Wheatless Wonders OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

I am oh-so-pleased to report that Wheatless Wonders has begun actual production and retail sales this week! My first run at baking in a commercial kitchen went off smoothly and I delivered the product of that effort to Cups and Cones this week for retail sale and taste-test sampling. The vast majority of the items there are on hand for sampling, and there have been quite a few takers, all of whom have reported that the items were very good and didn't at all taste gluten-free, which of course is a major objective of my efforts here!!! They have a few of each of the items packaged for retail sale. The items there to taste or buy are:

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Banana Muffins
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Angel Snickerdoodles

If you get by and try them, I'd love to have your feedback on what you liked best and what else you'd like to see me work on. (I'll take any "dislike" feedback too, but please be gentle and try to offer suggestions for improvement if you have them... :-) )

I have plans for testing a couple of blueberry muffin recipes this week -- one I've tried before and loved the flavor of but not so much the appearance. But my idea is to see what a light sugar glaze on the top of that muffin does -- I think it will make it a winner! The other recipe is one with a streusel topping. Streusel seems to be a big hit with most people and is certainly visually appealing; it's not something that has really ever been a huge draw to me, but it's not all about me...

This weekend, I found the PERFECT chocolate buttercream frosting recipe -- it was just exactly that flavor I've always sought but never been able to create with other chocolate buttercream recipes I've tried. Now, my goal is to find just the right yellow cake recipe to go with it. I have 2-3 candidates I have yet to try, so I'm looking forward to that (but going to have to share with friends to protect my body from myself!).

Also on the to-do list is testing a Texas Sheet Cake recipe. I've done one before that was based on Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman) recipe, and coincidentally (or maybe not), this one is too! The first was decadent and delicious, and I'll be curious to see whether I like this one as well or better. Those of you who are gluten-consumers should seriously look into this Pioneer Woman's cookbooks b/c she seems to have some winning recipes going!

I'll keep you posted as things develop. Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement!

Wheatless Wonders is born!

Most people who follow my blog are my friends and family, so this is probably old news, but just in case anyone else is watching out there, I wanted to let you know that my new business has begun and my products should be available for purchase and consumption either this week or next (by 2/16/11 at the latest)!

The name of the company is Wheatless Wonders and my primary business model is wholesale sales of individual-serving-size packages of gluten-free muffins, cookies, and cake slices available to the public through coffee shops here in greater Austin. My first retail location will be Cups & Cones, the awesome coffee and ice cream shop in Steiner Ranch. I will eventually expand into other parts of town through other coffee shops, but not yet. The other part of my business is custom cakes direct to consumers. You can find out about that on my website at www.wheatlesswonders.com!

How exciting!