Archive for the ‘baked goods’ Category

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Chickpea Crackers

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

chickcrackesr

These crackers are a staple that I make just about weekly. They’re easy, versatile, yummy, healthy, and lend carb-y goodness that seriously needed on my grain free diet. I do constantly tweak them just a bit and play with different flavors, and you can add whatever spices suite your fancy. So give them a whirl! You’ll enjoy them.

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed well and put in a strainer to drain
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons ground flax seed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning dried herbs (blend de jour of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Italian seasoning dried herbs
coarse sea salt

Shake as much water you can from the garbanzos and let them blot with a towel. Pulse in a food processor. Add rest of ingredients through black pepper and blend well. Add oil, and the dough should come together into a ball. If not, add a little more until it does.

rawcrackers

Cover with saran wrap for ease and roll out thinly on to 2 silpat mats or parchment paper (not as thin as you possibly can, but close). Use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into sizes of your choice, and sprinkle with seasoning and salt. For prettier crackers, prick with a fork. Bake in preheated oven until slightly browning (around 30 min), watch them after 20 min or so.

You do have to turn the sheets periodically, and rotate the crackers when you’re able for the best results. The outside crackers brown much quicker–those usually just go directly to my mouth.

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Posted in baked goods, recipe, side dish | 2 Comments »

Yum-e-baby shower

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Sea, of Book of Yum, and her DH expecting a beautiful baby boy. Since it’s quite a trek to CA, a virtual baby shower seems a wee bit more practical. And oh, the dishes everyone is bringing!

gfgobsmackedkoreanpancakesKate of GF Gobsmacked has had a lot of practice welcoming a new one as of late! If you need a smile, check out her blog for pictures of her little sweetheart. She is bringing along her Korean Mung Bean Pancakes. They’re even kid approved, although Sea will have to wait a while until her sweetie is big enough!

appetizersall3Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs is bringing along a variety of appetizers: almond feta cheese and Raw carrot and sunflower seed pate. Not only do they look amazing, but they’re even vegan, and the cheese is soy free, too.

Jenn, of Gluten Free Food Storage is bringing along Lentil Tacos! I don’t have a picture for this one, but it looks like a simple and tasty recipe, perfect for when you’ve got a new baby.

quinoacakeWendy of Celiacs in the House is making sure we get our fill of protein with quinoa cakes. She knows Sea well enough to know that she’ll surely whip up one of her fabulous sauces to go along with it.

garlic-asparagus-quinoaEmily was eager to recreate a quinoa recipe she had in San Diego, and she brings us her Garlic Asparagus Quinoa, which is perfect for Springtime.

choc-orangeCould I really be the only one who brings along dessert? Well, Chocolate Strawberry (or chocolate orange) mini cakes all around!

divHeather of Celiac Family is bringing Raspberry Divinity Tarts that look totally delish. AND her rubber ducky meringues cookies are just beyond cute in my book. Heather, you get points for being super artistic and creative!!!

pumpkin

Angela of Angela’s kitchen sent in a great post for Hanana Banana Bread or mini muffins and even a pumpkin version of the same.  The banana bread was from her baby was little, and she’s got such cute flower shaped versions on her blog header!

Here’s to Sea and new beginnings! Much love as you start out on this exciting new chapter of life.

If by chance I have missed your submission, please send me an email and let me know.

Posted in adopt a gf blogger, appetizers, baked goods, dessert, main meal, recipe, side dish, vegetables | 6 Comments »

Chocolate Strawberry Cakes for Sea

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

choc-orange

One of the funny things about hosting a blog event is that you actually have to make sure you get around to posting on time.  So here I am, squeaking in under the wire for my post for Sea’s Yum-e-baby shower.  If you haven’t yet, please do get your post up and send me a picture and link by June 8th!

Sea has been such a big inspiration and driving force behind the gluten free blogging community, and no doubt her newest edition will lead to new yummy baby foods along the next few years.  All the best to Sea, her sweetie, her family, and of course, her cats, who are no doubt looking forward to their new sibling.

Way before the days of gluten free-ness, I was a fan of Nigella Lawson’s decadent desserts.  One of my favorites was her chocolate orange pantry cake because it was so quick and easy.   When I first went gluten (and dairy and egg) free, I tried adapting the recipe.  It was very yummy, but strawchocolatealways sank.   So I pretty much forgot all about the recipe for years, until it popped back into my head a month or so ago. Very few of the original ingredients remain, but the taste is along the same lines. Very chocolate, very dense, very fruity, very moist.

Well, I’ve been playing away to make it gluten/dairy/soy/sugar and grain free, and it’s finally (finally!) met the approval of my very discerning taste testers.  (Houdini, who is pictured behind the cakes was a supervisor, but NOT a taste tester) Also, as an added bonus, I’ve been making it the day before, covering with foil and frosting it the day of, and it works quite well. I will eventually try it without the egg, too, but I’m  sure  it’s  do-able.  If anyone tries it, drop me a line!

2 eggs, well beaten

1/3 cup agave
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp stevia
1 1/2 cup all fruit jam or marmalade (orange, strawberry and raspberry work beautifully)
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a separate bowl, briefly mix:
2/3 cup garbanzo bean flour (besan)
3 Tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder

4 oz melted unsweetened baking chocolate

Frosting:
3.5 oz baker’s (unsweetened) chocolate, melted
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp stevia
1/4 cup agave nectar
splash vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325, line springform pans with little parchment circles and grease the sides.  You can use one 8 inch pan and 2-4 inch or 6-4 inch.

Beat eggs well, add in other wet ingredients, then add in dry. Melt chocolate (microwave works perfectly–1.5 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds) and add into the mix.

Pour batter into greased springform pans. I use 1-8 inch and 2-4 inch springforms for this recipe. Bake until cakes come away from the sides and the top looks dark, about 35 minutes for the mini cakes and 50 for the bigger one.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes, then frost tops.

For frosting, melt chocolate, add stevia and gradually add in agave and coconut milk until the consistency is perfect. Use right away and it hardens as it cools.

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Posted in baked goods, cat pictures, dessert, recipe | 4 Comments »

Apple Strudel

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

appstrudI love the fact that every month, I have to stretch a little bit outside my comfort zone, get a little daring and bake up a storm!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Well, given my gluten free-ness, that particular strudel was off the table for experimentation.  So as I hunted around, I found that Carol Fenster’s 1000 GF recipes had a recipe for GF strudel.  And just a plug, if you’re GF, buy it.  It’s the Joy of Cooking of glutenfreeland.  You can get a recipe for pretty much anything, whiccut-appleh is a fabulous jumping off point for subsequent recipe tweaking.

As I was reading the directions, she says how a strudel is pretty much apple filling in pie crust.  I’ve had GF pie crust kicking around in the fridge forever, and so I opted to make the filling and sandwich it in the pie crust.

Yum!  My guinea pigs were quite jazzed.  I rolled the bottom a little thickly, but otherwise, it worked well.  If I’d taken more time, it would have been prettier, but there are some days I go for pretty and tasty.  Some days, pretty tasty will have to do.db

I did (and do) intend to make a Cheryl friendly apple concoction sometime in the near future because the smell of this was quite heavenly!  We shall see how that goes, and I’ll post on it if it turns out well.

Please do check out the beautiful offerings around the Daring Baker empire...and stay tuned for next month’s fun!

Posted in baked goods, daring bakers, dessert | 6 Comments »

Harvest apple crisp

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to share one my Apple Crisp recipe. It’s always been one of my favorite things to make because they’re so quick, easy and yummy. Crisps are a holiday tradition in my family. It’s very easy to make them gluten free, but I also wanted to make one that was sugar free, because I (and many people I work with!!) feel better when avoiding sugar. It took a few tries to come up with a recipe I’m delighted with.

When I can find them, I love the extra dimension quince adds to the flavor. This peculiar looking fruit is a real treat. The smell is heavenly. I often leave one for a day or two in my car! They are a pain to cut and peel, but the flavor is lovely when cooked slowly. They take a longer time to cook than apples, but if they’re shredded, they cook down easily. If you have a Latino market nearby, these babies are known as “membrillo”

4 apples, pears or a combination, peeled and thinly sliced
1 quince, finely shredded (or 5 apples)
½ cup cranberries
½ cup dried cherries, raisins or cranberries)
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot starch

1 ¼ cups almond meal or almond flour, OR 1 ¼ C sorghum flour (increase oil to ½ cup)
¼ cup quinoa flakes or oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of cloves (or replace the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with1 tsp apple pie spice)
½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
finely grated zest of an orange (optional)
¼ cup agave nectar
1/3 cup oil

Peel and slice apples thinly, and mix with cranberries, dried fruit, and agave. Mix spices and flour in a separate bowl, then combine with the apples. Pour into a greased 8X8 pan.

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add in wet ingredients until the texture is crumbly. Scatter the topping over the fruit mixture. Put in the oven at 325 and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake until the juices get all bubbly (generally, 40 minutes total).

Serve and enjoy!

As an added bonus, both the apple mixture and the topping can be made a day or two ahead and stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator.

If you are on a no amylose diet, use cornstarch, almond meal or flour, and quinoa flakes.

This seasonal treat is my submission to Weekend Herb Blogging, as originated by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, though Haalo of Cook (almost) Everything at least once is our new WHB master. Siri of Siri’s Corner is this week’s fabulous host. Check out her site for a great range of global recipes!

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008

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Posted in baked goods, dessert, recipe | 9 Comments »

Pear Skillet Bread

Sunday, November 16th, 2008

Sometimes I get something in my head and I’m not letting it go until I get what I want! This recipe is a perfect example. I love my Nana Skillet Bread, but bananas don’t agree with me…and I can’t have grains. But I believed I could make it work with pears and was absolutely determined! Darn thing wasn’t going to get the best of me. Most of the “failed” batches were delicious, but they were a pile of crumbs, so I was always “forced” to eat them. Quite a hardship! I generally make things in season, and started working on this at the beginning of pear season, and didn’t figure out how to make it work until a week ago. I have a stash of frozen pears, and methinks this is where they’re headed.

It’s not quite a bread, and not quite a cake. It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch or a snack, and it’s quite healthy, too! If you don’t have a skillet, you can do it in an 9 inch round, but the crust won’t brown as nicely. Lining the skillet with parchment is essential if you’re using a skillet, or it will totally get stuck. Salba or chia is a must, and flax won’t work. You’ll get a pile of crumbs. Tasty crumbs. Trust me. For more info on Salba, I have a two articles here. If you don’t have mesquite, add more almond flour instead, and add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and more spices.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
¼ cup mesquite flour
1Tablespoons +1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch of salt

Wet:
1 1/4 cups very ripe pears
1 tablespoon ground chia (Salba) seeds
2/3 cup agave (a little less)
3T oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

Line the bottom of a 10 inch cast iron skillet with parchment paper, then grease the paper and sides of the pan. Preheat oven to 350 and put skillet in the hot oven 10 minutes before adding the batter.

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients together. Dump wet ingredients in a blender. Let it roll until well blended. In my vitamix, that takes less than a minute. I would assume an ordinary blender would take a few minutes. Add wet to dry mix until well everything is combined, then stir in the nuts.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until top turns a beautiful golden brown. Almond flour browns a lot so don’t be surprised if it’s darker than you expect. Cool on a drying rack 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Top with sauteed apples if desired.

Yum.

~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008

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Posted in baked goods, bread, recipe | 5 Comments »

Pumpkin Carving Party

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

We host one big party the Saturday before Halloween. The deal is that DH is fine if it’s GF–as long as no one can tell. Or, in other words, as long as the food is delish! I spend countless hours planning and fussing away in the kitchen, and somehow it all works out in the end. Most importantly, everyone has a great time. Pictures from past year’s parties are here, and here are the 2008 pumpkins.

The menu:
Hot mulled cider At the last minute I decided to make the cider (I was tired!) but I’m glad I did! One of our guests was saying that it isn’t really fall until they have our cider.

Turkey chili: featuring fabulous peppers and tomatoes from my garden

Pumpkin Cornbread: Karina’s recipe, made to be sugar free and spicier, just with pumpkin instead of sweet potato to match the season.

Pumpkin seed pave: I’ve been meaning to try a recipe from Apple Pie, Patis, Pâté for a while, and I’m glad I did! Somehow with all of the food, it flew under the radar. On the other hand, that meant MORE FOR ME! I thought it was absolutely awesome. I added some cocoa powder on the top, but aside from that I followed the recipe.

Chocolate raspberry tart:
Vegan, grain free, sugar free, absolutely heavenly. I used frozen raspberries from my own canes. This was my absolute favorite. I haven’t shared the recipe because I think it’s only possible with a Vitamix, and I know that those are hard to come by! Of course, nothing says “classy dessert” quite like a green bat plate


Apple crisp:

Grain free and recipe coming soon!

Pumpkin seed brittle What can I say, this was a hit. I brought some of the leftovers into my office, and someone there asked if there was any sugar in it. He assumed, given than 99% of the time I’m sugar free, that somehow I figured out how to make brittle without sugar. No such luck! BTW, this is awesome with pistachios, cashews or peanuts, too.


Ginger Lemon Girl’s recipe was a ginormous hit. Make them. Period.

Angel food cake: this was my only disappointment. I used the recipe from Carol Fenster’s new book. The recipe calls for 1 cup of eggs, or 14. The problem is, 1 cup is 7 eggs. Either way, it wasn’t very good.

Rugalach: Not all of them were pretty, but taste trumps looks. They were DH’s fave. I made them using my old recipe, but using Better Batter. I filled some with Nutella and hazelnuts and made others more traditionally. They smelled heavenly!

Chocolate Hazelnut balls:
These are one of my long standing traditions. They’re vegan, luscious, and keep well. Every time I make them differently, and quite honestly, I forgot to write down the recipe (again!)

Everyone had a great time, and the food was wonderful, if I do say so myself. And since everything was GF I didn’t have to fuss about crumbs!

Posted in baked goods | 6 Comments »

Pecan Pie: A flash from the past II

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Growing up, pecan pie was my favorite food.  When I eventually found my way into the kitchen, it was no surprise that perfecting pecan pie was my first project.  To me, they’re so perfect that it’s impossible to describe the decadent, golden, melting, perfection.  *drool* When I was a grad student in California and my boyfriend (now husband) was in New York, I mailed him (what else?) a pecan pie for our first anniversary.  BTW, they do ship well!

Life changes as it always does, and most of the ingredients are now off-limits for me.   I adapt most things, but some things are too perfect to mess with.  I love to bake, and to feed the people I care about.  And when the pie comes out of the oven, I take a whiff,and it takes me way back to all of the pecan pies I’ve shared with family and friends over the years. It’s an instant time capsule.

I must admit, I make fewer pecan pies than I used to.  When I heard about the Better Batter pie contest, I figured it was time to send this recipe out into the world for wider enjoyment.  Even better, the recipe is super simple! You can use your favorite GF crust, and I’ve included my GF crust recipe of choice below. I do it in the food processor to keep it simple. It literally takes less than 10 minutes, and your friends will be so impressed!

THE Pecan pie: a step by step guide to utter lusciousness

3 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla (regular works, too)
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup bittersweet or semisweet chips

Preheat the oven to 350

1. Lightly beat the eggs.

2. Melt butter in a glass (microwave safe) measuring cup. This can be done by microwaving for 30 seconds or on the stovetop. Swirl butter around cup and add to the beaten eggs.

3. Add 1 1/4 cups corn syrup to the measuring cup. The leftover butter will help it slide right out!

4. Add in sugars and extract, mix well to combine.

5. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.


6. Pour into prepared fresh or frozen pie crust.

7. Use pie shields or make the out of aluminum foil. Essentially, you just want to crimp the foil around the exposed crust.

8. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover pie loosely with foil. Bake for a total of 60 minutes or until the
top springs back slightly when gently nudged. If your crust doesn’t brown enough, remove the covers.

9. Serve and accept complements!  It will serve about 10, however, when my husband is around that number is greatly reduced.

Crust:

1 1/4  cups Better Batter flour
1 Tablespoon sweet rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted cold butter
4-5 tablespoons of cold water, milk or orange juice


Put flours and salt into the food processor. Cut the butter into cubes and add in. Pulse in short bursts until the mix has a sandy consistency with a few chunks the size of lentils.

Move the mixture to a bowl and stir in the liquid a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough forms a cohesive ball. Put the ball between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and roll out as flat as you can.

Peel off the top layer of paper and flip the dough over onto a pie plate. Press down into place and arrange the crust so it looks pretty. The dough is easy to work with and you can patch it easily if it rips.

Best of all, this dough keeps well in the refrigerator or freezer.

This is my submission to the Better Batter Pie Contest.  I heard about Better Batter a few years ago on the Sillly Yaks list from Naomi.  I was intrigued by all of the rave reviews!  I do like playing with whole grain flours for much of my baking, but this works really well for my old pre-GF recipes that I don’t have the time or patience to reinvent.   It does work amazingly well as an easy 1:1 flour substitute.


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Posted in baked goods, contest, dessert, recipe | 7 Comments »

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

Our fabulous host for this months’ Daring Baker challenge is Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums. Our recipe this month is pizza! I was quite excited. I hadn’t had pizza in a LONG time, maybe 4 years or so, so I figured I was due. I was also determined to do a way that would work for me, and also a way that was semi-faithful to the recipe we were given. I’ve been SO busy lately, since we hosted a big pumpkin carving party last weekend, that this almost didn’t happen. My head GF taster was busy, and it seemed silly to cook a GF pizza for my glutenous DH. But I discovered that another friend has gone GF and was craving pizza, so the dishes are still in the sink as I type away, and this is just under the wire.

The great news is that the pizza challenge (as written) was quite successful! DH and Natalie pretty much inhaled the first one, and the second one vanished as well. Both gave glowing reviews, and DH is picky, so I know I can trust him. I even changed the flours to make it amylose free so I can share it with people that I work with, so I was very glad. It was very simple to make. Since I no longer have a baking stone, I opted to use the back of a cast iron skillet. It’s not the most graceful way to get the job done, but especially if you give it time to heat up, it does help the crust get nice and crispy. You could even pick up a piece and eat it like pizza!

My Cheryl-friendly pizza wasn’t so successful. I made a few attempts at a grain free, vegan and yeast free pizza for me. One was a socca pizza (YUM!) but it got overly soggy. I did, however, eagerly devour every crumb. The other was a vegan/grain free/yeast free foccacia-ish bread I was working on. It looked beautiful, and tasted awful. I finally realized I’d forgotten the lemon juice and the baking soda taste was quite prominent. Whoops! I will surely experiment with both in the future, though.

I did a half batch and used it for 2 pizzas instead of 3 as we were advised. The flour combo I used was 1/2 cup almond, 1/2 cup corn flour, 1/4 cup chestnut, 1/4 cup amaranth flour, 1/4 cup quinoa flour, and 1/2 cup corn starch.
I added herbs and minced onion to the crust, but aside from that, I followed the instructions as given.

What a nice treat to do something different! To see more, lovely pizza creations, check out my fellow Daring Bakers.

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Posted in baked goods, daring bakers, main meal | 14 Comments »

Baking up a storm…

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Generally, I like adventuring in the baking world.  Yep, I have my share of failures, but I get the chance to be creative, and it’s so exciting when things DO work!  But as of late, I’ve been making more recipes from other sources, which has been quite fun in a different way.

Ricki, from Diet Dessert and Dogs, is putting out a cookbook soon called Sweet Freedom.  There’s a sneak preview here. I really like Ricki’s writing and cooking style.  Some of the recipes are gluten free, and all are vegan, use whole grains and avoid refined sugars.  Ricki’s been kind enough to let me be a “recipe tester”, which has been great fun.  How cool is it to “have to” make yummy recipes?  I know, twist my arm.  Just check out this Gluten Free, sugar free, soy free buttercream frosting…AND since it’s a vegan cookbook, that means no dairy or eggs, either. There are 2 versions of it there, and no, I wouldn’t recommend licking the screen.  Oh my goodness this was so unbelievably creamy.  And there will be more pictures to come in the next few weeks…

I made Ricki’s Easiest Almond cookies, which are super easy and tasty, and can be whipped up in just a few minutes with minimal cleanup (yay!).

I’ve also made gluten free versions of her Sunshine Breakfast loaf AND her chocolate mint cookies. The breakfast loaf features pumpkin, and disappeared at the speed of light in a room of gluten eaters. The chocolate mint cookies never made it out of the house because DH hoarded them. I really can’t blame him!

If that wasn’t enough cooking for ya, I just received an advance copy of Carol Fenster’s 1000 Gluten Recipes, and so of course I had to try some of the recipes to see if they’re good!  The book is ginormous.  It’s like a GF version “Joy of Cooking”, which is pretty cool.  I stuck with the basics and made yellow cupcakes, which are the ones with Ricki’s luscious frosting.  DH loved them and wanted to know if they had gluten. Um, hello? Do I make anything with gluten? Suffice to say they were indistinguishable. However, I was a little disappointed.  I LOVE her book, Cooking Free.  I mean, lovelovelovelove.  It is the book I recommend most to people with multiple allergies.  And considering that so many folks have multiple intolerances, I was surprised and a little disappointed that she didn’t have more than a handful of vegan or allergen friendly foods, especially since she’s clearly so gifted at it. There are dairy free variations (i.e. use Earthbalance rather than butter), but that’s pretty much the extent of it.   However, if you’re looking for a book of GF basics, this is it, and I’ve never seen one so comprehensive. It’ll make an excellent holiday gift for someone you love (including yourself, of course), and it will certainly be a “go-to” standard.

Here’s some more info on Carol and her books.

And food? I made some of that, too, but you know, cabbage just isn’t sexy the same way frosting is. But I also made super yummy slow roasted tomatoes.  I only like tomatoes in season, so I keep making batches with the intent to freeze them and alas, most end up in my tummy.  But oh, they are incredible. Since we’re saying goodbye to tomatoes for the season, this is my last hurrah on that front.

Posted in baked goods | 4 Comments »

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