit more, spread a bit, etc. until they are nice and smoothed. 

Let the chips sit a few minutes to melt.  Then, spread around chips, sometimes letting sit another minute until the chocolate is fully melted.   

While the chocolate chips are melting, microwave for about 45 seconds at 30% power: 

1/4 - 1/3 cup high quality caramel chips OR high quality white chocolate chips (I LOVE the Callebaut caramel chips and Callebaut white chocolate chips - if you can find them, they are amazing.  They melt so much better than other brands, although I've had good luck with Guittard and Ghirardelli chips, too)

Chocolate spread around until chips are nicely melted and smooth. 

Drizzle your melted caramel chips or white chocolate chips over the dark chocolate covered brittle.  You can put the melted chocolate into a ziploc bag or just drizzle with a spoon.  Use a knife to swirl back and forth over your brittle.  I've included a few pictures below: 

This was messily drizzled with a spoon over the warm, melted chocolate.

Using a butter knife, drag the knife through the chocolate back and forth to make beautiful feathered swirls.

Once it's all completed, you'll want it to cool a bit before fully cooling in the refrigerator.

Let the brittle chill until you can remove the parchment paper to a cooling rack.  Place this in your refrigerator until the chocolate has fully hardened.   Chop with a large knife or break the brittle into pieces and serve! Enjoy! 

Beautiful Swirl Topped Chocolate Oatmeal Brittle Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free! 

 So many beautiful fall apples are available this time of year fresh from the trees.  There are many varieties, and you can use a combination of ones that sauté up nicely and retain their shape in this recipe.  You'll want to have about 2 cups of cooked apples - but you can use less or more to your preference.  Because they're cooked before baking, they won't make the bread soggy.  Fresh from the oven, it's a tasty bread to pull apart.  Once it's cooled, you can slice it.  Leftovers freeze and reheat perfectly!  Enjoy!  

Such a delicious gluten-free fall treat.  Fresh, homemade apple cinnamon swirl bread.

All slices look a little different - a mixture of swirls of cinnamon and apples.  It's been so popular we've made it many times now.

Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line 3 bread pans with parchment paper. 

Sauté over medium heat until apples have softened, but are not mushy: 

2-3 Tbsp butter

6 - 8 apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Add and cook 1 minute, then remove from heat: 

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Set apples aside to cool while you prepare the dough and filling. 

In a large mixer, combine: (It's important to mix dry ingredients first in gluten-free baking to avoid clumps)

2 cups brown rice flour

1 cup sorghum flour (use extra brown or white rice flour if you do not have sorghum)

3/4 cup arrowroot flour (or cornstarch)

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp rapid-rise/quick yeast

2 tsp baking powder

Add and mix in slowly, then increase speed to medium or medium-high and let beat 4 minutes: 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup milk, warmed (not hot)

1/2 cup water, warmed (not hot)

3 eggs

While batter is beating, stir together: 

1/4 - 1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 - 2 Tbsp cinnamon

Lay out two large pieces of plastic wrap, overlapping slightly.   Place the dough along the center of the plastic wrap.  Cover with another two pieces of overlapping plastic wrap.  Roll out dough until you have a large, long rectangle approximately 15" x 30".   Remove the top layer of plastic wrap. 

Have a small bowl of warm water available to dip your hands/fingertips in case of any sticky dough. 

Spread the brown sugar/melted butter mixture on the dough using the back side of a spoon.  Evenly spread the cooked apple mixture on top of the brown sugar/butter.  If desired, save a few of the apple pieces to tuck into areas of the bread that don't have as many pieces once it's been rolled up, sliced, and placed into the bread pans.  

Dough rolled out using plastic wrap to avoid sticking, then topped with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and sautéed apples.  Ready to roll up! 

Use the plastic wrap to carefully roll up the dough into one long roll.   You can use wet hands to help with any sticky spots.

Divide the dough into 3 pieces.  Cut each of those pieces into 5-6 slices that you place upright in prepared parchment-lined bread pans.  Use wet hands/fingers to pick up and move the pieces.  Use wet hands to press the bread flat and even.  

Slices of dough pressed down with wet hands to make an even sized bread. 

Arrange an upside down cookie sheet over the bread, allowing room to rise.  I like to prop it up on the edges of the pans.  Let the bread rise for 45 - 60 minutes in a warm location until nearly doubled in size.  

Risen and ready to bake! 

Bake bread at 350 F for 50 minutes, until a nice golden brown.  Let rest 5 minutes, then remove bread from pans onto wire racks.  

Fresh from the oven - let them rest 5 minutes before removing from pans to a cooling rack.

Mmm.. Fresh apple cinnamon swirl bread, ready to drizzle and eat! 

Stir together to drizzle or pipe on (just put it in a ziploc bag and snip the corner) as a frosting: 

1 - 2 Tbsp butter, very soft

2 - 3 oz cream cheese, very soft

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

milk to consistency (~2-3 Tbsp usually works well)

After drizzling on the frosting, let the bread cool before slicing.  You can easily tear apart and enjoy this delicious bread while it's still warm.  I usually only end up slicing two of the three loaves for later.  This stores well in the refrigerator for a few days.  It also freezes well if you slice in advance.  Enjoy! 

Delicious gluten-free apple cinnamon swirl bread. Yum! 

Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Paris-Brest Pastry filled with Creme Patissiere & Homemade Caramel Sauce

Amazing eclair dough piped in a large ring, filled with homemade creme patissier and caramel sauce.  It was absolutely amazingly delicious.  A stunning dessert.  My youngest brother has a tendency to "suggest" dessert ideas to me - knowing I almost always will create them.  This was his birthday request and it did not disappoint. Enjoy! 

A decadent dessert - but light and airy all at the same time. 

A slice of Paris-Brest pastry - delicious creme patissiere and caramel filling. Yum! 

Paris-Brest Pastry with Creme Patissiere & Homemade Caramel Sauce

Creme Patissiere (Pastry Cream): 

In a medium saucepan (avoid non-stick coated pans), heat over medium heat until just boiling: 

2 1/2 cup half & half OR whole milk

1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla bean paste OR vanilla extract

1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl, mix together: 

1/4 cup cornstarch

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup half & half OR whole milk

Whisk the yolks/cornstarch mixture into the hot sugar/cream mixture.  Increase the heat to medium-high to speed up the process, but whisk constantly and rapidly.  Once the mixture thickens and starts to boil (I find it makes big, thick popping bubbles when done, and I quickly have to remove from heat to avoid getting burned), remove from heat and pour the pudding into a glass dish.  Cover the pudding with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface of the pudding.  Let cool at room temperature until it's cool enough to place in the refrigerator to completely chill.  (I like to make this in the morning if I need it chilled by evening, or you can make it the day before). 

Homemade Caramel Sauce:

This makes twice as much as you'll need for this dish, so make half the recipe if you don't want extra caramel sauce. 

Butter an 8" x  8" glass dish and set aside on a cooling rack. 

In a medium-large saucepan (avoid non-stick coated pans) place the following, mixing just a tiny bit and very gently: 

4 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 c heavy/whole cream

2 cups white sugar

1/3 cup corn syrup

generous pinch or two of salt

Use a candy thermometer to keep track of the temperature.  Heat until 225 F.  

Immediately remove from heat and add: 

1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Pour the caramel into your prepared pan.  Let cool on the cooling rack until you need to use it.  Prior to using, mix the caramel around with a spoon.  Any extra caramel can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered glass container once cool.  Gently reheat before serving.      

Choux Pastry (Pate a Choux):

Preheat oven to 360 F.  (I find somewhere between 350 - 375 works perfectly).  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  

In a medium sized saucepan (avoid non-stick coated pans), heat the following over medium heat just til starting to boil: 

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup salted butter

1 tsp sugar

1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt

Remove from heat and stir in quickly with a wooden spoon: 

1 1/2 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix

Put the pot back on the heat and stir vigorously over the heat for 2 - 3 minutes.  It should smooth during this time.  

Remove from heat and place the dough into a mixer.  Turn on the mixer speed to low.  Let it mix for ~5-10 minutes, scraping occasionally.  Your dough should look nice and shiny and be quite thick.  

Add to the dough (one at a time or just all together): 

4 large eggs, room temperature

You want to let the dough mix on medium to medium-high speed until it's nice and smooth, scraping occasionally.  Scoop the dough into two freezer ziplocs (not absolutely necessary, but it's quite a thick dough and I find this helps avoid having a bag split while piping).  Snip ~1" - 1 1/2" from the corner of the bag.  

Using approximately 1/3 of the batter, pipe a large circle onto the parchment-lined paper.  Pipe a second circle just outside (or inside) of your first circle with the next 1/3 of the batter.  Using the last 1/3 of the batter, pipe a third circle on top of the first two circles.  

Two rings piped with approximately 2/3 of the batter. 

A final ring piped on top.  You can smooth it with just a little water on your fingers, if desired. 

Brush the top of your pastry with: 

1 egg, beaten

And sprinkle the top with: 

Sparkling sugar OR sliced almonds

We have nut allergies around here, so after brushing with egg I topped with coarse sugar crystals.  They end up looking beautiful.  However, you can top with slice almonds after adding the egg, if you prefer. 

Immediately bake at 360 F for 50 - 55 minutes.  Remove from the oven and carefully slide your pastry onto a cooling rack.  Have a friend help hold the cooling rack up in the air and quickly poke 7-8 holes in the bottom of your pastry.  Poke a few holes around the edges of the pastry where you plan to slice it in half once cooled.  *Choux Pastry does best if you give the hot air somewhere it can release so the pastry doesn't collapse on itself while cooling.* 

Fresh from the oven - make sure to immediately slice air holes in sides and bottom to allow steam to escape. 

I found it's easiest to get holes in the bottom by having someone hold the paris brest pastry up on a cooling rack and slicing little slivers from underneath. 

Assembling your Paris-Brest Pastry

Once your creme patissiere, caramel sauce, and choux pastry have fully cooled,you're ready to assemble your Paris-Brest Pastry! 

Carefully slice the Choux Pastry in half horizontally using a sharp bread knife.  Set the top to the side.  Place the bottom half of the choux pastry on the serving platter.   

Scoop your homemade Creme Patissiere (Pastry Cream) in a large freezer ziploc.  Cut the corner and pipe onto the bottom half of the pastry, ideally in a nice zigzag pattern.  

Filled with creme patissiere - pipe it as you prefer, but I liked the look this gives once the top is put on.

Generously drizzle the Caramel Sauce on top of the Creme Patissiere.  

A drizzle of homemade caramel sauce. Yum!

Place the top of the pastry back on, and dust generously with powdered sugar.   Drizzle the top with more homemade caramel sauce and serve!   

If you need to assemble in advance, keep refrigerated until serving - ideally assemble no more than a few hours before serving for the best results.  Although, leftovers a day after still tasted delicious and so you could potentially assemble it longer in advance, if necessary. 

Slice with a serated knife to serve.  SO delicious.  Enjoy!  

Happy Birthday Ben! Excellent choice of desserts! 

A slice of deliciousness. 

Served outside on a beautiful day. 

And another, just for fun. 

It was just stunning.  And delicious. Mmmmm... 

Paris-Brest Pastry filled with Creme Patissiere & Homemade Caramel Sauce by Successfully Gluten Free!