Posts tagged ‘gluten free baking’
Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies
This recipe for chocolate chip cookies is adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes, which I’ve referenced before for its awesome chocolate brownies recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24 to 36 cookies
1-1/2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup white or cane sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups gluten-free flour mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
2 cups chopped walnuts
Pre-heat oven to 350F and grease two baking sheets or line with silicone mats / parchment paper.
Beat the butter and sugars together and then beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda and beat well, and then fold in chocolate and walnuts.
Drop the dough by two tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart (the cookies will spread out and flatten). Bake the cookies, switching the cookie sheets in the oven halfway through cooking, until they begin to turn golden brown at the edges and the tops appear dry, about 12 to 15 minutes. Don’t overcook if you want them to be chewy!
If you’re vegan or don’t eat dairy / eggs:
- Replace the butter with the same amount of vegetable oil shortening plus two tablespoons of water.
- Replace the eggs with two tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal mixed with six tablespoons of water. Stir the flaxseed meal and water together in a small bowl and let stand two to three minutes to thicken before adding it to the recipe.
How not to make plum pie
Do not think that you can just throw a pile of freshly picked plums into a plate pressed with pastry along with a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon and imagine that a perfect pie will emerge on the other side. It will look beautiful, yes, and it will smell divine. But it will be SOUR! Your dinner guests – in laws, no less – will take a bite and then look at you with an expression that your husband helpfully calls “bitter beer face.” Your dreams of domestic bliss will be shot down once again.
Instead, use a recipe that calls for lots and lots of sugar. Or pour honey on top of each slice of the failed pie, along with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, to help drown out the taste.
Luckily I have about 10 pounds of these beautiful golden plums sliced up and packed away in my freezer thanks to the fruit-laden tree just outside the front door of my parents’ new place on Vancouver Island. I will try the pie again. You are all invited.
Blueberry pie
This is the pie I made for Thanksgiving Dinner this year. It’s adapted from Canadian Living’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Blueberry Pie. I’ve made it gluten free and added in more lemon and more blueberries. The overwhelming sentiment about the pie was, “Wow, that is a LOT of blueberries!” I used one and a half big baskets of blueberries that my parents picked up at Granville Island while they were out exploring, and it probably amounted to at least a cup more than what’s below. If you too want a gigantic pie with LOTS of blueberries, go crazy and jam them in there like we did.
In all three big baskets of blueberries came home from Granville Island. We enjoyed the rest with yogurt the morning after Thanksgiving dinner and then each had a big bowl of fresh blueberries for dessert that evening. Just plain blueberries – so good. The rest finally made their way into a coffee cake for breakfast this week.
Blueberry pie
Filling
6 cups blueberries
3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pastry
2-1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon lemon rind
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cubed
1/4 cup ice water
3 tbsp sour cream
1 egg white
Mix flour, xanthan gum, salt and lemon rind. Using pastry blender, cut in butter and shortening until mixture is in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces.
In small bowl, whisk water with sour cream; drizzle over dry ingredients, stirring briskly with fork to form ragged dough and adding more water, 1 tbsp (15 mL) at a time, if too dry. Divide in half; press into discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
In large bowl, combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, flour, lemon rind, lemon juice and cinnamon; set aside.
On lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pastry to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Pour in the blueberry filling and then roll out the remaining pastry. I sliced mine into strips for a criss-cross pattern, which I find much easier than trying to transfer over a whole top sheet of pastry.
Brush the top pastry and the edges with a bit of egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the bottom part of the oven at 425F for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350F and bake until the filling is thickened and the pie is golden, about 35-45 minutes. I usually put a bit of foil around the edges and top of the pie so it doesn’t burn and gradually remove it as the cooking time goes by.
Let cool on rack and serve. Ours made enough for 6 generous helpings plus a big piece leftover.
Raspberry chocolate scones
In honour of Valentine’s Day, here is the recipe for my husband’s favourite breakfast scones – raspberry with bittersweet chocolate. Gluten-free, of course, and best paired with a steamy hot chocolate. What a good wife I am for making these for breakfast today.
1-1/2 cups flour*
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flaxseed meal or ground flaxseed
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together flour (and xanthan gum for gluten-free), sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and flaxseed. Stir in raspberries and chocolate chips, and then add yogurt and vanilla. Stir together only until the dry ingredients are well-mixed with the yogurt. Spoon onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until scones are lightly browned.
*I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour mix. For gluten-free, also add 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum.
Banana muffins
Banana muffins were one of the first recipes I mastered in the kitchen when I was learning how to cook in my teens. The recipe came from a Canadian cookbook called Muffin Mania. I still own it; the pages proudly wear all the slops and spills of a well-used cookbook. My family loved seeing a batch of warm banana chocolate chip muffins emerging from the oven on the weekend, and I loved the fact that they loved what I was making. That feeling of mutual enjoyment between cook and eater was born with this recipe and is at the heart of why I find cooking such a joy, a true source of peace and comfort. (more…)
