Momofuku Milk Bar’s Corn Cookies (Gluten-Free)

Aug 15, 2015 · 2 Comments

The other day, my husband and I disagreed over an important subject: the flavor of a particular type of cookie I had just baked.

“They taste like a cookie-version of buttery corn on the cob, or maybe a corn muffin in cookie form,” I mused.

“I’m getting more of a Cap’n Crunch thing, but, like, with butter poured over the cereal, instead of milk,” he countered.

The source of this disagreement? My gluten-free version of Christina Tosi’s corn cookies from her Milk Bar cookbook.

For months, I’d wanted to make the cookies. I just couldn’t find the freeze-dried corn kernels needed for what Tosi calls “freeze-dried corn powder.” Not to be confused with cornmeal, corn flour, or cornstarch, her corn powder is made by grinding freeze-dried corn kernels in a food processor or blender. Honestly, before I saw this recipe, I didn’t even know freeze-dried corn kernels were a thing.

To make the recipe gluten-free, I swapped the wheat flour for white rice flour, since I didn’t want the flavor of the flour to compete with the corn flavor in the cookies. Then I bumped up the amount of corn flour (finely ground cornmeal) just a little. I left everything else alone. For this recipe, I didn’t use xanthan gum. Since these are drop cookies, I figured that they didn’t need the shape-strengthening properties that xanthan gum brings to a gluten-free recipe.

The other important “ingredient” in this recipe is a kitchen timer. The butter-sugar-egg mixture is creamed for a full seven minutes, during which time it turns white and airy. Creaming butter for this long is a common step in butter cakes—it helps the butter hold onto air and helps the cake rise. For cookies, you usually only cream the butter-sugar-egg for about 30 to 45 seconds: over-creaming butter in a cookie recipe causes cookies to spread.And spread these did—into wonderfully thin, crisp cookies!

For my first tray, I followed the recipe and used 1/3 cup of dough for each cookie. I knew that much dough would make really big cookies, but when first converting a recipe to be gluten-free, I like to follow the creator’s directions to remove any extra variables, at least at first. The cookies were so big, though, that they baked together into an ameba-shaped cookie-cake blob. So I reduced the size of the cookies from 1/3 cup of dough to 1 1/3 tablespoons. The baked cookies were about 3 1/2 inches across.

As for the flavor, I’ll let you settle the debate my husband and I had. For now, let’s just say they’re somewhere between buttery corn on the cob and a buttery bowl of Cap’n Crunch—at least we both agree that the cookies are buttery! And, dare I say it, they’re almost too buttery for me. So, if you don’t love a really buttery cookie, you can reduce the amount this recipe calls for. When you cut the butter down, the cookies won’t spread as much, but they’ll still be unusually delicious.

Momofuku Milk Bar's Corn Cookies on a baking sheet. One cookie has a bite taken out of it.

Momofuku Milk Bar's Corn Cookies (Gluten-Free)

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 24

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups white rice flour, plus more for dusting (5 ounces; 142 grams)
2/3 cup freeze-dried corn powder (see note above) (2.2 ounces; 62 grams)
1/2 cup corn flour (see note above) (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 cup; 8 ounces; 226 grams)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces; 297 grams)
1 large egg (about 1 3/4 ounces; 50 grams, out of shell)

Instructions

Whisk together white rice flour, corn powder, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle. Beat at medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Turn off mixer and scrape down the bottom and side of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula. Add egg mix at medium-high speed until very light and airy, about 7 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and side of the bowl and the paddle attachment once more.
Add the dry ingredients and turn mixer to medium-low speed. Mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Scoop the dough using a #40 cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons each) onto a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dusted with white rice flour, press down lightly on each cookie to flatten. Wrap the baking sheet tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Center oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 6 dough balls about 4 inches apart on one of the parchment-lined baking pans.
Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on for 5 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Repeat with remaining batter, alternating baking sheets between each batch so that you are always baking on a cool sheet. Store cookies in airtight container on the counter for up to four days.

How to Make Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta

Aug 11, 2015 · 20 Comments

Recently, I had one of those days when everything annoyed me. Then I saw this video from Penny De Los Santos.

Flour & Eggs from Penny De Los Santos on Vimeo.

After watching Sara Kate Gillingham make pasta, I knew what would bring some joy into my day: a plate of fresh gluten-free pasta and some alone time.

There was just one problem. All my previous attempts at fresh gluten-free pasta ended up too gummy or gritty. Yet I wanted to try again. Part of me wonders if this yearning was a bit of self-sabotage, a desire to make something I thought would flop. Another part of me thinks it was hope.

Instead of putting together a complex flour blend, I simply scooped some brown-rice flour and added a little tapioca starch and xanthan gum to it. After whisking them together, I added two eggs and stirred everything together with a wooden spoon. It was by far the simplest fresh gluten-free pasta recipe I’d ever attempted. The dough looked so beautiful that I couldn’t help but smile. I rolled it out and cut it into fat ribbons.

After a quick boil in salted water, I strained the noodles. They had plumped up nicely during cooking, but didn’t look bloated and weren’t falling apart at the edges, two issues I’d dealt with before when testing gluten-free pasta recipes. Inspired by Penny’s video, I sautéed a little garlic in a lot of butter, grated some Parmesan, and finished the pasta with a little lemon zest.

I couldn’t believe it: this fresh gluten-free pasta recipe worked.

Over the next two weeks, I continued making fresh gluten-free pasta. I ran it through my pasta maker. I made fat ravioli. I cut it by hand. Again and again, this simple mixture of brown rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, and eggs made delicious pasta. The biggest difference between this pasta and traditional fresh pasta is that you can’t roll it out as thin. If you use a pasta machine, don’t roll it on the thinnest setting. I’ve found that stopping on the second-to-last setting works best. You also don’t want your sheets to get much longer than 12 inches. When the pasta is longer than this, it tends to break as it goes through the cutter.

Keep those two things in mind and you’ll be rewarded with amazing gluten-free fresh pasta, to make on good days and on not-so-good days. In fact, I think it tastes even better on gloomy days, but that’s just me.

Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta Recipe: Tips

Before starting, dust a baking sheet with brown rice flour. As you work, move the cut pasta from the counter to the baking sheet. The flour prevents it from sticking.
Xanthan gum is key to this recipe. Don’t omit it or the recipe won’t work.
Weigh your eggs. They should be about 50 grams (out of shell) each. If your eggs are too large, the dough will end up too soft.
If your dough is too sticky, add equal parts tapioca starch and brown rice flour to stiffen it.
If your dough is dry, add a little water. Start with two teaspoons and increase as needed.
Generously flour your counter and rolling pin with brown rice flour. This keeps the dough from sticking.

ed note: Does this look familiar? An earlier version of this piece appeared on SeriousEats.com as part of my Gluten-Free Tuesday column.

5 from 3 votes

Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour, plus more for dusting (7 1/2 ounces; 212 grams)
1/2 cup tapioca starch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 large eggs (about 7 ounces; 200 grams out of shell)

Instructions

In large bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum. Add eggs. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir until a dough forms. Generously dust your counter with brown rice flour. Turn dough out onto counter and knead a few times until fairly smooth.
Divide dough into four equal pieces and work with 1 piece at a time, keeping the rest covered. Press the dough to flatten it slightly. Using a pasta machine set at the widest setting, run the dough through 2 times. Continue rolling dough through successively narrower settings until you reach the second-to-last setting.
Cut dough sheet in half horizontally and pass each through the fettuccine cutter. (The spaghetti setting is too thin for this gluten-free pasta.) Dust pasta with brown rice flour and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook half the batch of pasta until tender, about 5 minutes. Toss with sauce. Repeat with remaining pasta. Serve immediately.

Gluten-Free Cornmeal Cake

Aug 4, 2015 · 1 Comment

Gluten-Free Cornmeal Cake OR Dairy-Free Pound Cakes are AWESOME

I love this cake for many reasons: it’s easy to make, pairs well with summer fruits, and is dairy-free. But most of all, I love how it seems to transform depending on how you serve it. With a cup of tea in the morning, it resembles a breakfast cake; toasted and served with macerated berries spooned over the top, it’s suddenly an elegant summer dessert.

Unlike many pound cake-style bundt cakes, this one doesn’t use butter. To achieve the delicate texture, you start by whipping eggs and granulated sugar together until the eggs are thick and pale yellow. This takes about five minutes and can’t be rushed. Those whipped eggs, along with two teaspoons of baking powder, leven the cake. If the eggs aren’t whipped enough, the cake bakes up unpleasantly dense. After the eggs and granulated sugar are whipped, simply add the dry ingredients and mix.

Here’s where the method gets a little weird. After the dry ingredients are incorporated, you add a quarter cup of vegetable oil. This causes your lovely batter to deflate. At first it looks, well, wrong. The light batter turns shiny with oil. That’s okay, just keep whipping it. After about a minute, the oil is incorporated into the batter, which again thickens and lightens. Transfer the batter to a prepared bundt pan and bake.

For me, it’s once the cake is baked that the real challenge begins. How do I serve it? While it’s great on its own, I often plate it with fresh berries or lemon curd. Another nice option is to grill it and serve with some fresh or grilled pineapple. And don’t forget about trifles! Cube the cake and layer it in a large bowl with whipped cream, pastry cream or pudding, berries, and, if you feel like it, nuts and chocolate. The serving options for this cake are endless! Have fun customizing it all summer long.

Gluten-Free Cornmeal Cake on cooling rack.

Gluten-Free Cornmeal Bundt Cake

To achieve a delicate texture for this cake, be sure to select a very finely ground gluten-free cornmeal for this cake. I prefer Bob's Red Mill gluten-free corn flour. Corn flour is finely ground cornmeal, not corn starch.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

Gluten-free nonstick cooking spray
1 cup white rice flour (4 ounces; 113 grams)
3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free corn flour (see note above) (3 ounces; 85 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs (about 8 3/4 ounces; 248 grams, out of shell)
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces; 198 grams)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (1 3/4 ounces; 50 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar optional

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk together white rice flour, corn flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Fit bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment. Whip eggs on medium speed until combined. In a slow and steady stream, add granulated sugar. Increase mixer speed to high. Whip egg mixture until pale yellow and thick and fluffy, about five minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium. With mixer running, add dry ingredients. Mix until dry ingredients are combined, about one minute. Add oil in slow and steady steam. Batter will deflate. Increase mixer speed to high. Whip batter until oil is incorporated and batter thickens, about two minutes.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cake in the pan for ten minutes. Invert onto a rack and cool. If desired, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Review: Gluten-Free Honey Nut Cheerios

Aug 4, 2015 · 17 Comments

UPDATE: Since this review was posted, many questions have been raised about the safety of gluten-free Cheerios. I’m no longer comfortable eating them. (I have never experienced a reaction.) Please read about the FDA review of the cereal and the updated position statement from Gluten-Free Watchdog.

A few months ago, when General Mills announced that five varieties of Cheerios would carry a gluten-free label, people lost their minds. Some folks were excited. Some weren’t. And some were just plain mean about it. Those folks decided that Cheerios going gluten-free would be a failure and that people who were excited about it were idiots. How do I know this? When I shared the Cheerios announcement on Facebook several folks sent me nasty messages. sigh I felt cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.

Oats are a tough subject in the gluten-free community. For many years, they were strictly off-limits. Then gluten-free oats entered the market. Why the confusion? Well, oats themselves don’t contain gluten. However, they often they get contaminated with gluten-containing grains, like wheat, rye, and barley. This contamination can happen during growing, transporting, and handling. Even when oats are free from gluten, a small percentage of people with celiac disease can’t tolerate them. Oats really are a complex issue.

You can understand why there are very real concerns about how General Mills will ensure that the oats used to make Cheerios (and soon Lucky Charms) are gluten-free. I haven’t spoken to anyone at General Mills; so before we dive into this review, I want to point you to a piece from Gluten-Free Watchdog about Cheerios. Tricia Thompson fully explains the complex issues surround Cheerios. After reading her piece, I urge you to decide if you are comfortable eating the cereal.

Right now, I feel okay about the gluten-status of Cheerios. Like you, I’m sure, I try to take wise precautions when it comes to eating commercial gluten-free foods. Once in a while, I’ll eat a meal out, and I buy the occasional gluten-free convenience food, like cookies and frozen pizza. Mostly I cook foods made from scratch but not always. This approach works for me and I’m thankful these options are available.

With ALL that said, let’s get to the review.

The Front of the Box

Not much changed on the front of the box except for that little gluten-free symbol. Over time, I’m sure this will change but it’s nice that for now it’s right on the front!

The Back of the Box

I found this really interesting and informative. It explains how General Mills decided to make Cheerios gluten-free. According to the box, the daughter-in-law of a longtime General Mills employee can’t eat gluten. This inspired the idea to make Cheerios gluten-free. *cough* Along with general increased interest in gluten-free products, I’m sure *cough* But it’s a nice story! I don’t know about you, but my father-in-law never made a national cereal gluten-free for me. Way to go, Phil!

Let’s take a closer look at one of the photos

See how similar wheat, rye, barley, and oats look? Just a grain or two and the whole batch is contaminated. This is why so many people are leery of the safety of Cheerios.

The Cereal

Have you ever eaten Honey Nut Cheerios? Well, then you know what gluten-free Honey Nut Cheerios taste like! To me, that’s high praise. These taste like the Cheerios you remember. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of sweet cereal but I totally enjoyed these. They were sweet, oat-y, and tasted like the cereal I remember. They were great with milk, of course, but I really enjoyed them sprinkled on top of strawberry ice cream. The cereal added a nice crunch and flavor to the already awesome ice cream.

Cost

Here’s where things get exciting! Gluten-free foods tend to cost more. A lot more. This box of Cheerios cost me $1.99 because they were on sale. That’s exciting! They were included in a sale. Gluten-free foods rarely, if ever, go on sale. Since General Mills made five of the “regular” versions of Cheerios gluten-free, they’ll be included in sales and eligible for coupon discounts. How great is that?

Ingredients

current as of August 4, 2015. Please refer to current package for accurate information.

Overall Impression

If I didn’t know these were gluten-free, I wouldn’t know they were any different from the Cheerios I enjoyed prior to my diagnosis. If you love Cheerios, you’ll love these! Personally, I can’t wait to find the classic yellow box with a “gluten-free” stamp on the front. Honey Nut are great but I’m really looking forward to the real thing.

What do you think? Are you going to give them a try or let them go by

Welcome to the New GlutenFreeBaking.com!

Aug 4, 2015 · 4 Comments

Hello gluten-free bakers! I’m really proud to share the all new GlutenFreeBaking.com with you.

First the big news: as of August 3, 2015, the membership area of the site was discontinued. Now everyone can access every recipe on the site for free. This was really important to me and I feel so good about the switch! (All current members were contacted and refunded. If you didn’t receive a refund, just pop me an email.)

Other new (and exciting!) features:

Better search. You can now find the recipes you want! Amazing.
Printable recipes. It was a challenge to print recipes from the old site. That’s been solved.
Pin-able images. Do you love pinterest? Now you can hover over an image and pin it with one click.
Recipe Page. Feel like browsing recipes? You can do that now! I know. I know! It’s like it’s 2015 around here or something. 🙂
Pretty layout. Okay. Okay. This is superficial but I have to mention it. The old site was ugly. Really ugly. The new site looks so pretty, don’t you think? (And if you wonder why I went with purple, check out this page.)

That’s covers the mechanics of the site. Here’s information about the upcoming content I’ve got planned.

More easy recipes. Each week I’ll share really easy recipes for gluten-free baked goods with you. (And a few recipes for easy main courses as the mood strikes.)
Paleo and grain-free recipes. Over the last year or two, the amount of requests for paleo and grain-free recipes skyrocketed. I spent a good portion of 2014 writing a paleo baking book. I have lots of goodies to share with you. (Paleo Twinkies, anyone?)
How-tos. I’m a cooking teacher at heart. Look for more step-by-step recipes on the site soon.
Product reviews. Do you love product reviews? I love product reviews! We’ll have more of them here.

In addition to the recipes and gluten-free info, I’ll also be sharing helpful information on how to write a cookbook, how to get started blogging, and I’ll share techniques that make food photography less intimidating. If you aren’t interested in this, don’t worry, it won’t take over the site. 🙂 But I really want to share what I’ve learned along the way. My blogging journey over the last few years has been a struggle and, you know what that means, I’ve learned a lot —and I’m ready to share.

Now, let’s get started!
Elizabeth

Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread

Aug 2, 2015 · 5 Comments

Gluten-free Zucchini Bread OR Rethinking Old Enemies

Millet flour and I got off to a bad start. A few years ago, when whole grain gluten-free flours started showing up in my area, I bought a bag, excited to bake with a new flour. But the flour was rancid. Really rancid. So while other whole grain flours worked their way into my pantry, I avoided millet because I still associated it with the smell of sour milk.

Recently, while standing in front of the ever expanding gluten-free section at the grocery store, I gave myself a little talking to about millet. I don’t avoid chicken even though there was that one time I got some bad thighs from the market. So why was I unwilling to forgive millet? I squared my shoulders and tossed a bag into my shopping cart.

And now? Well, I can’t stop baking with it. The flavor is surprisingly subtle for a whole grain flour. Most gluten-free whole grain flours bring attention to themselves. Brown rice flour tastes a little bitter; oat flour tastes, well, like oats; and sorghum flour often brings a nutty, grassy flavor to baked goods. But millet flour just sort of fades pleasantly on the palate.

So I went straight for millet flour when I decided to bake a loaf of classic zucchini bread. Prior to going gluten-free, the zucchini bread recipe I loved used bleached, white flour. I figured that millet flour would give me the benefits of a whole grain without stepping on the toes of the spices that I love to coax out in my zucchini bread.

The other thing I love about this bread is that it’s a one-bowl recipe. This means that if there’s lots of zucchini coming from your garden, it’s incredibly easy to turn that excess into moist, quick breads for friends!

4.5 from 2 votes

Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

3 cups unpeeled grated zucchini (about 14 ounces)
1 1/4 cups millet flour (6 ounces; 170 grams)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces; 148 grams)
1/2 cup sorghum flour (2 ounces; 56 grams)
3 tablespoons ground flaxmeal (1 ounce; 28 grams)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
6 tablespoons water
2 large eggs (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams, out of shell)
5 tablespoons vegetable oil (2 1/4 ounces; 62 grams)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set pan aside.
Place the zucchini on a large, dry kitchen towel. Cover the zucchini fully with the towel and twist both ends to the towel to wring moisture from the zucchini. Transfer zucchini to a large cutting board. Chop the zucchini roughly. (You can skip the chopping the zucchini if you’d like. It just helps the bread to have a more uniform texture with no long string of zucchini scattered throughout the baked loaf.) Set the aside zucchini aside.
Whisk together millet flour, granulated sugar, sorghum flour, flaxmeal, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum. Add the water, eggs, and vegetable oil. Whisk until a thick batter forms. Switch to a flexible spatula and stir in the zucchini.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. A cake tester interested into the center of the loaf should come out clean. Allow bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake

Aug 1, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Gluten-Free Strawberry Shortcake OR Where the Heck Did I Put That Recipe??

As always, there were too many hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator after Easter. Unlike prior years, however, I knew what I wanted to do with them: I wanted to try a cookie recipe that used hard-boiled egg yolks, a technique I had once seen in a recipe. The recipe was in…wait. Where was that recipe?

I couldn’t find the cookie recipe anywhere. But during my search, I managed to find another recipe that called for hard-boiled yolks: James Beard’s strawberry shortcake.

With the exception of the hard-boiled eggs, the ingredients were fairly standard for shortcake (flour, butter, lots of baking powder), but the method intrigued me. It called for chilling the dough for an hour before baking—usually I whip it all together and pop it immediately into a hot oven.

The dough came together easily. In place of the flour Beard calls for, I used white rice flour and potato starch, cut the butter into the flour, and added the egg yolks and cream, as directed. Other than some small pieces of cooked yolk that speckled the dough, there wasn’t a big difference between this dough and others I’ve made for shortcakes. So far, so good.

The shortcakes baked up light, tender, and rich (thanks to the generous amount of cream). The only problem? Those specks of yolk. Since I stirred the yolk into the batter along with the heavy cream, it didn’t really incorporate evenly into the dough.

I doubted the shortcakes were supposed to be dotted with yolk the way chocolate chip cookies are dotted with chocolate chips, so I set out to fix the problem. For the next batch, I added the egg yolks earlier, working them when the butter was almost fully cut into the flour. Once the butter and yolk were incorporated, I added the heavy cream. This time, no more bits of egg yolk dotted the batter.

Once again, the biscuits baked up light, tender, and rich. But this batch was wonderfully sturdy, able to maintain its texture after being split and topped with macerated strawberries. These shortcakes, in fact, are so tasty that I ate some with no topping at all. Oh, and that cookie recipe? I finally found it. With both those recipes in-hand and strawberry season coming into full swing, I have a feeling my refrigerator will once again be filled with a whole lot of hard-boiled eggs.

Gluten-Free Shortcakes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 42 minutes

Servings 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

For the Shortcakes

2 large hard-boiled eggs
1 1/3 cups white rice flour, plus more for dusting (5 1/3 ounces; 152 grams)
2/3 cup potato starch (2 2/3 ounces; 66 grams)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces (3 ounces; 85 grams)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3/4 cup cold heavy cream or half-and-half (6 ounces; 170 grams)

For the Topping

1 quart strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cold heavy cream (8 ounces; 226 grams)

Instructions

For the Shortcakes: Remove the yolks from the hard boiled eggs. Press the yolks through a sieve or chop very finely. Whisk together white rice flour, potato starch, 1/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and xanthan gum in a large bowl. Add cubed butter and, using either your hands or a pastry cutter, cut into flour mixture until pea-sized pieces form. Add egg yolks and continue cutting until flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in heavy cream with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Let dough stand for 5 minutes.
Generously dust work surface with white rice flour. Turn dough onto work surface and dust with more white rice flour. Gently knead the dough a few times, then pat into a large rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut out four dough rounds. Gather up dough scraps, pat into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, and cut out 4 more dough rounds; discard remaining dough scraps. Place dough rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar on top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
For the Topping: Stir together strawberries, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Using the back of a fork, gently mash a few of the sliced strawberries. Allow strawberries to stand for 1 hour.
In medium bowl, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and beat until stiff peaks form.
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from baking sheet and bake shortcakes until edges just turn golden brown, about 12 minutes. Let shortcakes cool on baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve shortcakes warm or at room temperature, topping with macerated strawberries and whipped cream.

Gluten-Free Berry Muffins

Jul 27, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Gluten-Free Berry Muffins or How Much Do You Love Ina?

Ina Garten inspired these muffins. My friend’s copy of Barefoot Contessa at Home was plopped face-down on her kitchen counter. During a visit, I noticed the pile of muffins on the back of the book. And these weren’t just any muffins— no, these were berry muffins. Let’s be honest, looking at a picture of berry muffins during the height of berry season practically guaranteed I’d head into the kitchen to whip up a gluten-free version.

The muffins easily converted to gluten-free. During testing, I found brown rice flour contributed a heavy texture to the muffins. To keep them light, I settled on a blend of white and sweet rice flour and potato starch. Interestingly, the original recipe calls for the granulated sugar to be added at the end of mixing instead of creaming it together with the butter at the beginning of mixing. This leaves the muffins with a “delicious crunchy outside,” according to Ina. The gluten-free version didn’t have the crunchy outside. Instead the sugar simply melted into the muffins during baking as always, but didn’t crunch.

The muffins were just what I wanted: light, sweet, and bursting with berries.

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter)

Gluten-Free Multi-Berry Muffins

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 24 muffins

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

2 cups finely ground white rice flour (8 ounces; 226 grams)
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1/2 cup potato starch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups milk (10 ounces; 283 grams)
2 large eggs (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams, out of shell)
3/4 cup oil (5 1/4 ounces; 148 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries washed and picked over
1 cup diced strawberries
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces; 297 grams)
non-stick gluten-free cooking spray

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffins pans with paper cupcake liners or spray pans with non-stick gluten-free cooking spray.
In large bowl, whisk together white rice flour, sweet rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. In small bowl, whisk together eggs, milks, oil, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry. Whisk together until a batter forms, about 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar. Whisk to combine. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in berries.
Fill prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake until muffins are golden brown and cake tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool. Store muffins in an airtight container for up to three days or freeze once cooled.

Gluten-Free Corn Scallion Pancakes

Jul 25, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Gluten-Free Corn-Scallion Pancakes or Pancakes with Dinner is the Best.

In the summer I get a bit lazy with side dishes. With the abundance of fresh produce from both the farmers’ market and my garden, I usually serve fresh vegetables and call it a day. The exception? These gluten-free corn-scallion pancakes. Even on the hottest day, I’ll take the time to make a batch.

Studded with corn and chopped scallions, these pancakes are great with everything from barbecue chicken to ribs to salad. (I’ve even been known to wrap them around hot dogs for an easy mock corn dog. As you know, I love waffles and pancakes for dinner. So I love doing this.)

These are best served hot from the griddle. If you have any leftovers, freeze really well. To freeze, allow the pancakes to cool completely, place into a freezer bag, and seal. When you’re ready to eat, thaw them before serving and then pop them into the toaster oven or microwave right before serving.

Allergen Notes:

These corn pancakes contain a few allergens (corn, eggs, and dairy). While they don’t work without the corn, egg and dairy-free versions work well.

To replace the eggs, combine three tablespoons flaxmeal with ¼ cup hot water. Stir to combine. Allow mixture to stand until it thickens and cools. Add flax to recipe as you would eggs.
To replace the dairy, replace the milk with a dairy-free/gluten-free substitute.

Gluten-Free Corn Scallion Pancakes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups gluten-free cornmeal (6 1/4 ounces; 177 grams)
3/4 cup brown rice flour (3 3/4 ounces; 106 grams)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (1 ounces; 28 grams)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup milk (8 ounces; 226 grams)
2 large eggs (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil plus additional oil for pan (3/4 ounce; 22 grams)
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn (if frozen, thaw) (about 7 ounces; 198 grams)
5 scallions, green and white parts, chopped

Instructions

In medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, brown rice flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. In small bowl, combine milk, eggs, and vegetable oil. Whisk with fork until smooth. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients. Stir with fork until smooth. Add corn and scallions. Stir to combine.
Lightly oil flat griddle pan with vegetable oil. Heat griddle over medium-high heat. Pour batter, approximately 1/4 cup per pancake, onto griddle. (Batter should sizzle when it hits the pan. )
Cook until bubbles appear on edges of pancakes, approximately three minutes. Flip pancakes and cook another 1-1 1/2 minutes.

Gluten-Free Tomato Tart with Parmesan-Rosemary Crust

Jul 24, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Gluten-Free Tomato Tart or The Reward of Summer

My garden started churning out tomatoes. I always eat the first few tomatoes right from the vine with a whisper of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.” But after that? It’s tart-makin’ time! (And BLT makin’ time, tomato sauce makin’ time…you get the point.)

To say I wait for a gluten-free tomato tart all year is not an exaggeration. In fact, I ~~blame~~ thank my love of tomato tarts for the ridiculous number of tomato plants in my garden each spring. Just the promise of a tart influences my tomato selection. I’m always thinking, “How will this kind look/taste in a tart?”

I think any tart is only as good as its crust. This one is made with a parmesan-rosemary scented short dough. It’s sturdy enough to stand up to juicy tomatoes but still tender enough not to be confused with pizza dough. The delicate nature of gluten-free tart dough prompted me to press it into the tart pan instead of rolling it out because the dough broke apart when rolled. (Remember it lacks the gluten that strengthens wheat-based doughs.)

As for the filling, tomatoes are the star, of course, but the provolone and caramelized onions act as supporting characters and offer a salty-sweet note. As with sweet tarts, this one welcomes playfulness. Vary the filling depending on what cheese or vegetables you have on hand. Use whatever you love and let us know what you create!

Allergen Notes

This gluten-free tomato tart is naturally egg-free, soy-free, and nut-free. It does contain dairy. If you are dairy-free, you can still make this tart.

For the tart dough: omit the parmesan cheese and replace the butter with a solid shortening, increasing the amount of shortening used by two tablespoons to make up for the cheese.

For the filling: omit the provolone and, right before filling, lightly brush the crust with olive oil. This keeps the crust crisp. The dairy-free version of this tart is very good but does lack the golden brown color dairy imparts to the tart. Bake the crust until it’s firm and aromatic, about 20 minutes.

Gluten-Free Tomato Tart on a wire rack. The tart is topped with shredded basil.

Gluten-Free Tomato Tart with Parmesan-Rosemary Crust

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

For the Crust

1 cup finely ground white rice flour (4 ounces; 226 grams)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (2 1/2 ounces; 70 grams)
1/4 cup sweet rice flour (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1/4 cup tapioca starch (1 ounce; 28 grams)
1 teaspoon rosemary chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into six pieces
1/4 cup water, water

For the Filling

2 tablespoons butter (1 ounce; 28 grams)
1 large onion, peeled and cut into ¼-inch pieces
6 slices deli slices provolone or 4 ounces grated (about 4 ounces; 113 grams)
2 large tomatoes, cut into (about) 1/4-inch slices (about 16 ounces; 453 grams)
nonstick cooking spray
Kosher salt
4-5 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Instructions

In bowl of food processor, combine white rice flour, cheese, tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, rosemary, and salt. Pulse to combine.
Add butter. Pulse until no large pieces remain. Add water, run food processor until dough forms.
Lightly spray a 10-inch tart pan. Pinch off one-tablespoon pieces of dough and place into bottom of tart pan. When all dough is in the pan, press dough down to cover bottom and sides of the pan. Lightly cover pan with plastic wrap and freeze tart for 30 minutes.
While tart is chilling, begin the filling: Melt butter in heavy-skillet over medium-high heat and add onions. Stir onions frequently. When onions begin to brown, reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently until onions are soft and very brown, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove tart from freezer and pull off plastic wrap. Bake tart until lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove tart from oven and place on wire rack. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
Place cheese evenly in bottom of tart. Spoon cooked onions evenly over cheese and top with tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt.
Bake until tomatoes soften, about 18 minutes. Place tart on wire rack to cool for about five minutes before cutting. Sprinkle chopped basil over tart. Cut tart into wedges and serve.

How to Freeze Frosted Cupcakes

Jul 23, 2015 · 8 Comments

Steps for freezing frosted cakes and cupcakes. — Text Reads: You can freeze buttercream iced cakes and cupcakes for up to three months. When ready to serve, thaw on the counter for about three hours.

Did you know that you can freeze buttercream-frosted cakes and cupcakes? Yup! You can! Simply make a batch of your favorite cake or cupcakes and allow the cake(s) to cool. When cool, frost with buttercream icing–other icings like cooked or boiled frosting don’t freeze well.

Then pop the cake or cupcakes into the freezer. This step requires some freezer room. Be sure to check out your freezer before you start this project to make sure you have the room. After about six hours, the buttercream will be frozen. Remove the cake or cupcakes from the freezer and wrap with plastic wrap.

You can keep a frosted cake or cupcakes in the freezer for up to three months. When the craving for cake strikes, simply remove the cake or cupcakes from the freezer, remove the plastic wrap, and thaw at room temperature. This takes about three hours. If you have the chance, remove the cake from the freezer the night before serving. If not, you need at least three hours.

Here’s the Step-by-Step

Bake cake and allow to cool.
Frost with buttercream icing.
Freeze iced cake or cupcakes.
Wrap iced cake or cupcakes when icing is frozen. This takes about six hours.
Freeze cakes for up to three months.
Remove cake from freezer and remove plastic wrap.
Thaw on your counter for six hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

How to Make Gluten-Free Coca-Cola Cake

Jul 23, 2015 · 3 Comments

Do I drink soda regularly? Nope! But when I do, it’s usually Coke. Like most folks, my memories of Coke stretch back to childhood. My memories, perhaps, are a little different than most. When I’d have an asthma attack, the school nurse would give me my inhaler. She’d also pop open a can of Coke. So I’d sit there, laboring to breathe with a red can of Coke. (She did this because my allergist thought that caffeine helped with asthma.) My mom rarely bought soda for the house; so drinking it, even during an asthma attack, felt like a treat.

While I’ve drank many cans of the Coke, I’ve never baked with it. I’d heard of a Coca-Cola cake but I’d never had a chance to make it. No time like the present, right?

I pulled up the recipe on Coke’s website. While reading the recipe, my teeth started chattering. Why?

The original recipe included:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup Coca-Cola

1 1/2 cups marshmallows

1 pound confectioners’ sugar (for the icing)

Did that make your teeth chatter too? I understand.

The sugar wasn’t the only thing that got my attention. The 9×13-inch cake called for one stick of butter and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Oy! The original recipe made one very sweet, very rich cake. Too sweet and rich for my tastes!

I decided to modify it.

With the sugar and fat reduced, the flavor of the Coca-Cola shines. If you haven’t had a Coke in awhile, you might have forgotten that it’s spicy. Spice=yum!

I reduced the amount of sugar from two cups to one and a quarter cup. I nixed the marshmallows, cut the oil down to two tablespoons from a half cup and reduced the confectioners’ sugar in the icing from four cups to two and a half. And, of course, I made it gluten-free.

The recipe makes a dense and moist sheet cake. Thanks to the icing, which you make on the stovetop and pour over the warm cake, the edges of the cake become pudding-like. Some of my tasters loved this wet texture; others, including me, did not.

To be honest, I preferred the cake (dare I say it??) without the traditional icing. For me the icing masked the tender crumb of the cake and its delicate flavor. I do realize, however, that without this icing, many would not consider this to be the classic Coca-Cola cake.

To keep the spirit of the cake, I’ve included the icing recipe. If you like a moist, pudding-like cake, make it. If you don’t, simply dust the cake with powdered sugar or ice it with cream cheese icing. The tang of cream cheese icing goes well with the cake. And, if you use Philly cream cheese, you’ll have a nice blend of regional favorites right in your cake pan. Neat, right?

Here’s how to make my version of the beloved Coca-Cola cake.

I love how this looks like I was lazy and just left an open can of soda in an ingredient photo. You want to use regular coke, not diet for this recipe.

Melt the butter and oil together.

There’s a little cocoa powder in the cake. Once the butter’s melted, add it to the pot. The smell? Let’s just say if heaven doesn’t smell this good, I am not sure I want to go there. (Kidding. Mostly.)

This is the Coke’s big moment. Look! It’s bubbling with excitement.

Add the Coke to the butter/oil/cocoa mixture. It will bubble up. Honestly, I found the fizz kind of exciting!

While the Coke mixture cools slightly, add the sugar to the dry ingredients. (And remember…that sugar I’m pouring in? It’s reduced from the original recipe. Can you even imagine??)

Coke isn’t the only liquid in this cake. Buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla join in the fun. Whisk ’em together before adding to the dry ingredients. If the mixture is a little lumpy that’s fine!

In goes the buttermilk mixture.

Whisk the batter. It’ll be thick. Really thick. You can use a handheld electric mixer, a stand mixer, or a handheld whisk. It’s up to you!

Add the Coke mixture. Look! It’s still fizzy. Nifty, eh?

Whisk until batter is smooth, about one minute. Go slow at first. That prevents the batter from slopping all over your counter.

Batter goes into a 9×13-inch pan and then into the oven.

During the last few minutes of baking. You start the icing.

Again with melted butter and cocoa powder.

Add the remaining Coke, powdered sugar, and bring to a boil. I thought all the sugar had dissolved. I was wrong. As you’ll see in the next picture.

Oy! Some lumps of sugar remained. They did “melt” a few minutes. So not really a big deal. And, to me, lumps of sugar aren’t that big of a deal anyway. But that’s just me.

You want a slice, don’t you?

Gluten-free cola cake on white plate with fork.

Gluten-Free Coca Cola Cake

Remember to use regular coca cola for this recipe and not diet!

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

For the Cake
1 stick butter (1/2 cup; 4 ounces; 113 grams)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil (1 1/3 ounces; 36 grams)
1 cup granulated sugar ( 7 ounces; 198 grams)
1 1/2 cups white rice flour (6 ounces; 85 grams)
1/2 cup cornstarch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (about 1/2 ounce; 14 grams)
1 cup regular Coca-Cola if using a 12-ounce can, reserve remaining Coke for the icing
1/2 cup buttermilk (4 ounces; 113 grams)
2 large eggs (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams, out of shell)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup; 4 ounces; 113 grams)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (about 1/2 ounce; 14 grams)
6 tablespoons regular Coca-Cola
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (10 ounces; 283 grams)

Instructions

Prepare the Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine butter and oil. Heat over medium heat until butter melts.
While butter melts, whisk together granulated sugar, white rice flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum in large bowl.
Turn your attention back to the stove. Add cocoa powder to melted butter. Whisk to combine. Bring mixture to a boil. Add Coca-cola; swirl pan to combine and remove pan from heat. In small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mixture might be lumpy.
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients. Whisk. Batter will be thick. Add cooled butter/Coca-Cola mixture. Whisk until batter is smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake until cake rises and springs back to the touch, about 25-30 minutes.
Prepare the Frosting: In small saucepan, combine butter and cocoa powder. Heat over medium heat until butter melts and mixture beings to bubble. Add Coca-Cola. Bring to boil. Add confectioners' sugar and, if using, nuts. Stir until smooth. If cake is not done baking, reduce heat to low. Stir icing occasionally.
Remove cake from oven. Pour warm icing evenly over cake. Cool cake; cut into slices and serve.

Gluten-Free Powdered Sugar Doughnut Muffins

Jul 23, 2015 · 2 Comments

This recipe is my mom’s fault. Okay, maybe not “fault” because who would want to blame someone for inspiring powdered sugar doughnut-muffins?

Anyway, she was watching “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Snack Attack” on The Food Network and someone mentioned Doughnut-Muffins. That’s right. Muffins that taste like doughnuts. My mouth was already watering when she said, “You should make a gluten-free version.”

Since I try to be a good daughter, I listened to my mom. The doughnut-muffins from The Downtown Bakery (the bakery that serves the gluten-filled doughnut-muffins) are rolled in melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. While that sounds divine, I love powdered sugar doughnuts and wanted to try making a doughnut-muffin version.

Taking a cue from Mexican wedding cookies, I rolled the muffins in powdered sugar right after they came out of the oven. It worked! The sugar stuck to the warm muffins.

The muffins have a bit of crust that gives way to a tender interior. The next time I make them, I think I’ll fill them (after baking) with a little jam. Jelly Doughnut-Muffins, anyone?

Gluten-Free Powdered Sugar Doughnut Muffins

These muffins really do taste like powdered sugar doughnuts. If you want, spoon a little jam on top or, if you have a pastry bag and tip, squeeze jam into the center of each muffin.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 48 muffins

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

3/4 cup white rice flour (3 ounces; 85 grams)
1/2 cup cornstarch (2 ounces; 56 grams)
1/4 cup sweet rice flour (1 ounce; 28 grams)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces; 148 grams)
2 teaspoons baking power
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil (1 3/4 ounces; 50 grams)
1 large egg (about 1 3/4 ounces; 50 grams, out of shell)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Topping

1 pound powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a min-muffin pan (24 cavity) with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together white rice flour, cornstarch, sweet rice flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. The batter will be very, very, very thin. I just use a large fork to whisk it together. There really is no need to dirty your electric mixer for this recipe. Fill muffin cups about 1/2 full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
While muffins are baking, fill a 8x8x2-inch cake pan with powdered sugar. Remove muffins from the oven and place directly into the powdered sugar. The steam from the hot muffins will make the sugar stick to the muffins.
Cover the muffins in powdered sugar and allow to cool. Remove muffins from the sugar and tap off any excess sugar.

5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Pie

Jul 23, 2015 · 1 Comment

I love low-work desserts. And this one is really, really low work. You only need five ingredients and a few minutes. The ingredients: gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies, peanut butter, cream cheese, whipped topping, and powdered sugar. That’s it!

Let’s make the pie!

For the crust, use gluten-free sandwich cookies. I really like the ones by Glutino or Trader Joe’s.

Grind until the cookies are fine and start to hold together.

Thanks to the creme filling, you don’t need to add butter to the cookie crust. (Which is something you often need to do with cookie crusts.)

Give the crumbs a squeeze. You want them to hold together.

Press the crumbs into a nine-inch pie pan. My pan is really deep; so the crumbs didn’t go all the way up the sides.

Throw the crust into a preheated 350 degree oven. This makes the crust crisp. If you don’t feel like turning on the oven, you can skip this step. The crust will be a little more crumbly but it will still taste good. If you bake the crust, allow it to cool.

Start the crust when the filling is cool. You don’t want to put the filling into a warm crust.

Mix together peanut butter and cream cheese. I used neufchatel cheese, which is like cream cheese but with less fat.

Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Add one container of Cool Whip. (I used reduced fat Cool Whip.) If you don’t like to use cool whip, use 3 cups of whipped heavy cream.

Whip filling until smooth.

Pour into the prepared crust.

Smooth and chill for two hours. Serve to someone you love.

Recipe Notes

Think about the fat. This is rich pie! And while I’m not fat-phobic (evidence: this entire blog and my books), I found this dessert too rich when made with regular cream cheese and cool whip. When you make this pie with reduced fat cream cheese and Cool Whip it’s still rich. That said, I wouldn’t use fat-free cream cheese or Cool whip. Those ingredients won’t make a great pie. Also, share this pie in thin slices. Trust me.

Make it peanut-free. A peanut-free peanut butter pie? Yup! Replace the peanut butter with almond butter, sunflower butter, or pea butter. All of these make a wonderful pie.

Serve it cool, not cold. You need to keep this pie in the refrigerator but you don’t want to serve it cold. It tastes better cool—almost room temperature—than it does cold. So take it out of the refrigerator about 40 minutes before you plan on serving it.

Classic Peanut Butter Pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 8 -12

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

For the Crust

1 package 10.6 ounces gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies

For the Filling

1 cup creamy peanut butter (9 1/2 ounces; 269 grams)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (5 ounces; 142 grams)
1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip, regular or reduced fat OR 3 cups whipped heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. In bowl of food processor, grind cookies (including filling) until fine. Crumbs should hold together when pressed or squeezed.
Press cookie crumbs into the bottom and side of a 9-inch pie pan.
Bake until aromatic and firm, about ten minutes. Remove crust from oven. Place on a rack to cool. Turn off oven. You are done with it.
When the crust is cool, prepare the filling. In bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl, whip together peanut butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Add powdered sugar. Whip until combined. Mixture will be thick.
Turn off mixer. Add Cool Whip. Turn mixer on to medium-high. Whip until smooth.
Spread filling into prepared crust. Chill for two hours or overnight.

5 Minute Pretzel Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars

Jul 23, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Oh, where do I begin? I feel like the name of these bars tells you everything you need to know: No Bake. Cream Cheese. Peanut Butter. Pretzel. Bars. Is your mouth watering yet? Yeah, mine too!

Thanks to the fact that these are truly no-bake, these bars come together in about five minutes. (I hate “no bake” recipes that make you turn on the oven to bake the crust. That’s not “no bake!”) But they aren’t ready to eat in five minutes. You need to chill them so the chocolate sets. Then, believe it or not, they need to come to room temperature before you cut them.

Why?

Well, the chocolate gets cold and hard. And the base, while crunchy, is soft compared to cold chocolate. If you go to cut them while cold, the chocolate shatters. (You can see this in the photo above. I didn’t let those bars sit out long enough before cutting.) Allowing the bars to come to room temperature prevents this problem.

And then, well, then you get to enjoy! Just be sure to cut these small. I get about 20 bars from the 8×8-inch pan. These aren’t cookie bars as much as they are candy-like bars. Perfect for picnics and bbqs but, really, a little goes a long way!

Five Minute Cheesecake Pretzel Bars cut into squares.

5 Minute Pretzel Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Bars

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 20 bars

Ingredients

1 cup smooth peanut butter, regular or reduced fat (9 1/2 ounces; 270 grams)
3 ounces cream cheese, softened (regular, reduced fat or fat free)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (6 ounces; 170 grams)
4 cups Corn Chex, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup confectionery coating or chocolate chips, melted
20 gluten-free mini-pretzels
Kosher salt optional

Instructions

Line 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper. The paper should overhang the edges of the pan, this makes it easy to remove the bars from the pan.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together peanut butter and cream cheese on medium speed. Stop mixer. Scrape down bottom and sides of the bowl. Add powdered sugar. Mix until blended. Add the crushed corn chex. Mix to combine. Dough will be stiff. Add melted butter. Blend to combine.
Press dough evenly into prepared baking pan. Spread melted chocolate evenly over the top of the pans. Press mini-pretzels into the melted chocolate. If the pretzels aren't coated with a lot of salt (gluten-free pretzels are usually light on the salt), sprinkle a little kosher salt evenly over the bars. The salty-sweet mix really makes these bars yummy.
Chill bars for 45 minutes. Remove the bars from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Lift bars out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into pieces with a sharp knife. Serve. Store leftover bars in the refrigerator.
Note: Cutting the bars while cold causes the chocolate to break apart. It's important to allow them to come to room temperate before cutting.

Flourless Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Jul 23, 2015 · 2 Comments

The other day when I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, I was reminded of how easy and good flourless peanut butter cookies can be. Ok, the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie contained a smidgen of flour but it was based on my flourless cookie recipe, hence the inspiration.

So when I wanted to make a batch of oatmeal cookies, I thought, “Why not peanut butter oatmeal cookies?” And then, “Why not peanut butter oatmeal cookies with lots of stuff in them?” Lots of stuff in cookies is always a good thing, right?

I ended up making (takes deep breath) Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Chip-Coconut-Almond cookies. (catches breath)

Yeah, it’s a mouthful. A delicious, delicious mouthful.

The best part? These cookies are so ridiculously easy-to-make that I didn’t even mind turning on the oven during the summer. I mean, the cookies are practically power bars, right? (I know. Wrong. But let’s go with it.) The cookies make great treats for hiking, days at the beach, camping, or laying on the couch mainlining episodes of Orange in the New Black.

To make them, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Then add all the other good stuff. That’s it. Seriously. That’s it. I like to chill the dough for about fifteen minutes before baking. (I do this as the oven preheats.) Then drop the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about fifteen minutes.

When the cookies cool, thanks to the oatmeal, they’re soft and chewy. Oh, and about that oatmeal, use instant oatmeal in this recipe. I found that old-fashioned oats are too tough for the recipe.

And, of course, my “add-in” ingredients are just suggestions. Add some dried fruit, M&Ms (be sure they’re gluten-free), or anything else you love.

Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Peanut Butter cookies on wood cutting board.

Flourless Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Made without flour, these oatmeal peanut butter cookies bake up soft and chewy. The add-ins, like coconut, chocolate chips, and almonds, are just suggestions. Use whatever dried fruits, nuts, and chocolate that you enjoy!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 24 cookies

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter (9 1/2 ounces; 270 grams)
3 large eggs (about 5 1/4 ounces; 150 grams)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar (7 1/2 ounces; 212 grams)
2 1/2 cups quick cook gluten-free oats (8 3/4 ounces; 248 grams)
1/2 cup sweetened coconut (1 1/2 ounces; 45 grams)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (3 ounces; 100 grams)
1/2 cup peanut butter chips (3 ounces; 100 grams)
1/2 cup chopped almonds for a sweet-salty flavor, use salted almonds

Instructions

In large bowl, whisk together peanut butter, eggs, and dark brown sugar until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon and add oats, coconut, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and chopped almonds. Stir until well combined. Chill for 15 minutes.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough, about one tablespoon each onto prepared cookie sheet, spacing dough about an inch apart.
Bake until set, about 15 minutes.Allow cookies to cool on the pan for five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with cool baking sheet until all dough is used.
Store cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to four days.

Gluten-Free Corn Dogs

Jul 23, 2015 · 8 Comments

What’s your favorite fair/carnival food? I loved corn dogs. LOVED THEM. While everyone in my family ate delicious barbecued chicken dinners (made by the local volunteer firemen), I held out. I wanted a corn dog. My mother hated this! Chicken was healthy. Corn dogs….weren’t. Since it was once a year, she didn’t argue with me. But, each year she attempted to get me to try the chicken. I never budged. I wanted a corn dog.

Today, of course, I can eat the barbecued chicken. Surprisingly it’s gluten-free. The corn dogs are not. Boo! So I have to make them myself. Over the years, I’ve learned some tips for making the best corn dogs at home.

Use Great Hot Dogs

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the corn dogs I ate at the Washington County Fair weren’t made from the finest of ingredients. I know, I know! That’s a wild guess. 🙂 AnyHOO, you can select whatever hot dogs you like. I usually use Applegate Farms hot dogs. And if you have a local producer that makes good hot dogs, use those.

Dry the dogs.

Before coating the hot dogs, dry them. It doesn’t matter if you use natural casing dogs or gluten-free veggie dogs, they need to be dry. Remove them from the refrigerator, allow them to come to room temperature and then roll them in a towel to dry. Remember to dry the ends.

Coat them in flour.

While researching how to make corn dogs at home, I noticed one compliant coming up again and again: the batter slides off the dog. To keep the batter on the hot dogs, roll them in white rice flour before coating with the cornmeal batter. Again, remember to coat the ends.

Use a tall glass.

Evenly coating the corn dogs with batter can be the toughest part of making corn dogs. To make it easy, fill a tall drinking glass with batter and dip the dogs, one at a time, in the cup.

Work quickly.

While the white rice flour helps the batter to adhere to the hot dog, some batter still drips off the dog after coating. Set your batter-filled drinking class next to your deep fryer or heavy-bottomed pot. Dip the dog in batter, taking care to cover the end of the dog that meets the stick. Lift the dog out of the batter, allow it to “drip” for a second, swirling or shaking it lightly and place it right into the deep fryer. Remember, don’t drop the corn dog into the fryer. Lay it in the fryer gently, tip first. This helps to prevent splattering.

Wrap the stick after frying.

When I fried my first corn dog, I got excited! It was so pretty and corn dog-y. After allowing it to drain for a second or two on a paper towel-lined plate, I picked it up. And…I dropped it down. That stick was HOT. Before serving, wrap the stick in a paper-towel.

Enjoy!

Making homemade corn dogs isn’t as easy as stepping up to a booth and buying one but the work is worth it. These are some seriously good corn dogs!

5 from 2 votes

Gluten-Free Corn Dogs

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 8 hot dogs

Author GlutenFreeBaking.com

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups gluten-free cornflour (finely ground cornmeal) (6 1/4 ounces; 178 grams)
3/4 cup white rice flour, plus additional for coating hot dogs (3 ounces; 85 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup milk (8 ounces; 226 grams)
2 large eggs (about 3 1/2 ounces; 100 grams)
3 tablespoons honey (2 1/4 ounces; 65 grams)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (3/4 ounce; 22 grams)
8 gluten-free hot dogs
8 skewers, about 6-inches long
Vegetable Oil for frying

Instructions

In small bowl, whisk together gluten-free cornflour, 3/4 cup white rice flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. Add milk, eggs, honey, and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Mix together until smooth. Allow batter to stand for ten minutes.
Fill a large heavy pot, Dutch oven, or deep fryer with enough oil to submerge hot dogs. Heat oil until a deep-fry thermometer reaches 365 degrees.
Dry hot dogs with a paper towel, including ends, and slide sticks into hot dogs. You want to slide sticks about halfway into the hot dog. Dry hot dogs with a paper towel. Don't forget the ends! Roll hot dogs, one at a time, in white rice flour. Place hot dogs on dry plate. Set aside.
Line a plate or baking pan with a few paper towels. Place near the fryer. (Be sure plate is a safe distance from the fryer.)
Select a glass that's tall enough to dip the entire hot dog into. Pour batter into drinking glass. Dip hot dogs, one at a time, into glass. Lift hot dog from batter and swirl lightly. Quickly transfer coated hot dog into the hot oil, gently placing the hot dog into the oil. Fry one or two corn dogs at a time. After about one minute of frying, gently "roll" the corn dog in the oil using a pair of metal tongs. (Often they roll themselves.) Remove corn dogs from oil. Drain on paper towel lined plate and serve. Wrap the stick in a paper towel before serving.
Corn Fritters
Drop leftover batter, about two teaspoons each, into the oil and cook until golden brown. Remove from oil with a metal skimmer.

How to Cook Gluten-Free Pasta

Jul 23, 2015 · 3 Comments

Cooked gluten-free pasta in a strainer. — pictured: gluten-free Ronzoni pasta. (Pasta pictured in post is Tinkyada.)

Yesterday I posted a picture on Facebook of my pasta dinner. One of my friends asked about how I cooked the pasta. Since she was the second person to ask me in a week, I felt a post was in order.

Here’s how to perfectly cook gluten-free pasta every time:

Use a large pot!

You’ll need about 6 quarts of water for 1 pound of gluten-free pasta. Gluten-free pasta would love nothing better than to stick together. A large pot with lots of water gives the pasta enough room to boil and not stick.

Use LOTS of salt.

There is an old Italian cooking adage about how pasta water should be as salty as the sea. Isn’t that a lovely? If you’ve ever gotten a mouthful of seawater, you know how salty it is! Adding salt to the cooking liquid helps to boost the flavor of pasta. On its own, gluten-free pasta is pretty boring. Salting the water really makes a difference to its flavor profile. You’ll want to use about 1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt per pound of pasta. I bring my water to a boil, add the salt, return it to a boil, and then I add the pasta. Which brings me to…

Cook your pasta in boiling water!

I know. I know. On the back of bag it states that you can “cook” your pasta in a covered pot of hot water. Hrmp! If you want a pot of sticky, yucky pasta you can do it. If, however, you want lovely, silky pasta, you need to cook it in boiling water. Be sure your water is a boil when you add the pasta and returns to a bubbling boil while the pasta cooks.

Don’t add oil!

There is this cooking myth that adding oil will prevent your pasta from sticking together. Not true! (To prevent pasta from sticking, see #5). Oil in pasta water floats to the top of the pot. When you drain the pasta, it will stick to your lovely cooked noodles. And you know what this means? It means the sauce won’t stick to it! You’ll end up with noodles that can’t hold sauce and, when chilled, will take on a weird crunchy texture. Ew! So no oil in the cooking water! Thank you!

Stir!

Gluten-free pasta will stick to itself if you don’t prevent it. How to prevent this from happening? Stir it! As soon as you drop the pasta into the boiling water, begin to stir it. Keep doing this for about 30 seconds. Then, continue to stir occasionally while it cooks. The first 3-5 minutes are the most important for stirring. This when your pasta is stickiest.

Taste.

The cooking time printed on the back of the bag never, ever seems to be right. After about 6 minutes, check your pasta. Some pastas cook in under ten minutes, other take about 12. For gluten-free pasta, you want it to be cooked thoroughly but not mushy. When you bite into the pasta, look at it. If there is a dark spot in the center it is not done. The texture and color should be the same all the way through.

Check it.

When overcooked, gluten-free pasta becomes mushy. After the initial tasting, check it every minute. This will ensure that you don’t overcook it.

Reserve some cooking liquid.

Right before you drain the pasta, ladle out about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Gluten-free pasta really soaks up sauce. To loosen your sauce, add a bit of the cooking liquid to your pasta when you add the sauce. In fact, you want enough sauce and liquid so that it looks like too much. This will prevent your pasta from becoming dry.

Drain

Use a large strainer to drain your pasta. Don’t rinse the pasta in cold water. All that does is cool down the pasta. You don’t want cold pasta.

Return Pasta to the Pot

After draining, return the pasta to the pot to add the sauce. Trying to sauce the pasta in the serving bowl is messy. Topping pasta on individual plates leaves some pasta dry.

Sauce

Add your favorite sauce. If you make homemade sauce, awesome. If you buy pre-made sauce, awesome! Just be sure it’s gluten-free. And read labels each time. Ingredients change.

Reserve a little of the sauce to top each plate. This also makes it easy to adjust the amount of sauce. Some folks like a little. Some a lot.

Stir

Give it a good stir. You want to coat each noodle with sauce.

Serve!

Pasta is best served right after it’s made. Gluten-free pasta doesn’t taste great cold. Nor does it make a good pasta salad. If you have leftovers, reheat before you eat.

And most important of all…