Gluten Freedom

Blackberry Sage Coffee Cake

2012-01-16T21:59:00.000-06:00

You know what the perfect accompaniment to a super cold Boston day is? A good friend, a hot cup of tea, and a piece of this coffee cake. Particularly if you've spent the afternoon baking it together.

I love the smell and flavor of sage. It's one of those herbs I never really ate before, for some reason. It wasn't until I tried Republic of Tea's Blackberry Sage tea that I even knew what it tasted like. And after that? I was hooked.

I think sage is a lovely complement to blackberries, and so when my friend Kate showed up at my door with a bag of fresh blackberries, ready for an adventure in gluten-free baking, we decided we'd try our hand at inventing a blackberry coffee cake. And all it took for her was one whiff of my jar of ground sage to convince her that it needed to be part of our recipe.

So we pulled out my trusted copy of Ruhlman's Ratio and got to work using the ratio for sponge cake. 1:1:1:1 (fat : egg : flour : sugar). "Should we substitute applesauce for part of the fat?" I asked Kate, holding a stick of butter. "Yes," she said, nodding. "Then we can eat more of it and not feel guilty."

Great minds think alike.

Trust me, you'll be glad you built in a guilt-free way to eat more of this cake. It is heavenly! The only thing I might change is to chop the blackberries or add more of them so they were more evenly dispersed throughout the cake. But the flavor was still wonderful, the soft flavor of sage spreading across my tongue - but not overpowering it - and the blackberries melting in my mouth.

Divine. You won't be sorry, trust me. (Unless you hate sage. Then you might be sorry.)

Blackberry Sage Coffee Cake
Makes a 9x13 coffee cake

For cake:
4 oz. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
4 oz. smooth applesauce
8 oz. white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2.5 oz. sorghum flour
2.5 oz. brown rice flour
3 oz. tapioca starch
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
2 - 3 tsp. ground sage (depending on how strong you want the flavor to be)
1 cup blackberries, chopped into small pieces if desired

For topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup brown rice flour
2 tbsp. melted Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp. ground sage

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a cake pan with cooking spray.

Cream together the butter, applesauce, and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate, then the vanilla and lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Add bit by bit to the wet ingredients, mixing well.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth with a spatula. Press the blackberries into the dough, spacing evenly. You can leave them whole, or cut them into smaller pieces for more even consistency.

Place in the oven. Assemble the crumble topping. After 20 minutes of baking, as quickly as you can, open the oven and sprinkle the crumble topping over the cake as evenly as possible. Continue to bake for anohter 15 - 30 minutes, or just until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool completely before serving.

Cream Cheese Stollen

2012-01-07T20:08:00.002-06:00

You probably didn't think this was possible. Gluten- and dairy-free cream cheese stollen. But, friends. It is.

My mom has made this (well, a glutenful version) every Hannukah for as long as I can remember. And up until 4 years ago, I joined the rest of my family in stuffing myself to the point of immobility with it the night of our Hannukah party. There was certainly enough of it to be had - I remember one year, she made something like 16 of them. In one day. And that was the same morning that she made about a dozen loaves of challah bread. The woman is a machine.

This year, I was lucky enough to be home for our Hannukah party (I've missed it a few times over the last several years because I was either out of the country or at least out of St. Louis when Hannukah fell). The house smelled heavenly. It smelled heavenly because of a bunch of food I couldn't eat. It was torturous to watch everyone slather jam or butter onto thick slices of soft challah, and to watch everyone wander into the kitchen to cut themselves piece after piece of cream cheese stollen. I never, ever cheat and eat gluten. But I have to be honest -- my mom's challah and cream cheese stollen are two of the things that tempt me the most.

The funny thing is, my mom is gluten-free, too - although she isn't quite as sensitive as I am to it. Yet she still makes these treats for the Hannukah party the way she always has, with wheat flour. I asked her at the party if she had ever tried to make a gluten-free version of the cream cheese stollen. She said she hadn't. And I vowed in that moment that someday very soon, a gluten-free version would exist.

And now it does, and it rocks. I'm actually a little surprised myself at how well this turned out. Even the chef has doubts sometimes - I mean, it is dairy-free cream cheese and gluten-free dough that I couldn't knead like the original recipe calls for. How close could it really get to the original? But it turned out beautifully - the dough wasn't difficult to work with at all, and it all baked up into a wonderfully soft and flaky-on-top pastry. The smooth cream cheese filling is the complement to the slightly sweet and yeasty bread, and the end product is a delightful dessert that is sweet (but not too sweet) and melts in your mouth.

Granted, it's been many years since I tasted my mom's cream cheese stollen. But this is seriously delicious. I brought it to work, and my co-workers proclaimed it to be "out-of-this-world good." And I'd have to agree.

Cream Cheese Stollen
Makes 1 Stollen
*You can double this recipe very easily.

For the dough:
1/4 cup margarine or butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. vanilla coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 egg
1/4 cup warm water
2 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup brown rice flour (plus another 1/4 - 1/2 cup for when you roll it out later)
1/2 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato or arrowroot starch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 tsp. xanthan gum

For the cream cheese filling:
12 oz. gluten-free and vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
dash salt

For the glaze:
1.5 tsp. boiling water
3/4 - 1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon juice

Melt margarine or butter. Add sugar, salt and coconut milk. Continue heating until lukewarm.

In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in warm water until foamy. Stir in milk mixture, egg and half of the flour, beat until smooth. Stir in remaining batter to make a stiff batter. Stir well, put into an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place for about a half an hour or until roughly doubled in size.

In the meantime, make the cream cheese filling by beating together all of the ingredients until it is very smooth. Set aside.

Punch down dough, then turn out onto a greased piece of parchment paper (make it easy on yourself and do this step on the surface you're actually going to bake the stollen on - it's hard to transfer to a new surface without breaking it once it's formed!). Sprinkle liberally with brown rice flour, and then use your hands to form the dough into a rectangular shape (about 9” by 13”). Brush with beaten egg, spread on the cream cheese filling, and roll in from each side, meeting in the center. (Tip: take a thin cutting board and use it to roll each side in - it will help keep it from falling apart.). If you didn't do this on a grease baking sheet, transfer it now to one, or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then cut diagonal slits along the sides, brush with egg, and let rise for another half an hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until browned. If you have the instant read thermometer, you can again test it for doneness, by poking it into a non cheesy section to see if the temperature is anywhere between 190 degrees and 210 degrees.

Allow the stollen to cool slightly on a cooling rack, and then spoon on the glaze. After glaze has set and stollen is completely cool, you can wrap tightly in saran wrap. If you store in the fridge, be sure to warm it up for 10 - 15 seconds in the microwave before serving.

To make glaze: Add boiling water and lemon juice slowly to confectioner’s sugar and mix thoroughly. If you don’t use this mixture pretty quickly, it will thicken too much, so use within 5 minutes of making it.

Lower-Fat Chocolate Chip Vanilla Blondies

2011-12-18T21:52:00.000-06:00

I am a die-hard brownie fan. You can ask my cousin Erin how safe a pan of brownies is if I'm within a 50-foot radius of it. (The answer is: not safe. Not safe at all.)

But there is something about vanilla that I adore as well, and the allure of these blondies is pretty much on par with that of a pan full of straight chocolate. These are essentially like chocolate chip cookie bars, just bursting a bit more at the seams with vanilla flavor. I substituted applesauce for some of the fat (although these are not even close to being fat-free) and the results were pretty excellent - still a moist crumb, but it held together very nicely and didn't fall apart. These are a great treat for "mixed company" (that is, gluten-eating and gluten-free folks alike) -- if they even make it out of your kitchen.

Lower-Fat Chocolate Chip Vanilla Blondies (Adapted from the Allergen-free Baker's Handbook)
Makes one 9x13 pan

4 tbsp. Spectrum Shortening
4 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
4 tbsp. applesauce
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp. vanilla
3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (or more!) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Cream the shortening, butter, and applesauce together with an electric mixer. Add in the sugar and continue to cream until well mixed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix in.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt. Add 1/3 at a time to the wet ingredients using the electric mixer.

Stir in the chocolate chips and then spread evenly into the pan. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes or just until a toothpick or knife inserted into the middle of the pan comes out clean. If anything, you want to underbake these instead of leaving them in for too long, so definitely keep an eye on them after 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into pieces and either serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days on the counter. If you are storing them for longer, keep refrigerated or frozen until ready to serve.

Chai Latte Cashew Cookies for the Ratio Rally

2011-12-07T08:04:00.000-06:00

Cookies are woven into our culture. Images of chocolate chip cookies, warm from the oven at grandma's house. The classic Tollhouse recipe. The cookie jar. The cookie monster. Girl Scouts sell them. Web browsers have them. They're everywhere, when you think about it.

And with good reason. Friends, it's because cookies rock. And that's why I'm so excited that this month's Ratio Rally recipe is for cookies! This is what you've been waiting for. For years, you've been tethered to your classic Tollhouse recipe. But now - now you can create delicious, chewy, buttery cookies (and as many or as few as you want) using a simple ratio.

I thought long and hard about what kind of cookie I wanted to create. There are such endless possibilities. Should I go classic chocolate chip? German hazelnut jam thumbprint? Peanut butter with chocolate? Pumpkin? Sugar? My mind was spinning (and my stomach was growling).

Then I noticed a forgotten little package of cardamom in my spice cabinet that I had never gotten around to using before. And I knew what I was going to make.

Chai Lattes. In cookie form.

There are a few different possible ratios for cookies. I originally tried the 1-2-3 ratio, but those ended up being cakier than I preferred. So I went for a ratio closer to the 1-1-1 ratio (1 part each of butter, sugar, and flour) and they came out much more like traditional cookies. Buttery, soft, and with a nice texture. And delicious. These really did taste like little chai lattes - I brought them into work and they got great reviews! And cookies are a piece of cake (ha) to throw together, so they'll be making your house smell wonderful before you know it.

Many thanks to Caroline of The G Spot Revolution for hosting this month's Ratio Rally for cookies! See below my recipe for a list of all the other fantastic cookie ideas the other Ratio Rally members came up with.

And get ready for a chai latte - just not the kind you're used to.

Chai Latte Cashew Cookies
Makes 24 - 36 cookies

1.5 oz butter

1 oz brown sugar

1 oz white sugar
1/2 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

.75 oz brown rice flour

.75 oz sorghum flour

.5 oz potato starch

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Featured in Shape Magazine!

2011-11-30T22:33:00.001-06:00

Remember these? My delicious Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze that resulted from the "cake" round of the Gluten-free Ratio Rally?

Well, I do. I have made them a few more times since posting about them for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally. They've turned out wonderfully every time - and not only are they based on a Ruhlman ratio, but they are also (relatively) guilt-free. So you can make - and EAT - as many as you like.

The people at Shape Magazine seem to agree with me, and they've included this recipe in their recent piece, "The Best Healthy Cupcakes We've Ever Seen." Check out the other cupcakes that made rank - they all look pretty amazing, and there are a few other gluten-free recipes included as well that I can't wait to try out. Thanks so much to Shape.com for the feature!!

And just in case you were thinking of not making a batch of these immediately after reading this post, I'll leave you with this:

Yeah. You might want to start preheating the oven.

Aunt Maggie's Pumpkin Spice Pie for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally

2011-11-02T07:08:00.000-05:00

There's nothing more quintessential to me about fall than pumpkin pie. And luckily for me, I have a family who loves it just as much as I do. Which is why I decided to feature my Aunt Maggie's amazing recipe for pumpkin pie for this month's Gluten-free Ratio Rally. Her pie is legendary and is one of the things our family looks forward to most each fall, and it will make your house smell like the season.

Many thanks to Lisa from Gluten-free Canteen for hosting this month's Ratio Rally!

The filling for this comes together so easily, so that part will be a piece of....pie? You can literally just dump it all in a bowl and mix it up with an electric mixer in less than 5 minutes. Done. And even though making a pie crust from scratch may seem daunting (I know it did for me!), it's really much simpler than you might expect. And it will be so delicious, you'll be glad you took the extra 20 minutes to do it - I promise. This crust turned out wonderfully firm and flakey (like a good crust should be), and the filling set beautifully thanks to a milk substitute of So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk. We always have this pie (erm, several of these pies) at Thanksgiving, but you can use any excuse to make it anytime. For example: It's Friday. Bam - good enough reason to make a pumpkin pie.

It worked for me, anyway. And it disappeared just as quickly as it came together.

Aunt Maggie's Pumpkin Spice Pie

For the pie crust:
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour (plus about 1/2 cup more for dusting when rolling out)
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. butter
1 large egg
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

To brush on top: 1 egg white, beaten

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray.

Combine the flours, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it's small and crumbly. Beat the egg and vanilla together, then add to the crust. Mix with a fork, and then with your hands to form it into a cohesive ball. Add extra brown rice flour as needed so that it's not sticky. Cut in half and roll into two equal size balls, and wrap into saran wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. If you're making two pies, remove both balls of dough from the freezer; if you're just making one pie, remove one of them and leave the other in the freezer until you're ready to use it another time. Place the dough (one ball at a time) on a surface dusted with brown rice flour. Place the sprayed saran wrap (spray side down) on top of the dough and press down. Using a rolling pin, roll to a thin consistency, about 1/8 inch, adding more brown rice flour as needed to avoid sticking. As best as you can, place the sheet of dough into the pie dish. Don't worry too much if it falls apart; just scoop up the pieces and press them down into the bottom and about 2/3 of the way up the pie dish. Brush the pie crust with the beaten egg white and place in the oven to pre-bake for 7 minutes, then remove from the oven to add the pie filling.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the pumpkin filling. You'll need:
3 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 can pumpkin
3 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 cups So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

Melt the Earth Balance and beat together with the sugars and pumpkin. Add the eggs one at a time and blend in, then add the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg (more of each to your own taste, if desired). Add the So Delicious Coconut Milk 1/2 cup at a time. The filling will seem rather fluid; that's ok!

Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the pre-baked pie crust. Return to the oven and bake for about 1 hour, or just until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After about 30 - 40 minutes, check to make sure the top isn't starting to get burned; if it is, use a piece of tin foil to create a little tent over the pie to protect the top but still allow the filling to set.

Remove from oven and let cool completely. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Serve plain or with gluten-free whipped cream topping.

Check out the rest of this month's Ratio Rally's delicious pie ideas:

TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies Chocolate Mousse Pie
Jean Layton from Gluten-Free Doctor Cheese Crusted Apple Pie
Charissa from Zest Bakery Apple Galette with Pisco Soaked Golden Raisins
Kate from katealicecookbook Kale & Zucchini Tart
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine Sweet Potato and Duck Pot Pie
Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] Leek and Potato Pie
Rachel from The Crispy Cook Maple Walnut Pie
gretchen from kumquat deep dish chocolate bourbon pecan pie
Claire from Gluten Freedom Autumn Pumpkin Spice Pie
Morri from Meals With Morri Spinach – Prosciutto Ricotta Quiche & Muffin Tin Pie Variations
Silvana Nardone from Silvana’s Kitchen Chicken Potpie
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free Green Tomato Pie
Meredith from Gluten Free Betty Blueberry Pie
Shauna from Gluten-free Girl and the Chef Fresh Pumpkin Pie
Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie with Pumpkin Seed and Ginger Topping
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure Chess Pie
Mary Fran from frannycakes Pumpkin Mousse Pie and Apple Maple Cream Cheese Pie
Brooke from B & the boy! Pot Pie
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen Frangipane Apple Tart
~Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks Mock Apple Pie
Irvin from Eat the Love Double Butterscotch Apple Pie

Low-fat Lemon Poppyseed Cupcake Muffins

2011-10-21T22:51:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure precisely why I had a sudden craving for lemon poppyseed muffins today. Given the amount of candy I ate last night at the movies, there was no good reason to be craving anything sweet. But suddenly it hit me, and I really, really wanted some.

Now, knowing my propensity to eat my way through more than my fair share of a regular batch of muffins, particularly mid-semester, I decided to use my handy ratio for cupcakes to make a neat little pack of 4. And they turned out to be lovely! I reduced the fat in these by even more than I originally had, substituting in some applesauce, and they ended up being moist and slightly denser than cupcakes. These are based on the original ratio for cupcakes, but turned out having the slightly more dense and healthy-feeling texture of muffins (and no icing!). My compromise? I'm calling them cupcake muffins. (Honestly, throwing the word "muffins" in there just makes me feel slightly better about eating four of them.) Give these a try - you won't be disappointed!

Low-fat Lemon Poppyseed Cupcake Muffins
Makes 4 muffins

15 grams Earth Balance Buttery Spread
35 grams applesauce
50 grams white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh lemon rind (rind from ~1.5 small lemons)
20 grams potato starch
10 grams tapioca starch
30 grams sorghum flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. poppy seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Melt the butter and mix with the applesauce, egg, vanilla, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind. In a separate bowl, combine the potato starch, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds. Stir into the wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour into the muffin tin liners and bake for 13 - 16 minutes, or just until they are slightly browned at the edges and spring back when you touch the tops lightly. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Oh my GOD were these good. I scarfed down more of them than I honestly care to admit, although I did give a significant portion of them away, too. So at least there's that.

Trader Joe's makes gluten-free oats now - did you know that? I just discovered them recently - and not only are they certified gluten-free, they are also a lot cheaper than their competition - by several dollars. AND they come with a recipe for oatmeal cookies on the back. What more could you want from a bag of oats, celiac friends?

I modified the recipe quite a bit, of course. I added a few different ingredients, reduced the fat, etc. (all my usual courses of action). And they turned out to be fabulous - they were chewy, moist, and full of flavor. Everyone who tried these loved them, and I suspect you will, too.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen medium cookies

1.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1/4 cup fig butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sunflower butter or peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups gluten-free oats
5 tbsp. unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
3/4 - 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whip together the Earth Balance, fig butter, and white and brown sugar until well-mixed. Add the egg and mix together well. Add in the sunflower butter or peanut butter (depending on your own taste/tolerance) and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, baking powder, and salt. Stir them into the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the sunflower seeds and chocolate chips and stir in to combine.

Scoop the cookies out by the teaspoonful or tablespoonful onto the cookie sheets and space 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes (JUST until they start to brown on the edges), then remove from the oven. They probably won't look completely done - that's ok. Let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for another 3 - 5 minutes or until you can scrape them off onto a wire rack without their falling apart. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Slow-roasted Cranberry-Apple Pulled Pork Tenderloin

2011-10-16T17:16:00.004-05:00

This is a dish chock full of the fall flavors of cranberries and apples, and also full of the simplicity needed around this time of year, when everything seems to be happening 100 times faster than you think it should. It's a recipe for a slow day - at least, a slow day for your crockpot. While it's wonderful to be in the house to smell it turning into its wonderful self, this is one that will take you a mere 10 minutes (possibly less!) to throw together. Then you can go out for the day, and when you come back, a dinner you'd swear had been slaved over is waiting for you. The broth simmers with a depth of flavor that can only come with the kind of time your crockpot will be putting in for you with this one. I didn't actually know this would turn into pulled pork until I opened the crockpot when I got home last night and found it to be so tender that it fell apart when I took a knife to it. But what a lovely surprise! I served this with mashed sweet potatoes with a little thyme and agave nectar stirred in and sauteed brussel sprouts with garlic, but you could also serve it in sandwiches if you'd like. I cooked mine for so long (9 1/2 hours) that the broth had reduced and thickened enough for me on its own, but if you can only cook it for 6 - 8 hours, you can thicken the broth by simmering it with a cornstarch slurry (see recipe below). I can't imagine this going over badly with anyone, unless they happen not to be fans of pork, of course. And honestly - if they don't it? That just means more for you.

Slow-roasted Cranapple Pulled Pork Tenderloin
Makes 3 - 5 servings

1 1-lb pork tenderloin
2 tsp. salt
1 jar Trader Joe's cranberry sauce (or a can of your favorite gluten-free cranberry sauce)
1/2 cup cranberry juice or cranberry cider
1/2 cup white sugar
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 large onion, cut into slivers
2 stalks celery, diced into large pieces

Salt the tenderloin and place it in the slow cooker. Add the diced apples, onion, and celery. In a small bowl, combine the cranberry sauce, cranberry juice, and sugar and pour over the ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on "low" for 6 - 10 hours. (I cooked mine for 9.5 hours and it was extremely tender.) Lovely served with sweet potatoes, or you could make pulled pork sandwiches out of it as well.

To thicken the broth, combine 2 tsp. cornstarch with 2 tbsp. water and mix together until there are no lumps. Place the broth in a small saucepan and add the cornstarch slurry, stirring constantly until it is thickened. Remove from heat and serve over the pork tenderloin.

Fajita Pizza with Cilantro Pesto Sauce

2011-10-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

Why should anyone have to choose between Mexican and Italian? It's unfair; they're both so delicious. Confronted with the latest Ratio Rally challenge of pizza dough, I decided it was time for some nation-building and brought them together into one amazing dish.

I wish I could write more about this pizza; how it was crunchy and bursting with so many simple and strong flavors, and had enough taste on its own to defy a need for cheese. Sadly, though, graduate school is sucking all of my free time away from me right now, so I'll just leave you with the recipe and this final thought: make this. It's a party in your mouth - seriously.

Thanks to Karen of Cooking Gluten Free for hosting this month's Ratio Rally! See below the recipe for a list of the other participants and their creations.

Fajita Pizza with Cilantro Pesto Sauce

This works best if you make the pizza dough first, then make the cilantro pesto and slice the veggies and chicken while the dough rises. Try to have the fajita ingredients ready to go before you put the dough in the oven so that it's all ready at roughly the same time.

For the dough (adapted from the Gluten-free Girl's Pizza Crust recipe)

2.2 oz cornstarch
2.2 oz. corn flour
1.1 oz. tapioca starch
2.2 oz. potato starch
1.1 oz. brown rice flour
1 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. warm water
2 tsp. honey
~1/4 cup cornmeal for dusting

Don't preheat the oven yet! Place the warm water, olive oil, honey, and yeast in a bowl and place somewhere warm until it's very frothy, roughly doubled in size.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. With an electric mixer, beat the yeast mixture in until it is well mixed. Sprinkle liberal amounts of brown rice flour onto a cutting board or countertop and place the dough on top. Use more brown rice flour to work the dough into a soft ball with your hands, adding just enough to keep it from sticking. Return to the bowl and place somewhere warm, covered with a towel or a greased piece of plastic wrap, for an hour, or until it doubles in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. This will turn out best if you preheat your pizza stone (if you have one) in the oven as well.

Take a fist-sized piece of dough and place on a large greased sheet of wax paper. Fold the wax paper in half over the dough, then (using a rolling pin) smooth it into a very thin layer. It doesn't have to be pretty - just try to make the thickness of the dough consistent. Carefully peel back one side of the wax paper so the dough doesn't stick, then place the dough (exposed side down) on a piece of greased parchment paper. Peel back the wax paper from the other side of the dough. Sprinkle with cornmeal and place the parchment paper on the pizza stone. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until lightly browned - don't overcook!!

For the cilantro pesto sauce:
2 bunches of cilantro, washed and patted dry
~1/3 cup olive oil
~1/3 cup pine nuts or cashews
3 - 5 cloves of fresh garlic

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth. Set aside.

For the fajita topping:
2 - 4 tbsp. olive oil
3 chicken breasts, sliced into strips
1 onion, sliced into slivers
1 red pepper, sliced into slivers
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. minced onion
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth

Saute the onion and red pepper in 1 - 2 tbsp. olive oil until blackened and tender. Remove to a bowl, then add the other 2 tbsp. oil and saute the chicken strips until they are cooked through and blackened to your own taste. When the chicken is done, add the pepper and onion back into the pan.

In a small bowl, combine all of the spices and the cornstarch together. Add to the pan and stir to mix well, then add the 3/4 cup chicken broth. Simmer until it thickens to your liking (I simmered mine for at least 7 - 10 minutes).

Compiling the pizza:

Spread a generous amount of cilantro pesto on each baked pizza crust, then top with the chicken fajitas. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro and top with salsa, sour cream, or cheese to top if you like, but trust me, these are flavorful enough on their own.

Be sure to check out what the other Ratio Rally folks put together:

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine made Moitié-Moitié Sausage Pizza
Meg of Gluten-Free Boulangerie made Pissaladière (Provençal flatbread w/ olives & anchovies)
TR of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Teriyaki Chicken Pizza
Erin of The Sensitive Epicure made Stuffed Pizza Pie: Spinach, Mushrooms, Sausage
Charissa of Zest Bakery made sauteed onion and sausage grilled pizza with basil
Pete and Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem made Grilled Pizza
Mrs. R of Honey From Flinty Rocks made Pepperoni Pizza & Pineapple, Black Olive & Ham Pizza
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free made Pizza crust by ratio (choose your toppings)
Morri of Meals With Morri made Everything Peace Pretzels & Pizza Blanca
Meredith of Gluten Free Betty made Pizza
Gretchen of Kumquat made Mozzarella Pizza with Pine Nuts, Currants & Arugula
Jean of GF Doctor Recipes made Pizza
Brooke of B & the Boy made Dessert Pizza
Karen of Cooking Gluten-Free! made GASP! Garlic, Artichoke,Sun-Dried Tomato, Pesto Pizza
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen made Rum Raisin Apple Pizza Pie, Gluten Free Dairy Free

Swirled Blackberry Sage Banana Muffins

2011-09-19T23:23:00.000-05:00

Swirled blackberry sage banana muffins. Aren't they pretty? The name even sounds pretty....blackberry sage. These were inspired by a favorite tea of mine, the (you guessed it) Blackberry Sage flavor of Republic of Tea. I used to go on afternoon tea runs with a friend of mine when we used to work together, and the people at the place we visited would make any tea iced. We tried them all - but the blackberry sage remained my favorite.

A few weekends ago, a spree at Haymarket landed me three containers of blackberries. I was pondering what to do with them on the ride home. I continued to ponder as I washed them and put them in the fridge. And then, it hit me. Of course. It had to be something with sage. So I pulled out one of my favorite recipes for banana bread and reshaped it into delicious sweet-savory muffins.

These rocked. If you're a sage fan, give these a try - it really brings the flavor of the berries to the forefront without crowding them. I had a hard time refraining from eating all of them in one sitting, but I kept it together and ate a respectable number (only two, I swear) and saved the rest to share with friends.

Swirled Blackberry Sage Banana Muffins
Makes about 16 - 18 muffins

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 - 2 tbsp. ground dried sage, depending on your own taste (I used 2 tbsp.)
1 cup blackberries, either chopped into small chunks and stirred in, or pureed and swirled on top of each muffin

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two muffin trays with 18 paper liners or spray with cooking spray.

Combine the wet ingredients together and stir well. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sage and sift together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Now you have two choices - you can either add chunks of blackberries to your muffins, or you can puree the blackberries and swirl them in. I swirled, but I can't say it would be a bad idea at all to swirl AND add whole chunks. But do what you feel is right for your muffins. If you're adding chunks, chop up the berries and add them to the batter, stir lightly, and then spoon even amounts into the paper liners.

If you're swirling, puree the blackberries in a food processor. If desired, push the mixture through a sieve to get the seeds out (but it's not really necessary). Add about 1 tbsp. of blackberry puree to each muffin and swirl around in the batter using a knife or fork. If desired, sprinkle the top of each muffin with a little more dried sage.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or just until they are slightly browned and spring back when you push down on them. Remove from the oven and let sit in the hot pan for another 2 - 3 minutes until they firm up, then remove them carefully and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cold - they are delicious either way! Store leftovers in the fridge until ready to serve.

Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Mini Cake Donuts

2011-09-04T22:07:00.103-05:00

Mmmm, donuts. How long has it been since you've had a donut? I had to really think about that question. Before this summer, it had been at least as long as I've known I have celiac (roughly 3.5 years), if not longer.

But now, armed with my Norpro donut pans (a birthday gift from my sister!), donuts are back in my life. We've had a happy reunion. Which is part of why I was so excited about this month's Gluten-free Ratio Rally assignment: donuts and fritters.

Now, I know that everyone loves a good, traditional, fried donut. Who couldn't love them? I thought about going that route. But I wanted to take this opportunity to make some awesome, slightly healthier baked donuts. The ratio I came up with for cake donuts was 2 parts flour: 1 part liquid: 1 egg. The amount of fat used was so negligible that it doesn't even warrant a place in the ratio - it was 2 teaspoons for the entire batch! Instead of non-dairy milk, I used cranberry juice as the liquid base in these. For me, this ratio created a donut that held together and didn't crumble in my hands, and had a slightly dry crumb that was perfect for absorbing the glaze I slathered all over it.

I experimented with several different glazes for the donuts - I tried vanilla, plain chocolate, chocolate coconut, orange (which ended up tasting like a gumdrop - no, thanks), powdered sugar cinnamon, and cinnamon glaze. I think I can safely recommend any of the above, with the exception of the orange (unless that's your thing, in which case, go crazy!). But in the end, my two favorites were the cinnamon and chocolate coconut glazes. A little tip - these are fabulous if you freeze them once they're glazed. The chocolate ones reminded me of those chocolate Entenmann's donuts, which I used to love. I brought both versions into work, and everyone loved them - especially the chocolate ones. "Phenomenal" and "out of this world" were used to describe the flavor

Our host this month was Meg of Gluten-free Boulangerie. Check out her blog for her recipe for Old Fashioned Raised and Cake Doughnuts, and for a list of all of the other amazing recipes from the other blogger participants. You can also look below my recipe at the bottom for the list of all the other bloggers and recipes in the Ratio Rally this month.

So say yes to donuts! Check out what happens when a group of creative bloggers put their minds to something. Beautiful - and delicious - things result.

Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Mini Cake Donuts
Makes about 18 mini donuts or 10 regular donuts

5 oz. / 1 cup gluten-free flour blend (I used 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/4 cup sorghum, and 1/4 cup brown rice flour)
2.5 oz. white sugar (~1/4 cup + 2 tbsp.)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread, melted
1 egg
2.5 oz. cranberry juice (~1/4 cup + 2 tbsp.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

For the chocolate coconut glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 - 4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 - 1 tsp. coconut extract (to your own taste)
1 - 3 tbsp. hot water

For cinnamon glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 - 4 tbsp. hot water
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spray two mini donut pans or two regular donut pans with cooking spray.

Combine the dry ingredients first and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients, mix together, and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine, making sure there are no patches of dry flour.

Place the donut dough into a plastic baggie and cut a hole in one corner (this is your makeshift pastry bag). Pipe the dough into each donut tray, filling it about 2/3 of the way full.

If you are making mini donuts, bake for about 6 - 8 minutes, or just until they spring back when you touch them. For regular donuts, bake for about 8 - 9 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave in the donut pans for about 2 - 3 minutes to allow them to firm up. When they're firm enough not to fall apart, gently remove them from the donut pans and place on a wire rack to cool.

Make whichever glaze your heart desires, preferably in a wide, flat bowl. Drench each donut in glaze, rolling it around to ensure that all sides are covered. Place each newly glazed donut on a plate or tray and place in freezer until glaze is frozen. Then you can remove them from the tray and store them in tupperware - but it's still a good idea to place a sheet of wax paper between each layer of them.

Store in the freezer or fridge until ready to serve. The chocolate donuts tasted best frozen, but the cinnamon ones are equally good frozen or refrigerated.

Here's a list of all the other amazing bloggers and their recipes for donuts or fritters!

Britt of GF in the City | Blueberry Fritters

Brooke of B and the Boy! | Apricot Fritters

Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Beetroot Fritters

Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Thai Fried Bananas

Charissa of Zest Bakery | Picarones (Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Fritters)
Claire of Gluten Freedom | Chocolate Coconut or Cinnamon-Glazed Vanilla Cake Doughnuts
Gretchen of Kumquat | Peach Cider Doughnuts
Jean of Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes | Cinnamon Apple Fritters
Jeanette of Jeanette's Healthy Living | Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Mini Raspberry Doughnut Cakes
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Apple Butter Maple Syrup Doughnuts
Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Raspberries and Cream Doughnuts
Mrs. R of Honey From Flinty Rocks | Jelly Doughnuts
Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Jelly Doughnut Holes
Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Chocolate Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen | Vanilla-Glazed Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl | Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Tara of A Baking Life | Brioche Doughnuts with Italian Plum Jam
T.R. of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Sweet Pepper and Pancetta Fritters

Chewy (Better Than) Fig Newtons

2011-08-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love fig newtons? Seriously, if such people exist, I have not met them.

I don't know exactly what made me crave them last week. It may have been because the last time I was at Trader Joe's, I came across a new product that made me want to jump in the aisle. Fig butter! And it was so cheap. Needless to say, I stocked up, afraid that it would disappear quickly, like other favorite TJ's products that have vanished oh-so-suddenly from the shelf, leaving me standing forlorn in the aisle (cranberry chutney, I'm talking to you!).

These are super simple to make - I swear. You mix the dough, spread it on parchment or wax paper, spread the fig butter over half of it, and then fold it over. It's like a little fig burrito. AND - they are gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. Seriously.

For my first attempt, I tried this recipe from Elana's Pantry just as she made it. They were tasty, all right - but I didn't feel like they had the heavier texture of fig newtons that I was really looking for.

So I innovated a bit. I tweaked the flours, adding some more whole grainy goodness to balance out the plain almond flour. I made the dough a little drier, and substituted applesauce for some of the fat. I baked them for slightly less time.

They came out so wonderfully, even I can't believe it. I brought these into work with me, and my co-workers couldn't believe they were gluten-free. One woman liked them so much that she kept checking in with me to see how many I had left, torn between taking one at the expense of someone else and just, you know, really wanting another fig newton.

But maybe you'll think of some other, new way to make these that will be even better. If you do, please share your own tweaks with me. Until you come up with your favorite version, though, these will definitely hit the spot for a fig newton craving.

Chewy Fig Newtons
Makes about 40 small cookies

1/2 cup almond flour
1 cup + 1 tbsp. sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. canola oil
2 tbsp. applesauce
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 (or more) tbsp. fig butter (you can buy this at Trader Joe's or use any other fig jam/butter)

In a small bowl, combine the flours, salt, and xanthan gum and mix together well. In another small bowl, combine the agave nectar, honey, oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix well to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix together until it's as smooth as it can be. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Take about half of it and plop it onto one side of a large piece of wax paper. Fold the wax paper over in half and use a rolling pin to make an even rectangle that is about 10 - 12 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Peel back one half of the wax paper (so that the top of the dough is now exposed) and then transfer the whole thing to a piece of greased parchment paper for baking. You can do this by greasing the parchment paper, then pressing it onto the top of the dough, then flipping the whole thing over and peeling back the rest of the wax paper (which will now be on top).

Spread a generous amount of fig butter along one half of the dough - as much as you want, really. Go crazy. Make them figgy. Then, using the parchment paper to help you, fold the dough in half. Peel back the parchment paper carefully from the top of the cookie. Use a knife or fork to tuck in the dough fringes so that none of the fig butter is exposed.

Place the parchment paper on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 10 - 13 minutes, or just until the dough is set and is ever-so-slightly browned. It may not look totally done - that's ok. Remove from the oven and let sit on the pan for about 3 - 5 minutes, then, using a sharp knife, cut into little fig newton squares and cool on a rack.

Repeat the process with the other half of the dough, or freeze it to use later. Keep refrigerated, but leave out at room temperature or zap in the microwave briefly before serving for the best flavor.

Decadent Lemony Berry Coffeecake

2011-08-12T22:43:00.004-05:00

Uh, yeah. That cake tasted as good as it looks. Better than it looks, if you can believe it.

I know this isn't technically a post for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally, but I feel this need to profess the power of the ratio again. Because Oh. My. God. This cake is seriously amazing. Like, out-of-this-world good. And it is possible because of a ratio.

My cousin was visiting me last week, and it was a total food bonanza. It's sort of our thing. We wander around grocery stores, and we talk about recipes. And when we're in the same physical space, we cook and bake. A lot.

After a trip to Boston's Haymarket, we came home with bags of fresh berries - probably about 2 pounds of them. We had cherries, strawberries, and raspberries - and they were just begging to be part of something baked and delicious.

Done and done. I consulted the ratio that Ruhlman has in his book for sponge cake (which is one part each of flour, eggs, fat, and sugar), and then we innovated a little with the flavors and flour blend. I'm always one to reduce the fat and substitute something else, so I used applesauce to keep it moist. And actually, there's more applesauce than fat in this cake - only 6 tablespoons of Earth Balance buttery spread in the WHOLE THING. Think of how many extra pieces you can eat with all those fat calories you're saving (I know my cousin and I thought about that. And then we definitely ate those extra pieces.).

And the result? My gluten-eating, cake-loving cousin said it was the best cake she'd ever eaten. The word "phenomenal" was dropped multiple times by both of us (in between mouthfuls). I brought pieces around to my co-workers, who dubbed it "wonderful" and "delicious."

So you can make this one for mixed company, is what I'm saying - for gluten-eaters and gluten-haters alike. Barring berry-haters, I suspect everyone will love it.

Decadent Lemony Berry Coffeecake

**Please note that all measurements given below in cups are approximate, as I used my kitchen scale to make this cake and used an online converter to figure out the volume measurements.

4 eggs
8 oz. white sugar (~1 cup)
3 oz. Earth Balance Buttery Spread (3/4 stick or 6 tbsp.)
5 oz. applesauce (unsweeted, natural) (~1/2 cup)
1.5 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. tapioca starch (~3/4 cup)
2 oz. sorghum (~1/2 cup)
3 oz. brown rice flour (~1/2 cup)
(OR 8 oz. of your favorite gf flour blend)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 lb. berries, chopped into small pieces (we used cherries, raspberries, and strawberries, but you could use any dark berries you think would go well in this)

For crumble topping:
4 - 6 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or more to your own taste)
2 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a glass 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium or large mixing bowl, beat the eggs (preferably with an electric mixer) with the sugar until it's frothy. Add the Earth Balance, applesauce, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla and mix until it's well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum. Add about 1/3 cup at a time to the wet ingredients, beating on medium speed until the batter is very smooth.

Pour the batter into the 9" x 13" pan. Press the berries lightly into the top of the batter.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and Earth Balance. Mix with your fingers until it's finely crumbly. Sprinkle the cake generously with the cinnamon sugar crumble topping.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for as long as you can stand it before eating a piece (we lasted 20 minutes). Keep refrigerated once cooled. It's fantastic if you warm it slightly in the microwave before eating.

Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally

2011-08-03T08:33:00.006-05:00

Soft. Fluffy. Spongey. Moist. Tender. Crumbly. Cake-y.

Sadly, those usually aren't the first words that that come to mind to describe many gluten-free cakes I've tried from the store. But that, up there? That is a cupcake. A real cupcake. It is all of those words, to a tee. And what is behind all of those happy descriptors?

A ratio. A beautifully simple ratio.

Our host for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally this month is Kate of Gluten-free Gobsmacked. She's inspired us all to make some delicious variations on white and yellow cake. Check out her blog for her recipe for Basic White Birthday Cake (I could have used this a few weeks ago for my own birthday!) and for links to all of the other fantastic recipes the members of the Rally came up with (which you can also find at the end of this post).

Sometimes the ratios that Ruhlman describes need a little tweaking. A few adjustments; a little less flour here, a little more liquid there, an extra egg here, a dash more sugar there. But for me, his ratio for sponge cake worked perfectly. One equal part each of flour, butter, sugar, and egg gave me a cake with an incredibly tender crumb, and a beautifully brown and spongey top. It tasted like real cake - the kind I remember from my gluten days (you know, the kind that made me sick, but was delicious - but that's beside the point.)

Of course, I had to do SOME kind of tweaking to make it my own. One of my absolute favorite cakes ever is my great aunt Gene's rum cake. (Whenever I see the cover of the cookbook Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters, I always think of aunt Gene and rum cakes, for some reason - I think it makes me think of other, older times and places and scraps of paper tucked between the tattered pages of cookbooks, holding the keys to unlock the secrets of the most delicious things your family has passed down.) I wanted to make a cake I could drizzle her rum glaze over, so I used some banana in place of half the butter to balance out the rum flavor (which also had the added advantage of making it a lower-fat cake).

The result was absolutely heavenly. These are best served warm, so either drizzle the glaze over them while they're still cooling and consume right away, or store refrigerated and then reheat them in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds before serving. Cold, they are still pretty delicious, but they are a bit harder. Warmed up, they practically melt in your mouth. I was both sad and very, very glad that I had used the ratio to make only 4 cupcakes. I shudder to think of myself in the alternate scenario, which would likely have resulted in my eating a full dozen of these. That's another reason ratios are awesome - you can make as many - or as few - as you like.

Trust me, you will not be sorry you made these. The commitment is minimal anyway - you can just make 4 to start and see how you like them. It's perfect for girls living alone, or for you and just a few friends. I'm pretty sure you'll want to get right back into your kitchen to make more, though. It's hard to resist an old-fashioned favorite like rum cake.

Banana Rum Cupcakes with Rum Glaze
Makes 4 cupcakes - can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled, or...you get the idea.

For the cupcakes:
25 grams Earth Balance Buttery Spread
25 grams very ripe banana (about 1/4 medium banana)
50 grams white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. rum extract
20 grams potato starch
15 grams tapioca starch
15 grams sorghum flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. xanthan gum (probably optional, but I didn't try the recipe without it)

For the rum glaze:
1 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread
2 tsp. water
1.5 tbsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. rum extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place 4 cupcake liners in a muffin/cupcake pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine the Earth Balance Buttery Spread and the banana. Whisk together until smooth, then add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg, vanilla, and rum extract and beat together.

In a separate small bowl, combine the tapioca starch, potato starch, sorghum flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour into the prepared cupcake liners and bake at 350 F for 15 - 17 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the cupcake comes out clean. Mine took exactly 17 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit in the hot muffin pan for another 3 - 5 minutes (so they don't fall apart when you take them out). Remove to a cooling rack and let cool the rest of the way, or until you can't stand it anymore and have to eat one. When they are totally cool, poke a bunch of holes in the top with a fork and drizzle a good amount of rum glaze over the top so that it sinks into the cupcake.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve. Microwave for a few seconds before serving.

To make rum glaze: Combine the butter, water, sugar, and rum extract in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 1 - 3 minutes or until it just starts to get thick. Drizzle over the cooled cupcakes immediately (or it will get too thick to drizzle).

Here's a list of all of the other amazing cake recipes to come out of this month's Ratio Rally:

Basic White Cake by Kate at Gluten-free Gobsmacked
Boston Cream Pie by Britt at GF in the City
Chocolate Hostess Cupcake Dupes by Erin at The Sensitive Epicure
Chocolate Pistachio Pound Cake by Amie at The Healthy Apple
Coconut Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes by Gretchen at Kumquat-Blog
Confetti Cake by MaryFran at FrannyCakes
Czech Cherry Bublanina by Rachel at The Crispy Cook
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes by Caroline at The G-Spot
Edna Lewis Busy-Day Cake by Shauna at Gluten-free Girl
Frangelico Cupcakes with Nutella by Lisa at Gluten Free Canteen
Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Cake by Caneel at Mama Me Gluten Free
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins by Marla at Family Fresh Cooking
Lemon Tea Cake by Kate at KateAlice Cookbook
Mocha Buttercream Yellow Birthday Cake by Dr. Jean Layton at GF Doctor Recipes
Nina’s Hot Milk Cake by Charissa at Zest Bakery
Tiramisu Cake by TR Crumbley at No One Likes Crumbley Cookies
Traditional Birthday Cake by Karen at Cooking – Gluten Free!
Vanilla Cupcakes by Winnie at Healthy Green Kitchen
White Cake with Apricots & Blueberries by Brooke at B and the Boy
White Chocolate Cupcakes by Caleigh at Gluten Freek(k)

Banana Cream Pie Bites

2011-08-01T17:53:00.004-05:00

I DARE you to eat only one of these. Triple dog dare you.

I developed this recipe for the Boston Pie Experiment this last weekend. It was a pie contest really (or maybe pie bonanza is a better way to describe it, with just under 30 different kinds of pies to be sampled), but I didn't enter to compete. I kind of just wanted an excuse to bake a ridiculous number of pies and create a new recipe.

This recipe underwent many iterations over the last few weeks. I tried almond milk and coconut milk (both vanilla and regular flavors). With and without gelatin. With less Earth Balance and with more Earth Balance. As a whole pie and as tiny pie bites. They were all delicious, but I finally settled on this recipe as the one that held up best under adverse conditions (read: outside of refrigeration for any period of time). My co-workers tried it, and I made one for my friends for my birthday a few weeks ago. It got rave reviews.

My personal goal was not to win the pie contest. It was simply to have people like my pie, even though it was the ONLY gluten- and dairy-free pie amid 30 regular old gluten pies.

And they did. I tried not to stare at people as they ate it, but I surreptitiously stole glances at them as they tasted this, an expression of surprise coming over their face as the flavors washed over them (first the lovely banana flavor topped with whipped soy cream, followed by the slight kick of the gingersnap crust). I read their mouths through the din in the room as they commented to their friends, "That is REALLY good!" A few people came back for a second sample. And one of the guys running the event even high-fived me after tasting it.

It was a true test of taste to put a banana cream pie with a gluten-free crust and no cream (!) up against the buttery, flour-y, dairy-laden pies I was surrounded by. But no one (that I saw) spit this out. Most seemed to enjoy it, perhaps to their surprise. And that's all the prize I wanted.

Banana Cream Pie Bites
This will make one regular banana cream pie or about 50 - 70 banana cream pie bites.

For the crust:
1 bag Trader Joe's Gluten-free Gingersnaps
2.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

For the filling:
1 tbsp. brown rice flour
1 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1.5 tbsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp. white sugar
3 very ripe medium bananas
3/4 cup So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk (Trader Joe's has a new vanilla coconut milk that works, too!)
1 packet Knox gelatin + 2 tbsp. hot water (don't mix until right before you're going to use it!!)
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread

If desired: Soyatoo Soy or Rice Whip to top (totally optional!)

For a whole pie: A regular pie dish.
For banana cream pie bites: Mini-cupcake liners.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Put the whole bag of gingersnaps and the 2.5 tbsp. Earth Balance in a food processor and blend until very smooth and crumbly. You want these to be very tiny crumbs that are well-incorporated into the butter.

If you're making a whole banana cream pie: Pour the crumb mixture into a pie dish and pat it evenly around the sides and bottom of the pan. Make sure you pat it down very firmly.

If you're making banana cream pie bites: Place a heaping teaspoon of the mixture into each mini-cupcake liner. Using your thumb or the teaspoon, press it down firmly into the cupcake liner, creating a little well for the banana cream.

Separate your egg yolks and whisk them lightly in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

Rinse the food processor out and blend the bananas and coconut milk together for about 3 - 4 minutes, or until very smooth. In a large sauce pan, combine the brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt and whisk together. Add the banana and coconut milk mixture and whisk together. Combine the Knox gelatin powder with 2 tbsp. of hot water, whisk together, and add immediately to the pot, stirring it in well (if you don't add it right away, it will become a block of gel). Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly to avoid the flours settling, until it comes to a full boil.

When it comes to a boil, turn off the heat. This is where it gets slightly tricky. You're going to add some of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, but just a tiny bit at a time, whisking each bit thoroughly into the eggs before adding more. You're doing this to bring the temperature of the eggs up slowly so they don't cook or curdle on you. Add about a tablespoon or less at a time until you've added about 1/3 of the banana cream mixture, and then return the egg mixture to the original pot and mix it in with the rest of the banana cream. Return to medium heat and continue to whisk until it comes to a boil. Boil for 2 more minutes (keep on whiskin'!) and then remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla and Earth Balance Buttery Spread.

If you're making a whole banana cream pie: Pour the whole thing into the pie crust you prepared earlier. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F. Remove from oven and let cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set.

If you're making banana cream pie bites: Measure out a heaping teaspoon of banana cream for each pie bite. Bake for 6 - 8 minutes or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. If you're baking two trays at once, be sure to rotate them halfway through so they don't bake unevenly. Let cool and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set.

No matter what kind of pie you're making: Top with Soyatoo Rice or Soy Whip and any leftover gingersnap crumbs before serving, if desired. And try not to eat all of it yourself!

Fresh Carrot Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Blueberries

2011-07-27T16:41:00.000-05:00

I love cooking - that much should be obvious. But there are days when even I can't take it. Days that are so hot, and so lazy, that I just want a 5-minute meal. To put a bunch of things in a bowl and be done.

Today was one of those days. And it also happened to be the day that one of my friends sent me the link to the New York Times Minimalist guide to summer salads. The list is extensive, with almost any ingredient I could think of, put together with ingredients I might not have thought of right away.

Number 7 on the list caught my eye immediately. I had carrots. I had blueberries. I love both. It was a done deal.

This salad comes together in a matter of minutes, and will be a lovely addition to whatever else you're having for dinner, or great on its own as well. The crunchy carrots and sunflower seeds balance the berries, and the lemon and pepper bring out the flavors in a refreshing, delicious way. It's delightful.

Save this one for a hot day when you want something quick, refreshing, and cool. And enjoy.

Fresh Carrot Salad with Sunflower Seeds and Blueberries (from this list)

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup blueberries
1 - 2 tsp. olive oil
2 - 4 tbsp. lemon juice (to taste)
black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Eat. Enjoy.

Grilled Eggplant Pesto Melt

2011-07-12T22:49:00.001-05:00

You know how sometimes you turn around and the person who's been there all along is the one you end up wanting?

That's how I'm feeling about eggplant right now.

Who knew it was so full of flavor, and that it would develop such an irresistible, almost buttery texture when grilled? That it would melt on the tongue like that? Clearly I didn't know what I was missing.

I made pesto the other night (something I've been meaning to do forever, since buying dairy-free pesto is usually not possible, and when it is, it is not cheap). So far, I've made pesto chicken wraps, and I've had some on pasta. And tonight, I threw some on the grilled eggplant I had just made. And just for good measure, threw some Daiya Vegan Cheese on top. And oh, my God. Heaven. This is a super easy dish to make, and if you eat enough of it, it could totally be your dinner! But it would also be an excellent appetizer, and just fancy enough in its simplicity to be party food. It takes less than 15 minutes to put together - but I swear it won't taste like it.

For grilled eggplant:
1/2 eggplant, cut into thin slices
Cooking spray or olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For topping:
1-2 tsp. basil pesto per eggplant slice
Daiya Vegan Mozzarella Cheese

Heat a nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place the sliced eggplant over medium heat and fry for about 4 minutes on each side, or until it's browned on the outside and soft on the inside.

You can do this next step either while it's still in the pan, or you can use the oven or microwave. Spread some pesto on each slice of grilled eggplant and sprinkle with Daiya Cheese. Heat until it melts. You can either make them into little eggplant sandwiches or leave them open-faced. Serve immediately.

Whole Grain Cherry Almond Zucchini Muffins (Low-fat!)

2011-07-09T22:47:00.002-05:00

"There's something very summer about cherries," someone at work said to me this week. I couldn't agree more, and what perfect timing he had, because there just so happened to be a sale on cherries this week. Organic cherries, at that. And conditioned by years of watching my mother stockpile groceries, I followed my instincts. I came home with 5 pounds of dark red cherries, glistening with matte condensation.

Ambitious as I may be, I can't eat 5 pounds of cherries before they go bad. I needed to find some way to use them, or at least to preserve them. So I started pitting them (my fingers are still slightly purple), and one episode of Gilmore Girls later, I had a mountain of halved, pitted cherries sitting in front of me. Begging to be used, and pleading with me to infuse something baked with their tart sweetness.

The flavor combination was easy, because cherries go beautifully with almonds. Theirs is sort of a famous little affair. So it was really just a matter of finding the medium I was in the mood for. In the end, I settled on muffins. Whole grain muffins, specifically, and ones that would use less fat. Muffins I could eat a few more of without feeling guilty. Which turned out to be a very wise choice in this case, as these muffins turned out to be heavenly - a little too heavenly for comfort, actually.

Mine turned out to be pretty moist, which is partly due to the substitution of applesauce for some of the oil, and partly due to the shredded zucchini and squash (I used half zucchini and half yellow squash simply because that's what I had in my kitchen, but you should feel free to use all of either, if you only have one or the other). The fresh chopped cherries add a tart sweetness, the perfect complement to the almond flour and extract.

The bottom line is that they're fabulous, and would be wonderful to eat any time of day (I, um, may have turned them into my dinner tonight). So next time you find yourself wondering how to use those cherries you just bought, try this recipe out. And I dare you to stop at just one.

Whole Grain Cherry Almond Zucchini Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup combination of teff flour, brown rice flour, and sorghum flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup smooth applesauce
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup shredded/pureed zucchini and/or yellow squash
1 egg
1 tsp. flaxseed meal + 1 tbsp. warm water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract (optional)
3/4 cup chopped (pitted) cherries

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tray or spray with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, shredded zucchini/squash, sugar, egg, flaxseed meal and water, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to mix. Add the chopped cherries (with as little of the water as possible) and stir to mix.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for 25 - 35 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. These end up being very moist even after baking for a long time, so definitely take them out after 35 minutes.

No Bake Chex Mix Granola Bars

2011-07-07T06:42:00.000-05:00

I've had a couple of attempts at granola bars recently, mainly because they can get so expensive to buy at the store. So far, mine have mostly turned into granola because they just won't flippin' stay together long enough to be called bars.

I won't claim that these are the sturdiest of bars. But as you can see, they stayed in the shape of bars long enough to be photographed. So that's something. They actually stayed bars all day, especially if they were in the fridge. I don't think they'd necessarily survive a long hike in a backpack (at least, not without some serious tupperware protection), but they have definite potential for someone who is looking for bars for light use. I know I'll be making them again.

And they are really, really tasty. A friend of mine had sent me a link for Grain-free Granola Bars, and I thought, why not? It fits in with my general pursuit of bars at the moment. But I'm not grain-free, nor did I want to rely solely on nuts for my bars. So I adapted it and added some finely ground-up honey nut chex, and more honey than what was originally called for. I also studded mine with some crushed chocolate chips because.....well, I don't have a reason, actually. Because chocolate is never a bad thing to add.

If you want a stickier bar, feel free to add more honey, or maybe some agave nectar or maple syrup. Experiment with your own favorite combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Go with Cinnamon Chex instead of Honey Nut. Make these your own!

No Bake Chex Mix Granola Bars (Adapted from "Grain-free Granola Bars" on the Joyful Abode blog)
Makes one 8 x 8 pan of granola bars (about 15 small bars)
*You can double this recipe for thicker bars, or for a 9 x 13 pan.

1 cup Honey Nut Chex, ground finely
1/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds, ground finely (but not into a paste/butter!)
2 - 3 tbsp. of combination of flax seeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds, ground up finely
1 tsp. salt
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I used Let's Go Organic 40% Reduced Fat)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or your favorite dried fruit)
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp. coconut oil (substitute another oil or butter if you don't have it)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 - 1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 - 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Don't preheat the oven. They're no-bake - yay!

Line an 8 x 8 pan with a sheet of wax paper (believe me, you'll want to have that paper there or you'll never get these out of the pan whole).

In a large bowl, combine the ground chex, almond meal, ground sunflower seeds, salt, ground flax, chia, and sesame seeds, dried cranberries, and the shredded coconut.

In a small saucepan, heat combine the honey, coconut oil, vanilla, and cinnamon. Heat over low-medium heat until melted and it starts to bubble. Pour over the dry mixture and stir well to coat.

Pour it into the pan and if desired, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the mixture (they might melt a little if it's still warm from the honey/coconut oil). Using another piece of wax paper, press it really hard into the pan. Like, really hard. Remember, you want these to become bars!

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. When ready to eat, remove the wax paper from the pan and cut into bars. Store in the fridge so they stay in bar form.

Gluten Free Ratio Rally: Pasta!

2011-07-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

Sadly, this month was a little too busy for me to participate in the gluten-free ratio rally. I had one feeble attempt at pasta a few weeks ago and then time slipped away from me until it was too close to the deadline to start over.

But despite my own failure to participate, you should definitely head over to Jenn's blog, Jenn Cuisine. Jenn hosted this month's event, and her recipe for Tagliatelle with Smoked Salmon can be found here.

Pasta rocks. We all know it. And that's all the more reason to go and check out all of the amazing recipes that people came up with this month for gluten-free pasta. Pasta we can not only eat, but make in our own kitchens! I encourage you to check all of them out! And join us next month for cakes with Kate of Gluten-free Gobsmacked hosting.

Brooke from B & the Boy! made Ravioli w/strawberry filling and chocolate berry sauce
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Multi-grain fettuccine
Charissa from Zest Bakery made Linguini with smoked salmon and creamy vodka sauce
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Ravioli w/ shrimp, spinach, mushrooms, & cheese filling in browned butter
Gretchen from Kumquat made Vegetable lasagna
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Tagliatelle with smoked salmon, peas and parmesan
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Lokshen kugel
Karen from Cooking Gluten Free made Homemade gluten free pasta
Mary Fran from Frannycakes made Pasta with pink vodka sauce
Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan made Vegan gluten-free homemade pasta, in creamy artichoke tagliatelle
Meg from Gluten-Free Boulangerie made Fettuccine with sun-dried tomatoes
Pete and Kelli from No Gluten, No Problem made Tortellini
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Smoked paprika noodles with garlic scapes and herbs
Shauna of Gluten Free Girl made Gluten free fresh pasta
Silvana from Silvana’s Kitchen made Lemon-poppy pasta with tomato, corn and basil
Tara from A Baking Life made Fazzoletti with wild mushrooms and spring onions
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Tomato basil pork raviolis

Cheesy Meatball Wrap

2011-07-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a super simple meal idea for dinner, and a way to use some leftovers. Make a batch of Savory Dinner Crepes and melt some Daiya Vegan Cheese onto it while it's heating in the pan. Heat up pretty much any random leftovers that sound good to you (I had some delicious Sweet and Tangy Cherry Apple Meatballs from the previous day) and use them to fill each crepe once the cheese is melted. You could load the crepes with roasted vegetables, or with any meat of your choice; with cheese and fruit; with taco meat; with beans; with whatever your heart desires/whatever your fridge contains!

Once they're filled, fold over; eat. So fast, so simple, and totally delicious. So simple I won't even put it into recipe form. This is a purely prose recipe. And these wraps are so convincing that they won't even crumble if you refrigerate them for a few days; they still bend.

Enjoy the dinner mix and match!

Blueberry Cobbler Granola

2011-07-02T09:13:00.001-05:00

I'll confess that granola is not actually what I set out to make yesterday. I was trying to make snack bars. You know, the kind that, uh, don't fall apart when you try to eat them. But this turned out to be an ambitious goal. No matter how much honey I added, they stubbornly refused to stay together in bar form.

But that's ok. I was putting too much pressure on them to be something they're not. This was a granola recipe from the beginning. I see that now.

And once I just let it be granola, it all fell into place. At first I was going to call this Blueberry Muffin Granola, but when I shared it with two of my friends, they immediately said it tasted more like cobbler. Which makes sense, since it probably shares more ingredients with cobbler than muffins. But, the point is really that it will taste like a delicious baked blueberry dessert of some kind, and you'll probably have a hard time not eating all of it from the pan.

I had originally added only 1/4 cup of honey, but after baking them for about 20 minutes, it was clear that the mixture was too dry to stay together in bar form. So I added another 1/4 cup in the hopes that this would help - but it didn't. And then I ended up with really sticky, soft granola. Which, again, was delicious, but feel free to adjust the amount of honey according to your own tastes, since it's not going to stay together anyway.

I'm sure this would be wonderful with other add-ins - maybe some flax or chia seeds, or nuts, or a different combination of dried fruit. Go crazy if you feel like it. But if you're a blueberry fan, stick with what you know. You won't be disappointed.

Blueberry Cobbler Granola

1 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 - 1 cup dried blueberries
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 8 x 8 pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, toss the oats, coconut, blueberries, salt, and cinnamon together. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix together lightly, then toss with the oats.

Spread over the pan evenly and place in the oven for at least 30 minutes (for a softer granola) and for up to 50 minutes (for a crunchier granola). Stir around every 10 minutes or so, and remove when you're happy with how browned it is.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat. If there's any left.

Savory Dinner Crepes

2011-06-28T22:00:00.001-05:00

These were delightful. I was feeling like pancakes tonight, but the thought of the heaviness stopped me (even though breakfast at dinner is one of my favorite things). So, despite being sorely tempted to use the blueberries I got on sale last week to make fluffy syrup-laden flapjacks, I opted for a lighter option. One I could fill with something healthy. I had some roasted vegetables leftover from last night. I had eggs. I had Daiya cheese. It was a done deal.

This recipe was adapted from one I found in Living Without. I adjusted the amounts for being a single girl living alone who does not need to eat 15 crepes for dinner. I also made it entirely whole grain - no starches in these!

And they turned out to be fabulous. Soft and fluffy. Bendable. And the ingredients are so simple and minimalist, with no sugar or salt added. They hold together so well that I suspect (although I have not yet tried it) that these could function as wraps to be eaten on the go. You could get creative and add herbs or spices to them. These were my first try and I loved them plain, but hey, you should go nuts. They're going to be your dinner, not mine - so add whatever you think will taste good. These are a delicious way to dress up your favorite ingredients for a healthy dinner or lunch!

Savory Dinner Crepes
Makes 4 medium crepes

2 tsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/6 cup sorghum flour
1/6 cup brown rice flour
1/8 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used Sunsational Sunflower Milk - have you tried it? It's pretty tasty!)

Beat together the melted Earth Balance and the egg. In a separate small bowl, mix the sorghum flour, rice flour, and xanthan gum and add to the egg mixture and beat to combine. Add the non-dairy milk little by little, mixing to incorporate each bit before adding more. It will be thicker than regular crepe batter, but thinner than pancake batter.

Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add about 1/4 cup of batter and spread evenly around the pan, either by tilting the pan or by using a spatula. Cook for 2 - 4 minutes or until the first side is browned, and then flip it over and cook until the other side is browned (for about another 1 - 3 minutes). Remove to a plate to keep warm.

Fill with anything you like! I filled one with roasted yellow squash, red peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Then for the other, I beat one egg with 1 tsp. water and cooked it over medium-high heat spread thinly over the pan like a crepe. I sprinkled some Daiya Vegan Cheese over it and added some salt and pepper. Then when it was done, I folded it up into the real crepe. They were both fantastic.

Heavenly Healthy Vanilla Blondies

2011-06-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

Some blondies weigh you down, you know? The fat. The cup after cup of sugar. But not these. These blondies are better than that.

I could tell you what I think about them. I could tell you how addictive they are, and how guilt-free you should feel eating them (at least relatively speaking). I could get into my many thoughts on that subject.

But maybe it would be more compelling for you to hear a sampling of adjectives from the many people in my life who had a chance to try these: Amazing. Awesome. Delicious. Addictive. Wonderful. Something you definitely should make again.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

These use a can of chickpeas as their base, but don't worry about it tasting beany. It really doesn't. I will warn you that an ever-so-slightly bitter aftertaste may linger on your tongue, but I barely noticed it, and others didn't notice it at all. The vanilla really knocks the bean taste out of the picture in these. I ate several warm from the oven and had to force myself to walk away. I brought them all to work the next day just to avoid eating the rest of them all by myself.

So don't be afraid of the beans - embrace the beans. The short story is, these are divine. And blissful. And light.

Heavenly Healthy Vanilla Blondies
Makes one 9x13 pan

1 can chickpeas
2 1/2 tbsp. peanut butter or Sunbutter (or you can substitute another nut butter)
2 tbsp. Marshmallow Fluff
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup potato starch
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine the flours together with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a food processor, combine the rest of the ingredients and blend until very smooth. Add the flour mixture and continue to pulse until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Spread evenly into the pan and bake at 350 F for 30 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These are fabulous right from the oven but become even more moist and lovely after sitting overnight.

Fudgy (but secretly healthy) Brownie Batter Dip

2011-06-15T06:44:00.000-05:00

I've become ever-so-slightly obsessed with finding healthy ways to pig out on foods we all love to indulge in. Like cookie dough, for instance. Mmmm, cookie dough - why is it that it tastes so much better than the cookies themselves? I've pondered the same question for brownies. Maybe more than is normal. There's something illicit about eating brownie batter, and at the same time, nostalgic. And, you know....sometimes unsafe.

But fear no more, because there is nothing unsafe about these. No raw eggs. Just raw awesomeness. It takes mere minutes (minutes!) to throw together, and the only problem is that it might take an equally short amount of time before it's gone.

I know that this is pictured on a cracker here. But I'll be honest with you - even though I'm calling this a dip, I know you won't judge me if I tell you that I ate most of it straight out of the bowl with a spoon. After all, that's how brownie batter was meant to be enjoyed: unmitigated in its delicious fudginess.

Fudgy (but secretly healthy) Brownie Batter Dip

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
3 - 4 tbsp. cocoa powder (to your own taste)
2 tbsp. Marshmallow Fluff or Ricemellow Vegan Marshmallow Cream
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1/4 cup brown sugar (more or less to your own taste)
2 tbsp. nut butter (I used a combination of peanut butter and sunbutter)
2 tbsp. smooth applesauce
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. flaxseed meal (optional)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine everything but the chocolate chips in a food processor and blend until very smooth. Adjust everything to your own taste. Remove to a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. For best results, eat with a spoon, or serve as a dip with gluten-free graham crackers.

Tangy Vegan Chili

2011-06-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

And just when I thought I couldn't be surprised by chili! This is a recipe I have actually been meaning to post since a few months ago, when I first had it at a party hosted by my friends Matt and Mimi (click on their names to check out their fabulous blogs). It was an April Fool's party, and there was talk of chili, so I came with a batch of my banana cornbread muffins in tow, still warm from the oven. Before I'd even climbed all of the stairs, I could smell the chili wafting down to me. And if it smelled good, it tasted even better.

Matt made the chili, but says the recipe comes from his mom, Fonda Lowe. It's a forgiving recipe, and most of the spices can be added to your own taste. What you see below is an adaptation of what Matt did, which was based largely on the availability of ingredients in my kitchen when I made it. It is quick and easy to throw together. You can use any beans you want - black, white, pinto, chili. Go to town! The taste offers a slight departure, but one you'll be glad you took - trust me. It's a chili that might not taste exactly like the chili you're used to. That's because of a few less traditional - but brilliant - additional ingredients. This chili is smoky and sweet, with a little kick and tang.

The other wonderful thing about this chili for me was that it introduced me to an ingredient I had never tried before: textured vegetable protein (Bob's Red Mill makes a gluten-free one! I haven't checked any other brands.). And therein lies the secret to the "meatiness" of this vegan chili. TVP is super easy to use and expands into hearty little chunks that add an air of dense protein to the chili.

It's seriously, seriously good. Just try making it and not practically licking the pot clean.

Tangy Vegan Chili

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 large or 2 small green peppers, diced
2 tbsp. tomato paste + 1 1/2 cups water OR 1 can diced tomatoes (with the juice) + water to cover all ingredients
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Textured Vegetable Protein
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 - 2 tsp. chili powder (to taste)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 bottle Trader Joe's Barbecue Sauce
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
2 - 4 tsp. liquid smoke (optional, but highly recommended) (Colgin is gluten-free!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the olive oil and onion in a pot and cook over medium heat for about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook until the onion is translucent. Add the green pepper, tomato paste, water, textured vegetable protein, spices, barbecue sauce, black beans, and liquid smoke and stir well. Bring to a low boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 - 30 minutes, or longer. Basically, you should simmer it until you are happy with the way it tastes. Add more water as needed if you're going to simmer it for a longer period of time. It's delicious on its own or served with corn bread.

Reposted in Australia!

2011-06-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

First, let me apologize for not posting all that much over the last few weeks - my computer broke and is (allegedly) being repaired. But I've got a ton of awesome recipes just waiting to go up, including Healthy Brownie Batter Dip, Healthy Cookie Dough Dip, Jam Pocket Cookies, Cinnamon-Sugar Rugulach, and Soft Chickpea Wrap Pizza. So get ready for more deliciousness in the weeks to come!

In other news, one of my recipes was featured on the blog of the Australasian Baker, the National Baking Industry Association of Australia!! Click here to see the post. It will also be appearing in their print magazine! It's hard to conceive of people on the other side of the world looking at my blog and trying my recipes, but it's a huge honor to have been featured!

Cheesy Eggy Toasted Quinoa

2011-06-06T16:21:00.000-05:00

Toasted quinoa. Where have you been all my life?

This is one of those meals that is so simple, and so quick, that you couldn't imagine it would be quite as delicious as it is. But I did not want this one to end. This was an absolutely heavenly new way to experience one of my favorite grains (I got the idea from this blog). The slightly nutty flavor of quinoa becoming crunchy and toasted on the stovetop, with melted Daiya cheese and dried thyme, and then topped off with a runny fried egg - perfection. Simple flavors that combine into a lovely meal that is at once both light and hearty. I would eat this for any meal, to be honest with you, but have had it mostly for dinner so far. One of my friends did make it for breakfast and loved it in the morning. So there you go - solid proof that it's delicious any time of the day.

Cheesy Eggy Toasted Quinoa
Serves one

Cooking spray
1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup Daiya Vegan Cheese
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and spread the quinoa out in a single layer (or as close as possible). Sprinkle the thyme in and toast it over medium heat, stirring only occasionally, until it starts to brown.

Make a good-sized well in the middle of the quinoa and crack the egg into it. Make sure it has enough room to spread out and cook evenly or the quinoa will burn before it's done! Sprinkle the Daiya cheese over the whole thing and continue to to toast, reducing the heat slightly. When the egg is as done as you'd like it to be and the "cheese" is melted, transfer the whole thing to a plate. Add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Top Hat Cookie Dough Balls

2011-06-04T13:53:00.003-05:00

I'm borderline obsessed with these cookie dough balls (as you may have noticed given how many times I've posted about them). So a few weeks ago, a friend was over at my house, and I decided to make them with a slight twist. I decided to give them hats. Chocolate hats.

Now, these cookie dough balls do not need the chocolate hats in order to be delicious. (And by the way, they're inspired by the "Fudge Baby" recipes on Chocolate-Covered Katie's blog.) They are addictive and wonderful (and relatively healthy!) totally on their own. But....they were pretty fabulous with the chocolate ganache as a topping. Dangerously so, in fact. Mine weren't very nicely shaped (as you can see), but if your experience is anything like mine, they won't be around long enough for anyone to notice.

Top Hat Cookie Dough Balls

7 dates, pitted
1/3 cup cashews, lightly salted
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup coconut flakes
2 tsp. (or more!) vanilla
Dash of salt
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal (if desired)
1 - 2 tbsp. marshmallow cream or Ricemellow vegan cream
1 - 3 tbsp. So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer (Original flavor)
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For ganache topping:
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 - 4 tbsp. So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. You want to be able to shape these with your hands into little balls, so if it's too runny, add some more oats, coconut, or cashews to make it thicker.

Roll the dough into balls and arrange on a plate.

In a small pan, melt the chocolate chips and So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer together just until it forms a thick melted chocolate paste. Spread the chocolate ganache onto the top of each ball of dough. You can eat them right away, or chill them in the refrigerator or freezer until you're ready to serve them. They are delicious at any temperature!

Ratio Rally: Chocolate Eclairs

2011-06-01T09:00:00.159-05:00

When I was a senior in high school, my AP Calculus teacher would call on me to answer a question in front of the class. "Do you know the answer, E-Claire?" He chuckled to himself every time as if it were the first time he'd said it. The rest of us would roll our eyes and offer half smiles. (He was a nice man and an excellent teacher, but never seemed to tire of that joke!)

I don't think this created an aversion to eclairs specifically, but it certainly didn't fuel any desire in me to seek them out, either. To this day, every time I hear the word, my thoughts go back immediately to that classroom. Before I know it, other long-forgotten calculus vocabulary words like "derivative" and "integral" begin to creep back into my consciousness.

You know, it's a bit unsettling for a baked good to have such a strong association with high school math.

This month's Ratio Rally assignment was a true departure for me. So far, we've been exploring ratios behind baked goods that are at least familiar to me - muffins, scones, pancakes, etc. But Pate a Choux? I can't even pronounce that. I don't have a keyboard that will type it correctly with the accents in the right places. It makes me start to sweat a little.

But you know what? But even though it sounds super fancy, Pate a Choux is probably something you have eaten before. (Funnel cake, anyone?) And it is not nearly as scary as it sounds (or looks). It's an incredibly versatile batter, and I thought for a long time about what specifically I'd like to make. Cream puffs? Gnocchi? Beignets? Fried Doughnuts? Funnel cake? The more I researched, the more possibilities there seemed to be. I started to sweat a little again at the overwhelming number of options.

But in the end, I saw this month's Ratio Rally as a chance to redefine what eclairs are to me. To let them out of the confines of calculus memories. To deshroud them. To bring them back to life.

And I am so glad I did. And I'm glad that the Ratio Rally has branched out into this lesser-attempted feat of baking. I will say that this is probably the strangest batter I've ever worked with, so if you find the same thing, you are not alone. The ratio for Pate a Choux is 2 parts water: 1 part fat : 1 part flour : 2 parts egg. You start by boiling the water, salt, and butter together, then you add the flour to make a strangely shiny paste. After it cools for a minute or two, you add the eggs in, which causes it to separate into a rather unappealing mess of lumpy dough and runny eggs. It looks horribly wrong for a few minutes. Be patient. Somehow, after you mix it for another few minutes, it starts to shrink and come together (albeit reluctantly). And then, before your eyes, it turns into batter.

A few lessons I learned from the trial and error this month. Whatever you do, do NOT open the oven door while these are baking or you'll be watching them sadly deflate before your eyes. Make the custard the day before you make the eclairs so it has enough time to set. Try to make larger eclairs so there will be enough room in them to hold the custard.

And the final lesson? Enjoy. Definitely enjoy.

For a list of all of the other fantastic Pate a Choux creations, visit The Sensitive Epicure, our host for the Ratio Rally this month.

Chocolate Eclairs with Vanilla (or Maple) Custard
Makes 8 medium eclairs

For the eclairs:
2/3 oz. white rice flour
2/3 oz. tapioca starch
2/3 oz. corn starch
2 tbsp. white sugar
4 oz. water
2 oz. (4 tbsp.) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs

For the custard filling:

I followed a recipe I found on the Brown Eyed Baker's blog, but halved it for the number of eclairs this recipe made. The only changes I made were to substitute So Delicious Original Unsweetened Coconut Milk for the half and half and Earth Balance Butter Sticks for the regular butter. I also made half of mine maple-flavored by adding another 1 1/2 tsp. maple extract. Prepare the custard a day ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Cover with a sheet of saran wrap if possible to avoid it forming a pudding skin on top.

For the ganache topping:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate
2 - 4 tbsp.So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer

Note: Because many of you may be new to pate a choux batter, I highly recommend taking a look at The Brown Eyed Baker blog, which has a fantastic set of pictures that take you through each of these steps.

Directions for Eclairs:

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Measure and mix the rice flour, tapioca starch, and cornstarch together in a small bowl. In a saucepan (preferably a copper-bottom or one that distributes heat evenly), bring the water, Earth Balance, salt, and sugar to a low boil. Turn off heat and add the flour; stir rapidly to mix together. When it is all incorporated, return the pan to low heat and continue to stir, kind of smushing it around the pan, for another 2 - 4 minutes. It will look kind of glossy and shiny and may still have a few lumps in it. When the butter starts to separate out (it will start to coat the bottom of the pan in little beads), remove the pan from the heat.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool for a few minutes. Not too much, though, as you want it to be warm-hot, but not so hot that it scrambles the eggs. Using an electric mixer, beat the flour mixture on its own for about 1 minute, then add the eggs slowly to the mixture.

You will probably think something has gone horribly wrong at this stage. But it hasn't. The batter will look like it won't accept the eggs, and lumps of flour may remain. Keep mixing for another 3 - 5 minutes, and it should turn into a real batter.

If you want to be fancy, you can scoop all of the batter into a pastry bag or even a plain baggie and squeeze it into the shape of long eclairs. Or, you can just use a spoon to shape them. Either way, spray a sheet of parchment paper with cooking spray and shape the dough into 8 - 10 eclairs. Place them in the oven at 425 F and set the timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, reduce the oven temp to 350 F and continue to bake for another 20 minutes. Whatever you do, do NOT open the oven during this time!!

Remove from oven and pierce them with a knife. Allow to cool completely. When they are cool, fill another baggie or pastry bag with the custard you made ahead of time. Cut a small hole in one end of the eclairs (they should have puffed enough to have created a little enclave on the inside for the custard). Pump each one full of custard. I filled half of these with vanilla custard, and half with maple, and they were both wonderful. Go with your gut on that one.

To make ganache topping:

For the ganache, melt together the chocolate chips and So Delicious Coconut Milk Cream in a small saucepan or even in the microwave. Spread evenly over the top of each cream puff. If desired, dust with powered sugar.

These are best eaten within a day or so of being made, but will survive for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Want to see what the other creative folks in the Ratio Rally came up with? Check them out below or visit Erin at The Sensitive Epicure, who was our host for this month's wonderful Ratio Rally challenge!

Amie of The Healthy Apple | Pate Choux with Creamy Macadamia Icing
Britt of GF in the City | Pâte à Choux

Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] | Savoury Paris-Brest

Caneel of Mama Me Gluten Free | Key Lime Cream Puffs

Charissa of Zest Bakery | Choux Shine: Koshi-an Filled Cream Puffs

Erin of The Sensitive Epicure (our host for this month's Rally!) | Gluten-free Gougeres filled with Herbed Goat Cheese Mousse and Churros y chocolate sin gluten

Gretchen of kumquat | Cheddar Gougères with Dates and Pine Nuts | A Danish Puff
Irvin of Eat The Love | White Cheddar Fennel Gougères stuffed with Porcini & Shallot Goat Cheese

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine | Gruyère & Herbed Gougères

Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen | Cracked Pepper & Cheese Gougères
Meredith of Gluten Free Betty | Gluten Free Churros

Mary Fran of Frannycakes | Marillenknodel with ginger and cardamom sugar & chai cream puffs

Meaghan of The Wicked Good Vegan | Cardamom and Rose Water Cream Puffs (with Rad Whip!)

Meg of Gluten-Free Boulangerie | Chouquettes

Pete & Kelli of No Gluten, No Problem | Almond Choux Florentines

Rachel of The Crispy Cook | Cream Puffs Filled with Coffee Cream

Robyn of Chocswirl | Gruyere & Parmesan Gougeres with Sage & Thyme

Sea of Book of Yum | Rose Vanilla Cream Puffs and Vanilla Eclairs

Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen | Gluten-Free Spinach Gnocchi Parm

T.R.of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies | Beignets

Tara of A Baking Life | Parmesan & Black Pepper Gougères | Frangipane Puffs

Raspberry Chipotle Taco Meat

2011-05-29T17:37:00.002-05:00

Here is an absolutely delectable spin on taco meat for the next time you're the mood to try something new. The flavor in this is amazing - it is sweet and spicy, and the smokiness of the ground chipotle peppers adds a startling depth. It is fabulous.

I made it with some of my black raspberry mango jam, but really, any dark berry jam would work (especially some variation of raspberry, cranberry, blueberry or blackberry). I didn't have any taco shells or corn tortillas, so I whipped up some garlic potato fritters and ate mine over one of those (as pictured), but I think this would be wonderful as a filling for a cheesy quesadilla or over rice.

I can't wait to eat the leftovers. Seriously - if it sounds good to you, chances are you'll love this.

Raspberry Chipotle Taco Meat

1 tsp. oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced (optional)
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 lb. ground turkey
3 tbsp. gluten-free reduced sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. minced onion
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. ground chipotle pepper (or add 2 - 3 dried chipotle peppers, sliced open)
2 tbsp. dark berry jam
1/2 - 3/4 cup water

Combine all of the spices and brown sugar in a bowl and mix well.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and jalapeno peppers (if you are using them). Cook for 4 minutes or so, then add the minced garlic and continue to cook until the onions are tender. Add the ground turkey and cook until it is done, stirring well and breaking it up into small pieces. If desired, drain the excess fat and return to the heat.

Add the spice mixture, soy soy sauce, jam, and water and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until it is thick (it may be a bit sticky because of the jam). Serve immediately in tacos or quesadillas. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Mexican Chipotle Pulled Chicken

2011-05-24T17:39:00.001-05:00

I say Mexican, you say....tacos? Burritos? Guacamole? Salsa and chips? While I love all of the above, there are times when I feel a pull towards a different kind of Mexican. One that I don't taste very often, and which is full of simple -- but powerful -- flavors. One that normally, I would have to go to a Mexican restaurant to find. But that can be such a pain - finding a restaurant that can prepare something gluten-free, where there's no danger of cross-contamination? I'm sure they're out there, but honestly, it's usually easier to make your own meal from scratch.

So that's what I did. I recently became a fan of Pati's Mexican Table, a wonderful blog featuring recipes that will seriously make you drool as you click from page to page. I started with her recipe for Chicken Tinga and modified it a bit, but I think what I ended up with is essentially what she did. The sauce becomes smoky and flavorful with the chipotle peppers, and I let mine simmer for so long that the flavors had time to blend together in a truly fantastic way. Pati suggests making it one layer in a stack of ingredients that make up tostados, but I ate it for at least five dinners in a row as you see it pictured here, in a crispy garlic pepper quesadilla with some melted Daiya cheese. But it was also good over brown rice, with tortilla chips, or even on its own. I can't imagine guacomole would be a bad idea. I passed the recipe on to my cousin and got a text several days later telling me how fantastic it was. I think you'll feel the same way.

Mexican Chipotle Pulled Chicken (Adapted from Chicken Tinga from Pati's Mexican Kitchen)
Serves 4 - 5

3 chicken tenderloins or 2 small chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 white onion, cut into thin slivers
4 - 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 32 oz. can diced or whole tomatoes in juice (or 6 - 8 roma tomatoes, chopped)
2 small tomatillos, chopped
1/2 can mild green chilies
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 - 1 tsp. dried thyme
1 - 2 tsp. sea salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper (if desired)
3 - 4 dried chipotle peppers, chopped into halves or thirds

Boil the chicken in salted water and then pull apart to shred. Set aside.

In a food processor, blend the tomatoes and tomatillos until very smooth. Set aside.

In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes, then add the garlic and continue to saute for another 3 - 4 minutes (but be careful not to burn the garlic!). Pour the tomato mixture in and stir in the spices and chipotle peppers. Bring to a low boil and then reduce to simmer, covered, for about 30 - 40 minutes, or until you are happy with the flavor.

Add the shredded chicken and continue to cook over medium-low heat until it is very thick (or at least, no longer liquidy). Remove to serve.

For pulled chicken quesadillas:

Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and sprinkle garlic powder and ground pepper across the bottom. Place a corn tortilla on the skillet and press into the spices so they stick to it. Sprinkle some Daiya cheese (or your favorite cheese alternative) over the tortilla and cook over medium-high heat until the tortilla is nice and crisp and the cheese is melted. Spread 1/4 - 1/3 cup of the hot pulled chicken onto one half of the tortilla and fold over. Serve immediately with guacamole, sour cream alternative, and/or salsa, if desired. Also delicious on its own!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Pad Thai

2011-05-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

I cannot remember the last time I had Pad Thai. It's not something I ordered very often in Thai restaurants to begin with, being much more of a coconut curry fan, but there's something about obtaining a bottle of gluten-free soy sauce that makes you feel adventurous and ambitious. All of a sudden, you crave Pad Thai for the simple reason that now, you can eat Pad Thai.

A quick survey of my kitchen revealed that conditions were perfect for my first attempt at this dish. I had a bottle of tamarind sauce from an international grocery shopping spree of long ago, a bag of scallions in the freezer, frozen chicken tenderloins, stir-fry rice noodles, and several cloves of garlic. And that new bottle of soy sauce. It was a done deal - Pad Thai was happening.

I looked up a few recipes to get a general sense of what to do and then started frying. I make no claims that this is a remotely authentic method of preparation, but what I can say is that my kitchen quickly started to smell amazing, and what resulted lived up to the smell. This comes together pretty quickly and is easily doubled if you're cooking for more than one. Whether this is an old favorite or you're developing a new taste like I was, I think you'll love this recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Pad Thai
Makes 1 serving

Small handful of Stir-Fry Rice Noodles (just enough for 1 serving)
1 - 2 tsp. olive oil
1 small chicken tenderloin, chopped into small pieces (or about half of a chicken breast)
1-2 scallions
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. crushed cashews or peanuts
1 tbsp. reduced sodium gluten-free soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. tamarind sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 - 2 tsp. lime juice
Ground black pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper to taste
Salt (optional - you probably won't need it because of the soy sauce)
1 egg

*If you have a wok, that will be the optimal pan to use, but a nonstick pan will work just as well.

Place the rice noodles in a bowl and pour several cups of boiling water over them. Set the timer for 8 minutes and let them soak. You want them to be soft but not too soft; otherwise, they'll break up in the pan when you fry them. When they are al dente, drain them and set aside. If you aren't going to be using them right away, you might want to cover them in the interim with a bit of cold water to keep them from sticking to each other.

In a nonstick pan or wok, heat the oil. Add the garlic, scallions, cashews, and chicken and cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through. Add the cooked noodles, soy sauce, tamarind sauce, sugar, lime juice, and spices and cook until the sauce is mostly absorbed. Push it all to the side of the pan and crack the egg into the open space. Quickly scramble it, keeping it on that side of the pan until done, and then mix to combine it with the rest of the ingredients. Serve immediately topped with another squirt of lime juice and crushed cashews or peanuts.

Chocolate Blackberry Protein Bars

2011-05-15T20:31:00.002-05:00

I'm writing this from the throes of a gluten reaction, so this post will be pretty short and sweet. I've been meaning to post about these for a while now, though, and since I've been otherwise terrifically unproductive today, I'll feel better if I've at least been able to share the recipe with you.

You may be wondering why I've classified a protein bar as a dessert. But these are switch hitters. They strike that delicate balance between being healthy and being, well, dessert-y. But trust me, they are as delicious as they are easy to make. You can decide for yourself just how healthy they are, but my own opinion is that the sugar from the jam and chocolate chips is more or less canceled out by the dense, protein-filled, plain chickpea flour base. I'm convinced that it all has to do with some complex mathematical culinary equation. Which, of course, means that you can eat way more of them under the guise of their being secretly healthy. If my friends and I are any indication, it will just take one bite for you and your friends to be hooked.

Chocolate Blackberry Protein Bars
Makes one 8 x 8 pan

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
4 - 6 tbsp. blackberry jam
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Spray a nonstick 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray.

Combine the chickpea flour, water and salt in a small bowl and mix until all clumps are gone. Pour into the pan and spread evenly.

Sprinkle in the chocolate chips evenly over the whole pan. Microwave the jam for 20 - 30 seconds until softened, then drizzle it over the batter. Use a fork or knife to swirl it in evenly. If desired, sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly over the batter.

Bake at 425 F for 15 - 20 minutes, or just until slightly browned at the edges and cooked through. Remove from the oven and let cool before serving. Cut into pieces and store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. They are best if warmed slightly before eating.

Teff Stovetop Flatbread

2011-05-12T01:36:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago, I came across a recipe for 30-minute flatbread on the Gluten-free Cooking School's website, and I've been meaning to share my modification of it with you ever since. I decided to experiment with making it more whole-grain with teff and sorghum flour, and because I had also been talking with a friend about her recent experiments with stovetop flatbread pizzas, opted to cook it in a skillet instead of in the oven.

It was so. good. This had one of the best tastes I've ever had in a gluten-free bread, and the texture is amazing, with a perfect balance between the dense whole grains and the fluffy starch. And it bends. You know, without crumbling to pieces. It is a very quick and easy way to put bread on the table that, well, tastes like real bread (as if that is too much to ask). I have used this to make stovetop pizzas, as a bread to scoop up stew, and wrapped around a hot dog as a sort of bun. You can definitely make this in the oven instead of on the stove if you want. It's fantastic either way!

Teff Stovetop Flatbread (Adapted from this recipe from the Gluten-free Cooking School)

1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 eggs

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients and mix. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix to combine.

Spray a nonstick cooking skillet with cooking spray and put over medium heat. To make each flatbread: scoop out about 1/3 - 1/2 cup of dough and spread it evenly around the pan to make a flatbread. Cover the skillet with a lid to make a sort of makeshift stovetop oven and cook for 4 - 5 minutes (until browned). Flip, then cook for another 4 - 5 minutes or until cooked completely through. Remove from pan. Serve immediately if desired.

To bake in oven: Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray two 8x8 pans with cooking spray and divide the dough into two halves. Spread each half of the dough evenly across the bottom of the pans. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and slice to serve immediately.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for several months.

Serving suggestions:
-Eat plain! It's delicious.
-Top with your favorite pizza toppings and melt some Daiya cheese on top for a stovetop pizza.
-Fold in half to make a hot dog or hamburger bun.
-Fold in half to make a lavash-style wrap.
-Top with peanut butter and jelly.

Decadent Fudge Brownies

2011-05-08T22:22:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie to you. These are NOT healthy brownies. There are no black beans hidden in them to give you a protein boost; there's no banana or applesauce to replace the fat. No cocoa powder to cut some of the calories, and no agave nectar to replace white sugar. These are full-on chocolate fudge brownies. If you're looking for a healthy brownie, you may want to excuse yourself and find a different recipe.

But for the rest of you, these are probably exactly what you're looking for. They are chewy, fudgey, and dense. They taste illicit. And they are addictive. I brought them to a dinner party with three friends, and we scarfed them down as if we hadn't just eaten a full meal minutes before. We looked up at each other at one point, and one of my friends said with wide eyes, "I think I just ate four of those. And not four small ones, either." By that time, I think the rest of us had lost count of how many we had eaten. That should probably tell you how fantastic these are.

I tend to like my brownies extra-fudgey and underbake them a bit to get that texture (just by a few minutes), but you can bake these a bit longer if you want to try for a more cake-y texture (although I have not tried it myself). Either way, this is one recipe that mimics its gluten counterpart to a tee, and in my opinion, may even surpass it. And it's appropriate for moderate to hardcore chocolate fans.

Decadent Fudge Brownies
Makes a 9 x 13 inch pan

8 oz.(1 stick) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, sliced into 1-inch pieces
8 oz. Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% Chocolate
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond flour
1/8 cup sorghum flour
1/8 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional toppings to swirl into batter:
4 tbsp. creamy peanut butter (optional)
4 tbsp. Marshmallow Fluff (optional)
4 tbsp. blackberry or raspberry jam (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with foil or spray with cooking spray.

Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water; stir frequently until chocolate and butter are melted. Alternatively, place them in the microwave for 2 - 4 minutes, stirring frequently to break up the clumps of chocolate. Let cool for 10 minutes (til they are about at room temperature).

Stir the sugar into the melted chocolate until combined. Stir in the eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla.

In a small bowl, combine the almond flour, sorghum flour, tapioca starch, and salt. Gently fold the mixture into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth top. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and pres lightly into the batter. If you want some extra special brownies, swirl in Marshmallow Fluff, peanut butter, and/or jam with a knife.

Bake until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, anywhere from 35-45 minutes (I baked mine for 39 minutes or so). Start checking them after about 30 minutes to gauge how quickly they are baking so you don't overbake them. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve once cooled. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze; reheat before serving. Delicious served with vanilla or peppermint ice cream.

Noodle Omelette

2011-05-06T07:00:00.015-05:00

Has anyone perfected the amount of noodles to make for one serving? I often add just a few too many to the pot by mistake and end up with a little container with the unused ones sitting in my fridge. They sit there, plain, sauceless, and sadly forgotten. Too few in number to be a full serving of pasta, but too many to throw away.

The other day, determined not to let them go to waste, I got a little experimental. I tossed them in a bowl, added an egg, some frozen kale, and Daiya cheese. I crossed my fingers and poured it all into a hot skillet, forming it into a pancake-like omelette. And what resulted was pretty delicious, I have to say. It was so simple to make and accomplished simultaneous goals of using up leftovers (thus avoiding the guilt of throwing food away) and having a meal on the table quickly (it took me all of 5 minutes from start to finish). So if you're like me and have some leftover noodles taunting you from the fridge, give this a try!

Noodle Omelette
Makes 1

1/3 - 1/2 cup cooked brown rice noodles
1 egg
1/4 cup frozen kale or spinach
2 -3 tbsp. soy creamer
1/4 cup Daiya Vegan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and preheat over medium heat. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into the skillet and cook for 2 - 4 minutes, or until the omelette is set. Flip it over carefully and continue to cook until the egg is cooked through. Serve with a fresh salad or on its own.

Ratio Rally: Strawberry Banana Scones with Lemon-Almond Glaze

2011-05-04T03:00:00.018-05:00

What do you think of when you hear the word "scones"? I think of tea. Proper English teas, with tiny cucumber sandwiches and fancy tiered trays of desserts and small porcelain cups. I think of raised pinky fingers.

This month, the Gluten-free Ratio Rally took on scones.

It's hard to find a universal ratio for scones. Michael Ruhlman doesn't lay out a ratio for them. He gives one for biscuits, but while scones are related, they're really somewhere in their own separate domain. You can see the family resemblance. A similar profile; a familiar crumb. But they have their own thing going on. They're independent.

So this month was particularly challenging, because not only was I trying to find the right combination of flavors, but I was also trying to find the right ratio at the same time. To complicate matters, there are different kinds of scones as well - classic scones, cream scones, drop scones.... It's almost enough to make you throw in the towel and just make a cake or cookies instead. Almost.

I hope it goes without saying that I had my fair share of baking failures this month. Some were too liquidy, while others were too dry. (I realize that it's starting to sound like the scones version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but seriously, the consistency was really tough!) The first batch that actually tasted good turned out to be more like a cake than a scone. Delicious, yes. But scones they were not.

But finally came a version that I could dust with flour and pat out into rounds. I could cut it into pieces and move those pieces to a baking sheet without them falling apart. And they baked up into wonderful scones which, especially when paired with the lemon-almond glaze, tasted pretty heavenly. They were dry enough to be, well, scones and crumble apart, but moist enough to actually stay together. The ratio of flour : liquid : egg : fat I ended up with was 2.5 : 1 : 0.5 : 1. Kind of a strange ratio, but there it is all the same.

I think it's important to note that the strawberry flavor may not come through very strongly if you don't add the chopped strawberries to the batter. If you don't want to add them for some reason, I'd add a bit of strawberry extract to make sure that it gets its fair share of the limelight. Also, I did add chocolate chips to some of these to test out the flavor. They were really good, although I sort of had the feeling that they were standing between the lemon almond glaze and my palate. So I've included them in the recipe as optional, and depending on how much you love chocolate and strawberries together, you can take them or leave them.

These are best eaten warm. Warm from the oven is best (does anyone out there really wait for baked goods to cool before eating them? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who goes right in for a taste...right?), but at least microwaved for 10-30 seconds if you're having one from the fridge or freezer.

So here you go. Put the kettle on - it's time for tea.

Strawberry Banana Scones with Lemon-Almond Glaze
Makes 12 medium scones

For scones:
75 g almond flour
100 g brown rice flour (plus extra for kneading/dusting)
75 g tapioca starch
50 g potato starch
45 g granulated sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
50 g shortening
100 g banana (1 small ripe banana), cut into pieces
100 g pureed strawberries
1 egg or Egg Replacer
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries
Optional: 1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips
Optional: 2 - 4 tbsp. non-dairy milk to

For Lemon Almond Glaze:
60 - 100 g powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract (this is very strong, so use sparingly and to your own taste!)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 - 3 tsp. cold water (until you have desired consistency)

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and combine well. Add the shortening and cut it into the flour with a pie cutter. Add the banana pieces and cut those in the same way.

In a separate bowl, mix together the strawberry puree, egg, and vanilla. Stir just until combined and then add in the chopped strawberries (if you want, reserve a few to place on top of the scones as they are baking).

Dust a flat surface generously with brown rice flour (this dough will be kind of sticky). Shape the dough into a circle about 7 - 8 inches in diameter and dust generously with brown rice flour. Using a large knife, cut it into sixths and place the pieces onto the greased baking sheets. If desired, press a few strawberry pieces into the top of each one. Using a pastry brush, brush a light coating of the non-dairy milk onto each scone.

Bake at 425 F for 12 - 18 minutes or until firm to the touch and ever-so-lightly browned. Remove from oven and leave on the hot baking trays for a few minutes to help them solidify more, then remove to a rack to cool.

Drizzle with the lemon almond glaze (see below) when they are completely cooled. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days or freeze. Warm before serving.

To make Lemon Almond Glaze:
Combine all ingredients and mix well until you have the consistency you want (you want it to be relatively thick so it stays on the scones). Drizzle over the cooled scones.

If you like scones, you'll want to check out what everyone else came up with this month - they all look pretty fabulous to me! For a complete list of scone creations from the other gluten-free bloggers in the Ratio Rally, visit Lauren's site, Celiac Teen. She hosted the Gluten-free Ratio Rally this month.

Amie of The Healthy Apple made Rice Crispy Scones
Britt of GF in the City made Blueberry Buttermilk Scones
Brooke of B & the Boy made Coconut scones
Caleigh of Gluten-Free[k] made Scones
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten-Free made Savory Jalapeño Cheese scones
Caroline of The G-Spot made Carrot Raisin Scones with Cinnamon Glaze
Charissa of Zest Bakery made Amaretto-Soaked Cherry and Almond Scones
Erin of the Sensitive Epicure made Millet Scones
Gretchen of Kumquat made Maple Oat Nut Scones
Irvin of Eat the Love made Savory Green Garlic Bacon Thyme Scones with White Pepper Maple Glaze
Jeanette of Jeanette’s Healthy Living made Coconut Pineapple Scones
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine made Banana Apple & Currant Scones
Karen of Cooking Gluten-Free made Oat Scones with Currants
Kate of Katealice Cookbook made Cinnamon Fruit Scones
Lauren of Celiac Teen made Multigrain Scones
Lisa of Gluten-Free Canteen made Bisconies
Lisa of With Style and Grace made Lavender Earl Grey Lemon Scones
Marla of Family Fresh Cooking made Vegan Avocado Scones
Meaghan of Wicked Good Vegan made Simple Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam
Melanie of Mindful Food made Hazelnut Cream Scones with Blackberry Jam
Meredith of Gluten Free Betty made Cinnamon Raisin Scones
Mrs. R of Honey from Flinty Rocks made Classic Cream Scones and Almond Fig Scones
Peter and Kelli of No Gluten No Problem made Mesquite Scones
Sea of Book of Yum made Dairy-free Scones
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef made Currant Scones
Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen made Pecan Streusel Scones with Cinnamon Drizzle
Tara of A Baking Life made Ginger Scones
TR of No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Cinnamon Pecan Scones
Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie made Red Velvet Scones
Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen made Coconut Raisin Scones

Sun-dried Tomato, Basil, and Garlic Chickpea Farinata

2011-05-01T09:29:00.002-05:00

This is sort of the power bar of bread. I have written about farinata before, but since then, have experimented more with different flavors, as well as the consistency and how thick to make it. This is my favorite new version so far - it's not quite as thick and bakes up in just 15 minutes, and it's loaded with the wonderful flavors of sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and Italian herbs. I have used it as a pizza crust, pan-fried it with melted Daiya cheese on top, and eaten it warm from the oven. But I also find it to be a fantastic snack to bring along with me to munch, as it's full of protein, low in fat, and totally delicious. The best thing about this recipe is that it is totally adaptable to whatever flavors you feel like in that moment. Just start with the 1:1 ratio of chickpea flour to water and then add whatever else your heart desires. I have yet to try a sweet version of this bread (although that is coming soon - I am thinking about a chocolate chip and berry jam swirl?), but so far, every savory combination I've tried has been fantastic. It's great with cumin, but this recipe is proof positive that it meshes with Italian spices and herbs as well. So while I definitely recommend trying out this particular combination of flavors, you can just add whatever happens to sound the most delicious to you in the moment.

Sun-dried Tomato, Basil, and Garlic Chickpea Farinata
Makes a 9-inch round pan

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp. crushed oregano
1 tsp. crushed basil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a 9-inch round non-stick pan with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the chickpea flour and water and mix well to get rid of any lumps. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Pour into the pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, or just until slightly golden brown on top and the sides start to pull away from the edges of the pan. Remove from oven and slice to serve immediately. Store slices in the fridge for up to a week for snacking.

Serving suggestions:
-Serve plain and warm
-Toast slices on a skillet and melt some cheese (or "cheese") on top
-Use as a base for pizza
-Slice into bars and wedges and pack for a snack on-the-go

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Rosemary, Garlic, and Lemon

2011-04-29T09:29:00.001-05:00

This is a perfect example of the power of a few simple, strong flavors that come together, mingle, and become something amazing. My kitchen smelled ridiculously good while this was baking, and the taste lived up to it. My cousin had emailed me this recipe a while ago, and I dutifully bookmarked it. I looked at it periodically and thought about making it. Then I got busy and forgot about it.

But last week, when a good friend of mine was in town and I was looking for something to make for dinner, I came back to it. I tweaked and adapted, adding a little more of this and a little less of that. And it was so good. It's pretty simple to throw together, and the resulting lemon-rosemary-garlic flavor is wonderful (but not too overpowering - and you can add less or more of any of those elements). You can use boneless skinless chicken breasts like I did (because that's what I had in my freezer) or you can use bone-in chicken with the skin on, if you prefer. This recipe will forgive you for adjusting the ingredients according to your own tastes.

It's one of those dinners that looks and tastes kind of fancy, but is really quite low-maintenance in its preparation. Just be careful to bake it just until the chicken is a little crispy, but not for too long, lest it get too dry. And if you have leftovers, you can sprinkle a bit more lemon juice over it before heating it up again to keep it from drying out.

My friend told me she was drooling all the way from the driveway, as she could smell this wafting from my house as soon as she got out of her car. So, you should totally try out this recipe and see for yourself. Just be aware that anyone within a certain radius of your house might show up at your door, demanding a taste.

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Rosemary, Garlic, and Lemon
Makes 3 - 4 servings

6 small red potatoes, cleaned
4 small boneless chicken breasts (you can use bone-in if you prefer), cut into large chunks
2 - 3 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary + 3 more whole sprigs (to taste)
3 - 5 cloves garlic, minced finely (to taste)
Juice of 2 lemons
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
10 oz. sliced button or portabella mushrooms

Preheat oven to 450 F. Line a baking dish with foil.

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes (until tender) and drain. Slice into halves or quarters and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the chopped rosemary, the juice of one of the lemons, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, and olive oil. Place the chicken pieces in the bowl and toss to coat well. Dump the entire thing (including the juice) into a skillet and cook the chicken over medium heat for about 5 - 8 minutes, until browned on all sides. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook for 2 - 3 more minutes. If your skillet is big enough, add the potatoes. If not, remove the chicken-mushroom mixture to a large bowl and toss together with the potato pieces.

Pour the entire thing into your baking dish. Sprinkle the juice of the other lemon over the entire thing and add the remaining sprigs of rosemary, tearing off large pieces to evenly distribute it around the pan. Bake at 450 for 20 - 25 minutes or until the chicken is nicely browned (stir it a few times to coat with the juice while baking). Remove from oven and serve with rice, flatbread, or another vegetable side dish.

Matzoh Toffee Bark

2011-04-21T20:24:00.006-05:00

So you've spent a week eating matzoh with anything you can think of (I have personally eaten it so far with various nut butters, tuna salad, charoset, and jam). Maybe you've eaten more matzoh balls than you'd care to admit at this point. Yet, somehow, seemingly impossibly....you still have matzoh leftover.

So what to do with all that extra unleavened goodness? Here's one very simple, easy, and quick way to turn it into something amazing. Think of it as a Matzoh Makeover - you won't recognize it, I swear! This toffee bark comes from a recipe that my friend Lisa used to make for us when we lived with three other roommates in college. Lisa is an artist, which is perhaps why she has managed to turn even toffee bark production into an art form. She knows exactly when the sugar and butter are juuuust browned enough to be done, without letting it get so browned that it burns. She would work her magic and we would sit around the finished product, breaking piece after piece of this deliciously crunchy and sweet treat as we chatted late into the night.

While I admit the thought of burning the sugar was daunting to me as well, truly, the hardest thing about this recipe is letting it sit in your fridge long enough to get crunchy without eating it. I think it took me 15 or 20 minutes from start to finish to make it, and 5 of those consisted of waiting while it was in the oven. And if you don't have matzoh, you can try it with your favorite gluten-free crackers instead. Just try to use a lightly salted kind that will be as close to saltines or Ritz crackers as possible (Glutino crackers come to mind as a possible alternative, although I have not tried them in this recipe myself).

I won't lie to you. This is really, really addictive stuff. It has a wonderful sweet and slightly salty flavor (although I almost am tempted to add a bit of extra salt if I make it again since my matzohs were unsalted. Chocolate + salt = heaven.). The matzoh I used is thinner than most saltines - which is what the original recipe calls for - but it still worked really well in this recipe. It gives it that lovely crunch you want it to have. If you're feeling like it, drizzle some peanut butter onto the hot sugar and crackers before spreading the chocolate on. That may be taking it a step too far for some people. But for peanut butter fiends (we know who we are), it will make this even more of a treat.

Go ahead. Indulge. Breathe some life (and, um, butter and sugar) into that leftover matzoh.

Matzoh Toffee Bark
Makes an 8 x 8 tray of toffee bark

2 matzohs, broken into smaller pieces OR your favorite lightly salted gluten-free crackers (the best ones for this recipe will be like Ritz or saltine crackers in taste/texture)
1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 stick)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Trader Joe's brand)
Handful of sprinkles (Let's Do....Organic sprinkles are gluten-free!) or chopped nuts (optional)
2 - 4 tbsp. slightly melted peanut butter (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line an 8 x 8 pan with a sheet of wax paper.

Break the matzohs into pieces and spread them evenly over the wax paper.

In a small pan, melt the butter and sugar together over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then continue to boil for exactly 5 minutes. Pour over the matzoh in the pan, spreading it evenly. Place in the oven for 5 - 7 minutes, but watch it very carefully. It should be bubbling and just barely brown around the edges when you take it out. If you leave it in longer - even a few minutes longer - it might burn. I left mine in the oven for exactly 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

Immediately upon removing it from the oven, spread the chocolate chips evenly over the hot mixture. (If you're adding peanut butter, drizzle that on first and spread it around.) If the chocolate chips don't melt right away, place the pan back in the oven for 30 seconds or so until you can spread them. Spread them out evenly to form a thick layer of chocolate over the whole thing, and then sprinkle the sprinkles or mixed nuts evenly on top (if you are using them). Let cool for a bit, and then place in the fridge for several hours to chill. Once it's chilled, flip it out of the pan and peel the wax paper off and break it into smaller pieces. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for as long as they last! You can also freeze them if you want to keep them for longer.

Flourless Mini Carrot Cakes for Passover

2011-04-20T08:46:00.002-05:00

I am really on a roll with Passover food this year. Usually I stick to a few favorites, but this year I've tried out several new recipes fit for the holiday, including this one and Flourless Orange Almond Cupcakes from last month. The great thing about Passover food is that so much of it is naturally gluten-free. It's kind of like our holiday, too.

I love carrot cake to begin with, and so when a friend of mine from school brought me a recipe for a flourless Passover version, snipped from the newspaper, I got really excited. It only requires a few ingredients, and is sort of like a soft, lighter pudding version of the dense carrot cake I'm used to. (Not that I'm disparaging the density of that cake. I love that cake.) This version, however, is seriously delicious ("a keeper," as one of my friends called it last night).

I halved the original recipe and made them into mini-cakes using my Fox English Muffin Rings. This worked pretty well, although the batter is so runny that a little of it did escape from under the rings and onto the cookie sheet. If you have any small custard dishes (about 4 inches in diameter), those would probably work better. You could also use mini-loaf pans or a 9-inch round pan and just monitor it closely for doneness. You could also make the original recipe by clicking here and making into a regular-sized cake as directed. I added some pumpkin pie spice to mine and upped the cinnamon as well because I wanted it to taste like true carrot cake. But that's really between you and your tastebuds. I'll stay out of it.

If you like carrot cake, though, I hope you'll give this recipe a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Flourless Mini Carrot Cakes (Adapted from this recipe)
Makes 8 mini cakes (can easily be doubled according to recipe in link above)

4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. white sugar
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup almond meal/flour (or substitute hazelnut flour)
1 1/4 cups finely shredded carrots

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, then arrange the 8 English Muffin rings on top and coat them all with cooking spray. Or, prepare 4-inch custard dishes in the same way.

Separate 3 of the eggs, placing the egg whites and yolks in separate bowls. Add the last (whole) egg to the egg yolks. Using an electric mixer, beat them together. Add the 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating. Add the lemon juice and zest, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and vanilla. Finally, beat in the almond flour and carrots.

Now rinse off your mixing paddles, and then beat the 3 egg whites and 1 tbsp. sugar together until stiff peaks form (about 2 - 4 minutes). Gently fold the egg whites into the carrot-almond mixture. Spoon equal amounts gently into each of the English Muffin Rings or custard dishes.

Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes, or just until set. The tops should be slightly browned and should spring back when you push on them lightly, and a toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean. Remove from oven and let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then slide the parchment paper off of the hot tray and onto the counter to cool the rest of the way. Let cool for a full 45 minutes to an hour before serving.

Top with a light vanilla glaze or sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon to serve. (Check to make sure that the ingredients you use for that are kosher if you want it to be a Passover dessert, though!) Keep these in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Simple Vanilla Glaze
2 tbsp. Tofutti Vegan Cream Cheese
1/4 - 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 - 2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together very well until there are no clumps. Drizzle or spread over the mini-cakes in a thin layer. Sprinkle some cinnamon over the top for a nice visual.

Passover Charoset

2011-04-18T19:12:00.004-05:00

Charoset (pronounced ha-ROW-set) is arguably one of the easiest Passover dishes to prepare, and one of the best foods of this holiday, in my opinion. It is also one of the most varied, with recipes and ingredients ranging widely depending on the Jewish tradition, as well as the particular Jewish family. Some use apples and dates, while others use figs and almonds. Some people use cinnamon alone, while others use a wider variety of spices. Check out the Jewess with Attitude's blog post, Charoset Medley, to find out more about the endless possibilities of this dish. And the best part is that charoset is naturally gluten-free. No modifications necessary! Suffice to say, I have yet to find a charoset that I do NOT like.

Charoset is eaten as part of a traditional seder dinner and is a sweet paste made of fruits, nuts, red wine, and sugar, usually eaten as a topping for matzoh crackers. (And by the way, do you all know about Yehuda Gluten-free Matzoh crackers?? They are pictured in this post.) The paste-like consistency symbolizes the mortar that Israelite slaves used to bind bricks together when they were building cities in Ancient Egypt. I've seen it as a very chunky paste before (almost like a sweet, wine-infused salad), but also sometimes as a very thick, smooth paste, in which all ingredients have been very well-blended. My own family's recipe is of the chunky variety, but you could easily puree this to make it more mortar-like if you want to increase the symbolic power of this delicious Passover treat. What follows is the delicious recipe that I enjoy every year on Passover, but I encourage you to experiment with this and other charoset recipes to find one you love!

Charoset
Makes enough for 3-4 moderately hungry seder guests

1 whole apple, peeled, cored, and very finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or almonds (or as much as you like!)
4 dates, chopped into small pieces
Handful of raisins
Red wine to coat
Cinnamon (to taste)
White and brown sugar (to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Adjust sugar and wine to taste. Chill until ready to serve. Eat as a topping for gluten-free matzoh.

Lemon Passover Cupcakes with Blackberry Jam and Lemon Glaze

2011-04-16T18:38:00.015-05:00

This cake is not just for Passover, friends. And it's not even just for the Jews. I'm convinced that this is one that everyone will like. I try to test out as many of my recipes as I can on my friends so that, by the time I post it to the blog, I have gathered as much (hopefully honest!) feedback as possible. So last week, I brought this cake to my classmates and to several other friends (the brave souls who are willing to serve as taste-testers for all of you!).

And the feedback? They liked it. Like, really liked it. And I am so glad they did, because this is one of my favorite cakes. It's got a lovely lemon flavor without being overpowering, which means it pairs perfectly with jam (mmm, it's so amazing with jam!) and/or a simple lemon glaze. It's light, airy, slightly spongy but not too spongy. In fact, it's so light that you'll be tempted to eat 2 - 3 times the normal volume of cake you might normally consume - just a fair warning.

This cake is pretty minimalist in its ingredients and the batter comes together pretty quickly. You can make it as cupcakes (I had trouble getting them to puff up as much in a muffin pan as they did as cakes, although they tasted equally delicious both ways), as mini cake loaves, or as an angel food-style cake (which will take considerably longer to bake). Directions for each one of these variations is below.

It's true that this is a cake borne out of Passover restrictions. And by all means, eat it at Passover - eat a lot of it at Passover. Eat it completely plain. Top it with fresh fruit. Or fill it with jam and add a lemon glaze - whatever you like. Just don't tuck the recipe away for a whole year once the holiday's over.

Lemon Passover Cupcakes with Blackberry Jam and Lemon Glaze
Makes 24 cupcakes, 5 - 6 mini cake loaves, or 1 regular angel food cake

7 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1 /2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest from one lemon
3/4 cup potato starch
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. If making cupcakes, grease two muffin trays with cooking spray or line with paper cupcake liners. If making angel food cake, get out an angel food cake pan but don't grease it. If you are making mini cake loaves, prepare 5 glass mini loaf pans by spraying them with cooking spray or greasing and then dusting with flour. (You don't have to grease the angel food cake pan because you'll be able to cut it out of the pan when you take it apart, but if you don't grease the mini loaf pans, it will stick!).

Separate six of the eggs. Beat the six yolks and the remaining whole egg until frothy. Gradually add sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest, beating constantly and thoroughly at medium/high speed. Then gradually add the potato starch, beating constantly to ensure thorough blending.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff but not dry (it should form stiff peaks). Fold gently but thoroughly into the egg-yolk mixture.

For cupcakes: Bake in at 350 F for about 15 - 22 minutes or until the cupcakes are lightly browned and spring back when touched gently with fingers. Let cool completely before trying to remove; you may have to cut them out or use a fork to pry them out if you don't use paper liners.

For mini cake loaves: Bake in at 350 F for about 30 - 40 minutes or until the cakes are lightly browned and spring back when touched gently with fingers. Let cool completely before trying to remove; you may have to cut them out or use a fork to pry them out.

For angel food cake: Bake in at 350 F for about 50 - 55 minutes or until the cake is lightly browned and springs back when touched gently with fingers. Invert pan and cool thoroughly before removing cake. Remove by running a knife around all edges to cut the cake out.

For the cupcakes pictured above:
When the cupcakes/cakes are cooled, use a knife to cut "slits" into it. Fill the slits with a dark berry jam (i.e. blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, etc.). Just make sure it's kosher! Then drizzle some lemon glaze over the top. Let the glaze harden before serving.

For lemon glaze, mix together:
1/2 - 1 cup powdered sugar (make sure there is no cornstarch in this if you want this to be kosher!)
1 tsp. potato or arrowroot starch (more if needed)
3 tsp. lemon juice
water to desired consistency

Drizzle over the cake and let harden before serving.

OR you can serve plain or as a base for fruit shortcake (with sliced strawberries, blueberries, or any other dark berries).

Gluten-free Easter Candy

2011-04-13T13:55:00.000-05:00

For those of you who celebrate Easter (or for those of us who just really like Easter candy), here's a great list of gluten-free Easter Candy. I found this on www.myglutenfacts.com.

Please note that I cannot independently verify that this list is completely accurate and encourage you to use your best judgment when purchasing and consuming anything on this list, but I thought it was at least worth sharing with you so you can see that there is still candy that is safe for us. The list is coded as follows:

CL = Cleaned Production Line (no gluten ingredients, and made on machinery that DOES process other gluten-containing products. However, the manufacturer states that they use good manufacturing processes to clean the equipment between products)

DL = Dedicated Production Line (no gluten ingredients, and made on machinery that only processes gluten-free products)

DF = Dedicated Facility (no gluten ingredients, and no gluten-containing products made in the same building)

Everyone's body is different and sensitive in different ways, and what one person is able to tolerate or is comfortable with may not be right for another. If you're unsure how strict to be, please discuss this with your doctor.

But whatever you do, go enjoy some candy!!

Banana Corn Muffins

2011-04-11T07:00:00.009-05:00

Well, I thought that I had a favorite corn muffin. But there's a new contender on the scene. How does the saying go? A lack of ingredients is the mother of invention - or something like that.

Yesterday, I went to an "April Fools" party at a friend's house, and since I knew there was a huge pot of chili waiting there, decided I'd make some corn muffins to share. My go-to recipe for corn muffins is the Gluten-free Goddess' sweet potato corn bread recipe, which I dutifully opened in my browser. Then I checked my pantry - no squash puree of any kind. Ok - no problem. This is why I buy bananas, let them get all brown and spotty, and then freeze them. I took a few from the freezer, defrosted them, and then used them (with some applesauce) in place of the squash. The result? Deliciousness. I still love the sweet potato version, but these make an excellent alternative. They puff up beautifully and have a slight sweetness from both the banana and the cornmeal (so be forewarned that this is not the savory kind of cornbread that Southerners prefer!). They were great with the chili, but you don't need chili as an excuse to make these. These can stand on their own and would make a fantastic portable breakfast or snack, too. And they come together so quickly, you'll be eating one before you know it.

Banana Corn Muffins (Inspired by, and adapted from, the Gluten-free Goddess' Sweet Potato Cornbread recipe)
Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 small overripe bananas (a little more than 1/2 cup)
3 - 4 tbsp. cup smooth applesauce (the bananas and applesauce together should total 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
(OR 1 cup of your favorite gluten-free flour blend - just be careful to reduce the baking powder and baking
soda if it's a self-rising blend)
1 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking power
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the bananas, applesauce, and sugar, eliminating as many lumps as possible. (You can do this by hand, but it might be easier to use an electric mixer.) Add the eggs and canola oil and continue to stir until well-mixed.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin tins. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm from the oven, if possible. If not, refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve, then heat in the microwave.

Flourless Brownies

2011-04-09T22:50:00.004-05:00

I don't know if you can call these healthy perse, but you can definitely call them healthier than regular brownies. They are incredibly moist, chocolatey, and full of amazing flavor with every bite. They are probably the healthiest, most protein-filled brownies you'll ever eat.

And now I'll tell you the secret of why that is. These are black bean brownies. I know, I know. Beans. In brownies. I had never tried black bean brownies before and can say that at best, I was skeptical. There's a reason I had avoided making them. I don't like the taste of bean flour in baked goods, and I could not fathom that a brownie with black beans as the backbone of the entire recipe would NOT taste beany. But....they really don't taste beany! I swear!

I had to resort to some trickery to find this out, though. You tell someone that you're giving them a black bean brownie, they are going to imagine that they taste like black beans. So....I just didn't tell anyone. I'd recommend calling these simply "flourless brownies." Your friends will probably think they are delicious, moist, and full of chocolate flavor. They might wonder how you made them taste so good. But they will definitely not guess that the answer is black beans. I promise.

Right before putting these into the oven, I had one of my peanut butter-crazed moments, grabbed the jar off my shelf and drizzled it over half of the pan. Then I added some of the homemade marshmallows I had left. Swirled perfection. But they are fantastic plain as well, so feel free to leave the chocolate unmitigated.

Flourless Brownies (Adapted from this recipe)

1 15 oz. can black beans,drained and rinsed very well
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup melted Earth Balance Butter Stick, cooled slightly (so they don't cook the eggs)
1 tbsp. applesauce (or 1 extra tbsp. of Earth Balance)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips
Optional: 1/2 - 1 cup small marshmallows
Optional: 2 tbsp. peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan or line with wax paper.

Combine everything but the melted butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows, and peanut butter in a food processor and process until perfectly smooth, about 4 - 6 minutes. As it is processing, add the melted butter a little at a time so the heat doesn't cook the eggs. Once everything is combined, stop the processor and stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Spread evenly into the pan and, if desired, swirl in peanut butter and marshmallows with a knife so that they are slightly mixed into the batter. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean (I baked these for exactly 29 minutes and they were still fairly moist, but I like my brownies that way.)

*Note: the original recipe called for 3 eggs, but I used only 2 because I like my brownies to be denser and richer. But if you like yours a bit cakier, go ahead and add all 3 in!

**These are best made the same day that you want to serve them. After a day or more, they still taste great but start to look less pretty. Keep them in the fridge for best results!

Piña Colada Muffins for the Gluten-free Ratio Rally

2011-04-05T23:12:00.008-05:00

I have been baking for as long as I can remember. In fact, one of my first memories is standing on a chair next to my mom in the kitchen of our tiny house in St. Louis when I was about 3 years old, peering over her shoulder as she sifted flour into a large mixing bowl. (Of course, part of why that memory sticks is probably what happened next - I got a little too engrossed in peering and toppled into the wall headfirst, ending up in the ER for stitches. But the baking part is really clear to me, too, I swear.). My childhood is full of moments like that, watching my mom bake loaf after loaf of fluffy braided challah early on the morning of our annual Hanukkah party, or cutting out cookies at Christmas, or stirring the thick batter of a cake just because she felt like making one. It's no wonder to me that I grew to love baking too, and in a deeply therapeutic way. I'm not good at painting, drawing, or really any other fine arts. But baking is my escape, and my place of creation.

Woven into each of those memories, whether explicit or not, was almost always a recipe. A map of ingredients and instructions. Something passed down from a generation past, or found while rooting through the worn pages of a favorite cookbook, or even a recipe discovered online, rated and tweaked by dozens of other bakers. I have always been slightly afraid of changing recipes for fear of destroying whatever internal balance has been so delicately constructed. Even though I've done my fair share of tweaking recipes, it was always with trepidation, and without a clear understanding of what it really is that makes bread bread-y, a muffin muffin-y, and a cake cake-y. I've experimented, yes - but I've always respected the recipe. Feared the recipe, in a way.

So when I was perusing my usual food blogs one day last month and came across the Gluten-free Girl's post on the Gluten-free Ratio Rally, I was immediately intrigued. Here was a group of gluten-free bloggers breaking free from the bonds of recipes to get at what really underlies them all: a simple ratio. Flour, liquid, egg, and fat - these ingredients appear in so many different kinds of baked goods, but without knowing how much of each one is in a pancake versus a biscuit, you'll have to follow a recipe. Once you know the ratio at work, though, the world of gluten-free ingredients is your oyster. As long as you measure each class of ingredient in the proper ratio by weight instead of volume (using ounces or grams instead of cup measures), you can create new recipes to your heart's content, using whichever flours and flavors you want. You can reshelve your cookbooks. That's right - you can create recipes. Seriously.

The idea of baking from a ratio of weights makes so much sense when you think about it. As bakers, we all measure things slightly differently. The weight of my cup of flour may be quite different from your cup of flour, depending on how much the flour settles. This is especially in gluten-free baking, in which so many different kinds of flours are used; the weight of 1 cup of sorghum flour will be very different from 1 cup of potato starch, for instance. The amount of flour used in a recipe can therefore vary quite widely if it's measured by volume (cups) instead of by weight.

Last month, the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally bloggers took on pancakes as their challenge, and the recipes looked fantastic. Just check them out and see what creativity can be unleashed when you're free to roam beyond the page of a cookbook.

So this month, I'm joining in the fun and have created my own recipe for you, for muffins. Not just any muffins, though. Really, really awesome muffins. And what I can't get over is how I can honestly say that I created these. Using Michael Ruhlman's ratio for quickbread and muffins (2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part fat), I just....made it up.

I won't say that it was a seamless ride to the finish line. These underwent a few different iterations before I finally settled on the recipe I'm posting here. My first attempt was pretty tasty, but had a somewhat dense texture that I wanted to lighten up. It also relied mainly on starches and refined grains, and I wanted to strike a healthier balance with whole grain flours instead. The second attempt was an utter fail involving a fatal overdose of xanthan gum and too much liquid, which resulted in a gummy mess that puffed up nicely at first, tricking me in the first 30 minutes of baking, only to deflate back into itself, stubbornly refusing to rise again.

But the third attempt - the third attempt was a keeper. I kept several elements the same, using pineapple juice as part of the liquid (don't worry, it's not something separate you have to buy, as long as you buy crushed pineapple in 100% juice) and substituting applesauce for half the fat. I did tweak a few things from the first recipe, though: reduced the xanthan gum, added some baking soda, and used a little less crushed pineapple in the batter. I substituted brown rice flour for white rice flour. I increased the amount of each extract, too, so that the piña colada flavor shines through unmistakably. And I frosted them with a simple coconut-rum glaze and toasted coconut.

You could take my word for it and believe that these are amazing. I had to give them all away for fear of eating every last one myself. But in case the bias in that opinion is (understandably) too much for you, maybe I can share what my classmates and friends said when they tried these. "Oh, my GOD," was the most common refrain of disbelief uttered after the first bite. They couldn't believe these were gluten-free, and they all agreed that they tasted just like their namesake. "DEE-licious!" read an email from another friend who tried these. I could go on, but you get the idea. They're good - really good.

For a healthier breakfast option, you can absolutely make these without the frosting. If you do that, they'll look like this:

The inside came out moist, soft, and wonderful. And they really do taste like a piña colada, with the rum, coconut and vanilla extracts complementing the sweetness of the real pineapple chunks perfectly. These are seriously addictive, and so delicious that you can safely serve them to non-celiacs without any backlash about their being gluten-free and dairy-free (Now that I think about it, I believe I was the only celiac who tried this last batch, but everyone loved them!).

So, because this recipe is the first one I've made up this way, I am especially excited to share it with you. I hope that you enjoy them!

For a list of all the other fabulous recipes for muffins and quick breads that the Gluten-free Ratio Rally bloggers came up with this month, visit Sylvana's Kitchen.

*Note: All measurements are given here in weight, but you only need a very inexpensive, simple scale to weigh these ingredients because they are all in multiples of 2 ounces. I have a scale from Target that cost maybe $5 that I used for this. Originally, I was measuring out approximations of how many cups each ingredient would have, but they were all such strange measurements (i.e. "somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of sorghum flour") that I decided against including that here. But suffice to say, overall, I ended up with about 1 3/4 cups of flour in the end using this combination. I highly encourage you to weigh out each one for best results, though!

*One other note: I bought a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple in 100% juice for this recipe and used it for both the crushed pineapple and the pineapple juice. I definitely had some leftover, but the smaller 6 oz. cans will not be enough. So I'd recommend just getting the larger size and having the leftovers as a snack.

Piña Colada Muffins with Coconut Rum Glaze and Toasted Coconut
Makes 12 muffins
Ratio for quick bread and muffins: 2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part fat

2 oz./57 grams sorghum flour

2 oz./57 grams brown rice flour

2 oz./57 grams tapioca starch

2 oz./56 grams potato starch

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. xanthan gum

4 oz./113 grams white granulated sugar or evaporated cane crystals

3 oz./150 grams shredded coconut (unsweetened or sweetened are both fine)

2 eggs (or Egg Replacer)

4 oz./113 grams So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

4 oz./113 grams pineapple juice (from drained can)

2 oz./4 tbsp/57 grams Earth Balance Buttery Stick, melted

2 oz./57 grams smooth applesauce

1 ½ tsp. gluten-free vanilla

1 ¼ tsp.gluten-free coconut extract

1 tsp. gluten-free rum extract

4 oz./113 grams crushed pineapple from can, completely drained

Optional: combine these ingredients in a small bowl to sprinkle over the muffins before baking:

2 oz./57 grams crushed pineapple

2 tbsp. shredded coconut

1 tbsp. brown sugar

¼ tsp. coconut extract

¼ tsp. rum extract

To make icing, whip the following ingredients together, adjusting for desired thickness of glaze:

4 tbsp. Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

2 – 5 tbsp. pineapple juice (depending on how thick you want the glaze to be)

½ tsp. rum extract

½ tsp. coconut extract

4 oz./113 grams powdered sugar

To be sprinkled on top:
4 oz. toasted coconut (about 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 400 F (You'll reduce the temperature to 350 F after you put the muffins in, but this cushions it against the heat that escapes when you open the oven). Line a 12-muffin pan with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

Using a kitchen scale, measure out the sorghum flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, sugar, and shredded coconut. Whisk together in a mixing bowl with the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and xanthan gum until well combined.

Weigh the So Delicious Coconut Milk, pineapple juice, and applesauce and whisk together in a separate bowl with the eggs and melted butter. (Be sure to let the butter cool a bit before adding it so you don't partially cook the eggs!) Add the vanilla, coconut, and rum extracts and continue to mix very well.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat by hand to mix until all ingredients have been incorporated. Add the 4 oz. crushed, drained pineapple to the batter and mix in.

Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into each muffin tin, distributing the batter evenly among the 12 tins. Sprinkle some of the pineapple-coconut-brown sugar topping on each muffin and press down slightly to get them to stick.

Place the muffins into the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean (I baked mine for exactly 29 minutes, but your baking time may vary depending on the oven and altitude). Remove from oven and leave in the muffin tin for another 5 minutes or so before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. If you try to take them out and they are still too delicate, leave them in the muffin tin until you can take them out without crushing/crumbling them.

When the muffins are completely cooled, drizzle with the coconut-rum glaze and top with toasted coconut (if desired). Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If you can wait that long.

Check out the rest of the amazing recipes from the other Ralliers this month:

Mrs. R of honey from flinty rocks made Lemon Lavender Muffins with Lavender Sugar
Alisha Austin of gfmostlyvegetarian made Sweet Potato Breakfast Loaf
Amanda Schaefer of Gluten Free Maui made Classic Banana, Oat, Pecan Bread
Amie Valpone of The Healthy Apple made Gluten-Free Agave Apricot Quick Bread
Britt Hodges of GF In The City made Date & Walnut Bread
Brooke Lippy of Bell Wookie made Double Chocolate Cherry Muffin
Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] made Cardamom Banana Bread
Caroline Karasik of The G Spot Revolution made Orange Spice Bread with a Vanilla Glaze
Claire Berman of Gluten Freedom made Piña Colada Muffins with Coconut-Rum Glaze and Toasted Coconut
Danna Owens of Sweet Dees Gluten Free made Blood Orange Cardamom Muffins
Erin Block of Mysteries Internal made Strawberry Yogurt Muffins
Erin Swing of The Sensitive Epicure made Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffins with Streusel
Flo of Makanaibio made 2 Recettes de Muffins ou de Gateau Rapides
Gretchen of kumquat made Gingerbread Fig Loaf
Irvin of Eat The Love made Gluten Free Glazed Meyer Lemon Muffins filled with Slow Roasted Balsamic Red Wine Strawberry Jam
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine made Chestnut and Chocolate Quickbread
Karen Robertson of Cooking Gluten Free made Muffins
Kate Brabon of Kate Alice Cookbook made Raspberry Banana Crumble-Top Muffins
Kate Chan of Gluten Free Gobsmacked made Mocha + Chocolate Chip Muffins/Quickbread
Lauren McMillan of Celiac Teen made Cocoa Quickbread
Lisa of Gluten Free Canteen made Almond Cherry Berry Banana Muffins, Gluten Free
Lisa of With Style and Grace made Rosemary Lemon Quick Bread
Marla Meridith of Family Fresh Cooking made Strawberry Snack Cakes
Mary Frances of Gluten Free Cooking School made Cranberry Orange Bread with Cream Cheese Icing
Meaghan Cassidy of The Wicked Good Vegan made Vegan Gluten-Free Apricot-Orange Bread
Melanie of Mindful Food made Almond Joy Muffins
Nannette Minley of Nannette Raw made Chai Muffins
Robyn of Chocswirl made Brown Butter Apple Spice Muffins with Pecan Nut Streusel
Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef made Lemon Poppyseed Bread with Ginger Glaze
Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen made Chocolate-Coated Marshmallow-Topped Vanilla Cupcakes
Wendy Kirby of La Phemme Phoodie made Cheesy Apple Butter Bread with Garlic Powder
Winnie Abramson of Healthy Green Kitchen made Brown Butter Banana Bread

Pineapple Mint Tuna Salad

2011-04-03T22:02:00.000-05:00

I don't know what came over me with this one. I've never heard of tuna and pineapple being eaten together before. But the other day, I found myself in the midst of round three of tweaking a recipe for piña colada muffins (the recipe is coming later this week!) and had some crushed pineapple left over. Not wanting to let it go to waste, I started rummaging around my pantry for what I could combine it with for a simple lunch. A can of tuna caught my eye and the wheels started to turn. Then my copy of Culinary Artistry came out and I turned to the entry on flavor pairings for pineapple. Mint and lime? Check and check. I drained the tuna and added the pineapple. Added a teaspoon or two of vegan mayonnaise. Tore off a few leaves of mint and sprinkled them in. Drizzled in few squirts of lime juice. Salted and peppered to taste. And....done! You couldn't really ask for a simpler, no-fuss meal than this. I ate mine with the only thing I had in the house that was crunchy, some of Trader Joe's Flax Seed Corn Chips (which are delicious, by the way). This made a very satisfying lunch, and the flavor was really quite good. A lovely, citrus-y departure from your average tuna salad!

Pineapple Mint Tuna Salad

1 can tuna, drained
1/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained (can add a little juice for flavor if desired)
2 tsp. vegan mayonnaise (or regular mayonnaise)
1 stalk celery, chopped finely
3 - 4 leaves mint, in very small pieces
1 - 2 tsp. lime juice (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Adjust seasonings to your own taste. Serve with crackers or corn chips.

Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

2011-04-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Homemade. Marshmallows. Need I say more? I know what you may be thinking, because I am guessing your train of thought is similar to what mine was at first. This is going to be complicated. But no - it really isn't. It's much simpler than you'd think - even simpler than making a cake would be. Seriously.

And let me tell you - people will be very impressed with you when you offer them a homemade marshmallow. You'll see it in their eyes. They'll be even more impressed when they taste them. Personally, this particular kitchen endeavor has given me pause to reflect on how I ever put up with commercial marshmallows all those years. The vanilla flavor in these puts every marshmallow I've had up until now to shame.

The best part is that you can make these into any flavor you want; I will definitely be doing some flavor experimentation on your behalf, trust me. (My friend Lisa, who taught me how to make these, made Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows, for instance). For now, just know that we are not limited to vanilla alone. And if you have kids, these would be a great project to do together; I am betting that they would love to help cut out the marshmallows (you could use cookie cutters to make them into fun shapes!).

The last piece of persuasion I will leave you with comes from the 5 year-old I babysit. I brought her a heart-shaped marshmallow for her birthday, and she informed me with a grin that it was a "very excellent birthday gift." Later that day, I received a thank-you card that read, "The marshmallow feels like a pillow with powdered sugar on it! Thank you!"

Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

1 tbsp (1 packet) Knox unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cool water

1 cups granulated sugar
1/4 + 1/8 cup water (halved recipes lead to weird amounts!)
1 tbsp honey
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 - 2 tsp. vanilla extract (to your own liking - and you can also use any other extract you like here)

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
optional: 1 tbsp cocoa to make them chocolate-coated

To prepare the pan, grease and dust an 8-inch baking dish or cookie pan with a rim. Alternatively, you can line it with parchment or wax paper.

Combine cool water and gelatin in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, combine water, vanilla sugar, honey and salt. Bring to rolling boil; if you have a candy thermometer, cook til it reaches 115 C or 238-240 F (firm ball stage). If you're like me and don't have a candy thermometer, bring to a rolling boil and then set a timer for exactly one minute, stirring constantly. When the timer goes off, remove from heat immediately.

Turn on an electric mixer on low speed. Very slowly, pour the hot mixture into the bowl with the gelatin-water mixture. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined, and then turn mixer onto high speed. Beat for a long time - about 12 - 15 minutes - or until it is very thick and stiff peaks form (similar to when you beat egg whites).

Spread evenly into your prepared pan, and cool for at least 1 1/2 - 4 hours (or overnight) before slicing. When you're ready to slice them, combine the cornstarch and powdered sugar in a bowl and dust a cutting board with the mixture. Remove the entire sheet of marshmallows to the dusted cutting board. Grease a very sharp knife or scissors, and cut into desired size. This is the fun part - you can even use cookie cutters if you want to make them into fun shapes! Toss with remaining powdered sugar mixture until all sides are evenly coated and no longer sticky.

These will keep for several weeks in an airtight container in the fridge, or you can freeze them for several months.

Chickpea Farinata Bread

2011-03-31T06:50:00.011-05:00

If you are like me and have never heard of or tried Italian farinata before, you are in for a treat. This is one of the simplest loaves of bread you could hope to make, although I hesitate to lump it into the category of "bread" lest it mislead anyone about what to expect from the texture. This is dense. It's just chickpea flour and water, really. Add a few spices, and it's ready to go in the oven. Heck, we skipped the mixing bowl entirely and stirred this up right in the pan. Don't be concerned when it looks....well....soupy when you stick it in the oven. Ours resembled crepe batter (very thin and runny) and we exchanged dubious looks as we closed the oven door behind it. It seemed impossible that it would solidify into anything bread-like and/or edible under any amount of heat. But, seemingly miraculously, we opened the oven door 20 minutes later to find that it had browned on top and settled into the dense bread you see pictured. Fantastic.

The whole loaf only has 680 calories if you make it as directed below, and 24 grams of protein. This makes a really dense loaf, so it can stand on its own as part of a main meal (perhaps served with soup or salad on the side). But it was also great to have as a power snack during the day.

The great thing about this bread is how versatile it is in terms of flavor. The original recipe also called for thinly sliced onions to be cooked into the bread, which my friend Lisa had had the first time she ate this (served by friends of hers), but which we omitted. It also did not call for cumin originally, but we happen to love cumin - a lot - and it just goes so well with chickpeas that we dumped a ton into ours, with wonderful results. Check out this post about farinata for some great ideas about how to customize it (topped with zucchini and parmesan cheese?? Yes, please!) Feel free to make it your own. Play around with it to find the flavor you like. But if you're a fan of chickpeas like I am, you will find a new addiction in farinata.

Chickpea Farinata Bread

1 cup warm water
1 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 - 2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp. olive oil
1 thinly slice onion (optional - we did not add this into ours)

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Spray a 9-inch round pan with cooking spray.

In a separate bowl, mix all of the ingredients together. Pour into the pan and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or just until browned on top. Remove from oven and let settle and cool for 5 - 10 minutes. Serve warm. If desired, sprinkle with addition cumin before serving.

Roasted Red Pepper Cashew Hummus (Vegan and Raw)

2011-03-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is a lovely twist on traditional hummus dip. In fact, I'm not entirely sure that it should even be called hummus, given the complete absence of the chickpeas, which are replaced entirely with cashews in this recipe. All I know is that it was really, really tasty. After several minutes of blitzing in the food processor, this raw dip was silky smooth, creamy, and wonderful. It has a slightly sweet flavor from the roasted red peppers, with a salty tinge that lingers on your tongue. I'm learning the art of keeping things simple, so I only added small amounts of a few other spices to this. Not too many, though, because the roasted red peppers have such a strong flavor, and it's not fair to have to compete with that.

I ate this with corn chips, but it would be wonderful with pita chips as well, if you can find or make gluten-free ones. I also used it in place of ketchup on a black bean burger I had this week, which was fantastic, and it would be great as a layer in a sandwich or as a tapenade with melted cheese on top, too. Unfortunately, I ran out of the dip before I had time to try all of the different ways I thought of to use it. But I'm sure that a few more batches will be coming my way before long...

Roasted Red Pepper Cashew "Hummus"

1 cup roasted cashews (I used the 50% reduced salt kind from Trader Joe's)
2 whole roasted red peppers, skin and seeds removed
1 - 2 tbsp. lemon juice (to taste)
2 tsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. salt (add more or less to your own taste)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Dash of cayenne pepper (to taste/tolerance)
Dash of cumin (to taste)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend on high speed for about 4 - 5 minutes, or until very creamy. Remove and adjust spices as needed. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with corn chips or as a tapenade.

Roasted Broccoli and Edamame with Garlic

2011-03-27T18:37:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of green in this post. I was feeling the need for something really healthy for dinner tonight, and, feeling inspired by a friend who raved last night about some roasted broccoli she had made, I decided to try it out. I've always prepared broccoli by boiling it or steaming it. And don't get me wrong; I love it that way. But I feel like I discovered broccoli for the first time with this recipe. Seriously, you will never look at broccoli the same way again. No longer will your mind fly to adjectives like "smushed" and "overcooked" when you ponder broccoli. Instead, you will think about slightly crisp yet soft florets, roasted under high heat with whole garlic cloves and simple spices. I was definitely cursing the fact that I only had 1 1/2 cups of broccoli in my freezer tonight! Check out the inspiration for this recipe here on the Amateur Gourmet's site. He does a better job of raving about this broccoli than I have, plus offers a few more tips for ways to spruce this up if you feel it needs sprucing. I adapted his recipe slightly and have re-posted it below.

Originally, I was just going to make the broccoli, but at the last minute, decided to throw in the edamame for some protein (but did not add any extra oil to coat them). I put them on separate halves of the pan so the edamame would have a chance to get crispy without being overshadowed by some of the larger broccoli florets, and they were fantastic, crispy, and full of spice. So if you are in need of a green dinner, make this. Trust me, you won't be sorry - you will never look at broccoli the same way again.

Roasted Broccoli and Edamame with Garlic

For the broccoli:
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets, rinsed and patted dry
3 whole garlic cloves, chopped into large chunks
2 tsp. olive oil
To taste:
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
Dash of garlic powder
2 - 3 tsp. lemon juice
Optional: Sprinkle of parmesan cheese or vegan parmesan cheese

For the edamame:
1/2 cup frozen edamame, thawed, rinsed and patted dry
1 - 2 garlic cloves, chopped into large chunks
To taste:
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
Ground Cumin
Garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking dish with a sheet of foil.

Toss the broccoli, garlic, olive oil, and spices together in a bowl and spread onto one half of the lined baking dish. Then toss the edamame and spices separately and spread onto the other half of the lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minute, stirring once or twice for even browning. When the broccoli is browned and tender, and the edamame is crispy on the outside (but soft on the inside), remove from the oven. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the broccoli. Serve immediately.

Smoky Black Bean Burgers

2011-03-25T12:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've had a veggie burger - not to mention a good veggie burger. The last time I checked, most of the ones commercially available brands use wheat gluten or some other gluten-ful product as a binder. So when I found this recipe on a blog called "Voracious," I couldn't wait to try it out for myself. These burgers are packed full of protein, with both black beans and quinoa as the base, and the liquid smoke gives them a lovely faux-burger-cooked-outside taste. (Colgin Liquid Smoke is gluten-free!) And they hold together extremely well, despite being completely devoid of gluten binders. We enjoyed them straight from the pan with some melted rice cheese and ketchup, and I reheated one the next day and topped it with some roasted red pepper cashew dip and Daiya Vegan Cheese. But it turns out that they are also delicious right from the fridge as a snack! We followed the recipe pretty much exactly as is, but made 6 pretty hefty burgers instead of the 4 from the original recipe. These are quite filling, so you may or may not even need a slice of bread with them. If you're like me and miss veggie burgers, these are definitely worth a try!

Find the original recipe here.

Quinoa Pilaf with Sweet Sausage, Dried Cherries, and Feta "Cheese"

2011-03-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is a fantastically quick pilaf to throw together for when you're in a rush, or if you're so hungry you can't wait to for food that takes longer than 15 minutes to prepare. Since recently discovering Sunergia Soy Feta Cheese (which is remarkably spot-on in flavor and texture, considering it's both dairy and gluten-free), I have been adding it to all kinds of things for an extra kick of flavor. In this pilaf, it complements the tart cherries and sweet sausage perfectly, making for a quick and delicious meal. I personally don't usually keep cooked quinoa on hand, but even if you don't either, the white kind only takes about 15 minutes to cook. Once it's done, though, it's really just a matter of stirring the other ingredients in. You'll be sitting down to eat before you know it.

Quinoa Pilaf with Sweet Sausage, Dried Cherries, and Feta "Cheese"
Makes 2 small-ish servings

1 cup cooked quinoa (make as directed using chicken or vegetable broth)
2 Sweet Apple Maple Chicken Sausages (from Trader Joe's), sliced and sauteed until browned
1/3 cup dried cherries (can substitute cranberries)
2 - 3 tbsp. Sunergia Soy Feta Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together, breaking up the soy feta cheese well to distribute evenly throughout the pilaf. Season with salt and pepper to your own liking. This pilaf can be eaten either hot or cold.

Healthy Truffles

2011-03-16T12:57:00.005-05:00

You may be asking, how can truffles be healthy? And with good reason. Normally, truffles are buttery, silky smooth balls of intense chocolate. They melt in your mouth and overwhelm you with their richness. They embody indulgence.

People in grad school tend to do a lot of stress eating. (Although, let's face it, I've always been a stress eater anyway, so I can't blame it entirely on grad school.) Truffles, and chocolate in general, are an obvious default candidate for those frenzied hours of studying and snacking. So I am in an ongoing quest to make my stress eating a little less awful by developing healthier versions of some of my favorite snacks. My friend Sarah (whose adorable children I babysit) and I have been tweaking this recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough balls a little bit each time we make them, which is often (her kids devour them as quickly as she makes them.) Sarah had the brilliant idea to add cocoa powder to the regular version to make a sort of "brownie bite," and from there, we just kept tweaking until this version came about. In my chocolate-addled state of mind, I decided to take it a step further and roll them in cocoa powder (just to add to the chocolate quotient). And, ta-da! Truffles.

I brought some of these to school with me to share with some of my classmates, who loved them. One friend said that the texture was great because it really fools you into thinking you're eating a truffle; another said they were simply amazing overall. The best part is how quickly and easily you can whip up a batch because it's truly just a matter of throwing all of the ingredients into your food processor and hitting "blend." And you can't really mess these up because you can always tweak them by adding a little more of one ingredient or a little less of another until you find the combination and texture you personally like. The recipe is very forgiving in that way. And if you don't feel like rolling them into balls, just put the mixture in a bowl and eat it with a spoon. I won't tell (because I've definitely done that before).

So go ahead. Indulge. Because now, it's healthy.

Healthy Truffles

7 Trader Joe's Fancy Medjool Dates (with pits removed)
1/3 cup cashews
1/4 cup gluten-free oats
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tbsp. Marshmallow Fluff or Vegan Ricemellow Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 tbsp. pure cocoa powder + 1 tbsp. for rolling truffles
1-4 tbsp. So Delicious Coconut Milk, as needed
1 tbsp. granulated sugar (for rolling truffles - optional)

Place the dates (be sure to remove the pits!), cashews, oats, vanilla, coconut, Fluff, and cocoa powder in a food processor and blend on the highest speed. When the food processor seems to have done as much as it can with those ingredients, start adding the So Delicious Coconut Milk one tablespoon at a time. You want these to be very creamy so the texture is like the inside of a truffle, but still firm enough that you can roll them into balls. Continue to pulse on the highest speed so that they are as well-blended as possible.

On a plate, combine the 1 tbsp. cocoa powder and the 1 tbsp. sugar (you can leave the sugar out if you want, although they will taste slightly more bitter). (If the mixture is too thin, you can put it in the fridge for a little while to harden it up before you roll it into balls.) Remove the chocolate mixture by tablespoonful and roll into balls with your hands, and then roll in the cocoa and sugar mixture to coat. Place on a plate. Refrigerate them for at least two hours before removing them to a container where they are touching each other. Eat as needed.

Carrot Ginger Scone Cookies

2011-03-14T16:42:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure whether to classify these as cookies or scones, because they are somewhere in between. But what I can vouch for is the taste (if you are a fan of ginger, that is). I recently went to a ginger-themed party and, as I often do, defaulted to baking for my contribution. I loved the idea of the taste of carrot cake with an extra spike of ginger to complement the other spices I regularly use. These turned out tasting pretty great, although the texture is definitely rather cake-y and not very chewy (at least, not in the way that cookies often are). I'd actually suggest shaping these into triangles and serving for breakfast as a scone! I personally liked the ones without raisins better than the ones with them. I didn't add any nuts to mine, either, although I've included them below as an optional ingredient (some people like nuts in their carrot cake, and if you're one of those people, you'd probably like them in these, too). So just let your own taste guide you in this one. And gather all of your ginger-loving friends to help you eat these!

Do you have a favorite ginger recipe that you would have brought to the Ginger Party? Please leave it below!

Carrot Ginger Scone Cookies

3/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg or Egg Replacer (for our vegan friends)
4 tbsp. So Delicious Coconut Milk
1 1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (your favorite kind)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup finely shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
optional: 1 cup raisins + 1/2 cup ground walnuts (although I liked these better without them)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and mix with an electric mixer on high speed until it is creamy.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg. Add little bit little to the butter-sugar mixture, alternating with a tbsp. at a time of So Delicious Coconut Milk. If the batter is too dry, add more coconut milk one tablespoon at a time.

Add the shredded carrots, coconut, and oats and mix in by hand. For larger cookies, drop by tablespoonful onto the cookie sheets and bake for about 14 - 16 minutes at 350 F, or until set on top and slightly brown on bottom. For bite-size cookies, drop by teaspoonful and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

Let sit on hot baking sheet for 2 - 3 minutes when they come out of the oven, then remove to a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, store in an airtight container.

If desired, top with a buttercream icing for a mini-carrot cake effect. But they are delicious by themselves, too!

Flourless Orange Almond Cupcakes

2011-03-11T17:53:00.001-06:00

It's a beautiful thing when you find a cake recipe that is already naturally gluten-free. What's even more beautiful is when it's also naturally delicious.

A fellow blogger, Leah, told me about this recipe, which is from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden. You can find the original post about the recipe on the Jewesses with Attitude blog. It sounded good, and hey, if it's a gluten-free dessert, chances are that I'll try it.

I am so glad I did. Despite a rather long baking time, these cupcakes end up being ridiculously moist, and the flavor is amazing. The orange shines through, and the almond flour rounds out the taste in a lovely, balanced way. Don't worry about an icing or a glaze - these won't need it. I suppose an orange drizzle would probably taste good, but seriously, these are so good on their own that no one will miss it.

Although boiling oranges for 1.5 hours is admittedly a bit of a pain, this is a breeze to throw together once that step is done. You could do what I did and boil the oranges a day ahead of time, puree them, and stick them in the fridge (in an airtight container) until you're ready to use them. Trust me, it will be worth the effort - these got rave reviews. And no one will miss the flour because, well, it wasn't even there in the first place.

Flourless Orange Almond Cupcakes (Adapted slightly from this recipe)
Makes 18 cupcakes

2 large oranges
6 large eggs
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. orange extract (McCormick's is gluten-free!)
1 1/2 cups almond flour

Wash the oranges and boil them for 1.5 hours or until very soft. Remove and cool. Peel them gently (the peel will come off very easily, and I used a butter knife to slice most of it off). Make sure there are no seeds left in the oranges and place them in a food processor. Puree until very smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cupcake/muffin tins with paper liners or spray with cooking spray (although I did not try it with just cooking spray - just a disclaimer!).

Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until the color changes to a light yellow and it starts to get frothy. In a small bowl, combine the almond flour with the baking soda and add it to the mixture. Add the orange extract and pureed orange and continue to beat until very well mixed.

Distribute evenly among all of the cupcake tins. They won't rise all that much, so you can fill them almost to the top. (It might make a few more than 18 cupcakes depending on how big your tins are, but if you only use half of tne tray, be sure to use the middle tins, and not the ones on the outside!) Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until they bounce back a little when you press on them gently. They should be nicely browned on top.

Remove from oven and let sit in the cupcake tin for about 5 more minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool. Either serve immediately or cool completely and then store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

**Note: If you'd rather make this into a cake, you can do so by pouring the batter into a greased and floured 9 inch springform pan and baking it for an hour or until it is nicely browned on top and has completely set.