gluten free baking

German Plum Tart, GF 2.0 Version

I love juicy ripe plums eaten out of hand but seldom bake with them.  This is one of the only recipes I make gluten free with blue plums; these are those oval plums, sometimes called prune or Stanley plums that are only available for a few weeks in the early fall.  They are inexpensive, not too sweet and they get soft and purply delish in this simple tart.  It is modeled after some German fruit tarts I had enjoyed in my wheat loving past life.  I think it replicates them quite well.  I posted this last year but wanted to share it again. This time I found really huge Stanley plums and tried them instead of the small ones I have always used in the past. They were great so you can definitely go with either size of oval plum.  I think you could make it with round plums but I do think the oval ones have more flavor and are more suited to baking than round eating plums.

I use my favorite homemade cobbler mix which makes this really simple.  I will put the mix recipe down at the end of this post.  I keep it in my freezer and one cup makes great cobbler or works as this tart base. To this particular batch I added a couple teaspoons of dried lemon peel powder.  This ingredient is made of lemon peels rolled in sugar and dried, leftover after make homemade lemoncello liquor.  They become powder after a few moments in my spice blender. The fine powder adds a subtle lemon flavor but its okay; you don’t absolutely need it to make this recipe work.  It is in the original recipe but I never bothered before to make some even though I had the dried lemon peels.  The addition is great and if you can add it you won’t be disappointed.

A few instructions to assist you if you make this tart: I cut up the plums first and sprinkle them with sugar, let them stand while I mix the dry stuff up and then stir up the wet items in a small mixing bowl.  If you want it lower in sugar just leave off that sprinkle here; it will still taste great.

Be sure to use a 10 inch tart pan; if you made the tart in a 9 inch one it may well spill over and burn on the bottom of your oven which is never a good thing. You could also use a 9-10 inch pie pan as a baking dish.

plum tart 2017

We like it with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It is fine all on its own.  Makes a great breakfast too with a cup of coffee or tea.

 

 

Fall Plum Tart

1 cup cobbler dry mix; recipe below

¼ c sugar – mix these together

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2 eggs

3 Tbsp. buttermilk

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1/2  tsp. vanilla

1/2  tsp. almond extract

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1 ½ lbs prune plums (enough to cover the entire tart pan) cut in halves or quarters. I used 9 large ones for this most recent tart.

Mix them with 2 tbsp sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix two dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Spray a 10 in deep tart pan with cooking spray, could use a 9-10 inch pie pan as a substitute baking dish.

Beat eggs in medium bowl, add rest of wet ingredients, mix well, add to dry ingredients, stir the batter briefly to fully blend.  Pour into the prepared pan and spread it out with a flexible spatula.  It often just spread great if you tilt the pan a bit – the batter will spread all on its own. Top with plums, cut side up, push each in slightly into the batter and cover the entire surface of tart base. Sometimes I cut up a few plums and fit the chunks in around the halves but this time I didn’t; works either way.

 

Bake 30 min.  Top with mixture of 1 ½ tsp sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon

Bake 3-8 more minutes or until top looks done.

 

Cool somewhat before slicing/serving.

 

Dry Cobbler Mix

 

2 ¼ cups white rice flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

1 tsp. baking soda

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1/3 cup sugar

 

Reposted from my blog, originally October 2014, minor changes to text, recipe the same.

Fig and Goat Cheese Galette

Figs are delightful in the late summer and early fall. This year my fig trees are full of fruit with several dozen figs ripening over about two week’s time. Lately I pick 2-3 dozen every day or two. I made a super delicious fig and yogurt cake the other weekend. Next I put together a figgy dessert in the tart family.  This is my take on the wide variety of fig and custard/honey/cheese tart recipes. FYI: a galette is a free form flat round French tart. Now you know! One of my friends was all “wow you cook stuff I have never heard of and did your mom cook like that?” My response was “nope; Mom never baked a galette. But she was a great cook and I just love trying new things. ” I truly love galettes as they are so easy; just roll out the dough; lay on the filling; crimp up the edges and maybe a bit of egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar and into the oven it goes. Plus I like how they generally aren’t that sweet or tricked out with a ton of ingredients. Simple, tasty, and pretty to look at.  Dessert perfection…

I used my favorite gluten free crust recipe plus some cinnamon.  This crust never fails to impress; it is flaky and tender. Never tough or too buttery. Sweet juicy figs are the bomb! Finally, the herbed goat cheese added an intriguing slightly savory flavor to the overall taste. A big slice was just delicious with a glass of lemony iced tea. Enjoy!

 

 

Fig and Goat Cheese Galette

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

¼-½ tsp. cinnamon

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh lemon juice (use juice from zested lemon; below)

Line a 15 inch pizza pan with parchment paper.

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 out and put on the parchment lined pan; put back in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Goat Cheese filling:

4 oz package herbed goat cheese, room tem

2 oz light or regular cream cheese, room temp.

2 tbsp. local honey (good stuff)

1 egg beaten well, mix in 1 tsp. water

2 tsp. rough brown crystal sugar for topping

Fruit part:

7-9 ounces of ripe figs: 8-10 large or maybe 14-16 small

Directions: Zest a small lemon. I do this onto wax paper for ease of picking up later. Use some of the juice for the crust.  You can leave the zest out if you are not a big fan.  You do need the juice in the crust; can use fresh squeezed OJ too.

Get out the tart crust and roll out to a large circle. Place on the parchment paper; I unpeeled one side of the rolling plastic and flopped the whole thing onto the parchment and then peeled off the other side of plastic leaving the crust on the parchment. Blend the goat cheese, cream cheese and honey using a whisk. Add half the beaten egg, beat some more until well blended Spread the mixture out on the crust.  Leave 1.5-2 inches of crust around the filling. Top with halved or quartered figs; mine were small; halved them, cut side up. Fold up the edges of your crust and pinch together to create the galette shape.  Use a pastry brush to brush the crust with the remaining egg wash. Sprinkle the sugar crystals over the crust and some on the figs. fig galette with sugar sprinkled onBake for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Sprinkle the lemon zest on before you bake it or half way through the baking.  Let your tart rest a bit on a cooling rack; don’t serve hot but a slightly warm slice will taste amazing.  It was still great the next day although the crust wasn’t quite as crisp due to high humidity. Enjoy!

fig galette baked

 

Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur basic gf blend)

2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch – not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour

fig galette slice

The crust recipe is from Annalise Roberts great cookbook, GF Baking Classics, Second Edition.

Blueberry Peach Almond Crisp

We are still enjoying fresh blueberries and juicy ripe peaches. I had just a few peaches left from that basket I bought a week ago so I wanted to combine them with blueberries; giving enough fruit for this crisp and so I could enjoy the combined fruit flavors.  I used my pie crumb topping as the jump off recipe for this dessert. Adding almonds adds a lot of crunch. I loved how quickly this came together; no precooking of the fruit and if you have crust crumbs in the fridge you are ready to toss it together in about 5 minutes. There are twice as much blueberries as peach slices but the blueberries do become the predominant flavor.  If you want more peach flavor; use less blueberries and more peaches.

blueberry peach mixture

Notes: You need to peel the peaches; I heated water to a boil; dropped the peaches in and cooked them for three minutes, let cool a bit and peel then slice.  Chose a baking dish that has room for the fruit and ½ inch of topping plus at least another inch for the hot fruit to bubble up and not spill over.

blueberry peach crisp baked

Angie’s GF Blueberry Peach Almond Crisp

Filling:

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinse, drain and place in medium bowl

2 ¼ cups sliced peaches, peeled before slicing into bowl with blueberries

Add and mix with:

3-4 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. quick tapioca

Let stand while you prepare the crumb crust. This is important so the tapioca can soften and absorb some juices before baking.

Crumb topping

3/4 cup brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Put all four ingredients in a stand mixer bowl and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form. If you let them go extra long you get big fat crumbs if you like.

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Measure out 2/3 cup of the crumb mix into a bowl

Add to it: ¼ cup slivered almonds, ¼ cup old fashioned oatmeal (uncooked) and ¼ tsp. cinnamon.  Mix well.

Store the rest of the crumb topping in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator until you need to top a pie with crumbs.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 1 quart glass or Pyrex baking pan sprayed with cooking oil and top with the almond crumb mixture.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes until bubbly and the crumb crust is light brown.  Cool at least 15 minutes before serving at room temperature. Serves four.  Would be great with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! blueberry peach crisp in dish

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

2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: the crumb recipe is out of Annalise Roberts cookbook, Gluten Free Baking Classics, Second Edition. Adaptation and filling recipe are mine.

 

Peach Cobbler Perfection!

Peaches in late summer: ripe peach chunks on my cereal, peach ice cream, peach pie, peach tartlets and peach cobbler.  Well, this post will be on peach cobbler and it is peachy keen!  I often make cobbler with blueberries and even sliced rhubarb.  I am guessing most any fruit might work; blackberries, raspberries, cherries, plums, nectarines and apricots come to mind.

This recipe is modified from one in Bette Hagman’s book, More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet and is based on a flour mix that will give you 4 cups of the dry ingredients.  One cup is the base for an 8×8 pan of cobbler topping.  I bet two cups dry mix will make a big 9×13 cobbler. Store the dry mix in an airtight container in the freezer to keep it fresh.

I have tried a number of cobbler recipes but nothing has been better than this one so I stick to what works for me.  If you use nectarines there is no peeling involved which makes it easy to throw together.

I always get the fruit cooking before putting the topping together so the fruit is hot and ready for the topping and can go right into the oven

apple muffins 007

Dry Cobbler Mix

2 ¼ cups white rice flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

1 tsp. baking soda

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1/3 cup sugar

Cobbler Topping

1 cup dry baking mix

2 eggs

2 tbsp melted butter or canola oil

1/4 to 1/3 cup milk/buttermilk

½ tsp. vanilla

Mix the wet ingredients and then add to the dry mix in a big bowl.

Fruit Filling

4 cups sliced ripe peeled peaches or nectarines

½ tsp. almond extract

½-2/3 cup sugar depending on how sweet you want it

2-3 tbsp. GF flour like rice flour, tapioca flour (use 3 if juicy)

½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix the fruit and almond extract in a thick bottomed sauce pan. Stir together the sugar, cinnamon and flour and mix into the fruit.  Cook on the stove top for 4-5 minutes until it is thickened and hot.  Pour into a buttered 8 inch square pan, top with big blops of the cobbler topping. I have used 1/4 cup milk and that is less runny than using 1/3 cup.  Frankly it works either way. Bake immediately: at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  The top should be light brown and spring back when you poke it with your finger.  If it looks damp or squishy bake it 5 more minutes. This happens if I use more than 4 cups of fruit; slows it down, sometimes even ten extra minutes if you put 5 or so cups of fruit in it.

Let cool 7-9 minutes before serving as it will burn your mouth right out of the oven!  Some people love it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Cobbler is perfect just on its own.

Note: if you use oil and almond milk then this cobbler will be dairy free.  Spray the cobbler pan with cooking oil instead of rubbing with butter. I think you can use any sort of milk you can find or even fruit juice.

Originally on my blog in August 2014.

Peach Crumb Pie

It is near the peak of peach season so get some peaches and whip up a delicious gluten free peach pie.   This is an easy pie to create.  Slice and dump together the filling, crumb topping made in unwashed mixer bowl you used for bottom crust. You can store any leftover crumb mixture in a sealed container in the fridge; it keeps a few weeks.  I let my mix spin a few more moments in the stand mixer for extra big crumbs for this pie; love that look. If you prefer a solid crust just double the crust part and top your pie with it.  Be sure to cut some slits for steam escape! And if you don’t have time, buy a ready-made crust but homemade is always best.

Please make every effort to use local fruit; can get peaches at orchards like Bechdolt’s near Springtown, at most farm stands and at farmer’s markets; one on Saturdays in Easton or Sunday’s in Hellertown.  This pie really showcases great tasting peaches. If you use lousy peaches your pie will taste crummy. But, here’s the thing: store peaches can be poor in flavor and texture due to improper chilling so I strongly suggest you buy only locally grown, sweet, ripe peaches to make your pie.  I love when they have a pink blush; it makes the pie so pretty and perhaps even tastier!

peaches      raspberry-jam-014

To peel easily; heat 3 inches of plain water, drop the peaches gently in 4-5 at a time and cook them 2-3 minutes.  Use the lesser time for more ripe peaches. Allow to cool somewhat before peeling.  I like to do that over a bowl to catch the juices as I slice each peach.

Bake and enjoy late summer in a pie in just a few minutes of work.  Don’t eat it hot; it should be cooled to just warm if you like it so or room temperature or even a bit chilled.  You could certainly serve this with vanilla ice cream.  And this pie works perfectly with fresh nectarines, bonus: no peeling required!

 

Angie’s GF Peach Crumb Pie

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 large 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 while you prepare the filling.

Filling:

6 cups sliced fresh peaches, peeled and cut in thick slices, place in medium bowl

Mix with:

½ cup sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

3-4 Tbsp. quick tapioca

Stir in 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice and ¼ tsp. almond extract

Let stand while you prepare the crust.

Roll out pie crust in a pie bag or between two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in pie pan, centered.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.  Fill with fruit mixture.

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. If you let them go extra long you get big fat crumbs if you want that look and I did!

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix; use as much as you like.  I like about a heaping cup of the mixture.  Up to your personal taste… It sinks partially into the fruit mixture and adds lots of sweetness and eye appeal.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes until bubbly and the crumb crust is light brown.  Cool at least 1 to 4 hours before serving at room temperature.  I think it is best served the same day you make it, or no more then 12 hours after baking for optimal flavor.  The crumbs will get soggy if too much time passes. Mine was still very good the next day; just not as great as when really fresh.

mom's new watch 013

Note: if you find your bottom crust is not browning enough bake it empty at 375 degrees for ten minutes before filling it with the fruit.  I have a bottom heat pizza style oven which gives me perfect pie crust so I don’t ever have pale pie crust.

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

2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: This post was originally blogged by me the late summer of 2015. Minor changes made.