Month: November 2015

Alsatian Apple Tart: New Classic at My House

I bought a few new gf cookbooks this past 6-7 months. I have been too busy to do much with my new one by Annalise G. Roberts; she wrote my favorite gf cookbook “Gluten-Free Baking Classics”. In “ The Heirloom Collection” she re-creates many classic recipes we all love but in a gluten free version. Eighteen cakes, thirteen muffins, scones and quick breads, sixteen cookies, twenty breads as well as eleven tarts. And some other misc. baked goods. SO many yummy looking things to bake. All gluten free. And knowing Annalise Roberts, all yummy!

She starts with a section on how to take a wheat flour based recipe and make it gluten free; very interesting: I have a few cherished recipes I would love to convert.  She is such a reliable and careful baker; all her recipes turn out exactly as promised. With so many great looking recipes and if you have any of her other cookbooks you will definitely want this one.

Anyway back to my tart: I was looking for an apple recipe that only needed 4 apples, cause that’s all I had and this tart caught my eye. I had everything but the heavy cream. So I procured a small container and I was good to go.

It was a very easy recipe; make the tart shell and while it pre-bakes, peel and slice the apples and mix up the custard. Arranging the apples took me 3-4 minutes and another 30 seconds to pour over the custard and carefully place it in my oven for a transformational baking. alsatian apple tart 002

This tart has a lovely texture; the apple slices are soft but held their shape and the custard is silky and subtle. The long baking makes the crust very crisp. No ice cream needed; this is perfect just by itself.

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After making this tart I noticed that this is the baked good featured on the back cover of the book; a place of honor for a fantastic apple treat. So freaking good; you must try it even if you use a wheat crust. Alsace-Lorraine is an area in Germany close to France; over the years it has been passed back and forth a few times. One of my ancestors is from this area so I was thrilled to find a recipe my great great grandmother might have baked!alsatian apple tart 004

Alsatian Apple Tart
6 large slices or 8 skinny ones

Crust:
1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 Tbps. granulated sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks
1 lg egg
2 tsp fresh orange, lemon juice, even lime juice works

Spray a nine – ten inch tart pan that has a 1 ½ inch side with cooking spray, set aside. I use a ceramic ten inch pan but if you have one of those tricky deep tart pans with a removable bottom that would work perfectly.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of a stand electric mixer. Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal. Add egg and juice. Mix until it comes together into big chunks. Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Roll out the flattened ball into a pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! I like to sprinkle a bit of my flour mix on the crust as it gets thinner so it doesn’t stick to the pie bag/wax paper. Peel off one side of paper and place in the tart pan, be sure to center it. Remove other slice of wax paper. Crimp edges all around.
Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Filling:

4 medium-large sized apples, yellow delicious or fuji work well as they don’t squish down too much. I used Fuji; best use for them yet as I find they don’t squish like I want in pies.

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/2 inch thick slices (8 for a medium apple)

Mix in a medium mixing bowl with:

6 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs; stir well
Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, ¼ tsp. cinnamon.

Arrange the apple slices in the warm/hot tart shell, squash them close together. Pour the custard filling over the apples.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 50-55 minutes until the custard is set and the crust is light brown

Cool the pie at least 1 hour before serving. You can sprinkle the slices with confectioner’s sugar if you like to guild the lily; not really necessary though.

Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur GF Flour mix)
2 c brown rice flour, finely ground
2/3 c potato starch (Not potato flour)
1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is from Annalise Roberts’ great cookbook: Gluten-Free Baking Classics – The Heirloom Collection.

Surprising facts on GF Safety for You Non-Celiacs

Did you know that once a person with celiac disease stops eating wheat it becomes even worse when they do accidentally consume a food containing gluten?  After I quit wheat I thought that I could cheat once in a while and not really suffer any consequences.  Not so. It is like your body becomes incredibly sensitive to all gluten substances and even a tiny bit is too much.

A few examples: if I splash beer on my hands while serving a mug at Musikfest and then unthinkingly touch a finger to my mouth; instant contamination and feeling sick is sure to follow.  Same goes if I am volunteering in a church kitchen and touch bread or flour and then touch my mouth with that contaminated hand. Zapped again!

Then there are multiple ways to be contaminated by food that should be safe: If I eat at a pancake house and order eggs and home fries, if my food is cooked on the same griddle spot as your pancakes five minutes earlier; instantly it is contaminated and unsafe for anyone with celiac disease.  And sometimes the home fries have flour in them and waitresses seldom know about every bit of what goes into a dish and may tell you it is safe when it contains wheat of some sort.

If the chef sprinkles seasoned salt or spice mixes on my rice or potatoes, it is likely uneatable for me.  The reason is that manufacturers often put all purpose flour in seasoning mixes to facilitate flow and to create a smooth mixture of spices.  This is why many things that appear safe are not; “seasoning mixes” are the culprit that makes rice pilafs often uneatable by celiacs.  rice pilaf

Thanksgiving is coming up.  Beware, some turkeys have brine that contains some gluten; I got sick that way last November.  Butterball turkeys fresh or frozen are gluten free.  Plus, a turkey stuffed with regular bread stuffing is unsafe for someone with celiac to eat even if they don’t touch the stuffing.  Really. You need to buy or make a gluten free stuffing; either based in rice, gf cornbread or just buy a bag of gluten free bread to make your stuffing. Aldi’s has gluten free stuffing for both chickens and turkeys.

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Even GF pasta can be contaminated if it is drained in a colander that is used for wheat pasta.  The gluten in pasta is extra sticky and it is nearly impossible to get all of it off a colander.  So, many times pasta that should be safe gets contaminated when the cook drains it in a colander that has tiny particles of wheat gluten sticking around the strainer holes. Restaurants that advertise GF menus need to have dedicated equipment like strainers, colanders, pots and utensils. Really: I often ask about the colander when I attempt to safely eat pasta at a restaurant.colander

The times I fail to carefully read a list of ingredients are the times I have to throw things away later as I find out they are unsafe for me.  Same goes for times I eat at places which don’t have GF menus.  They often tell me they serve GF foods but they really don’t understand fully how much they have to do to keep my food safe.  See three paragraphs above….

A few people seem to feel celiacs are exaggerating or being over cautious.  When in reality all that caution is necessary to eat safely and avoid gluten.  It only takes a tiny amount of gluten to contaminate food or drink.

So if you are cooking for someone with gluten intolerance, be sure to read my previous posts that cover how to plan, prepare, and serve a GF meal that is safe (November 2014) and your meal will be a success for everyone enjoying it!

And if you are in a restaurant don’t roll your eyes when the person at the next table starts to ask pointed questions on ingredients and method of preparation with respect to gluten.  They are just trying to eat a safe meal out.  Sometimes this experience is kinda a roll of the dice for us celiacs so be patient and polite if you come into contact with this situation when you are dining out.  And yes, that goes double for you wait staff persons!  We are not trying to hassle you, just attempting to stay safe and enjoy a good safe meal.

Also, I know people who get exasperated by labels that say gluten free on stuff you assume is safe.  I hear those comments sometimes in the store! Well, I as a celiac applaud when companies put that GF label on foods. I feel much more safe consuming food that is labeled gluten free because of all the sneaky or hidden ways we can accidentally eat food with some amount of gluten.  Still, there are stories going around about food labeled gluten free which upon closer examination clearly had a gluten ingredient.  I am guessing companies love to slap those two words on labels to sell food, whether the food is really gluten free or not.  I have to read the label regardless just to be sure.

Finally, foods labeled gluten free make my life easier as I’m someone who must avoid the stuff at all costs.  Just know that I am thrilled when I find something safe to snack on, especially when it is in the main stream of foods; food not specifically manufactured for me as a celiac.  Why? I love it because those things tend to be cheaper and tastier than stuff marketed solely to the gluten free consumer.  If it is for everyone the price is better; they can’t afford to sock your average buyer with a doubled price just because it is also gluten free.  And if it doesn’t taste good; few in the main stream will purchase it so we are ensured better tasting products.

In summary; now you can see how important it is to have products that are labeled gluten free and why your friend with celiac has a zillion questions when you have lunch together! Be understanding!

Revised but originally published November 2014.

Apple Pear Tartlets: Terrific

Apples and pears go together delightfully and fall is the perfect time to indulge in baking them into tartlets for company. I love to make individual tarts because they make people feel so special when you each get your own tartlet. Use what ever kind of baking apples you have. Good choices are red Rome, Empire, Golden Delicious, but no to Fuji, Red Delicious or Gala apples. I got mine from an actual apple orchard (Bechdolts which is south of Hellertown, PA.) I like to buy their small basket of seconds which are cheaper and just as fresh as can be especially compared to grocery store apples. Plus the taste is the same as the fancy unblemished ones in the display baskets. Bosc pears are perfect for baking; great flavor and texture.

I used Annalise Robert’s crust recipe and flour mixture. I think this crust tastes terrific and has a wonderful texture.

2014-10-26 pasta tower 005These are simple tarts: no need to make them perfect looking. I used a fork to press around the crust before I lay the fruit in it. I cut out leaves from the leftover crust to make a sort of a top crust. The coarse sugar adds a certain eye apple and crunch. Enjoy!

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Rustic Pear Apple Tartlets

Crust:
1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 Tbps. granulated sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks
1 lg egg
2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Spray 4 inch metal tart pans or 4 inch mini deep dish pie pans with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer. Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal. Add egg and juice. Mix until it comes together into big chunks. Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Cut it into 4 balls and roll out each ball into a small pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in mini
pie pan, centered. Remove other slice of wax paper. Crimp edges all around. Do again until you have 4 shells and use all the crumb leftovers to make a fifth tartlet crust. I actually do two of them side by side and turn them out onto the tartlet pans together. Repeat for other four shells.

Filling:

2 medium sized yellow delicious or other baking apples
1 large bosc pear

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Same for pear except you can leave the peel on if you like. Or peel! Mix in a large bowl with:

3 tbsp. granulated sugar (4 if you like it sweet)
1 tbsp. minute tapioca
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
A sprinkle of ground nutmeg.

Heap into tartlet shells. Top with a leaf cut out of the spare crust. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake 375 for 40-45 minutes until lightly browned. Cool before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Brown Rice Flour Mix- (same as King Arthur gf flour blend)
2 c brown rice flour
2/3 c potato starch
1/3 c tapioca flour

Originally published October 2014.

Eggs Benedict – DIY Hollandaise Sauce

Eggs Benedict is kinda old school elegant – but if you enjoy egg sandwiches you will definitely want to read this post. We love eggs benedict for brunch or Sunday supper. Since I went gluten free due to celiac disease I had to find gf English muffins that were more than just edible as the muffin is the base for the layers that create this tasty dish. I have made three different recipes. First two were just “okay.” This most recent one is from America’s Test Kitchen’s “The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook” published in 2014. It uses their make-it-yourself flour blend. There is no need for muffin rings unlike the other recipes I have made. The dough is very sticky; a stand mixer is pretty much required. You form it into balls using wet hands, let the dough rise an hour on baking sheets sprinkled with corn bread. They are briefly cooked on the stove top in a frying pan and then baked in the oven for 30 minutes. The flavor and texture are outstanding for gf bread. They remind me of homemade wheat flour muffins I used to enjoy years ago. I highly recommend this recipe. Fairly easy and I was thrilled with the flavor and texture. I am not sure what I will do with those darn muffin rings I bought a year ago…  cranberry tartlets 006 cranberry tartlets 007

I am not going to provide the muffin recipe today; you could consult the ATK cookbook for that, or use another gf muffin recipe or buy some gf English Muffins. But I will give my recipe for the easiest and best hollandaise sauce ever. It is a cherished family recipe my mom always used and although I have tasted other sauce versions I always come back to this one for its outstanding flavor. My family loves it over broccoli for our favorite side dish.

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Mom’s Hollandaise Sauce

Makes about ¾ cup.

1 stick salted butter
2 egg yolks (from large eggs)
Juice of ½ a lemon

Please, no substitutions of any kind will work for this recipe and you MUST make it in a Pyrex measuring cup placed in a pan of hot water; just below the boil and going no more than ½ the way up the sides of the glass measuring cup. pyrex measuring cupThe glass insulates the contents and allows for a slow measured melting of the butter and an equally slow and almost alchemical blending of these three ingredients into a smooth sauce. Unsalted butter gives a pale unbalanced sauce and not enough lemon makes the flavor insipid. Any leftover sauce can be gently reheated in a microwave or over water; stir a lot and you can add ¼ tsp. hot water if it separates. Beat it with a spoon until it comes back together.

Anyway, back to the recipe! Cut the stick of butter into 8 chunks and place in a Pyrex glass measuring cup; one cup size please. Add the yolks and the lemon juice, no pits either! Place in a sauce pan half full of hot water. Do not let the water boil or go more than half way up the measuring cup. Stir often with a spoon; I leave the spoon right in the cup. It will be hard to stir at first as the butter is still solid but the stirring will get easier. Stir almost constantly until the sauce thickens to coat the spoon and then continue stirring it to an almost custard like thickness. Take the cup of sauce out of the water bath and cover it with aluminum foil while you poach the eggs.

Egg Directions:

4 eggs
2 English muffins
4 slices Canadian bacon (round thin slices)

Eggs: get the best and freshest quality eggs possible. Old eggs spread out as they poach and you will have the perfect shaped poached eggs with really fresh ones. I got mine from a friend who raises chickens; far superior in flavor and freshness to anything from a store.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray. Fill it with warm water. Bring the water to an active bubble, add a tbsp. vinegar. Break each egg into a short cup and gently tip into the hot water. Do not boil the water. Poach them 3 minutes for a soft squishy egg and 4-5 for firmer eggs. Some like lots of egg yolk liquid and others like a firmer textured egg. Do not overcook them or they are just hard boiled eggs. They should not be firm when you remove them. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on a paper towel.

While those eggs were poaching gently heat the bacon in a small frying pan with a tsp of butter. Cook about 2 minutes and flip, cook 2 more minutes.

Muffins; split each open with a dinner fork and toast in toaster; pale tan; not really browned.

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My sauce was leftover from the day before; slightly separated. Still tasted fantastic.

Assembly: place two hot muffin halves on each plate. Top with a slice of Canadian bacon and then a poached egg. Pour a big dollop of sauce on top. We like them served with briefly steamed asparagus spears in the spring and steamed broccoli spears the rest of the year.  Dig in!

Perfectly poached eggs make the best eggs benedict! Messy but yummy!

Perfectly poached eggs make the best eggs benedict! Messy but yummy!

Cranberry Apple Tartlets: Company Dessert!

Truth is I never was a fan of cranberries, sure I eat cranberry relish at Thanksgiving and maybe Christmas and sometimes I drink cranberry juice but that is about all I ever thought those little red fruits were good for. In this past year I have tried them in a few desserts and they have been spectacular – great flavor and color, yes they are rather tangy but with a little sugar they are perfect.

cranberries

If you only have a few apples and some cranberries you can make a really special dessert. I used my flat bottom tartlet pans to make these elegant little tarts; each one is a separate dessert which makes for a special look. My mom gave me two tart pans a few years ago and I use them all the time; each pan makes 4 tartlets.

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This is a simple recipe; toss the fruits with sugar and a touch of tapioca. If you don’t have tapioca use some cornstarch or rice flour mix. The individual tarts look like I bought them in a bakery. I tried them with bits of crust for a rustic topping and the crumb version which I liked a bit better in the flavor department so I went with that.

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I served them the other day and my guy pleaded for one to take home for breakfast. He does not need to eat gf but he loves a great dessert. Serve these tartlets and I promise you no one will even believe they are eating gluten free!

Angie’s Cranberry Apple Tartlets
Makes 5

Start by making some gf pie crust and the crumb topping. If you have leftover crumb topping in the fridge you are ahead of the game for making pies and tarts!

Crust:
1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 Tbps. granulated sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks
1 lg egg
2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice
Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer. Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal. Add egg and juice. Mix until it comes together into big chunks. Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes while you prepare the filling.
Crumb topping:Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

¾ c brown rice flour mix
½ c sugar
½ tsp xanthan gum
1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

You will use less than a cup of the crumbs. Put the rest in a tightly sealing glass container and store in the fridge for your next pie/tart. It should keep for several weeks.

Heat the oven to 375 while you make the filling.

Filling
1 baking apple
1 1/2 cup raw cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. granulated tapioca
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Peel, core, quarter and chop coarsely the cooking apple, put in a mixing bowl with the cranberries. Be sure to first wash and pick over the cranberries and remove any soft or iffy ones. Add the sugar, tapioca and cinnamon, mix with a spoon.

Roll out the crust into one big crust, lay it over the tart pans and use a knife to cut it into 4 pieces. Press, snip and fold to fit it into each of the small tart pans. Don’t make a big crust edge; not necessary, cut off excess dough. Re-roll the leftovers for a fifth tartlet.

Pour filling into the crusted tartlet pans. Sprinkle the tartlets with the crumb topping, I didn’t make a solid layer over the entire top; thicker in the middle. Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned. Cool at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or cold. Great with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Brown Rice Flour Mix (Same as King Arthur gf flour mix)
2 c brown rice flour (finely ground)
2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour!
1/3 c tapioca flour