Christmas cookies are everywhere in my kitchen. In tins, Tupperware and cookie jars. This year I tried 3 new recipes; this one is replicating a particular cookie called a Scandinavian Almond Bar. It is somewhat crunchy and somewhat addictive. My guy snuck a bunch of them while I was at church Christmas Eve! It is a traditional cookie and apparently quite popular. I don’t know how I missed them! If you are not gf just use all-purpose flour and leave out the xanthan gum too. This is one of those recipes that is yummier than it seems like at first glance. Of late, I like bar cookies; less work usually and can look very uniform if you wish. Fussy complex cookies can be exhausting; this is easy despite the long list of flours.
Scandinavian Almond Bars
Ingredients
1 cup brown rice flour
¾ cup gf oat flour
½ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup potato starch (NOT potato flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp. kosher salt
Directions: Blend all dry ingredients in a small bowl; use a whisk.
Next: In stand mixer bowl: place 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter, softened; beat until fluffy. Add
1 lg egg at room temperature; beat until blended in. Add ½ tsp. almond extract (I did more like ¾ tsp)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Topping: 1 Tbsp. milk, ½ c sliced almonds
Icing: 3/4 cup powdered sugar, ½ tsp almond extract, 1-2 Tbsp. milk
Directions: Heat oven to 325. Butter a 9×13 pan. Make dough and press the dough into the pan evenly; use a sheet of parchment paper to do this; it will be very sticky. Using a pastry brush; brush milk over the dough and top with the sliced almonds. Press almonds lightly into the dough. Bake 20-22 minutes. Remove when just starting to brown at edges. Let cool for 5-7 min in pan, cut into bars with a sharp knife. If too soft; let cool a few more minutes. Carefully move them to a wire rack. Let cool completely and drizzle the icing over the bars thinly; too thick and it will be goopy, too thin and the icing will drip off. Let sit a while until icing is firm. Can be frozen once iced. Enjoy!
My guy wanted chocolate cake for Valetine’s Day the other year. With chocolate icing. I don’t care for chocolate icing and was kinda tired of cake after the holidays. This cake has a more distinct crumb due to the almond flour…. the only other flour in it is tapioca starch so it is gluten free which I need. It is easy to make; no tricky process here plus it is dairy free which can be helpful to some folks. I made it but used half peanut butter icing and half chocolate: just made a half batch of each. It was a big it with my man; he took home the chocolate iced portion and I feasted on the peanut butter iced half.
Mine sunk a little in the middle; I think my 4 eggs were all kinda large; there is variation in a dozen eggs; try not to get the 4 largest from the box, live and learn. I did bake it the full time. The center was like fudge; quite yummy if squishy. The peanut butter icing was the bomb!!
So if you need a quick and easy cake this holiday season this one might be the one to please everyone!! Enjoy!
Chocolate cake ingredients:
1 1/2 cup almond flour (not almond meal)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup canola oil
4 large eggs at room temp
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions: mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl; I used a whisk. Spray a 9 inch cake pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Heat the oven to 350 degrees, shelf for baking set in the middle. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs until well blended, blend in the oil and vanilla until smoothly blended. Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 of it at a time; blend in and do the next third and then the final third. Pour into the cake pan. Let stand 5 minutes. Bake 30-34 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before turning out onto a drying rack. Ice when completely dry.
Chocolate icing (this is a half recipe)
1/4 cup room temp butter
2 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of kosher salt (about 1/8 tsp)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp)
Beat the butter with your mixer until fluffy, add the other ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.
Peanut butter icing (half recipe)
1/2 cup creamy peanut btter
2 Tbsp. room temp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk (may need another tsp or two)
Beat the peanut butter and butter until fluffy; add the rest of the ingredients and beat until fluffy; add extra milk if too stiff.
Ice half the cake with the chocolate icing and the other half with peanut butter. Enjoy!
If you have a nice head of cauliflower, you can put it to good use in this vegetarian entrée. I love the cheesy cauliflower flavor of it, pretty substantial served with a yam and a beet salad; a great meal. It isn’t that difficult to construct; the crust is shredded raw potatoes mixed with an egg and some salt and pressed into the pie pan. You bake it for about 45 minutes and then gently lay in some shredded cheese, then the cooked veggie filling, top it with more cheese, pour on the egg custard and sprinkle it with paprika before baking it to a crispy tender pie that should serve 6 unless you are piggish; then 5 large slices!
The no traditional pie crust makes this easy to create. Nothing tricky at all in this recipe. Just a few steps to put it together. It is pretty much naturally gluten free, just a bit of rice flour to dust the pan with; I dusted the excess right into the shredded potatoes. Just a bit of flour in the pie pan and in the crust.
Sauteed onions, herbs and garlic
Cauliflower Cheese Pie
Mixed together cauliflower filling
Ingredients:
Ready to bake; yes, that is a chunk of cheese on top! The end of the block; don’t want to grate my fingers; it will melt nicely into the pie.
POTATO CRUST: 1 tsp. sea salt
1 lg egg, beaten
1 -3 tsp. gf flour, divided
Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. 4 large potatoes; washed. I left them unpeeled but you can peel if you prefer to do that. Grate each whole potato on coarse side of a box grater. I did it right into a large mixing bowl. I like to press a couple paper towels on top to soak up any excess liquid. Add rest of ingredients and stir well. Press into a pie tin sprayed with cooking spray and then dusted with rice flour. I used a big spoon to lay it around the pan and then a fork to press it into the shape of the pie tin. I left a bit above the glass/metal rim to form a nice rim of the crust. Spray the potatoes all over with the cooking spray. Bake 40-45 minutes. Make the filling while it bakes.
CAULIFLOWER FILLING:
About 3 cups cut up flowerets of raw cauliflower
1-2 Tbsp. mild olive oil or sunflower oil
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried basil
Directions: Cut up the cauliflower; it was about ¾ of the head. Heat a ½ inch of water in a large sauté pan. Add the cauliflower, put a lid on and cook 5-6 minutes until just tender. Gently pour the pan into a large colander to drain well. Then heat the oil in the same pan. Add the chopped onion; sauté on low 5-6 minutes, I like to add a couple Tbsp of water to let it steam; then add the garlic, and then the dried herbs. Stir and let cook another minute. The onion should be soft, cook longer if needed. When done, turn heat off; gently add the drained cauliflower and a quarter to a half tsp sea salt. Mix gently. While the crust is still baking make the custard.
CUSTARD:
3 large eggs
½ cup whole or 2% milk
1 2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese: I used mostly sharp cheddar with a bit of Monterey Jack cheese too.
Directions: beat the eggs in a medium mixing bowl until fairly blended, add the milk.
When the crust comes out turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Pour half the grated cheese into the hot crust, distributing it evenly. Gently spoon the cauliflower filling on top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Pour the custard in all over the top. Sprinkle well with paprika and bake 40 minutes; until the custard looks done. Let set 10 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
A slice straight from the fridge; just need to warm it up in my trusty microwave! Lunch is served.
It keeps 4-6 days in the fridge; well wrapped. I heat a slice at a time in the microwave. A lovely lunch indeed!
I heard about recipes for three ingredient peanut butter cookies. I wanted something a bit more actual cookie texture (think less greasy) and with less sugar than the versions I have come across. So I decided to play with the proportions plus I wanted to add some gf flour. I cut the sugar by one fourth and dumped in a small amount of flour. To make sure my results weren’t like a brick I added some baking powder and to keep them from being incredibly crumbly messes I tossed in a touch of xanthan gum. The resulting dough was still a tad crumbly but when you scrunch up about a tablespoon with your fingers it forms a ball that can be flattened with a fork dipped in granulated sugar in the traditional cross hatch of all great peanut butter cookies.
The results: simple but tasty = peanut butter heaven. I must advise that I used chunky peanut butter. I don’t much care for creamy peanut butter so I try not to have to buy it for recipes. So I chunked it and my somewhat picky eater who doesn’t like chunky peanut butter was in love with these beauties. I am guessing it would work with creamy. Let me know how they turn out if you make them with a creamy peanut butter.
To review, significantly lower in sugar than most three ingredient recipes, great flavor and texture and simple to make. Bonus: they still remind me of the peanut butter cookies of my childhood…which were full of all purpose flour! I used my typical flour blend; King Arthur gf blend but I am sure Better Batter or Cup for Cup will work. If your blend has gum in it no additional gum is needed so leave that quarter teaspoon out.
Note: if you love the salty cookie concept, sprinkle with coarse sea salt before baking. Either sweet or salty they are somewhat addictive, especially fantastic with a glass of cold milk.
Chunky Peanut Butter cookies
1 cup chunky peanut butter ¾ cup sugar 1 large egg (room temp) ½ cup gf flour blend (I used King Arthur basic gf blend) ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. xanthan gum
¼ cup sugar for fork action Coarse sea salt (optional)
Directions: Mix first six ingredients well in stand mixer. Form into balls by squeezing in hand. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, press with fork dipped into sugar. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired.
Bake at 375 for 9 to 11 minutes. Watch carefully – they burn easily. Let stand one minute before lifting off with pancake turner to a cooling rack. Eat and enjoy these gems of cookies…you will be taken back to your childhood.
December is upon us. Pies are being baked for dessert, pumpkin roll is on the menu and cookie season is pretty much here. I have already had emergency calls about gf flour choices and substitutions in creating something gf when the baker is not gf and is more than a little confused. So, I am reposting this flour treatise from last year, in the hopes that folks will read it and use this information to have the best possible results. GF baking is more technical than wheat flour-based recipes. Substituting is trickier especially flour subbing. So, before you make those gf cookies for a family member, read up on the differences, so you use the right flour.
So, I am writing this post for a friend who wants to cook gf cookies for someone in her family for the holidays. I want to go over the flour issue particularly for someone new to cooking gf meals. It is slightly tricky, so I am going to try to make it clear for everyone: here goes.
you could use this rice flour for gravy making
There are individual gf flours like rice flour, buckwheat flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, sweet rice flour, potato starch, cornstarch, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, etc.! A bewildering array of choices as almost any grain can be ground into a flour. Flour can then be processed to create a starch, which tends to be nearly flavorless but often has a big purpose in gf baking. I rarely use just one flour in a baking recipe. Why? Because a single flour is often missing an important characteristic of what we want in a baking result. A mixture has different kinds of flours to replicate all purpose flour (wheat based) or whole grain flour (also wheat based). Without the gluten there are a number of ways to make it a useful blend for cooking or baking. That said, I use just single flour blends in sauces. Just for sauces people!
I usually use blends for baking, 2-6 flours that work together to mimic wheat-based flour in different applications like bread, cake, cobbler, cookies, pastry or pasta dough. I have a number of them but my favorite is one you can buy in most stores. King Arthur’s Basic GF Blend; made of a proportional blend of brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch. I use it for over 90% of my baking and cooking needs. There are a number of blends available from companies like Bob’s Red Mill or Jeanes. One of my favorites is Better Batter; never see it in the store but it can be found on line. There are many, many blends provided in gf cookbooks. It can cause a traffic jam of jars/cans/zip lock bags of blends labeled and stored in your freezer or fridge. Some of these blends have a gum like xanthan gum included. The gum helps your finished bread/cookie/cake hold together – in wheat based recipes it is the gluten that is the “glue” that holds things together. My blend doesn’t have it so I add it based upon my recipe. Xanthan or guar gum are commonly used. Doesn’t take much xanthan gum; ½-1 tsp is often enough. You should always check on this gum issue; if none in the flour mix you will need to add some; often about 1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour. This amount of gum does vary due to what you are making. Look at a similar gf recipe and add as much gum as that recipe does.
If your recipe is a recipe not formatted for gluten free baking, you must use a special blend meant for that circumstance. They are called measure for measure or one-for-one blends. They were not around a decade ago; fairly new. They are carefully calibrated to sub in for all purpose flour. They may not work as a substitute for whole wheat or rye flour. Let me know if you successfully do that!
I have used this measure for measure blend and had good results. It is calibrated to be substitutable in any gluten flour-based recipe except I would not recommend it for yeasted breads. Bob’s Red Mill calls it 1 to 1 Baking Flour; same idea as measure for measure. Again, use this in your regular recipe instead of the all-purpose flour in the recipe. Not suggested for yeast breads.
As I wrote above, measure for measure flowers are fairly new and very useful. They are for when you want to make a normally gluten-based recipe but use a gf flour. FYI: most gf recipes have been altered from their original recipe or are created just for gf flour. If you want to take those cookies, you can’t enjoy anymore and sub in gf flour these new measure for measure blends are perfect to do that. You don’t need to alter your recipe or add gum. The flour blend is made to mimic regular all-purpose flour. It is not interchangeable with things like the Basic GF Blend from King Arthur that I mention above. Don’t use measure for measure in a gf calibrated recipe, use it to make stuff from your old wheat flour-based recipes. King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill or a few other companies have a measure for measure blend so get that if you want to take your gluten-based recipe and change it to gf. I must caution you that these flours don’t work as well if you are replacing flour in a yeast bread recipe. Works for quick breads, cookies, muffins, and many cakes but I wouldn’t make my old fav Italian bread recipe with these measure for measure as the result is unlikely to be similar to the recipe as made with wheat-based flour. Besides, I have an awesome gf Italian bread recipe my family clamors for!
One more thing, many companies now have gf baking mixes that can be used to make muffins, cookies, cakes, pancakes, etc. They are different from the blends described above. Do not substitute those blends for a basic blend like the one I use. These blends already have gum, baking powder, salt, etc. added to the flour. They are very convenient and there are lots of recipes formulated for using them.
I used an image for King Arthur baking mix as this is the only premade mix I have tried. It works great!
To repeat; there are single flours, there are blends with or without gum added, there are measure for measure blends for use in gluten based recipes you want to recreate as a gf dish and there are baking mixes that can be used as a starting place for a quickly constructed baked good like a cake, cookie or muffin. I know, it seems complicated but read your recipe carefully so you get the right kind of flour to make it successfully. The wrong flour will give you a poor result as gf baking is relatively unforgiving of big errors like that.
Oh, and there are read-made cake or brownie mixes just like you can buy with wheat based flour; you add eggs, milk/water and oil to them to complete the mixture.
None of these blends/mixes are interchangeable between other types of blends. Use the blend the gluten free recipe asks for. If it is an old all purpose flour based recipe use the measure for measure. Except; do not use that measure for measure for a yeasted bread; unlikely to work especially when you use over 2 cups of it in a recipe; the more it is depending on flour the less likely it will be successful.
pie made with King Arthur Basic GF flour blend
My recipes generally tell you which flour blend I used. You cannot sub in measure for measure for a basic blend. Nor can you use a baking mix for anything but a recipe meant specifically for a baking mix. Get the right flour and you will have a great start towards a delicious result. I hope I have educated you on this issue so you can be successful if you need to bake gf this holiday season. Have fun baking!
PS: I am baking Christmas cookies Sunday afternoon at a friend’s house; we will be using measure for measure mix for some recipes and King Arthur Basic GF Blend for some other recipes; it really depends on the recipe. I anticipate some delicious tender cookies that everyone will love whether they are eating gf always or just at this family’s gathering.
My World Without Wheat 