Making a great Gluten Free Cake

Marie has recently had to learn to go GF. Her little guy is celiac. She is a trooper and is adapting pretty well as far as I can tell. She did however, have some cake baking concerns. I have been thinking about Ree's issues and just pondering GF baking in general lately.

I was so overwhelmed when I first went gluten free. I just did not bake. When I think back on it I am surprised that I didn't. I was a chronic baker pre my GF life. I baked bread all the time; cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, pies, pizza...you name it - I baked it. I even own a Madeleine pan, how many 22 year old's buy madeleine pans? Anyway, the change was so overwhelming for me that I just did not bake - FOR YEARS. About 4 years into GF life I started trying some of the pre-made mixes that were becoming popular. They pretty much sucked. I thought that it was too poor of a substitute to bother consuming. (Are you starting to wonder if I am a foodie? I am.)

Somewhere along the way I got brave. I started hunting for a few recipes or started converting my own. My sister found Carol Fenster. I am sure I owe this woman at least a thank you note, if not my first born. Her flour blends are great and her recipes work, not an easy thing to find. My mom got fed up with not having goodies for her grand kids and started converting all our childhood favorites.

We are now in a new era in our gluten free family. This year at Christmas my mom did all the baking gluten-free, the gluten eaters were none the wiser! We had cookies, marshmallows, fudge, peanut brittle, maple pancakes, quiche.... and it was FUN to make.

I digress.....back to baking. I am finding that GF cakes and cupcakes often do best if baked early and frozen. It seems to help them retain moisture. I also find that getting them into a Tupperware or Ziplock before they are completely cool works too. I usually keep all my baked goods in the fridge after the first 24 hours. It keeps longer and again, seems to help with moisture retention.

When mixing up baked goods remember that the consistency is different for GF baking. Gluten-free breads are much more like thick cake batter or glutenous quick bread consistency than a wheat bread is. GF cakes are often more runny than a gluten cake mix would be. I find it helps to make notes about texture and consistency in my cookbooks and on my recipe's when I get one that I really like. That way I can remember what I am shooting for. If I made any changes to the recipe I notate that as well.

The best advise I can offer you if you are venturing into gluten free baking is, try try again. It is not an easy thing to master - even for those of us who consider ourselves bakers. Once you start to catch onto what works and how a well made GF baked good should look before you stick it in the oven - you will be fine. Also know that failures happen and sometimes you can create something out of that failure.

Overcooked or hard bread? Pulverize it in your food processor and freeze it to use as bread crumbs. French bread not tasting so good two days after you make it? Tear it into pieces and poor french toast batter over it. Bake it in the oven on 350 until it is done (should spring back to touch), viola - breakfast. Brownies too hard or chewy? pulverize those and use them to press into a pan as a crust for a cheesecake....be creative!

Just don't give up. Once you begin to have more success than failure in your GF kitchen, it will have been worth the time and the effort. Now the fun is trying something new. I am really thinking of working out the glitches in my cinnamon rolls and learning to make really good donuts and bagels.

Southwest Soup A'la Heidi

It all started with tamales. A girlfriend and I like to make tamales and recently invited two more of our best gal pals to make them with us. This soups humble beginnings were drippings from our tamale pork. It was so darn wet that we decided to ladle off the juice and use it to mix our masa with (great move on our part). When we were all done and cleaning up, there were still a couple of cups of juice in the bowl. Heidi and I were eyeing it and apparently thinking the same thing, "...is meli going to throw that out?" Lucky for that pork juice, we saved it from the drain.

As luck would have it, Heidi and I were planning on doing a little bio-writing and editing that night. We decided to make something for dinner with that divine pork stock. This was lucky for us, because it was such a great dinner. Lucky for you, because we like to share.

Southwest Soup A'la Heidi

I apologize for my lack of specificity with amounts. Go for the smaller numbers if you are not making much. We went with the higher numbers of ingredients and fed 4 adults and 3 kids.

2-4 C stock (Pork was fabulous, but any that you have will do)
1-2 potatoes, diced fairly small
1/2 onion (which you won't see in these pics, because we respect Heidi)
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pablano pepper, diced (or use red or green if you don't have pablano)
1 -2 carrots, diced
1-2 celery stalks, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
2-3 tsp oregano (flakes)
1-2 tsp cumin (ground)

Saute potato in a little olive oil, don't stir them too much or they will get starchy/sticky. When they start to get a little color add them to a stock pot. Add stock, tomato, and beans. Heat to a boil. While the stock and potato are heating saute garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. Add to stock pot. Add water or more broth at this point to get the consistency you want. Use less liquid if you want a "stew" more for a "soup". Add spices and salt and pepper to taste. Boil covered until potato is done.



Serve as is or dress up.

Garnish ideas include
shredded cheese
sour cream (GF)
avacado or guacamole
cilantro
tortilla chips
warm corn tortillas

As is



Dressed Up

Dressing for the Goddess in You

I am a huge Bon Appetit Fan. Going gluten free could not even ruin my anticipation of each months mag. This last year I found yet another reason to adore my favorite magazine....Molly Wizenberg. She is such a talented writer and her food articles for Bon Appetit have convinced me to cook more than one things that I would have said I don't particularly care for.

First came marshmallows - I don't like marshmallows. It isn't the texture or the sweetness, it has always been the chemically aftertaste that I really can not see wasting my daily calorie allotment on. Then came Molly's article about marshmallows and the recipe for a homemade version....I read the article several times, called friends to tell them they had to read the article, thought about making them because she made them sound so good. One day a friend called and she had done it - and was doing it again. I went to her house, tasted the warm fluffy goo, and was hooked.

Next it was rice pudding....the kind of pudding you stand in the kitchen and eat. The kind where you lick every last bit off the spoon...mmmm

This month it is a homemade green goddess dressing. You really need to check it out. If you don't get the magazine, or don't want to wait to find the issue - just go to www.bonappetit.com and do a search for playing dress-up (if you do green goddess you get a few different recipe's). The article is actually right on the homepage, but won't be forever!

Here are the pics from lunch the other day. I am not reprinting the recipe -- because you all need to read her article. I will tell you that the hardest part is getting all the ingredients out, oh - and I should also mention that we did decide to use about 1/2 the vinegar and oil and then use more to taste if we wanted it, the reviews are all saying it is too vinegary.

Easter Egg-stravigance

Leftover Easter eggs? Hungry for a quick and easy lunch?

We have no name for this recipe yet, so feel free to offer up a suggestion. (Since we made these for Easter, Todd wanted to call them "The Empty Tomb-atoes") It takes about 15 minutes to make if your eggs are cooked.

(makes 4 servings)
Peel and chop 6 eggs into a medium sized bowl, reserving 3 yolks in a small bowl

Add to chopped eggs:
I stalk celery, finely diced
1 large pickle, finely diced
1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
1 avocado, diced

Mash reserved yolk and add:
2 heaping Tbls mayo (I use Vegenaise)
2-4 Tbls pickle juice (depending on your taste)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
A dash of dill seed
A dash of celery seed
Mix well

Mix yolk mixture into eggs. Add more mayo if it is too dry for you.

Hollow out 4 medium beef steak tomatoes (or large hot house)
Fill with egg salad
Decorate with tomato cap and or basil
Serve on lettuce leaf
Add a dill spear to the plate

Graciously accept compliments on your amazing food presentation!

Tammy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Disclaimers:
This recipe is not a "healthy" GF recipe. It has no applesauce, it uses SUGAR. It is for serious indulgence.

This recipe is not for the person who wants "a couple of cookies". It uses a 1/4 cup of vanilla - it is for serious quantities of indulgence.

This recipe, developed by my twinny-twin-twin, is beyond a doubt the best GF cookie of all time. It may be because there is so much sugar and fat in this recipe that the type of flour you use is really not of any consequence in the end. Have you been missing your Toll-house? If so, I suggest you get busy and start baking!



Tammy's Chocolate Chip cookies
makes 12 dozen cookies
preheat oven to 375

3 cups butter flavor crisco ( I use spectrum shortning)
2 1/2 C brown sugar
2 1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C milk (I used almond milk, any other milk substitute would work as well)
1/4 C vanilla
4 eggs
7 C GF flour blend of your choice
1 Tblsp salt
1 Tblsp soda
1/2 Tblsp xantham gum
chocolate chips to taste

Combine shortening and sugars. beat until fluffy. Add milk, vanilla, eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl sift remaining ingredients together. Slowly add flour mixture to the sugar mixture while mixing on medium. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper covered pans. do 1 sheet at a time - (trust Tammy on this one, I did not and regretted) Bake 8-10 minutes. Slide parchment off pan IMMEDIATELY and cook cookies some before trying to remove them from parchment.

If this is more than you want to bake at one time, which is probably true for most of us, freeze logs of dough to have on hand. They work just like good ol' whats his name..... ah yes, Pillsbury, the gluteny dough boy! (see tips and tricks below)

TIPS and TRICKS

We usually bake cookies on the stone. These cookies are much softer than most, so I don't recommend using your stone unless you use parchment as well. The best part of using paper with this recipe is that you can simply slide the whole thing onto the cooling rack without disturbing the cookies. You want to get them off the pan IMMEDIATELY so they do not over bake. Once they cool a bit they will hold their shape and you can remove them from the parchment.


This is the look you are going for


If you get something that looks a little more like this - don't panic. My first batch came out really thin and "toffee like". Todd LOVED them, I actually loved the flavor, but this is not the look I was going for. I went back to the mixing bowl and added a few tablespoons flour mix, about a tsp. of xantham gum and mixed well. The next batch was the one you see pictured above.



I don't know about you guys, but if I had 12 dozen baked cookies staring me in the face - I would gain a few pounds...quickly. I have very little restraint for confections of any kind. SO - I baked the cookies we needed, and then plopped some dough onto some parchment, rolled the parchment over it and started to shape it into a log. Once I got a french bread looking roll I simply held onto the ends of the parchment and used it to roll the dough back and forth until it looked like the logs of premade cookies you can buy. Then I rolled it up like you see below and froze it. Once it was hard as a rock, Todd seal-a-meal'd them for me. (note - my logs were so long he had to break them in half to use the sealer machine....oops!) You may want to shoot for smaller rolls than you see here if you are using a machine. If not, you can do them this size and then freeze them in a gallon ziplock.

I pull one out, let it defrost for a bit, slice cookies onto parchment covered sheet, bake at 375 for 8 minutes....mmmmm.....cookies.


Now when I crave these delights again all I have to do is defrost a roll, slice, and bake.

Gluten Free Flour Blends

One of the most overwhelming things about going gluten free is the sticker shock of gluten free mixes and gluten free flours. I remember feeling ill about buying mixes early on that did not taste as good as they ought for the price! The flours are pricey too, but much more cost effective than the mixes. The other obvious solution is to not bake...just kidding. I have not however, baked a lot in the past. I make pancakes or waffles a couple times a month and no one ever complains when I manage to pound out a loaf of bread or a batch of cookies, but it is not a daily or even weekly thing. We mostly just eat meals that are not centered around flour, and usually we don't feel like we are missing out.

I have found myself baking more now that I have a three year old. With parties to go to and events that involve desserts, I bake. We also have started entertaining more. While I have no problem with a dinner that does not involve bread, the hostess in me is sure that everyone else will wonder what is wrong with me if I don't serve hot baked goods!

I realized that I spend just under 4 bucks per pound for my favorite flour blend - ouch. A pound of flour does not go that far. So, I started hunting for ways to cut the cost. Working with my local co-op (the Eagle Rock Food Cooperative) I was able to purchase flour in bulk and saved about 66% over retail. My cost for the batch of flour I will put together this week is $1.36 per pound. I split the order with a friend and we will both end up with 25 pounds of flour. This is great because I won't have to worry too much about spoilage. 50 pounds seemed a little daunting to me - I know I can use 25 pounds long before it might go bad.

My point here is that it pays to shop around. We did a lot of online shopping to see what we could save on amazon, different online stores, as well as direct from Bob's Red Mill. I am proud to announce that my local co-op they was the best deal hands down on every flour. Many times members get great bulk deals, ours is cost plus 10%.

So -- stop into your local co-op, jump online and do a little investigative shopping. You may be surprised by how much you can save!

BTW - when we mix up all this flour, we are going to work on a GF version of Tiffany's super healthy cookies. Your kids will happily gobble up flax seed, applesauce, nuts, and healthy grains.....he he he! I will post all the details as soon as I have them.

GF Fudge Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream

These are SO yummy. They are easy to make and don't require a flour blend. The flour is Quinoa, which has a bit of a nutty flavor. Todd, who is a bit pickier than me (I assume it is because he can still eat a real live Cinnabon), says they taste a little like I made them with buckwheat. He also says they are, "really good". So there you have it - the gluten eaters thumbs up.

These were for Bryce to eat at a little kid birthday party, so I opted to frost them with good ol' buttercream. I made the frosting more "adult" by adding a whole bunch of coconut to it. You could use any frosting that suits your fancy, or do what I did today with the second batch - eat them plain.

GF Fudge Cupcakes
preheat oven to 375

1/4 C butter (or butter replacer)
1/4 C water
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C almond milk (or any milk alternative - or MILK if that makes you happy!)
1 C sugar
1 1/4 C Quinoa Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla

Boil the water and the butter. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and then milk. Set aside. Sift sugar, flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and xantham gum into large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks, vanilla and cocoa mixture. Mix well. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Fold into batter. Fill muffin tin lined with paper baking cups. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool. Store these in a Tupperware type container or a gallon plastic bag - it will keep them moist.

Frost or eat 'em up!

For the coconut buttercream - just find your fave buttercream frosting recipe and add a bunch of shredded coconut. You may need a little less powdered sugar than the recipe calls for. I made mine without measuring a thing - so I can not share it with you until I do it again and employ those pesky measuring tools. If I would have known how yummy my concoction was going to be I would have done it so I could share......really!