Shortcake dreamz

Glutino Cookies- Shortcake Dreams

If your dreams involve eating chalk, then these are the cookies for you. Dude, the baby won't even eat them, and he is not fussy about his cookies. I would have taken my own picture of them had I not thrown them into the garbage outside the grocery store before I left.

Shame on you, Glutino, I expect so much more from you! Stick with the Chocolate covered wafer cookies, even the Strawberry Wafer cookies. I've never tried the Lemon, I have a bad feeling about those.

Bunzzzzz

Yeah, so, here are my buns- after rising. I was going to take some pics after baking but the camera was doing some funky business & I don't reeeeeeeally know how to use it yet. Perhaps one day.

These buns in question were from Annalise Roberts' book Gluten Free Baking Classics. I like this book. They were made using Flour Mix B.

The texture is great. They rose beautifully. They are a little dry. I prefer to use only half a bun for cheeseburger purposes for this reason. But then again, I never really liked a lot of bread with my cheeseburgers anyhow. I like this recipe, but I'm going to explore more options, just to see. I think I can do slightly better.

By the way, I used these English Muffin rings to make the buns. They work well, and you can reuse them, unlike making your own tin foil rings each time. I'm too bizzay for that noise.

Everyday bread

Yeah, bad at blogging. School & a crazy baby will do that for you. Not that anyone is actually reading this, but it's really helpful to remember what I've tried, because honestly, I forget.

A few weeks ago we were making meatballs for dinner. Wouldn't it be lovely to have some garlic bread to go with that? Yeah, it would. After making, browning, & baking the meatballs I really didn't have the energy (or time) to bake a loaf of bread. I dug through the cabinets & came upon this box of "Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix" from Gluten Free Pantry that I had bought. I thought I'd give it a go.



Well shucks, it really doesn't suck! And it couldn't be easier. Add some warm water (I temp to about 112 degrees), melted butter & eggs. Throw it all in the mixer with the enclosed yeast packet, mix for 3 minutes and you're good to go! Today I timed it: 8 minutes to prepare for rising. I place it in a warm oven to rise for 40 minutes & bake for 30.

It's convenient because it's sold at almost all of my local grocery stores for approximately $4.39. We've mostly used it for garlic bread and grilled sandwiches, but it's always worked well for french toast- even the overnight baked french toast recipes.

I've been meaning to try more sandwich-type bread recipes, but for now, this mix works well for us.

French Bread

I've been dabbling in making french bread as of late. Today I tried round 3. The kitchenaid mixer has been my friend.

The first recipe I tried was from Living Without magazine. It was made using their high protein flour blend, which I chose to make with soy flour. We were pretty happy with the results. We made italian beef sandwiches, and they turned out well. Or I should say, good enough. The inside was a tad gummy, but that could have been because I hadn't baked it long enough. I did take the temperature and all, but I thought the inside needed to be lighter.

The second recipe I tried was from Gluten Free Girl on recipezaar. It was even better. The pics here are from that batch. I used quick-rise yeast, which the recipe calls for.

Today I tried again. I was out of fine rice flour, so I looked for another recipe. I came across the French-Italian bread recipe in Annalise Robert's book Gluten-Free Baking Classics ( dang, I really like this cookbook). It calls for millet, sorghum, tapioca flour, so I was good to go. Also, there were no eggs involved, in case you avoid them. The texture was great! I made garlic bread for dinner, so decadent. It had all the qualities I had been looking for. The recipe calls for regular-rise yeast, which I didn't have. I used quick-rise and it turned out fine. Perhaps with a longer rise, it would have been even better.



I should note that I used a double french bread pan from Sur La Table. It was very affordable, and I think it really made the difference.

Yay bread!

Crepes, dude, crepes

There's this great little place over in Bucktown called Cafe de Luca. We haven't been there in a while, definitely not since being GF. I would always get the Banana Granola Crepes, and they were delicious. I hadn't really thought about making them at home, seemed too complicated. But when I saw a recipe in Gluten-Free Living magazine, I thought I'd give it a try.

The article was about cooking with an iron skillet, but it said that a crepe pan works well with skillet & corn bread, as well as crepes. We went to Sur La Table & checked out (and ultimately bought) the recommended DeBuyer crepe pan. It was a steal at $21.95.

I will post the recipe & let Devin talk about making the crepes. I let him have the honors because I knew it would be something he would "geek out" on. I was correct.


Rice Flour Crepes

2 large eggs
pinch fine sea salt
pinch sugar
1 cup milk
1/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus extra for skillet

In a blender or food processor, combine the eggs, salt, sugar, and milk. Process to blend. Add the rice flour and cornstarch, and process until smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in the butter. The texture should be like thin cream. Stir occasionally while making the crepes, and add a little water if the batter becomes too thick.

Heat an 8 1/2 inch carbon crepe pan over medium heat, and grease lightly with butter. Using a small measuring cup, ladle about 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, tilting it by the handle to cover the bottom.

When it's covered in bubbles and lightly browned, 1 minute or less, turn with a plastic spatula and cook for a further 30 seconds. Remove the crepe and place on a plate with the well-browned side down. Then repeat the process until you have used all the batter. (You do not have to re-grease the pan for each one).


To fill, place the desired number of crepes browned side down on a work surface. Cover with thin slices of ham or salami and grated firm cheese, and a few salad leaves. I put vanilla yogurt, bananas & strawberries in mine. Devin used ham & cheese. Roll them up like a cigar, and lay on serving plates seam side down.

I think these will become a staple around here, for breakfast and for dinner. Devin said it was relatively easy after he screwed up the first couple. It made plenty of crepes, and the leftovers I put in a plastic bag and we used for lunch.

No flour peanut butter cookies

I've seen this recipe around and around. I think it might be a Betty Hagman recipe, but I can't be sure. It was mentioned again this month in Living Without magazine. I finally caved and gave it a spin.

Wha wha whYYYYYYYY was I waiting?? I am officially going to rename this recipe 20 Minute Cookies- and by that I mean from start to finish. And by finish I mean out of the oven. Yeah.

Or maybe they should be called Naptime Cookies. They're quiet... shhhh... no mixer so I don't have to haul everything downstairs as to not wake Lil Woogie.

Yummy and fast.

Twenty Minute Naptime Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
From: Betty Hagman??? Living Without???

1 cup regular sugar
1 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1 egg
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix peanut butter, sugar, and egg together. Once combined, add chocolate chips, mix in, and then form into small balls, flatten slightly, and put on greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes (check them after 8 ), cool on a rack. Makes about a dozen and a half small cookies.

Eat all in one sitting.
Repeat.

Lasagna!

We've been using the Tinkyada gluten-free pastas for a while. They are good- no aftertaste and a good consistency. I have been a little wary of using them in baked pasta dishes because there seems to be a small window of cooking time before they get mushy, despite the boxes' claim that they can take a good deal of overcooking.

I decided to bite the bullet and try the lasagna noodles. I've been craving it lately, and I'm also trying to think of good dishes to make for Ellie's party. I haven't seen these noodles in the regular grocery store. Jewel & Streck & Von Til usually carry a good selection of the other Tinkyada brands. I found these noodles at the Gluten Free Grocery in Westchester, so I thought I'd give them a try.

The package says to cook them for 15-16 minutes, 3 minutes less if baking. I cooked mine for 10 minutes and I thought that was the perfect amount. I laid them out on paper towels after rinsing with cold water. They were easy to work with and most didn't break.

I layered them in the lasagna and they held up great when I spread the sauce and the ricotta mixture. I baked it covered for 25 minutes covered with foil and 20 without the foil to brown the top. Next time I will bake it for 15 covered and 20 uncovered as the noodles were ever so slightly overdone. Leftovers were even pretty good, which is remarkable for gluten free pasta!

Overall:
Pros:
* easy to work with
* good taste without an aftertaste
* not mushy!

Cons:
* can't think of any!

Verdict:
Two thumbs up! Even Geo said he couldn't tell it was gluten free! Score!