Month: December 2024

Best Brownies Ever!

Trying to figure out a special dessert? Let me suggest a brownie recipe that everyone falls in love with because of the delicious flavor and perfect texture of these bars.  Plus, bonus points as it is really easy to make.  All of the ingredients can be purchased at a regular grocery store.  I rarely post this recipe because then I want to make and eat them, and I would be a blimp if these brownies were around all the time!  I dare anyone to think these are GF until you tell them! Everyone who tastes these falls in love and begs for some to take home! Make them to please your special someone for dessert this week.

Notes: I prefer to use really great quality chocolate like Ghirardelli for the best flavor.  I sometimes add a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the flour mix to add extra kick to these kick ass brownies. I am thinking of replacing some of the sugar with coconut palm sugar. I will update with my results.

Perfect Brownies

Ingredients:
– 2/3 c King Arthur Basic GF flour blend or the brown rice flour mix at bottom of post
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ tsp baking powder
– ½ tsp xanthan gum
– 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
– 4 oz semisweet chocolate *strongly suggest Ghirardelli or other top-notch chocolate
– ½ c butter
– 1 ¼ c sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 3 large eggs
– ¾ c chopped walnuts

Directions:
Heat oven to 325 F, with rack in middle of oven. Line bottom and side of 8-inch square pan with foil, spray with cooking spray. Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. Melt chocolates and butter in heavy medium sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat, whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Whisk until mixture is smooth and glossy. Add flour mixture and whisk just until incorporated. Stir in nuts. Pour into prepared pan, bake 45 minutes until test (I use a steak knife or my fancy long tester skinny metal stick) in middle of pan comes out with wet crumbs. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, remove from pan by lifting out foil. Cool completely on rack and then cut into squares. Store in fridge for up to 5 days or freeze-wrapped in plastic wrap and foil. Frankly, you won’t have much left over by the end of the second day!

Brown Ric Flour Recipe
Ingredients
– 1 c brown rice flour
– 1/3 c potato starch (not potato flour)
– 3 tbsp tapioca flour

Posted originally in June 2014, some changes made for this posting.  This recipe comes from Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts.

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Thumb Print Cookies 2.0 – Fabulous!

As children we each had our favorite cookies to make, this was traditionally my next older brothers’ to bake but once grown up I began to make them ‘cause they are addictively tasty.  I love making them with apricot jam, you can used chopped slivered almonds instead of chopped walnuts for that version.  But any good quality jam will work, pick what you like.  I am planning two flavors this time: homemade raspberry jam and some homemade apricot jam. Like getting two cookies out of one batch of dough.

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A few Christmases ago a dear friend gave me a new cookbook “Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies” by Ellen Brown.  I have tried several recipes, and all were fantastic including this one, I swapped the candied red and green cherries for jam, but you can go old school and use those freaky candied cherries. It is made with cornstarch and white rice flour; not a flour blend but you should be able to find rice flour in a gf flour department or in a Chinese grocery store. Every grocery store has cornstarch. I am actually going to swap out some of the white rice flour for brown rice flour to make the flavor even more similar to gluten based flour. I will let you know how that goes; baking it this coming week. Use the jam you like to put on your toast! That is better than using something you are not particularly fond of.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup white rice flour (or a 50/50 blend of white rice and brown rice flours)

1 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

½ cup cornstarch

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

2 sticks unsalted butter sliced into thin slices

1 lg egg

1 Tbsp. whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

½ cup jam; apricot, cherry, raspberry, peach, strawberry

INSTRUCTIONS: Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl food processor, steel blade, blend briefly.  Add butter to work bowl and process off and on until it resembles coarse meal.

Combine egg, milk and vanilla in a small bowl; whisk. Drizzle into the work bowl, pulse about 10-12 times until it forms a stiff dough.  If it doesn’t come together, add more milk a tsp. at a time. I added a tsp. more of milk to get the dough to form up.

Chill the dough for 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put racks in the middle of the oven. Place chopped walnuts in a wide shallow bowl and roll 1 1/2 inch balls of dough.  Roll them in the chopped walnuts, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Press an indent in with a finger and fill with about ½ tsp. jam.  Bake 14-15 minutes, until just firm but not browned.  They will be very delicate to the touch.  Let cool 2-3 minutes on sheet before carefully moving them to a cooling rack using a metal pancake turner. I bumped a couple and they just fell apart on the sheet; very fragile while hot.  They will solidify once they cool.  I store mine in cookie tins or Tupperware containers.  They won’t last as long as wheat flour based cookies but they get snapped up fast so that shouldn’t be a problem.  I supposed you could freeze them for a week or two if necessary.

They are not too sweet and so delicate, great with a cup of tea or coffee.  As good, if not better, then when I made them with all purpose (wheat) flour years ago before I had to go gluten free.  Your family will be amazed that they are gf, no one you serve them to will ever guess.  Totally tasty and fun to make with your kids! Enjoy.

This is a reposting of the same recipe I posted back in 2016. Minor text changes.

Mexican Wedding Cookies – A Classic

These miniature snowball cookies were the foundation of the Christmas cookie baking season when I was a kid.  They were always made every year, sometimes a second batch had to be baked as we had eaten them all well before the big day!   Some people call them Russian Teacakes… For me it is not Christmas without these cookies so I was extremely pleased to find a great gf recipe. My sisters think they are better tasting than the old regular recipe!

They are easy to make with not too many ingredients.  Don’t make them too big or they become very fragile… stick with the size as given. Be careful lifting them off the pan as they are delicate until fully cooled. The texture and subtle flavor of this GF version is actually superior to the wheat flour recipe of my childhood. When you bite into one it shatters into a delicious mouthful of sweet cookie. They are delightful with a cup of tea or coffee.  My family clamors for a few to take home!

You can use pecans, but I rarely do; walnuts are somewhat cheaper, and I sort of prefer their flavor for this cookie. If you like them really sweet sprinkle on extra powdered sugar, less of it makes them perfect for those who are not used to too much sweetness. This recipe is from Annalise Roberts’ fabulous Gluten-Free Baking Classics with some minor changes by me. I have not tried them with any but this flour blend. I bet they might work with a measure for measure flour mix; just leave out the xanthan gum in that case.

Storage: they keep well; I put mine in an empty butter cookie tin with wax paper between the 2 layers; no more than 2 layers or they tend to break up easily. Or a cookie jar but do be careful about too many stacked on top of each other.  No one will ever know they are GF, and you will get complements on their flavor and texture.  Enjoy: they are rather addictive cookies!

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Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

6 tbsp. powdered (confectioners) sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups King Arther Basic GF blend flour – aka brown rice mix (recipe below)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup walnuts or pecans chopped fine

Confectioner’s sugar for sprinkling

Directions: beat butter and powdered sugar in large bowl of stand mixer until light and creamy.  Add vanilla, beat in.  Add flour and gum, mix in until well blended, stir in walnuts until distributed.  Chill dough for an hour, more than 2 hours; dough gets too stiff.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar if you like.  Place on cookie sheet lightly sprayed with Pam (not the baker’s version that has flour).  Place about 1 ½ inches apart.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes until lightly browned on top and bottom.  Cool on pan for 5 min and then sprinkle with lots of powdered sugar before placing on wire rack to cool. I like to sift it onto the cookies so the coating is even.  You could put a sheet of wax paper under the wire rack to catch the excess sugar.  Store well wrapped: in airtight container, in fridge for a week or freezer for up to 30 days.  You could store unbaked dough in fridge for a few days.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix  (same as King Arthur’s Basic gf blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch *not potato flour

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: First posted December 2014 on my blog.  Minor revisions have been made since then.

Turkey Posole Stew; Sort of Spicy and So Delish!

I am betting you have some roast turkey in the freezer, maybe a pint of gravy too?  Well, I have just the recipe for you, courtesy of Rachel Ray and foodnetwork.com.  It is nothing like most traditional turkey leftover recipes.  It is a slightly spicy Mexican stew; posole stew can easily be gluten free. Just use care choosing your chicken broth and your tortilla chips that accompany this savory soup. One of these years I will remember to buy an extra carton of gf turkey broth and use in instead of chicken broth; turkey broth disappears immediately after thanksgiving; a bit of a bummer….

I have been making it every fall after Thanksgiving and always look forward to a few bowls of it.  Spicy, crunchy, tangy; unlike any other soup I make.  Posole stew can be made with roasted pork and I have done so but I like it far better created with leftover roast turkey, especially the dark meat.  I have served this stew to many people, and it is always well received and enjoyed, even by my elderly mother.  I made a batch today and it was so delish! You can cut this recipe in half easily which I did this time; didn’t have enough turkey for a whole recipe and my fridge is pretty full anyway; my posole turned out great and I am thrilled to be enjoying it again. 

Notes:  I used most of a good-sized jalapeno pepper and one 15 ounce can of hominy in a half recipe. I used a cup of water for the beer and a carton of gf chicken broth. About 3-4 tablespoons of homemade turkey gravy this time: ate the rest on hot sandwiches. It was absolutely delish!

tomatillos

The more jalapeno pepper you add the hotter it will be. I have tried canned tomatillos, and they are not really a good substitute.  You can get them fresh (found near the fresh tomatoes) in many stores including Giant.  They are used in Hispanic and Mexican cooking and add a lot of flavor and tartness to the soup. I have heard that some folks use salsa Verde instead of tomatillos but it really isn’t hard to chop them up, so I recommend the real deal.

Hominy is a corn product; whole kernels soaked in lye to swell and soften.  The kernels have a mild corn flavor plus they soak up other flavors quickly and add a certain texture and body to the stew.

The wild turkey is native to North America and one turkey species is originally from Mexico.  So turkey is a natural component in this stew.  The Aztecs revered corn and liked to cook it with meat.  Tomatillos are native to Mexico, related to cape gooseberries.  They are used in salsa verde and other Mexican dishes. So this compilation of turkey, corn, tomatillos and lime is a natural combination that will be easy to make and fun to eat. Go on, be adventurous and enjoy a steaming hot bowl of delicious posole and use up that turkey in a totally different way!

Turkey Posole Stew

Ingredients

2 tbsp mild olive oil or canola oil

2 medium onions chopped

4 cloves garlic chopped fine

1-2 jalapeno peppers – seeded and chopped fine –use two if you like it spicy, I use one!

1 tbsp. ground cumin

1 cup GF beer (can use 1 cup water if you want but it gives more flavor)

Coarse salt and pepper

12-16 tomatillos; about 2 lbs, take off the paper cover, rinse and chop up.  Can coarsely chop in food processor

5-6 sprigs fresh thyme; chop it up off the stems.

2   15-ounce cans hominy

1.5 qt chicken stock (can be part gravy)

1 ½ to 2 lbs. chopped turkey meat; can be mixture of light and dark

1 lime juiced

Chopped cilantro leaves to garnish (optional)

Tortilla chips: the ones with lime go particularly well with this.

tomatillos

Cook first six ingredients about 5 min in a large stock pot.  Add beer or water, cook one minute.  Add chopped tomatillos and cook 5-6 minutes until softened.  Add hominy, thyme and stock and cook 15 minutes.  Add chopped turkey and lime juice, stir. Taste and add salt and pepper, stir well.  I never use cilantro; something I just don’t like, but feel free to add it as the original recipe uses a bunch of it.turkey posole soup

Then ladle the posole into bowls and serve lots of white tortilla chips to crunch over the top of the hot soup.  As the soup disappears from my bowl, I like to add more chips to keep the crunch going.