Willpower Wednesday

Tonight was a bit crazy. I had very little time but was determined to make SOMETHING. Anything. I committed to myself, and to those of you following this little journey, that Wednesdays I would summon the Willpower and accomplish something besides just sitting at the computer all night, complaining about how I never have time to cook yeast-free.

We didn't get home until about 9pm tonight. I worked quickly in order to get my kitchen cleaned. After all, a clean kitchen makes a happy chef! At least, in my house it does. Before I could get started I had to make the kitchen look like this:

I love this little sign. I keep it on my sink. It really speaks to me, from the depths of who I am. I am what you would call a procrastinator and so this sign is very fitting for me, and the kitchen seemed like the most natural room for it.

I also got to test out my new apron, the one I earned for free. I am highly motivated when it comes to aprons. Like fabric, aprons are things that I could just collect. I could just buy the cute ones whenever I had a chance and hoard them, sometimes never using them. It's an addiction. I am the same way with fabric for quilts/blankets and scrap-booking supplies as well.

But I suppose instead of just showing you meaningless (to you) pictures, I should talk about what I did tonight. I kept it simple, yet tried a recipe I have been wanting to try since December. Let me start by saying that I LOVE Elana's Pantry. I discovered this website back in October when I first began my yeast-free journey. It is there that I discovered and fell in love with Coconut Macaroons. This isn't the first time I have talked about Elana's Pantry. While I would love to be *that* person that comes up with the best yeast-free recipes that also happen to taste great, I am just not. Not yet anyway. So I rely on Elana to help me get through the times when I am actually living yeast-free. I don't yet own The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, someday I hope to. Until then, I will keep trying her recipes that are posted online.

I am so glad I went back to one of her recipes tonight. I decided that I would try the Cinnamon Bun Muffins and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting. I have been wanting to give these a whirl since she first posted the recipe and I just now got around to it...5 months later! I was NOT disappointed. While I can't say I thought these tasted like Cinnamon Rolls/Buns, they were GOOD. I didn't want to wait the two hours for the muffins to cool in order to frost one, so I cut one in half and drizzled the frosting over it. It was delicious! While it didn't taste like my favorite Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (nor did I expect it to!), it tasted (to me) just like a really good, moist, sweet Carrot Cake! Cream Cheese Frosting and all.

My next task is to see how well they will freeze, both with and without the icing. I want to see if one does better than the other and whether or not I can thaw them out for a quick and easy breakfast, like I did with the Cinnamon Apple Muffins. For tonight, I will put two of them (iced) in the fridge and see how it goes. I'm also going to be interested to see how long the icing will keep in the refrigerator. It could really go on so many different things. Overall, besides tasting great, the recipes were extremely easy to make!! Thanks once again Elana for creating a truly wonderful gluten-free, sugar-free experience! Oh, here is how my muffins looked both before and after baking.

Before:

After: