GF Cranberry Nut Cookies

Cranberry Nut Cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan/guar gum

1/4 cup flax meal (optional, but healthy!)

2 1/2 cups GF flour (I used my wholegrain GF flour mix.)

Okay, you found me out. It's the same basic recipe for my chocolate chip cookies, but if it ain't broke, I ain't fixin' it. And, it ain't broke. YUM!

Cream the cold butter and sugars until fluffy and add eggs one by one. (My one gourmet cooking class gave reason for this. "Blend until each molecule of sugar is coated with butter and then, when the sugar bursts at hot temperatures in the oven it makes the cookie leven!) Don't worry, it's never gotten off the ground for me.

Add the dry ingredients and blend. Fold in dry cranberries and nuts at the end. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

G-F Peanut Butter Graham Crackers

Modified to be GF from a recipe on Cookistry Blog on 6-14-13

Peanut Butter Graham Crackers

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used my GF Healthygrain Flour Mix)
1/2 cup water
Additional flour, for rolling

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar and maple syrup with the paddle attachment until the mixture is light. Scrape down the bowl as needed. 


Add the salt, baking powder, vanilla, and peanut butter then beat well.

Add the flour mixed with xanthun gum in thirds, alternating with the water, beginning with the water.  Hold Back water if it seems too much to form a soft ball. Beat until well combined and it forms a soft ball like typical cookie dough.  I added all the water and had to add 1/4 cup more flour to form the moist ball.    

Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap it in plastic (or put it in a plastic bag) and let it rest in the fridge overnight.  It will firm up nicely.  

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. I sprayed three cooking pans with cooking spray.  

Divide the dough into 3 pieces--I weighed them to make sure they were equal. On the pan I rolled the cookie dough with a hand rolling pin.  

With a pastry cutter (for a zigzag edge) or a pizza wheel or knife, trim the edges of the dough so that it's straight and square. Cut it lengthwise and crosswise.  There's no need to separate the pieces, you'll break them apart later.

If you want graham crackers that can be easily cracked into smaller pieces, score the pieces, through the center if you like, but don't cut all the way through. Last, use a fork to poke holes in each piece. A decorative pattern is nice, or just poke a few holes. Repeat the rolling and cutting with the other pieces of dough.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown just a little. Let them cool on the cookie sheet before breaking.  The crackers will be soft when you take them out of the oven, but they should harden to a crackery crispness as they cool. If they don't harden, you can pop them back into the oven for a few more minutes of baking.

Let them cool and dry out completely before storing them in a container. If they're completely dry and crispy, they'll store well for a long time, just like any cracker.

GF Pumpkin Cookies

Fall G-F Baking?  A soft chewy pumpkin cookie that smells up the kitchen and makes a great delivery to the new neighbors.  10/19

In honor of Memory Monday's, I'm revisiting the pumpkin recipe cookies that were so delicious as well as reading back on great memories.

Blogs really are the family history scrapbooks of our day.

____________________________
reposted from 6-28-11

DawnL's Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat 400 degrees 15 minutes

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

Beat together til creamy then add:

1 egg

1 cup pumpkin (canned)

Mix 1 1/2 cup g-f flour (I use my wholegrain flour mix)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder,

1/2 tsp. cinnamon,
1/4 tsp. of ginger,
1/4 tsp. nutmeg and
1/4 tsp. salt

Add dry ingredients to wet, blend, add 1 cup chocolate chips and drop by spoonsful onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until dry and golden brown.

I've written before about refitting recipes--exchanging the regular flour for gluten-free. Although the idea is daunting at first, many of the original chefs for gluten free say it is simple and easy. The more diverse your flour mix is, the better it exchanges.

Many professionals also add that there is no need to add gums if the flours are whole grain and very diverse. I have had some success using buckwheat alone, but my best substitutions have had as few as four or as many as eight different flours sifted together--and I still add guar gum to all my recipes.


______________________________________________________________

College guy is preparing to serve a church mission and he is earning money over the summer for the costs.

It's been great to have him at my every beck and call for whatever task I have, but the guy can work hard labor for eight hours straight!  The wood splitting that I expected to take weeks was finished in three days, so now I'm inventing tasks.


The dream rock garden may get finished, the deck sanded and repainted, the entire acreage pruned and the front porch repaired!

The only downside to the situation is trying to keep the guy fed. I've grown accustomed to baking less, and I'm stoking the bake stove to stay ahead of the roaring hunger that never seems to subside.

His request today, "Remember those muffins Mom, not the regular, but the lemon, almond poppy seed? And pumpkin cookies, remember those pumpkin cookies that were kinda soft, filled with chocolate chips, and deliciousness?"

Yeah, I remember. And I've not attempted them post-gf, but thank goodness the gf sister has! Her recipe is delicious and delightful and I'm holding back five cookies so I can take a photo. The workman says to hurry and find the camera, HE IS STILL HUNGRY!

G-F Sugar Cookie Recipe

2015 GF Christmas Sugar Cookies

Christmas Sugar Cookie with peppermint frosting

GF Valentine Sugar  Cookies

 Today's batch.  Makes 32 (counting eaten ones)

First posted on Sept 8, 08.

Today I'm sorting through the avalanche of recipes that gave into nature laws and cascaded off my cookbook shelf.  I've been collecting for years, and today is the day that I'm stuffing them all together into one file. 

I'm flinging the ones upon which I've scrawled the warning, "never make this again!" 

Why, I wonder did I keep them to begin with? To preserve and revisit the agony? 

Watch out, I'll be blogging the good ones.  This is Great Grandma Harritt's favorite (adapted to become gluten-free of course).

                   Grandma's Great Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup cold butter     Use a paddle in your mixmaster and beat with

3/4 cup sugar    Beat until fluffy then add

2 eggs, and
1 tsp vanilla      Beat until light and fluffy

Then add dry ingredients that have been sifted together

1 tsp xanthan gum
(or chia/flax seed, ground)
1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups GF flour - any flour mix will work. (I used 1/4 cup coconut flour in the last batch and that worked well.) 

1 tsp baking soda

Today I used my wholegrain flour mix which is just a mix of g-f flours that are diverse enough to give a great outcome to any baking recipe.  

Use your personal favorite. I recommend Bob's Red Mill, Better Batter, Jules--whatever.  I have used sorghum flour in this recipe also.  Just use enough to make a dough ball that pulls nicely away from the bowl, not too dry nor too soggy.

Grandma's original recipe said "ADD 'TIL MAKES A DOUGH. She expects us to know what a cookie dough looks like. Light, fluffy, not too stiff or dry.  Remember to add gf flours and let dough sit for a minute to fully absorb moisture.

Chill dough and roll out cookies on a skiff of rice or sorghum flour to prevent STICKAGE. I roll between plastic wrap and that makes it easy to peel off , cut and place on cookie sheets. Place 1/2 inch apart on baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes.

Frost with favorite GF frosting.

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 11-12-11   Scrooge Christmas Musings

Hey, Christmas post, but no new photo -- I'm too busy today. Here's an old one from Valentines.  

The holidays scramble is coming! And I hate it. The same people who admired my Scrooge/Marley costume at the Halloween party suddenly--overnight even--find it blasphemy.

I harbor a secret wish that purchasers of any Christmas related items before Halloween, may be auto-tasered at every store exit.

But after the 31st of November, I'd better be transferring my evil thoughts to planning for holiday baking and the visions of sugarplums to make the whole season more appealing for everyone.   

Reality Bite:  If Momma Aint Happy, Aint nobody happy!  

NYTimes Chocolate Chip Cookie G-F Tweek

This recipe came highly recommended so I want to see how it TWEEKS G-F with my whole-grain flour mix.  

I exchanged both of the flour types cup for cup with my whole-grain flour mix, and added one teaspoon xanthan gum.  Every other ingredient was the same.   

It passes the first college-bound guy test--the dough is delicious and the cookies are in the oven. 

They're out-- and GONE! 


 I baked them 12-15 minutes, they are browned nicely and I've eaten the batch.  Sheesh!  I safely placed the rest of the dough in the refrigerator to see if 24-36 hour refrigeration (as the recipe suggests) improves the cookies.  What will really happen?  Yup, the dough will be devoured.  

 http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies?utm_source=yahoo-food&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=content-partnerships

Then the NYTimes goes and locks their site.  Thanks Brown Eyed Betty for reposting it.

3 2/3 cup g-f flour

1¼ teaspoons baking soda

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

1¼ cups ( 2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1¼ cups light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons  granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups dark chocolate chips, 

Standard cookie production:  Cream the butter with the sugars til fluffy then add the eggs.   Mix the dry ingredients all together and then add to the butter mixture. Stir together. If necessary, add more flour by the tablespoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer. Bake balls until nicely browned in a  350 degree oven.

GF Mint Brownies

My friend brought these glorious brownies to homeschool group yesterday.  (Yes, I'm still teaching in my commonwealth despite my kid going off to college early.)  I asked her if I could have the recipe... 

Yeah, she said, "It's on your blog."

Wow, It's been too long.

Baking them today!    


Reposted from 4-10-12

GF Mint Brownies (just like those from college!)

 Last Baked 4-8-12, but last posted 12-24-09

Thanks Lisa H. This is her adaptation from Cooking Light Magazine as we are still repeating GF recipes from the December 2009 pot luck. How could I bake for the holidays without that party???

Bottom Layer:

1 cup GF Flour (GFPantry's French Bread Mix)

(I used my wholegrain flour mix with 1 tsp. xanthan gum)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

5 eggs or (2 eggs and 1/2 cup egg substitute like Egg Beaters)

1/4 cup butter melted

2 Tbsp. water

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup (16 oz.) canned Chocolate syrup
Hersheys is g-f. ***  homemade recipe link below
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix wet ingredients and add the flour mix. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 for about 23 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

MINT Layer:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter (softened)

2 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

2 drops green food coloring

Beat on high until light and fluffy. Stroke over the top of the cooled brownies.

GLAZE

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 TBSP butter

Combine chocolate chips and butter in a glass bowl and microwave on high one minute, stirring after 30 seconds. Let stand two minutes and spread evenly over mint layer.

chocolate syrup    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-syrup/

GF Delicious Breadstix

 Still the best bread sticks that I've ever baked GF or for that matter, not GF!  Delicious!   If you want this recipe straight out of Bette's Cook Book, see link at the end.

Here is the recipe I have used .

1 cup rice flour
3/4 cups of gluten-free flour (my wholegrain flour blend (try using any g-f flour that you prefer.)
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon buttermilk powder (or nondairy substitute)
1/4 teaspoon clear gelatin powder
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon dough enhancer (or vinegar)
1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2/3 cup warm water (more or less)

Combine wet ingredients separately and slowly add to dry while blending on medium high, until  fluffy dough results.  Spoon it into the ziplock bag, squirt out onto a cookie sheet, raise til doubled and bake as directed below.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes 'til just browned and soft in the inside.

First Posted 6-25-08 and then 6-12-12.

I've been innundated with requests for this recipe and over the past five years, I have modified Bette Hagman's (Praise Be Her Name) recipe enough to post it--yet still, hers is better.  If you are a purist go buy her book, you won't regret it.

Okay, these are worth spending the entire afternoon--well, at least 15 minutes to mix and 10 to rise and 20 more to bake anyway. Hot, delicious breadsticks compliments of Bette Hagman's (Praise be her name) cookbook.
I followed her recipe exactly--(except using brown instead of white rice flour) from The Gluten-free Gourmet Bakes Bread. I started with the French Bread/Pizza Mix as she does and in a half-hour. Voila! Gourmet breadsticks!

I'm not including it because I can't find it on the net and I won't breech copyright. Buy the book! It's worth it.  The Baking Beauties web page has no such qualms, so you can find the detailed recipe there.  

Tip of the day, because forming breadsticks is so different from gluten-filled, I used Bette's hint and squeezed dough from a (freezer strength) Ziplock (trust me!) to form. YUM!!!!

G-F Reality Black Bean Chocolate Muffin

Conclusion:  Black bean chocolate muffins made gluten-free are the Wow Recipe of the Week.  

Hypothesis:  If  brownies can be made from black beans, I can make morning muffins just as deliciously.

Proof:  Homeschooling chemistry and the scientific method isn't hard when yum food is involved.

1/2 cup black beans (canned, rinsed, drained, blended)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup cocoa (dutched)
1 1/2 cup of a gf flour mix ( I used this one)
1/2 cup sugar  (or 1/4 cup honey)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake time:  I cook most everything at 350 degrees, unless I'm in a hurry.  And I usually bake it for 12-15 mintues.  Until a tap on the top doesn't sink in.

One more day of the test kitchen (muffins to teenagers) and then I can publish with total assurity that they are a success.

Voila, two days of recipe success!

Hints and tips, when I blend the beans, I add the other wet ingredients and give it a spin.  That may be why the muffins are baking so high, the egg gets extra whizzed.  The total wet ingredients equal 2 cups.

My husband made me sit down and try to figure out calories as he is taking them to work and people seem to be concerned with the fat and sugar content--I've halved the sugar of typical muffins and two tbs of fat is amazing for such a great muffin.  I'm estimating about 56 calories each as they are minis.

Reality Bite:  The teens I make them for are swimmers, so they can bulk up on the extra calories and protein.   Oh to be Young!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Bars

The sister (#5) made this again for the summer g-f fam. reunion and it turned out so delicious that I had to take another photo and post.  This was last posted 2-01-09 and I don't want you to forget how delicious ms. DawnL bakes these bars.  

Hey, I had to grab the last piece out of my son's mouth for this shot--hence the bitemarks. These are that good!

Peanut Butter Bars
from Sis. #5 Brilliant - Dairyless DawnL

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter (non dairy margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups GF flour (the wholegrain flour mix works)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthum gum (guar)
2 cups GF oatmeal or flaked quinoa
1/2 cup milk (coconut milk substitutes well, cut to 1/3 cup)

Bake in a jelly roll pan. (There is never enough of this one!)

While hot spread with peanut butter. Wait to cool and layer on chocolate frosting.

YUM!

Wholegrain GF Flour Mix

first posted 6-1-08, second posted on 10-10-10

GF Flour mixes are intended to replicate wheat's properties. Most gluten-free mixes available on the market now are mostly starches with little or no nutritional value. Some of us with CD have lived for years without nutrition and now we need food! We need good, wholegrain, healthy food.

No gluten-free grain can substitute alone for the properties of wheat flour (it's had years of biogenetics to make it the perfect baking flour--that will kill us, but that's another topic), but a combination of alternate whole grains can substitute beautifully.

Mix up some flours and use them as your flour in your pre-gf days, your favorite cookies, brownies, spice cake, muffins, banana bread. This mix will substitute beautifully.

I like mixes that use up what I have on hand. If I'm out of one flour, I substitute with a different kind. I try to end up with at least eight flours total. Most recipes are fairly forgiving, as are my husband's and children's tastebuds.

I've modified this mix since 2008 and now it's as follows:

One cup sorghum flour
One cup millet flour
2  and 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2 cups tapioca starch/flour

1 cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch
1 cup buckwheat

Now, in 2012 I use this mix in many, if not most of my recipes.  It's very versatile and delicious.  

Sometimes I add one cup of whichever other flours are on hand: coconut flour, almond flour (or almond meal--made from raw almonds in the food processor,) soy flour, wild rice flour (Montina), gar-fava flour. The following alternate supergrains have most of eight essential enzymes and can help to form a complete protein. Try them as alternatives in your flour mixes: quinoa amaranth, teff, buckwheat or flax.

I mix this up when I want a universal substitute for typical wheat flour and I substitute it one for one in muffins and quick breads, fruit breads (banana, applesauce, pumpkin) cookies, brownies, etc.

Be warned that flours that have bean flour aren't as delicious eaten raw as mixes with just sorghum.

I'm just saying if you intend to sit and eat the cookie dough and don't care about freezing capability, use straight sorghum. It makes dough yummy raw.

G-F Devils Food Chocolate Cake

Last night's party was so much fun and there was food, learning and enthusiasm for being healthy and gluten-free.  Thanks everybody for coming.

Okay, I'm reminding you where I posted the chocolate cake that is always so successful each time I attempt it.  I recognize that it is a modification of the copyrighted recipe from Bette Hagman (Praise Be Her Name), from her cookbook Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods, but I have recommended that same book to all my friends and acquaintances, so it's all fair.  Buy it online--used on Amazon for under ten bucks, you won't be sad.

Stir together

1 cup powdered cocoa (I use dutched for that extra rich flavor)
3/4 cup boiling water

Cool then add
3/4 cup buttermilk (almond milk with a tsp of lemon works)

Mix dry ingredients

1 3/4 cup gf flour (I use my wholegrain flour mix)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan/guar gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons egg replacer

Mix wet ingredients
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup mayonaise (not salad dressing0
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


Combine all  ingredients together. Pour into a 9x13 pan, a bundt pan for Peanut Butter Delight or into 60 mini cupcake papers for DING DONGS and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.  Test doneness by inserting a toothpick, knife or dowel until it comes out clean.

Magnifique!

College Boy Wrap Bread #1

First posted on 4-4-10   Still a most successful wrap bread.  Can be milk free and delicious.


Today College boy attempted wrap bread. He used two flours, and beat all ingredients together, spread it on the pan, let it raise 15 minutes, bakes 15 minutes. Bread for the week!

Or for today at least--depending on how hungry he is. This is one of the mixes I sent to college with the college girl. (Make sure that you remind them to add the yeast separately with the dry ingredients when they do the mixing. The yeast dies when stored due to the salt in the mixes).

College Boy's choice of flour today was my wholegrain 8 flour mix--but I made the same recipe yesterday with plain rice flour--still good.

Then on Easter, we made it using straight up Sorghum flour with the tapioca and sprinkled on asiago before baking. It was, again, delicious.

What a versatile recipe!!

#1 Magnificent GF Muffin Mix

Versatile Muffin Mix

1 1/2 cups of any GF flour (I use my wholegrain flour mix)

 1/2 cup sugar ( recently modified this to one-half cup--I find it sufficient sweetness! A substitute of 1/4 cup honey also works well.)

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthun gum

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together. Add wet ingredients, blend well, in mini muffin pans, bake at 350 10-12 minutes.  24 muffins

This dry mix can also be placed in ziplocks or stored in an airtight container.

This recipe is one of the great options for gluten-free gifting. 

 Newbie GF'rs love a basket of GF mixes.

WET INGREDIENTS: 

To use Mix: Start with a two cup measuring cup.  Blend one egg with 2 tablespoons melted butter or canola oil and 1/3 cup buttermilk,  Add variations (pumpkin, applesauce,) and then top off the cup with milk (almond or soy milk works great) to equal two cups total.

Add to the muffin mix and blend lightly. Spoon mix into oiled or sprayed muffin tins. Bake at 350 12-15 minutes.

Variations:

Apple muffins: Add 2 cups grated apples, ½ cup chopped nuts and ½ tsp cloves. 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Banana muffins. Blend in one mashed banana 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

Cranberry muffins: Add 1/2 cup chopped cranberries, frozen or fresh, 1/4 cup extra sugar and try substituting 1 cup dairy sour cream or yogurt instead of the milk. Add 1/3 cup dried cranberries for a more intense flavor.

Blueberry muffins: Leave out the spices, but add  applesauce to the liquids and 1 cup blueberries, frozen or fresh.

Pumpkin muffins:  1/2 tsp pumpkin spice,  1/3 cup pureed pumpkin and chocolate chips too!  

G-F Whole Grain Flour Suppliers

Where do you get all that stuff?   Great question.  See the Flour Table for some hints.

I'll never forget the response I got when I called ADM Archer Daniels Midlin company.  I pulled their name off the outside of one of my bags of flour and called them to see if I could buy flour from them.

"Sure, Do you want a train or truckload?"
---------------
It's not the easiest to find our unique g-f flours, but the internet is again our friend and the freezer is our storage bin.

Tapioca Flour/Starch   I purchase at Asian stores.  It is manufactured primarily in Indonesia and Brazil from a casava root and so it's fairly safe in whatever form.  Also called casava flour.  I have also purchased it in Utah in 50 lb bags from WINCO.  It came in a Bob's Red Mill bag, but is lots cheaper than from their plant in Washington.

Sorghum Flour-- I purchase the grain from Twin Valley Mills  in Nebraska and pick up when I'm driving from Utah to Tulsa annually.  Since I've stopped driving and started flying, it is expensive $57.00 or so to buy a bucket of grain and have it shipped, but it still beats the three bucks a pound in the stores.

Corn Starch and Potato Starch (NOT POTATO FLOUR) I purchase in bulk, but don't buy more than you can use in a year, as these do have a shelf life when they no longer thicken.

I purchase and grind the 50 lb. bags of popcorn for corn meal and corn flour.

Bob's Red Mill is a great supplier, but have gotten more and more expensive with the market increase.  If you can buy from them in bulk, that helps.  Amazon also offers deals.

Buckwheat, Brown Rice, Millet,  I purchase "food-grade" grain and grind my own.  When a recipe calls for Teff I usually swap out for buckwheat.  Quinoa and Amaranth I also buy in grain form from Walton feed and grind.  I purchase many of these grains from a supplier in Tulsa who purchases bulk from Walton Feed in Montpelier, Idaho and have shipped to Tulsa.   http://www.rainydayfoods.com/

I purchase from Honeyville Grains in Utah many grains as they have a $4.49 shipping anywhere in contiguous US.  http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/

Auguson Farms used to be a favorite for angel food cake, but they have modified their pricing to reflect the market and now a cake is up to 7 bucks again.  Ridiculous as it's only made with rice flour and corn starch.

Reality Bite:  Buy a freezer just for grain.  My husband bemoans the white double ziplocked bags of grain as the state of ours.  "Honey, there is nothing in there I recognize."  But back before GF, when the freezer was full of freezer burned meat, veggies, and obscure jars of forgotten strangeness, he couldn't tell then either.


Please add on your favorite bulk supplier in the comments as I am sure it will help many people.  Thanks!

GF Tripleberry & Rhubarb Crisp

G-F Yummy Nut Crust

I baked this recipe first in 2008, and this is proof that either my baking or photo skills have improved.

I have refined the recipe a little with my education of new grains. So here is the improved recipe.

In my blender I put

• 1/2 cup almonds,
• 1/2 cup oatmeal (g-f) and
• 1/2 cup g-f flour (I used my wholegrain flour mix).

I whizzed it on high until all the almonds disappeared and the mix became a flour. I added the following

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder

and then cut in with a pastry blender

• 1/4 cup butter and then add slowly
• 1-2 tablespoons half-n-half

Mix lightly just until lumps come together and a dough ball forms. I pressed 2/3 of it into the bottom of a 9x13 pan, and baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes.

FILLING: In a saucepan, mix together and boil 2-3 minutes.

• 2 cups frozen rhubarb
• 2 cups frozen triple berries (bluberry, raspberry, blackberry mix (Sams Club)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Pour over the hot crust and crumble the remainder of the crust atop and bake about 30 minutes, until the top begins to set and brown lightly.

Serve hot or cold with cream. Delicious!

First Posted 6-16-08

The father is the only one in our family free of the symptoms of this disease and he eats what the rest of us eat. (Usually without complaint.)

However, I don't bank too much on him being a very good gauge of my cooking skills as he has eaten my food experiments for decades and has proven he has cast-iron tastebuds.
But this crisp from last night is delicious. I promise.

Crust
1 cup almond meal (made by chopping whole almonds in the blender with a touch of rice flour to prevent it becoming almond butter)
1 cup GF flour
1 cup sugar
4 T. butter or margarine
1 T. cream or nondairy creamer (mixed up with water)

Press 1/3 of mix thinly onto the bottom and sides of a glass 8x8 dish and bake at 350 10 minutes.

Mix 2 cups rhubarb, 1 cup blackberries (or marion or raspberries), 1 cup sugar 2 TBS modified or regular corn starch. Dump into hot crust and sprinkle rest of crust over the top.

Bake at 350 45 minutes to an hour or until crust is lightly browned and fruit is soft.

Serve hot or cold with GF icecream of course.

Basic Muffin Mix GF/CF

First posted 6-8-08. Reposted with pleasure. Photographs are getting better too!

Okay, my sister--the food epicure--who does not bake much loves these!

The muffin mix is easy with the my whole-grain flour GF mix. I mix up the flour in a container and keep it on the counter.

I mix up the following and stick it in a ziplock to make muffins later. We eat some version of them daily it seems.

1 1/2 cups of a gf flour mix (I use my 8-flour mix) Remember, the more diversified the flours, the merrier.
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthum gum (or guar gum)
1/2 cup sugar (I have substituted 1/4 cup honey)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
chocolate chips

Then I add the wet ingredients.  Mix these in a two cup measuring cup.

A scoop of pumpkin, applesauce, or a smashed banana (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 cup)
1 egg or an egg substitute
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla
and with enough milk or milk substitute to equal 2 cups of wet ingredients (you can use non-dairy creamer)

Add some part buttermilk if you have it.

Stir together til smooth. Bake in small muffin tins 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees

The GF Flour Olympians

The Olympics have me pumped. What could be more exciting than watching recaps on the kitchen television while I cook? Last night I mixed flours while I watched. I have discovered—through personal crash and burn tests—that on their own, gluten-free flours cannot be swapped one-for-one for wheat flour. But in team action with xanthun gum, flours that are gluten-free make a winning combination every time.

My core team players for my wholegrain flour mix are millet, sorghum, and brown rice at twice the amount of whichever other flours I use. Add single measure ratios of potato and tapioca starch and then add equal amounts of whatever other flours are on hand.

Some other great team players are coconut flour, garfava bean, soy, buckwheat, almond meal, amaranth, flax meal, quinoa and teff.

I grind most of the grains myself, so by the time I was ready for last night’s main event, my kitchen looked like the Canadian Rockies covered in a light skiff of white powder.

Mixes shave minutes off prep. time, but this morning I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have been so focused on the downhill race. When I popped open the oven, I found muffins that were flat and short –last place in Olympic excellence. I can almost hear the commentator’s diatribe on the agony of defeat.

It was a major wipeout and rethinking my strategy, I‘m sure that when Lindsey Vonn was aceing the downhill, I was botching the muffin mix. I shook the bag and wondered why the muffin mix felt so light. I forgot to add ingredients and muffins lacking leavening, and sweetening turn out like this:

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day! Dah, dee, da dah, dah, dah, dah, (imagine John Williams’ Olympic overture here).

HOT POCKET Wrap Bread

I'm reposting the wrap bread recipe because for the last two tries, my new mix isn't working for me! It doesn't make enough to roll out onto my standard cookies sheet. I don't know what's wrong?

I'm back to the original brown rice, tapioca flour recipe. Here it is the original, untampered with by me.

1 cup of (the original recipe used only one basic flour, either brown rice or sorghum--I've been using my whole-grain GF flour mix)

1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
2 t. guar (xanthum) gum
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 to 3/4 cup warm water (depending on your city's humidity level)
2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 eggs
2 T. olive oil - I used butter today

Blend dry and wet ingredients separately. Add together and mix on high for 3 1/2 minutes til light and fluffy. The dough should make a light dough, neither stiff nor runny.

I rolled it out onto a greased, regular sized cookie sheet (11x17) using a flat-sided glass atop a layer of greased plastic wrap. I then let it raise for 20 minutes. I baked it at 425 for only 5 to 7 minutes and let it cool only two minutes. I then cut it or rolled it and wrapped it in plastic. It is delicious and it seems to last days on the shelf.

Or it would, if I didn't have teenagers who love this stuff!

My daughter rolled a slice of it with ham and cheese and nuked it for 20 seconds and cried, "HOT POCKET, MOM!" She couldn't have been happier.

Chocolate Sundae Brownies

GF Chocolate Sundae Brownies? Wow! I just made a batch -- it is the most magnificent dessert! And it says it's low fat! I am eating as I type one-handed!

My sister (another one from all the other ones) pulled this one off the internet. She needed party food and from cooks.com she decided to modify it for GF by using Bette Hagman's (praise be her name) GF flour blend. She doubled the batch and made it in a 9x13 pan. Worked Great!

I made mine a single batch using my whole-grain flour blend in an 8x8, so it seems this recipe is very forgiving.

Brownie Fudge Sundae
revised for gluten-free by KaReen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 inch pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix

1 cup gf flour
1 tsp. xanthun or guar-gum
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine with the next three wet ingredients, mixing well.

1/2 c. skim milk or coconut milk
1/4 c. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla

Spoon and spread dough into a greased 8x8 pan
Whisk together the following and pour over the dough.

3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1 3/4 c. hot water
1 T. corn starch
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake for 40-45 min. Remove cake from oven and cool in pan. When served hot with ice cream it is like a brownie with hot fudge. After it cools it is more of a rich chocolate pudding with brownie on top.

When I poured the liquid over the dough, I thought, "Well, here I go again, 'baking without a parachute' and once again, I'm going to land with a splat." But, not this time! It turned out delightful, delicious and delovely.