Gluten-free French Pancakes (aka Crepes)

Happy New Year!

I haven't had much time to post recipes this year, but I thought I could add one you might like to try on New Years morning. Hopefully I will have more time in the New Year.

This was so easy convert to gluten-free (I love when that happens). The original recipe is from Joy of Cooking and it's one that I used to make for my kids - it is one of their favorites.

It's a great breakfast recipe because it's quicker to make than regular pancakes, but just as satisfying. The bad news is you can't make them on a griddle - so you can only make one at a time (challenging if you have more than one kid:-) - or you can use two frying pans if you have them.

When I make them, they are not quite as thin as traditional crepes made using a crepe pan (which cooks on the upside-down bottom of the pan). I could probably make them thinner if I used less batter - I'll have to try that some time. But they are definitely thin enough to roll up with your favorite filling if you choose.

The original recipe says to cook them in a few drops of oil in the pan, which I did. They were fine that way, but I also tried cooking them in a tiny bit of butter instead, and I liked the way they tasted even better. No surprise there, I guess.

Gluten-free French Pancakes (adapted from Joy of Cooking)
Makes about 6 - 6"-7" Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup your favorite Gluten-free Flour Mix
• 1 tsp Baking Powder (not needed if your Gluten-free flour mix has it)
• 1-2 Tbs Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum (not sure if this is needed - I'll try it without next time)
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup Milk
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum, and powdered sugar and set aside.
2. Beat the 2 eggs. Add the milk, water, and vanilla and beat.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the egg mixture. Mix together, but don't worry if there are small lumps in the batter.
4. In a small frying pan (mine is about 7", but you can use even a smaller one) heat a bit of oil or butter.
5. Add about 3 or 4 Tbs of batter, and swirl it around so it covers the bottom of the pan.
6. Cook over medium heat until the bottom is lightly browned, and carefully flip over. The second side usually cooks more quickly than the first side - so watch it carefully.
7. Enjoy with your favorite topping!

Gluten-free Waffles!

Just because sometimes I really want a Waffle! And because I can't always get to Sfoofs, my very favorite cafe for Gluten-free waffles.

So it was a "do-it-yourself" morning. Except I planned it last night. That's because this is a yeast-based waffle which is easiest and tastiest when you make batter ahead of time and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. When you think of it, it's really a great idea. Because then all you have to do in the morning is fire up the waffle iron and bake away. Easy peasy. And if you're really good, the coffee is brewed by the time your first waffle is ready.

I remember going to the World's Fair in New York when I was a kid, and having my first Belgian Waffle with powdered sugar, whipped cream, and strawberries. It became one of my favorite treats, and still is! Unfortunately, I had no whipped cream or strawberries on this morning, so maple syrup and bananas had to fill in. No complaints.

The thing that I love about these particular waffles is that they are crisp on the outside, but soft and waffley on the inside. Perfect!



Gluten-free Waffles
Makes about 6 - 7" Waffles
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Brown Rice flour
• 3/4 cup White Rice flour
• 1/4 cup Tapioca Starch
• 1/4 cup Potato Starch
• 2 tsp Yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 1/4 cup Butter, melted
• 2 cups milk, warmed to about 100 - 105 degrees
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Combine the flours, yeast, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar in a bowl and whisk together to blend.
2. Combine the melted butter and warm milk, and add to the flour mixture.
3. Mix the eggs and vanilla together, and whisk into the flour mixture to blend well.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.
5. In the morning, mix the batter for a few seconds.
6. Preheat the waffle iron, and add 1/2 - 1 cup of batter, depending on the size of the waffle iron.

While the waffle is cooking, gather up your toppings: fruit, syrup, jam, etc.



Leftovers can be frozen in a freezer bag, putting parchment or wax paper between layers of waffles. Then just thaw briefly, and put in your toaster to reheat. *Almost* as good as fresh!

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Gluten-Free Peach Cobbler with Vegan option

Does this look good enough to eat, or what?!

So many peaches... so little time! Peaches are at their prime, and I simply can't get enough of them. I've been buying the Organic Frog Hollow peaches at Whole Foods - expensive, but oh so good! They will be gone before you know it, so I'm taking full advantage of them while I can.

The good news is this cobbler can be made with just about any fruit! I have made it with blueberries, and with nectarines, and even a combination of blueberries and nectarines. As fall comes, I plan on trying it with pears, and cranberries, and who knows what else?

I adapted this recipe from this blog, reducing the sugar, and modifying a few other quantities and ingredients. I have made it both Vegan and non-Vegan, and it comes out fabulous either way. I have also made it replacing some of the sugar with Erythritol, which worked just fine. (Erythritol is a wonderful substitute sweetener, however because of it's wildly high price, I don't use it very often.)

It's a simple recipe to make - no mixer needed. Use any seasonal fruit that makes you happy, and use plenty of it. I found that many fruits cook down so much during the baking process, by the time you cut into it, you can barely see the fruit (but oh, you can most definitely taste it).

I used about 5 lbs of peaches, cut into good-sized wedges, and double layered in the baking pan. (Don't they look yummy!)



The batter then gets spread over the peaches - it doesn't have to be spread perfectly evenly, and it's OK if some of the peaches peek out. It will cover the peaches as it bakes. The crumb topping is sprinkled on top of the batter, and into the oven it goes.



45 minutes later, out of the oven it comes! Must.Wait.For.It.To.Cool.....



So there you have it. I know you're going to run out and buy some fruit and immediately make one of your own.

Gluten-free Peach Cobbler (with Vegan option)

Ingredients for 8" Square Baking Pan:

• Approximately 5 lbs of Peaches or other seasonal fruit (less will work as well. For example, 2-3 cups of Blueberries)

Batter Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Rice Flour
• 1/4 cup Tapioca Flour
• 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
• 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/8 cup Sugar (or sugar substitute; I think this would also work with Splenda)
• 1/4 cup Butter, COLD (or butter substitute for Vegan. I used Earth Balance)
• 1/2 cup Almond Milk (or regular Milk or another Milk substitute)

Crumble Topping Ingredients:

• 1/8 - 1/4 cup Sugar (how sweet do you like it?)
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup light brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Sorghum flour
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup rolled Oats, Optional (Gluten-free, if necessary)
• 3 Tbs Butter, COLD, or Butter substitute

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8" by 8" baking pan (use butter, or butter substitute for Vegan).

1. In a bowl, mix the batter dry ingredients together - Rice flour, Tapioca flour, Sorghum flour, Xanthan Gum, Baking Powder, Salt, and Sugar.
2. Cut the cold butter or butter substitute into small pieces and work it into the dry ingredients with your hands until the texture becomes like damp sand - slightly moist and crumbly. Patience grasshopper. It takes a few minutes - so just keeping working it until the butter is completely incorporated and there are no big lumps of it. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the crumble topping - Sugars, Sorghum flour, & Cinnamon.
4. Once again, cut the Butter into small pieces and work into the dry ingredients.
5. If you're using peaches or other skinned fruit, carefully peel and cut into wedges (I get about 6 wedges out of a single peach) (If you're using fruit like blueberries, gently wash and pat dry).
6. Line the greased pan with 1-2 layers (or more!) of peaches.
7. Take your first bowl - the batter - and add the Almond Milk, mixing with a spoon until combined.
8. Spoon the batter over the peaches, gently spreading to cover most of the peaches
9. Take the second bowl - the Crumble mixture - and crumble it over the batter with your hands.
10. Pop the pan into the oven for approximately 45 minutes, and enjoy the aromas that fill your house

This is best and easiest to cut once it's cooled to room temperature. Serve by itself, or with a big scoop of of Vanilla frozen Yogurt. Make some tea. Invite some friends over.

When I made this yesterday, and it cooled enough to cut and serve, I almost put a message on Facebook inviting you all over to have some..... almost....

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Do you Snickerdoodle?

Almond Snickerdoodle, that is. And gluten-free. And reduced-sugar, if you like it that way. Personally, I was never much of a snickerdoodle fan (I mean really... where's the chocolate??). Until I made these. Now I can't stop eating them. It's bad.... very bad.

It took me 5 tries to get this cookie the way I wanted it. It's a balancing act with the flours and the almond meal to get it to a texture that I really like. This is a very light, soft (almost cake-like) cookie. It's hard to eat just one.

I have really enjoyed incorporating almond meal/flour into recipes. Almond meal and almond flour are not the same, although they can sometimes be used interchangeably. Almond meal usually is not as finely ground, and is usually not blanched. Almond flour is finer, and blanched, and considerably more expensive.

Which is better to use for baking? It's really personal preference. For me, when I'm baking cookies - I like to use almond meal. It seems to give cookies more substance than the finer almond flour. This Snickerdoodle is probably the lightest cookie I've ever made using almond meal. I get my almond meal at Trader Joe's ($3.99/lb bag). Almond flour, on the other hand, I like for cakes where a light, fluffy texture is preferable. You can find almond meal at Whole Foods or online, where the price starts at about $7.50 lb. and goes up from there. If you do a lot of baking, it can add up quickly!

This recipe is very easy to make, so have at it!

Gluten-free Almond Snickerdoodles
Makes about 20 - 3/4 oz cookies. This recipe can easily be doubled.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/8 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Splenda (or use just regular sugar)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (or Almond Extract for a more intense almond flavor)
• 1/2 cup Almond Meal
• 1/2 cup Rice Flour
• 1/2 cup Potato Starch
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
• pinch of Salt

Coating Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Splenda
• 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1. In a very small bowl, mix together the coating ingredients. I usually mix it with a small whisk, and then put it through a strainer to make it fine. It looks nicer on the cookie that way (but you may not care how it looks, as long as it tastes good!). Set aside.
2. In another bowl, mix together the almond meal, rice flour, potato starch, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, and xanthan gum with a whisk and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and white & brown sugars together until light and fluffy. Then add the Splenda and beat to incorporate.
4. Add the egg and beat.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat.
6. Gradually add the dry ingredients (at low speed) and mix until completely blended.
7. Scoop generous tablespoons of batter onto your parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches in between (they do spread!) (or, if you're a bit obsessive like me, you can weigh each one. I make them either 3/4 oz or 1/2 oz).
8. When you have your cookie sheet full, gently roll each into a ball, and then roll the ball in the sugar-cinnamon coating.
9. When each cookie has been coated, press them down lightly with the ball of your hand to make a circle, about 1/4" high.
10. Bake for about 10 minutes.
11. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Makes about 16 - 3 1/2" cookies. This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled if you need more.

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Happy 4th of July!

Hope your holiday is safe and happy!

Banana Cake recipe here (I used non-fat yogurt instead of Sour Cream)

Whipped frosting recipe here.

Get creative and have fun!

Strawberries n' Cream Rolled Cake

Summer fruit is here! and there! and yes, everywhere! There is so much coming into season right now it's hard to know where to start. Since strawberries are abundant and the price is right it seems like a good place. Friends coming to dinner - none wheat-intolorant - I decided to go for fully loaded cake - wheat and sugar (although it's not that high in sugar), but something light.

Roll cakes are fun to make, and not that difficult. They often have a 'sponge cake' texture, making them easy to work with. I used a recipe I haven't used before from a big, beautiful cookbook I have called Cooking A to Z.

I took lots of pictures because I thought I might be helpful if you've never made a rolled cake before. The recipe is below the pictures.

I like to get everything out and ready to go when I'm baking. I chopped the strawberries before I started mixing everything, and I measured out my dry ingredients.

Like many cakes, you really have to beat the butter and eggs for a few minutes until the batter is light and fluffy. I lined my jelly roll pan with parchment paper (the recipe actually suggests greasing the pan and then putting the paper in. I also greased the paper, and then cut the corners so I could fold them down. Pour in the batter.



Then gently spread it out. An offset spatula works best for this.

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Bake for just 15 minutes, and there you have it, ready to rock and roll.



The tricky part is turning it out without breaking it. I managed to do it without breaking it. I turned it out on to a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with powdered sugar, which was layed out onto a clean towel. I then rolled it up tightly in the parchment paper, and then rolled the 'roll' in the towel to hold it in place while it cooled.



While the cake was cooking, I mixed the whipping cream with a little powdered sugar and vanilla using my stand mixer (with the bowl chilled) which takes about a minute :-). Then gently folded in the chopped strawberries.



Once cooled, I gently unrolled the cake, and spread it with the whipped cream and strawberries with my handy dandy offset spatula, leaving about an inch or so around the edges.



Carefully roll it up again (making sure the seam side is down), sprinkle with powdered sugar, and refrigerate until your ready to serve.



Or.... you might want to cut a little piece off to make sure it tastes OK. *ahem....*



OK. Your turn.

Sponge Cake Roll

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional)
• 2/3 cup cake flour, sifted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 11" x 15" jelly-roll pan, and then line with parchment paper. (I greased the parchment paper as well)

1. In mixer bowl, beat egg yolks for about 30 seconds, and then add most of the sugar (holding back a couple of tablespoons) and beat about 4 or 5 minutes, until them mixture is thick and falls from the beaters in a "ribbon."
2. Add vanilla and beat.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until just foamy, and then add salt and optional cream of tartar. Beat to soft peaks, and then add remaining sugar and beat until still peaks form.
4. Fold the flour gently into the egg mixture, 1/3 at a time.
5. Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, to lighten. Then gently fold in remaining egg whites.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread to cover entire pan using an offset spatula.
7. Bake about 15 minutes, until the top springs back when gently pressed with finger. Let the cake rest in the pan for about 5 minutes.
8. Carefully turn the cake onto a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with powdered sugar, and carefully roll the cake tightly in the parchment paper. Roll again in a clean towel to hold in place and let cool on a wire rack.
9. Once the cake is completely cooled, unroll, spread on the filling to within an inch of the edges, and re-roll. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and refrigerate until ready to serve.

See? Wasn't that easy? And the beauty of rolled cakes is that you can fill it with so many different things - chocolate, almond paste, jam, etc. It's like having a brand new cake everytime you bake it.

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Gluten-free, No-Added-Sugar Banana Apple Muffins

I'm back!!!! Yes - it's been a while since I've posted. Oh - I've been baking plenty, but it's been tricky getting pictures because the light in my house is not so good this time of year, plus I've been super busy. But I did manage to get some decent pics of these yummy muffins I recently made. Gluten-free of course, but also no added sugar. And if you leave out the Chocolate Chips, they are actually sugar-free (but why would you want to do that?? :-)

I've been dabbling a little with Agave Syrup and NuStevia - still trying to make them work in cookies, but they worked well in these muffins. I've made these muffins with and without the chips. I've also add chopped dried apricots which adds some nice flavor. I'll bet they would be good with raisins (if you like raisins - I don't). And summer fruit will be here before we know it!



These muffins have a wonderful moist texture, and also freeze well. I made them jumbo-sized and got about a dozen out of one batter (each muffin was about 4.75 oz of batter - yes, I actually weigh them when I want to be sure they are all the same size). Obviously, you can also make them standard size, but you may have to watch the baking time.

Gluten-free No Added Sugar Banana Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups Gluten-free flour blend (or your favorite GF blend)
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1 heaping tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp NuStevia
• 1/2 cup Oat Bran
• 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
• 1 1/4 cup smashed (approx 3 - 4 bananas)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped Apple (I like Granny Smith)
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup Agave Syrup
• 3 Tbs Canola Oil
• 5 Tbs Unsweetened Applesauce
• 1/3 cup non-fat Milk or Buttermilk
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• Optional: 1/2 to 3/4 cup Chocolate Chips (I used mini-chips because I wanted to use them up)
• Optional: 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped dried Apricots

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 jumbo muffin tins with paper liners.

1. In a mixer bowl, add all dry ingredients and mix together with whisk.
2. Add all wet ingredients, including banana and apple.
3. Fold in chocolate chips or dried apricots, or anything else you want to try.
4. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full (an ice cream scoop is great for this).
5. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Remove muffins from tins to cooling rack. Allow to cool before digging in.

There are so many ways you can change up the ingredients in these muffins. It's a good base to start with and add your own 'flavor.'