gluten free baking

Berry Good Tartlets

Everyone loved that winter fruit tart I made 2 weeks ago so I decided to try a slight variation on it; individual tarts created in low sided round tartlet pans, they have a removable disk bottom for easy removal of each tartlet. I used some frozen blueberries instead of the pears plus I added a touch of ginger to spice it up differently.  If you are a ginger hater, just leave that out.

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They turned out really tasty, I used my favorite crisp cookie crust covered with a mixture of fruits and the touch of crumb almond topping.  We each had our own tartlet slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream; perfect.  Joe said that he really loves the cookie crust; great cookie flavor.

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.  They look like I bought them in a bakery.  I took one to a church event so I would have a safe treat to enjoy and was envied by all the others at my table eating commercially made wheat based pastries. Serve these tartlets and I promise you no one will even believe they are eating gluten free!

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 Fruity Mix Tartlets

Start by making a gf cookie 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!

Cookie crust

Place the following in a stand mixer bowl and combine

1 cup GF flour (recipe below)

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp cinnamon

Mix well, add 5 tbsp cold butter, cut into 6-7 chunks.  Mix on low until the butter is just crumbs blended in.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tbsp water.  Blend well.

tartlet pans

I love these little tartlet pans made by Chicago Metallic.

 

Pour the crust crumbs into six mini tart pans or a ten inch tart pan that was sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread it up the sides ¼ inch (½ an inch for the big tart pan).  Press gently in so it is a cohesive crust but do not press really hard or your crust will be like concrete when the tartlets finish baking!

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 a ½ 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.

Almond Topping: mix well

½ cup crumb topping

¼ cup slivered almonds

Heat the oven to 375 degrees while you make the filling.

Filling

1 baking apple

1 ¼ cup frozen blueberries, not defrosted

1 skimpy cup raw cranberries

½ cup sugar

1 tbsp. granulated tapioca

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ginger

Peel, core, quarter and slice thinly the cooking apple, put in a mixing bowl with the blueberries and cranberries.  Be sure to pick over the cranberries and remove any soft or iffy ones.  Add the sugar, tapioca, ginger and cinnamon, mix with a spoon.

Pour into the crusted tartlet pans.  Mound up a bit; it will sink when it is cooked.  If you have any leftover fruit; you can bake it in an oven safe dish with crumbs on top.  Sprinkle the tartlets with the almond crumb topping.  I put the pans on a baking sheet for easy placement and removal from the oven. Pop the tartlets in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.  They take that long because the blueberries are frozen. Cool at least 10 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.  Enjoy!

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Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour (finely ground)

2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour

Storage: I am Queen of Jars, Tupperware and Freezer Bags

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Where to put all those bags of freaky flours? So many kinds…made of grains I never even heard of before…so how to properly store them? I did some reading in various cookbooks and celiac informational books on this issue. Some need to go in the freezer; so I now have a long row of bags tucked in my freezer and a number of glass or heavy duty plastic canisters and jars about the kitchen. For sure you should freeze the brown rice flour because it has rice bran which spoils much faster than processed white rice. I have sweet brown rice flour which is in the freezer too. I also put my almond flour, coconut flour and teff flour in there as well. In the fridge I put the potato starch which apparently needs the cooler zone of a refrigerator. Some just need to be in a sealed jar; amaranth, white rice flour, quinoa flakes and tapioca flour. Be sure to label each item carefully as they look a lot alike. Cornstarch is already in a box…I am buying a lot of that these days….

And then there are the flour mixes. For my favorite new cookbook I created a bread flour mix canister and a brown rice flour mixture used for most everything else: two big jars. And I found a great recipe for baking powder biscuits. It has its own dry ingredient mix, was out of jars so it is in a freezer zip bag; won’t keep outside the freezer for long. Then there is the four flour mix which is basic to my new bread baking book, yet another sizable canister. And, you will need to carefully label each mixture; I like to put the name of the book it is from to help me remember exactly what recipes it is meant for. So I needed like 4 canisters for flour mixes I am using now and frankly there are several other mixes in the bread book that I want to try out… Oyy, where will I store all those jars?

When I bake a batch of cookies, they need to be placed in my big cookie jar as soon as they are completely cooled. I never used that cookie jar for its named purpose before but it is totally necessary for storing GF cookies if you want them to stay fresh tasting. To keep for more than 3-4 days: freeze them in a heavy duty plastic freezer bag. Same goes for muffins, yeast bread, quick breads and what ever else I bake. These GF baked goods do not keep as long as wheat breads and cookies. It is very convenient to pull out a cookie from the freezer and munch on it after school. And I love having some slices of sandwich bread in the freezer ready for making lunch in the morning. Always label the frozen stuff and date it -just makes things simpler in the long run.

The almond biscotti I made last week is still tasty. The basic nature of biscotti is that it is rather dry and I suspect this is why it keeps so well.  It is in a Tupperware which is great for storing biscotti.

I also have a bread bag; it is woven fabric and has a plastic bag liner. My sister gave it to me years ago. I love it as bread keeps for days in it; wheat bread kept twice as long in it as just plastic wrapped up breads. Well, no more wheat but I kept some GF Italian bread in it the other week for several days past when it should have gone bad and it was still yummy. You can buy one on the internet; check e-bay. It is worth every penny. I posted a photo of it with my cookie canister the other week.

Again, the moister the bread, the quicker it goes bad (mold!) so keep that in mind. I have a loaf of OJ bread stored in my fridge to lengthen its life. I often slice and freeze half of what I made soon after baking so nothing gets wasted…with just me eating them a lot would go bad before I could eat it. I read comments by people just wanting one GF cookie. Freeze a whole bunch and then you can munch them one at a time – actually good advice for any baker. Some cookies are really tasty still frozen; the crunchy texture and unexpected chilly bite is a great treat! Now….if I can just find the right spot to store all my flour mixes…..

Originally posted March/April 2013.  I reposted this because people new to gluten free baking are asking how to store their flours.

Chocolate Shortbread Cookie Madness

These simple but delicious chocolate shortbread cookies are amazing: crisp, light and very flavorful because of the double shot of chocolate: cocoa and mini chocolate chips.  They are a great way to go when you want to impress company with something understated but totally chocolaty.  Great with a cup of hot tea, coffee or better yet cold milk.  I saw the recipe in my favorite Annalise Roberts cookbook over a year ago but hadn’t tried making them until this week.  I now wish I had baked them long ago as they are addictive!

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No forming needed for these easy refrigerator cookies.  You plop the soft dough onto a piece of wax paper, chill 30 minutes and then scoop the cold dough onto a long piece of plastic wrap, press it into a roll, close the plastic and roll on the table to shape.  Chill well and cut the dough into slices, onto the baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and into the oven.  Simple to make and they are perfect for many festive occasions.

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup brown rice flour mix; recipe below

2 tsp. sweet rice flour

¼ tsp.  xanthan gum

1/8 tsp. salt

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, add the vanilla and mix.

Mix flours, xanthan gum, cocoa, and salt in small bowl; add to butter/sugar mix.  Mix until a soft dough is formed and add the chips; mix in briefly.  Place the dough in a flat rectangle on some wax paper; chill 30 minutes. oat muffins 003oat muffins 004

Place lumps of dough in a line along a big sheet of plastic wrap; from it into a 1 ¼ inch log of dough.  Twist ends shut, smooth into a round long by rolling it on the table top.  Chill it at least an hour; until firm.

Heat oven to 350 degrees, move the racks to center of oven.  Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

Carefully slice into 1/3 inch rounds. Place 1 ½ inch apart on sheet, sprinkle with a touch of plain sugar.  Chill in fridge on cookie sheet for 10 minutes.

oat muffins 005Bake 10-14 minutes until set. Mine all took 13-14 minutes; I think I cut them a tad thick.  Let cool on the cookie sheets 3-5 minutes so they solidify; really delicate until they cool some.  When they will hold together, transfer to a cookie cooling rack.  Store in airtight cookie jar once cooled.oat muffins 007

My recipe says the dough can be kept in the fridge for a week or in freezer for up to two months.  It made about 25-30 cookies.

They are delicately crunchy; if left out in the air unsealed they will get soggy and lose their crisp texture.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is out of Annalise G. Robert’s great cookbook: Gluten Free Baking Classics, second edition.

Fruity Winter Tart

Well, this is my winter dessert Chopped blog post (Food Network show)…. I have some fresh cranberries, two almost ripe pears, one ripe apple, leftover crumb pie topping and slivered almonds.  What to make? I didn’t have a recipe that suited those specific ingredients so I threw together this pretty tart with the three fruits for a filling and a very easy topping.  Cranberries are good for you and they add a sparkling flavor to the apple/pear mix.

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This turned out quite good, there is a crisp cookie crust covered with a mixture of sweetened fruits and a crumb and almond topping.  We had slices of it still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream tonight; perfect. Someone had seconds! I restrained myself.  Besides, I had a bigger slice of tart. And yes, the person having seconds, he does not need to avoid wheat but this tart made him want more!

This is a simple recipe; toss the fruit with sugar and flour.  And it looks like it came from the bakery.  If you make this tart I promise you no one will even believe it is GF.  They will just beg for seconds or thirds! I can’t wait to bake it again.

Note: we ate the rest of it today, still got but I think it is at best optimal flavor while still slightly warm.  I plan to try variations on it using other fruits; maybe blueberries instead of cranberries.  But it turned out great for a first time ever recipe.

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Winter Fruit Tart

Start by making a gf cookie crust and the crumb topping.

Cookie crust

Place the following in a stand mixer bowl and combine

1 cup GF flour (recipe below)

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp cinnamon

Mix well, add 5 tbsp cold butter, cut into 6-7 chunks.  Mix on low until the butter is just crumbs blended in.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tbsp water.  Blend well.

Pour into a ten inch tart pan that was sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread it up the sides ½ an inch.  Press gently in so it is a cohesive crust but do not press really hard or it will be like concrete when you finish baking it!

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 a heaping ½ 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.

Almond Topping: mix well

½ cup crumb topping

¼ cup slivered almonds

Heat the oven to 375 degrees while you make the filling.

Filling

1 baking apple

2 nearly ripe Bartlett pears

1 cup raw cranberries

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tbsp. gf flour mix

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core and slice thinly the cooking apple and core/slice the two pears, put in a mixing bowl with the washed cranberries.  Be sure to pick over the cranberries and remove any soft or iffy ones.  Add the sugar, flour and cinnamon, mix with a spoon to coat the fruit.

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Pour into the crust.  Sprinkle the tart with the almond crumb topping.  Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until bubbly, lightly browned and a fork goes through the apple slices easily.  Cool at least 20 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.  Enjoy!

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Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour (finely ground)

2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour

Lemon Squares, Very Tasty

I strongly believe in seasonal eating and winter is the season of citrus so more power to the lemon! As mentioned previously, my brother sent me a big box of juicy Meyer lemons from his tree down in Texas. I also believe in making my own treats; truly they are a lot healthier than store made sweets.  I have made lemon meringue pie, lemon shortcake cookies, lemon buttermilk tart and this weekend I made some lemon marmalade. Last night we enjoyed lemon squares, gluten free and very dainty with the special flavor of Meyer lemons.  Of course, you can use the regular lemons available in the store; will be a tad sharper/brighter in flavor but they will work great.  lemon squares 008u

These cookies are very easy to throw together; I made a shortbread cookie style gf press and bake crust and the filling ingredients are whisked together in my mixer and poured into the partially baked crust.  So easy to make and I wanted something light and delicate after all the fancy holiday desserts.  You would never guess they are made without all purpose wheat flour.  Anyone will love them if they are a fan of lemon. Take these to your next gathering, they will be scarped up pretty fast, and you will be seen as a real baker. Best of all you are eating a safe treat that is relatively guilt free; no gluten, no preservatives, not that much sugar compared to a cake and homemade flavor. Score!

Meyer Lemon Squares

 Cookie Tart Crust

1 cup brown rice flour mixture (recipe below)

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. xanthan gum

5 tbsp. cold butter cut up into 6 or 7 chunks

Directions for crust:

Mix the dry ingredients with a stand mixer, add the butter, blend with the paddle blade until the butter is small pebbles.  Press into an 8 inch square pan, be sure to first spray the pan with cooking spray and sprinkle with rice flour.  Bake 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  While it bakes make the filling.

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Baked cookie crust

Filling

3 large eggs, warm them close to room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup Meyer lemon juice

2 tbsp gf flour mix

2 tbsp finely grated Meyer lemon peel

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until fluffy, add the sugar slowly but steadily, mix, add rest of ingredients, Mix until smooth.

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Adding the lemon zest.

Pour into crust and bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 min; until set.

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Just out of the oven.

Cool completely and refrigerate if you want to serve them cold. They do not freeze well and only keep about 3 days, if any square are left that long!   I like to sift some powdered sugar on right before serving them. Use a sieve and about 2 tbsp. powdered sugar.  Luscious lemony goodness can be yours with minimal effort.

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Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is from Annalise Roberts; Gluten – Free Baking Classics, a fantastic source for baking gluten free treats, full of recipes just like  your old wheaty friends but so so much safer!