gluten free baking

Lemon Meringue Pie for Mom

This pie is old school delicious.  Yes, more pie…per my promise of a recipe a week for the whole year. This is my mom’s bastardized version of a Betty Crocker recipe and made gluten free with my favorite crust.  It has no gelatin for you gel haters! I make it with the lesser amount of sugar in the filling but you can more than double it if you are a sweet freak.  I have never met a man who didn’t love it, well…maybe one. My friend Russel doesn’t care for anything with lemons. But his wife Claire adores lemon so this pie is for her and my mom…(It’s Mother’s Day after all!) and my brother Christopher who often requests this pie when he is in town.

If I have them, I always use Meyer lemons for this recipe.  Your pie will have a really delicate flavor – so light I sometimes call it lemon cloud pie!  Don’t worry; regular lemons work just fine. It can be difficult to find Meyer lemons and pricey too.

I have never gotten my mom to admit it but I am positive she added extra egg whites to her meringue.  Her pie was towering with the white fluffy stuff unlike my nearly level pie made with just three whites.  It is up to you how impressive you want your dessert to look. But if you have company you might want to go for the big bang of a four- five egg white meringue topping for maximum wow power

My mom added the touch of corn syrup to replace some of the reduced out sugar and because it makes the texture of this pie creamier and more delicate.  Don’t make this pie on a very humid day or the meringue will weep and bead on the top.  It will taste fine but the look will suffer from the humidity. My slice picture shows some of that beading; it started to get humid that day and my pie still tasted fantastic even with the slight beading issue.

Store any leftover pie in the fridge. It doesn’t keep more than two days but frankly none of it ever lasts more than two days.

 

Mom’s Lemon Meringue Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe) [King Arthur plain mix]

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 9 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.

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. Then roll it out and line a 9 inch pie pan with it.  Make sure you get the middle nice and thin; this crust can be tough to get the center as thin as the edges. Prick it all over with a fork to keep it from bubbling out and bake the empty crust at 375 for 10-12 minutes until light brown.  Let cool.

Lemon Filling:

Ingredients:

1/3 to ¾ cup sugar

1/3 plus 1 tbsp. corn starch

1 ½ cup water

3 eggs, separated; yolks for filling, save whites for meringue

1-2 tsp. lemon zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2-3 tbsp. clear corn syrup

3 tbsp. butter cut in small chunks

Directions:

Start oven heating to 400 degrees for browning the topped pie.

Mix the sugar and corn starch in a heavy bottomed medium sized saucepan.  Add the water, stirring.  Heat until it boils, stirring constantly, boil one minute, take off heat.  Beat yolks briefly in a small mixing bowl, then add the hot stuff slowly to it; half the hot mixture, stirring constantly.  Then dump it all back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, stir like a crazy person so it doesn’t scorch. Boil 1 minute at medium heat.  Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and zest and then stir in the butter.  Let it melt as you stir.  Glug in some corn syrup. Pour the hot lemon filling into the pie crust.  Top while still hot with the meringue you just beat up. Make sure you get the meringue all the way across the top and along every single edge. No cracks, no gaps. Bake it 10-11 minutes until light brown. Cool to room temperature and then chill for 2-6 hours.  Slice and serve.

Meringue topping

The three egg whites (or 4-5)

¼ tsp. cream of tarter

6 tbsp. granulated sugar (or 8-10 tbsp.)

Beat the whites and the cream of tarter until it is past the foamy stage, add the sugar half a tbsp. at a time beating on high until the whites are stiff and glossy.  This will take several minutes.

If you add one or two extra egg whites add another ¼ tsp. cream of tarter and add 2 tbsp. sugar for each extra white.

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Brown Rice Flour Mix (Same as King Arthur All purpose blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Originally posted March 2015, slightly revised for this posting.

Delightful Daffodil Cake

I know I promised to write about pie every week this whole year but sometimes it is all about using the ingredients you got.  I had some egg whites in the freezer and had to use them up. Defrost and I had everything else in the fridge or pantry: go cake. This post is an exception to my pie a week for 2016 rule; ‘cause it is so freaking delish. Looks mostly like an angel food cake but it is an old fashioned confection known as a daffodil cake.  I found the recipe in my 1970s Betty Crocker, a great standard of a cookbook.  Was making it for many years before my diagnosis with celiac so once I got comfy baking gf I figured I could make it gf and it is perhaps even better than it was with gluten based flour.

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I made one this weekend, it turned out perfect and I dropped by with two slices for my mom, suddenly she started talking about how I should learn to make gf cake so I can have some too! Apparently this cake (and ones in the past) have been so incredibly good she can’t believe any of them are gluten free!! I assured her, again, that I only bake and cook gluten free. Not sure she believed my words; a measure of how incredibly good this cake is as I’m generally known for my honesty.

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So all you gluten free disbelievers, this cake will change your mind. It is tender, moist and delicately flavored, not to mention very pretty and perfect in spring.  It is after all, a daffodil cake and spring is the only time in the year they bloom. Make some now folks! It makes a wonderful birthday or party cake; you could put a thin vanilla powdered sugar glaze on top to make it fancy for such an occasion.

Notes: I save egg whites; in a Tupperware container in the freezer, until I have a cup of them.  Then I am ready to put this beauty together. Or just use enough eggs to make a cup of whites. If you don’t have guar gum you can use xanthan gum.

A few words on separating eggs: this can be tricky and I have learned via bad experiences not to separate directly into the measuring cup full of whites; do it into a small bowl and dump. You can NOT get ANY egg yolk in the whites or they won’t beat properly.  Best to set any egg that breaks or becomes contaminated with even a speck of yolk aside and make an omelet for supper! I crack each egg on the edge of my counter, split its shell in half and dump it over one cupped hand. The white flows through into the bowl underneath and I drop the yolk into the mixing bowl. Be gentle so the yolk does not break  Don’t use old tired eggs or the yolks are more likely to break; fresh is best but they need to come to room temperature before cracking so the whites beat to a high volume.  FYI: When baking gf all ingredients should be room temperature unless the recipe tells you otherwise.

Put the yolks in the medium mixing bowl and add those six whites in with the other cup of whites: 1 ½ cup total egg whites.  I know, a crazy lot of eggs in this but remember, no fat what-so-ever! Angel food cake is a good choice for your diabetic friends, or so they say. I just think those folks love a good angel food cake. This cake is even better, a masterpiece of delicate melt in your mouth cakey delight.

 

Angie’s I Can’t Believe it’s GF Daffodil Cake

1 cup egg whites (room temp)

6 whole large eggs (room temp)  separated

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

1 cup brown rice flour blend (recipe below)

½ tsp guar gum

1 ½ tsp. cream of tarter

¼ tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ tsp. almond extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Put baking rack on second slot from the bottom.  You need a ten inch tube pan with removable bottom, do not spray.

Mix well and sift the powdered sugar, flour, guar gum into a bowl, at least once. Or twice.

Pour the egg whites (should add up to 1 ½ cups) into a stand mixer bowl, add cream of tarter and salt.  Start at medium speed.  Beat until foamy, increase speed until high, wait for soft peaks and add the cup of granulated sugar a tbsp or two at a time as it beats.  No bowl scraping or stopping.  Beat at highest speed until you have stiff peaks.  Beat briefly after adding the two flavoring extracts. Set aside.

In small bowl beat the 6 egg yolks about 4 minutes until thick and lemon yellow colored.

Fold the flour mixture into the egg whites, I do about a quarter cup at a time sprinkled all over the top and I fold it with a spatula or spoonula.  A spoonula is a rounded spatula, great for lifting up stuff in a mixing bowl and scraping it clean. Be gentle and smooth; don’t worry if it isn’t perfectly smoothly mixed.  Put about half of the mixture into a separate large mixing bowl.  Add the beaten egg yolks; gently fold until it is pretty well blended.

Put big glops of the plain mixture into the baking tube pan; I like 3 big ones.  Put three big glops of the yellow blended mix between them. Top with more glops of the mixes, using it all up.  Gently stir through the pan with your spoonula to swirl it a bit and smooth the top with the spoonula.

Put into preheated oven, bake 35 minutes, until when you press gently on the top it springs back.

Remove from oven, turn it over and hang on an empty wine bottle neck or a big funnel. Let cool totally in this upside down state before cutting it out of the pan. I use a sharp serrated bread knife, cut around the outside edge and the center tube. Lift it out and then slice under the cake all around.  Place a cake plate over the top and gently flip it.

I store it in a plastic cake saver or just in the microwave away from breezes and hungry folks.  You could wrap it in plastic wrap too. It is best eaten within 3 days.  It generally doesn’t last that long around here.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix 

(This mix is the same as King Arthur’s basic gf blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

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This recipe is a variant of the angel food cake you will find in Annalise Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics cookbook.

 

Josh’s Giant Muffin

In the interest of friendship and my natural curiosity I finally baked a very special muffin for my friend Josh, lover of the giant muffin!  I know some of you folks are fans of huge muffins. It was a gigantic banana nut chocolate chip muffin and it took enough batter for two regular muffins to fill each giant muffin portion: that’s a lot of batter! They were baked them in this oversized muffin tin someone gave me years ago, never used, so no worries on gluten filled crumbs in crevices.

I used my regular recipe with no alterations and baked them a few minutes longer.  Success!  Moist flavorful muffins with perfect texture.  And they were gorgeous, bakery worthy looks. Still, I was only able to eat half at a time.

Not sure I will be always making giant muffins, I tend to like small snacks but for you big muffin lovers; just know that you will get half as many muffins and I suggest you bake it 5 extra minutes, test it with a skinny cake tester and let it cool about 10 minutes in the pan before removing them to finish cooling on a cake rack.

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The giant muffin is on the left; two small ones on the right.  All tasty!

I ate a giant one the day after baking, it was still so fresh and tasty.  I froze Josh’s muffin so it would be fresh for him.  I did tell him that it was frozen a few days and that he should plan to eat it that day.  He misunderstood and waited a day more. It was getting crumbly but he said the flavors were fantastic, especially the chocolate chips.  Gluten free baked goods has a shorter shelf life plus mine have no preservatives.  That’s why I freeze them and defrost the day I am consuming.

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In conclusion, giant muffins are no big deal; no more work, just need that honking big muffin pan and you are set to go.  Bake them 5 to 7 minutes extra; I put in my cake tester and eye balled them just to be sure; they looked done, tester said done. Done.

Tasty.  But, that big muffin was too much food for my normal snack size.  Still, for company; they might be just the ticket for breakfast.  If you love giant muffins; feel free to use any of my multitude of muffin recipes for those big boys.  Test for doneness and let them cool longer in the metal pan as they are so big they will take longer to be ready to safely lift out of the pan. Enjoy!

Easy Cherry Berry Muffins

People may wonder why I post muffin recipes fairly often.  Well, it’s simple: those cute things are so easy to make and so delicious… They are my go to gf snack.  They never turn out heavy or gummy: always tender and delightful not to mention healthy.  Best of all they taste much better and are cheaper than most readi-made store gf snack bars.

Turning to my trusty muffin recipe I decided to try a new variant; cherry and berry because I got a bag of frozen dark cherries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. I was thinking I would get a similar texture to previous berry muffins especially using my basic, easy to dump together, recipe. It’s so easy; I think I can almost do it in my sleep! Plus the frozen berries might actually be of better quality than fresh ones in the produce section at the grocery store right now; it is not berry season yet, hardly seems like spring at the present folks!

I’m emphasizing how simple they are to bake so that you can feel comfortable making your own muffins even if you have never done it before.  Why buy them when you can make your own: tasty and far cheaper than GF muffins you can buy? Seriously simple and a big reward; 14-16 tasty treats for less money.

This batch of muffins did not disappoint: delicate texture yet slightly crunchy outside with zingy cherry, blackberry, raspberry and blueberry flavors and just enough sugar for me.  I used the bag of mixed fruit I got from Giant grocery store straight out of the freezer -don’t defrost them before adding.  I suggest you use a paring knife and chopped up the larger fruits for this recipe. You can buy a bag of what ever berries float your boat or fit your budget. That’s the beauty of this recipe, flexibility.

The streusel topping insures that they look gorgeous and adds an extra layer of flavor.  There are walnuts in them to so you get some really great nutrients from the fruit and nuts.  Not much guilt in eating one of these treats! You can swap the white sugar for coconut palm sugar as I do: it barely raises blood sugar levels, unlike white sugar.  Loving the envious looks people give me whenever I chow down on a berry muffin as they eat some noxious bag of salty/sugary snack full of preservatives and who knows what. People are envying ME and my GF treat…Loving it! Much better than the pity party I can face when there is nothing safe for me to eat at school or at gatherings.

As always I taste tested a muffin from the batch while they were still warm out of the oven: at the moment of perfection.  This version is up there with all the other flavors of muffins I am addicted to.

It is smart to freeze any you won’t eat in two days time; a zip lock freezer bag works great.

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Cherry Berry Muffins

2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)

2/3 cup granulated sugar or coconut palm sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. xanthan gum

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp. dried ginger

1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 large eggs

½ cup milk, 1 or 2 percent

½ cup canola oil

Topping: Mix the following in a bowl, make sure the butter is in tiny pebbles; use your fingertips to blend.

½ cup rolled oats

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp. almond meal

1½ tbsp. butter

¼ tsp. cinnamon

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Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees, placing the rack in middle of oven.  Spray muffin pans with cooking spray.  One batch makes 14-16 muffins.  I got 16 when I made them but if you make them really full I am guessing it will make a dozen.

Mix all dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer or big bowl Add fruits and walnuts; stir to coat them with dry mix.  Combine milk and oil in a a small bowl.  Beat in eggs, add vanilla.  Add liquids to big bowl; stir just until blended.  It is a very thick batter. If you used the coconut palm sugar be sure to add ¼ cup extra milk.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full.  I use a big serving spoon and fill it about half way to dump in each muffin space. Sprinkle the top with the topping. Press it in a bit so it won’t all flake off after baking. Bake 21-23 min until golden brown. Do not over bake or they will taste dry.  Remove immediately from the pans and cool on a rack.  They freeze well for a few weeks, if they last that long.  Keeps in fridge (well wrapped) or an airtight cookie jar for two days.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix 

(This mix is the same as King Arthur’s basic gf blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is a variant of the muffins you will find in Annalise Roberts’ Gluten-Free Baking Classics cookbook.

Oopsie, I Just Made Some Cloud Bread!

Finding or baking decent gf bread can be problematic.  Poor texture, weird flavors, big holes the middle of the loaf, leaden brick like baked products, high prices and lots of ingredients which must be compiled exactly according to the recipe.  It adds up to a fair amount of stress as to just having a sandwich.

The other week I made some really interesting bread/rolls.  The name is “cloud bread” (also called oopsie bread) and it has no flour, no oats nor any grains.  I was intrigued when I kept seeing this cloud bread popping up in my support group messages and just had to try it. My recipe has five ingredients but three should be in your pantry already.  It was very easy, quick and yes; tasty.  So it made a super bread for a ham and cheese sandwich and a ham/turkey and cheese sandwich.  I ate one warm out of the oven, also enjoyable. Great with a little jam or jelly on top.

I added a couple toppings which add a lot to the flavor and look of it.  I recommend them but it sure can be made plain.   You have to use full fat cream cheese to make it work, only a few tablespoons so don’t get all freaked out over that issue!

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Cloud Bread/Rolls (makes six large ones)

3 eggs, room temperature and separated; in two separate mixing bowls

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. honey

Pinch salt

Toppings; sesame seeds and a tbsp. of chopped fresh rosemary.

Directions

Beat the egg yolks with the cream cheese until it is very smooth, lemon yellow. Add the baking powder and honey, beat in.

Beat the egg whites until foamy, add a sprinkle of salt. Beat until stiff peaks form.  Fold together gently with the yolk mixture until mostly blended together.

While the egg whites were beating I lined a big baking sheet with parchment paper and sprayed it lightly with Pam.  Heat oven to 300 degrees. Some people heat the pan in the oven before spreading the dough; I didn’t bother but feel free to preheat your pan.

Using a big spoon spread the bread mixture on in six big circles spaced 1-2 inches apart.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and or finely chopped fresh rosemary. Bake until golden brown between 20 and 30 minutes.  I did just about 30 minutes for mine. Using a spatula separate them from the parchment paper right away. Let cool.  Store in a ziplock bag overnight; they will get soft and be ready for sandwiches.  Keep them in the fridge. I put slices of wax paper between them to avoid sticking. shoe fly pie, hash 012 They keep about 3 days there and a week in the freezer.  Wonderful flavor and texture for sandwiches: I used one for the top and a second one as the bottom of the sandwich. It did not fall apart and looked fantastic. shoe fly pie, hash 013 Did I mention they are no carbs in this bread? Yeap; this delightful bread is great for my low carbing friends!