Gluten Free Baked Goodies

Making Gluten Free baked goods is always a gamble for me.  Some of the recipes are really good, but most are just grainy in texture and not very tasty.  I was lucky to stumble upon two really great recipes this past week.  I like to eat pancakes every so often, but didn't want a recipe that had all the refined flours, butter and refined sugars that most have in them.  I have coconut flour in my pantry, but haven't had a recipe to use it with in awhile.  Mark's Daily Apple has been a website that I frequent for Paleo recipes and came upon these Coconut Flour Pancakes.  They are actually very fluffy, which is something that most gluten free pancakes lack.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

From Mark's Daily Apple

4 eggs

1/4 cup Coconut flour

1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

1 pinch Nutmeg

1 pinch Cinnamon

1 tbsp Agave nectar

1/4 cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

**I have added any of these fresh berries, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, flax seed, dried fruit... 

Mix these ingredients and let them sit for five minutes.

Oil or grease up your pan and heat over medium heat.

Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.

Topped with a poached egg

Pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds) in these

Gluten Free Cranberry Pumpkin Pecan Scones

From Tasty Kitchen-Delta Whiskey

  

¾ cup Sorghum Flour 

½ cup Tapioca Flour 

¾ cup Potato Starch 

1 tsp Xanthan Gum 

1 tbspBaking Powder 

½ tsp Salt 

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon 

½ tsp Ground Ginger 

½ tsp Freshly Grated Nutmeg 

¼ tsp Ground Cloves 

½ cup Packed Brown Sugar 

½ cup Cold Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces 

½ cup Pumpkin 

3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream Or Milk 

1 whole Egg 
1 cup chopped Pecans
1 cup dried cranberries

Glaze:

1 cup Confectioner's Sugar 

2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream Or Milk 

¼ teaspoons Cinnamon 

1 pinch Ground Cloves 

1 pinch Freshly Grated Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours, starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar) for 90 seconds with a whisk, making sure to get all of the flours and xanthan gum incorporated. 

Cut in butter until it is about the size of peas. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.

Add in pecans and cranberries to the flour mixture. (makes it easier than doing it after the wet ingredients)

In another medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients (pumpkin, heavy cream and egg) then pour into the well and fold them into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, taking care not to over beat.

Scoop the dough into a circular pie pan.  Mold dough to a level circle and then cut into pie shaped wedges.  Transfer each piece to parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, until lightly golden on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the glaze. 

Combine all of the glaze ingredients (1 cup confectioner’s sugar, 2 Tablespoons heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg and cloves) in a small bowl, adding cream or powdered sugar to get the consistency of glaze you want. 

Glaze the scones once they have cooled slightly.

Serve warm! :)

Meatless Monday

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

From Gluten Free by Nature

2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 leek, diced
1/2 onion, minced
2 carrots, small diced

1 Gala Apple, diced (my addition)
1 8 oz package organic cremini mushrooms, stems removed and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
few turns of freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 small garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked quinoa (I used black as my addition, the recipe called for brown rice)
2 long, slender butternut squashes (I used acorn)
1 bunch organic spinach, stems removed and washed

2 oz smoked Gruyere Cheese, cubed 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the acorn squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds out of the bulb and discard.

Prepare a deep baking dish with about an inch of water. Place the squash flesh side down, so that it is submerged. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the squash is tender.

Meanwhile, prepare a large saucepan on medium heat with the oil. Add the leek, carrots, onion and apple. Saute for about 5 minutes. 

Add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook another 4-5 minutes. 

Then add the garlic and spinach. Saute for 1 minute. 

Cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes so the spinach wilts slightly.

Place the cooked quinoa in a glass bowl. Add the vegetable mixture and mix well. Set aside.

Remove the squash from the oven. Leave the oven on. Drain and discard the water out of the baking dish.  Using some tongs because it is still hot, flip the squash over exposing the flesh.  Using an ice cream scoop, spoon the the quinoa mixture into the squash cavity. You can firm it down a little bit and add in a few cubes of Gruyere cheese to each squash half.  You will have extra quinoa mixture leftover.

Bake for 20 minutes. The top will become slightly crispy and brown. 

Serves 4 

Everything's better when it's mini

Last week was a potluck with my small group from church.  Thanks to Andy and Alex, our theme for the night was everything had to start with the letter "A"  Of course, I was in charge of the dessert, so Ala Mode Mini Apple Lattice Pies it was!  Such a tedious dessert to make, but the finished product was well worth it!  I started to make the pies the night before and realized that we were almost out of flour.  Thankfully I had some Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, so made a combo of: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup white flour, 2 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup cold butter sliced, 4-5 tbsp cold milk.  Mix the flours, sugar and salt together.  Cut in the butter with the flour, but make sure to not use your hands with this because you want to keep the butter really cold.  Once the butter is about pea sized, add in the milk about 1 tbsp at a time.  Gently form the dough into a ball first with a fork and then you can use your hands if needed.  Chill in the fridge until ready to use.

Ala Mode Mini Apple Lattice Pies

From Crepes of Wrath

Crust listed above

For the apple filling:
5 large apples, diced very finely  (I do a mixture of McIntosh, Braeburns...etc)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup toffee bits
juice of half a lemon

Make the dough and chill in fridge until ready to go.  Filling should be made when you are almost ready to use your dough.

Peel, core, and finely dice your apples to very small pieces, otherwise known as a brunoise. 

Toss them with the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, allspice, ginger, toffee bits, lemon juice, and lemon extract, if you’re using it. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. 

When you are ready to roll out your dough, bring one ball out of the fridge and flour your work surface, your hands, and your rolling pin (if you don’t have a rolling pin, use a cold wine bottle – it’ll help your dough stay cold, anyway). 

Divide one of your balls in half and foll out gently, going in one direction, until the dough is about one or two centimeters thick. Using a glass or a cookie cutter, cut the dough out into appropriate sized circle for your muffin pan (I used the top of a water glass for this), and use your finger to stretch the dough out a bit as needed.

Press into a lightly greased muffin pan and work until half of your total dough is gone (you will need the other half for the lattice tops). 

Fill your pies with the apple filling. 

Make the lattice tops by cutting out the same sized circles as you did for the crust, then slice the circles thinly, and layer them in alternating layers for the lattice tops. Pinch the corners together so that the lattice top sticks to the crust, but it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg and sprinkle with a little raw sugar, if you like. 

Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until the crusts are golden and the filling is bubbling.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pans. 

To make them ala mode, I topped each pie with a generous scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (this part I bought from the store ha ha)

Makes 18 Mini Pies

And I'm back with lots of Chocolate!

So much baking has gone on since I last posted, yet finding the time to sit down and blog has been difficult.  So here it goes, I have one more month before my half marathon.  It is a long distance for me and I am starting to get a little nervous for it.  Mostly just anxious and excited though.  I decided to do a longer run this last weekend and increase my mileage.  I was feeling really good about 8 miles in, so I decided to keep going.  By mile 10, I don't think that my legs wanted to move anymore and I kept on telling myself to go faster.  All in all, I finished the 10 miles in 1:35 which wasn't bad for me.  Feeling good about myself on the drive home and cruising with the window down, I got a burst of energy, so whipped out the bike and went for a ride...only to get 10 miles in and tried to stand up to climb a hill when my right calf became one mangled knot. WTF! Almost caused me to lose control and crash, but I managed to keep it under control and walk my bike back to the car.  A little stretching and looooots of water, I was feeling much better by the end of the day!  All in a days work and pretty proud of myself for pushing that 10 miles out...maybe next time I will skip the ride afterwards. :)   

So back to the baking...I had mentioned earlier that I had given up Chocolate for Lent, but made a weee little exception for some Devils Food Cupcakes for my boss.  It paid off when I asked for a day off next week and he responds with "Since you did make those fabulous cupcakes for me..."  All in a days work I guess :) and a delicious Devils Food Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream and Chocolate Toffee covered Pretzels.

You can find the cupcake here

The frosting was actually fun to make:

Thanks to Give Me Some Oven

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 cups crumbled Chocolate Toffee covered Pretzels

Briefly stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. 

Set aside until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes.

Beat the butter ]in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated.  

Turn off the mixer, and then add caramel. 

Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. 

Mix in crumbled pretzel bits.

Refrigerate if not using immediately (or to harden the frosting a bit).

**I spread the frosting on instead of piping it on since it was very sweet.  I had a lot of extra frosting too, so it can be modified very easily.