Break out the canapés, bitches, it’s time to get your gluten-free apps on.

When’s the last time you heard the word “canapé” much less eaten/made one? I’m now fully obsessed with making every single canapé in the old school Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book from 1950. It’s become my “thing.” By “thing” I mean, I’m cutting gluten-free bread into designs and stocking my kitchen with toast beds. Yes, I DO know how to have a good time.

It’s not only the canapés in the Betty Crocker book I’m honing in on, it’s actually all of these classic appetizers. I mean, look at these!

I have an overwhelming urge to fill everything with cream cheese. But first, I went with Hot Cheese Puffs and Pigs in a Blanket. Both, incredibly bread-heavy which means it’s challenging to do it g-free. Here’s how it went.

According to Betty, wrapping up lil’ hot dogs (or cutting them into halves or thirds) in a biscuit is a great way to go. So I used a gluten-free biscuit mix, which I used with success before, and rolled up those weenies. Baked at 450 for 10 minutes, and voila—very thick pigs in a blanket that were not-at-all flaky. Hence, my finger crossing that Pillsbury will be making a gluten-free crescent roll very, very, very soon. PLEASE. And, thank you.

So that one didn’t work out quite as well as my canapé time.

Every good canapé begins with a toast bed. Which I love saying almost as much as “canapé.” I adjusted the BC recipe slightly here, because I thought it would be an easier cleanup, as I am lazy. After cutting my gluten-free bread (I used white sandwich bread) into lil’ shapes with this thing I got from Williams-Sonoma with all of my wedding gifts (what IS this thing? a toast bed maker?) I laid them out on a baking sheet pre-coated with canola oil spray. I then put a tiny smear of butter in the center of all of those pieces of bread, and baked for 8 minutes on 450 degrees. Right before you add your canapé topping, smear a tiny bit of mayo on top of the toast and you’re ready to canapé it all over the place. Canapé!

I chose the hot cheese puff topping, which I was very, very happy about. Here’s how you do that.

Hot Cheese Puffs

adapted from Betty Crocker

Prep time: 7 minutes Cook time: 8 minutes for toasts, 5 minutes for topping

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup American cheese, grated

1. Prepare toast beds.

2. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Add baking powder, salt and paprika and mix well. Fold in American cheese.

3. Scoop cheese mixture on top of prepared toast beds on a baking sheet, just meeting the edge of bread.

4. Broil for 5 minutes, and serve warm.

Makes: 20 servings