Procrastination

With the title you can tell that I’m procrastinating today, and not just with one thing, but with many. In one sense I’m not really procrastinating because I got some work done for the summer program, even if it meant meeting a friend/former colleague for coffee and chitchat. I also did an errand or two for an upcoming craft fair I’m in (I have a problem with plastic bags). And I had lunch. Unfortunately the maple nut tart I wanted to try is getting pushed back to tomorrow and same with the maple raisin pound cake. I’m experimenting with maple syrup since I love it so much. When it comes to maple syrup, you go real or go home.

A cousin makes his own on the family farm and I always buy a box. Well, I can’t say ‘always’ because he sells out quickly and sometimes I’m not fast enough. It reminds me that with a big family you have to be quick.

I’m also putting off writing a letter to my family overseas. Easter is coming up and I need to get their cards out soon.

Maybe that’s why I’m not that great in languages; I need to feel like using it in order for it to come out. For the last week I’ve sat down with a pad and pen and nothing comes. Maybe my life just isn’t that interesting. Urgh.

One interesting thing is a spiced beer cake I made on the weekend. It was delicious and before you say ‘What?!? Beer?!?’, it was Nicklebrook’s gluten-free beer. I chose it because it’s a nice strong beer and it would be ideal in a cake (no watered down stuff for me thank you). The occasion was my and brother-in-law’s birthday, hence the shamrock and beer (we’re fans of both).

Happily everyone loved it, enough for seconds. It was moist and delicious, but I would have preferred more spice and beer flavour; it was quite muted. I made a simple plain buttercream icing and used sugar sprinkles for the shamrock, bringing out the artist in me. Maybe procrastinating isn’t such a bad thing.

Here is the recipe in its original form from Food & Drink. I changed the cider for the gf beer and next time, I’m going to double the spices and add a whole can of gf beer. If you decide to make a 9” cake instead of cupcakes, the baking time is around 30 minutes.

Cider Spice Cupcakes with Penuche Fudge Icing
Holiday 2005 (Marilyn Bentz-Crowley)
 

2 cups (500 mL) cake and pastry flour (replace with a gluten-free flour mix)
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
½ tsp (2 mL) allspice
¼ tsp (1 mL) freshly grated nutmeg
¼ tsp (1 mL) salt
1 cup (250 mL) brown sugar
½ cup (125 mL) butter, softened
¾ cup (175 mL) cider
2 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla)

Penuche Icing
¼ cup (50 mL) butter
½ cup (125 mL) brown sugar
¼ cup (50 mL) whipping cream
½ tsp (2 mL) vanilla
1¼ cups (300 mL) icing sugar

1. To measure flour, stir, then spoon into measuring cup before leveling with a knife.
2. Preheat oven to 375º F (190ºC).
3. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly stir flour with baking powder, spices and salt. Add sugar, butter, cider, eggs and vanilla.
4. Using an electric mixer, mix ingredients until flour is moistened, then whip at high speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape sides of bowl; beat on high for another minute or until batter is lighter in colour and fluffy.
5. Dividing equally, spoon batter into cups. Bake in centre of preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes, still in muffin tin, on a rack.
6. To make icing, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; add brown sugar and cream. Stirring occasionally, bring to a boil; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool 15 minutes in pan on a rack without stirring. Then stir in icing sugar until smooth. Immediately ice cooled cupcakes, as frosting sets into fudge within minutes. Covered, cupcakes keep well for 2 to 3 days at room temperature.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Gluten-Free Cookies & Cream Cheesecake

One day while wandering around a bookstore I came across a sweet deal. Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes was sitting on a discount table. I had seen some posts on some baking blogs and many posted her cupcakes with rave reviews. Personally I’m not a big cupcake fan and don’t understand the big hoopla about cupcakes, but I was intrigued.

In flipping through this book I liked the variety of cupcakes. Every recipe had a picture (and I like pictures) and it was fun ohhhing and ahhhing over them. The recipebook wasn’t full of crazy fancy cupcakes either. The majority look like I would have made them – with the arthritis in my hands I don’t even want to go near a pastry bag, but there are some fancy ones too.

I took these in to some colleagues this summer and no one would have thought they were gluten-free. The other resident celiac loved them. I purposely gave her extras and she had the strength to save them to enjoy throughout the week. Strong girl.

These are delicious and so easy to make. The recipe is for 30 cupcakes and I halved it easily (seriously, I really don’t want to eat 30 mini-cheesecakes). I also used gf chocolate vanilla crème cookies from Glutino (those from Kinnikinnick would work well too). 

To make a lower fat version I used thick plain yogurt instead of the sour cream. Lastly, I would suggest not making these in a large muffin tin as the mixture will surround the cookie instead of sitting on top of it, like it would in a regular muffin tin. The original recipe is below.

Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes  Makes 30               (Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)

42 gf cream-filled sandwich cookies, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped

2 lbs cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375°. Line muffin tin with paper liners and place one whole cookie in the bottom of each cup. With a mixer beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand. Divide batter evenly among cookie cups. Bake until filling is set, about 22 mins (Martha also suggests rotating the tins halfway through baking). Let cool completely then refrigerate, in the tins, at least 4 hours.

Fresh Strawberry Mousse

I can never get enough of strawberries and I do my best to eat them all summer long. I usually go out picking at least once and buy the remainder from the market. This summer has been especially busy and has flown by so my supply has come from some of my favourite vendors at the Parkdale Market. Even though I’ve been swamped I’ve found the time to experiment with a few things. As always, friends are only happy to be guinea pigs and a colleague with this year’s summer program was a fellow celiac. She got gf goodies to make up for all the staff birthday cakes she could only look at.

I’ve rarely had mousse for dessert because it is usually made with gelatine, and as vegetarian it’s a no-no. To be completely honest, I had cut out gelatine prior to becoming veggie – the concept just grossed me out (now that I’m a meat-eater I haven’t ventured it yet). So when I found this recipe while browsing in my good-old-Moosewood I couldn’t pass it up. I made it twice in one week; it’s that good! My colleague was in heaven and we couldn’t decide which was better – the strawberry mousse or the raspberry.

Make the trip to heaven and give it a try while the berries are still around.

Fresh Strawberry Mousse (from Moosewood Cookbook)     Serves 4-6

4 cups sliced strawberries
6 tbs cornstarch
½ -- 2/3 cup sugar
½ cup lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
½ cup firm yogurt
Place strawberries in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes, until soup-like. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and set aside. Use the same saucepan (without washing) and combine the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. Whisk until uniform. Pour the strawberries back into the saucepan with the cornstarch mixture and whisk constantly. Cook over medium heat until thick, still whisking. Remove from heat and stir in lemon rind. Transfer back into the bowl and cool until room temperature. Purée until smooth then chill until cold. Fold in the yogurt and serve.

Lowfat Berry Pie

Summer fruit can still be found at the local markets. On Sunday I saw raspberries and strawberries, and huge baskets of blueberries. They look so cute, I wish I liked them. Who knows how much longer these delicious little things will be around, and until they disappear for another year I’m enjoying them as much as I can.

 This berry pie came from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook and is with raspberries or blackberries, but I don’t see why it can’t be made with others. I made it as the recipe was written so you may want to tweak it a bit, for your sweetness preference (The Honey thought it was way too sweet while friends thought it was just perfect). With a gluten-free pie crust, this berry pie is a nice way to end a summer BBQ with friends.

Lowfat Berry Pie (from Moosewood Cookbook)
1 -9” gf pie crust, baked until lightly browned, then cooled completely.
6-8 cups fresh raspberries or blueberries
1/3 – ½ cup sugar
1 ½ tbs cornstarch
Place 2 cups of berries and 1/3 cup sugar in a food processor and purée. Taste to adjust the amount of sugar. Place the remaining berries in the cooled pie crust, gently spreading them into place. Put the cornstarch into a small saucepan and whisk in the puréed berries. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer. Whisk frequently for 5 mins or until thickened. Remove from heat and pour over the berries in the crust. Cool to room temperature before serving (or chill).

Fit for Royalty

One of the perks of teaching private students is that they are often up for anything, even hanging out in unexpected places. The student I’ve been teaching since March is no exception and sometimes she even makes the suggestions.

 

 

Thursday was our last class together before she takes time off for a holiday and I take time off to work with the summer program at another school. With Canada Day falling on a Friday this year it was going to be a great long weekend. We were both looking forward to relaxing.

 

 

For the afternoon my student suggested going to the market as she wanted to pick up some strawberries. Strawberry season is finally here and they are so tasty. It seems like neither one of us can get enough.

Two other people had also arrived in our fine city Thursday – the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I couldn’t resist asking my student to make a stop on the way back. She knows I’m a monarchist and we had talked about their wedding and upcoming tour in our lessons. I was relieved she agreed to go.

 

 

After our tour of the market vendors and a break for an iced coffee we ventured back to the war memorial. We weren’t the only ones and as expected, we didn’t see much. Thank goodness for digital cameras and a good zoom lenses because we got to see them via my camera. Although we had to wait a while, it wasn’t a total loss. We talked a bit about our summer plans and my student practised her listening skills in overhearing other people’s conversations (which gave us more topics of discussion, and at times, roll our eyes).

 

 

My lineage is far from royalty, especially with my mixed breeding, but it doesn’t mean I can’t feel like one of them. A fabulous tart can make you feel like royalty. Grab a group of friends, make some tea or enjoy a glass of something sweet, and serve up a nice strawberry rhubarb streusel tart.

Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Tart          30 minutes to make

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup  GF flour mix
4 cups sliced rhubarb
2 cups sliced strawberries
1-10” pie/tart shell (or individual tart shells)
Topping:
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
¼ cup butter
Combine sugar, flour, rhubarb and strawberries. Spoon into pie shell. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until it is a crumbly texture. Sprinkle on top of pie. Place in the bottom third of oven and bake for 15 minutes at 350°. Serve warm or cold.

Traditional Pie Crust  (makes 1-8/9” pie crust or 1-10” tart crust)  (from A. Roberts)

1 cup plus 2 tbs flour mix
2 tbs sweet rice flour
1 tbs granulated sugar (omit if making a savoury filling)
½ tsp guar gum
¼ tsp salt
6 tbs butter
1 egg
2 tsp orange or lemon juice
Mix flours, guar gum, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and mix until crumbly. Add egg and juice and mix until dough holds together (it shouldn’t be sticky). Roll out to preferred shape and size.

Luscious Red Rhubarb

I love rhubarb. I love it love it love it. I really wish we had a patch of rhubarb in our garden, but until we redo our yard, there is no point. I wouldn’t want to have it then dig it back up. Rhubarb doesn’t take too lightly to being moved and it takes a few years before you can start picking it. Until then I have to suffice with what I find at the market.

A few neighbours have it in their gardens and I have yet to muss up the courage to ask if I could take a bunch. I don’t think they use it as it often goes to seed. Whenever The Honey sees me shaking my head he says ‘It’s only rhubarb!’ exasperated with my love affair. I grew up with a monster patch of rhubarb in our garden and missed it when we moved. Every summer, until I was sixteen, would see me pulling out a bunch of stalks and sitting either in the grass with friends or on the back porch munching away. Did I mention I love rhubarb?

I have a big stack of rhubarb recipes and every summer I make my way through a bunch, deciding whether or not it’s worthy of keeping. And every summer I stew some. It’s great for breakfast, on vanilla yogurt or ice cream, or topped up with some crumble and warmed up.

Stewed Rhubarb    Makes 4 servings     (Five Roses)

2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
¼ cup water
Place rhubarb in a saucepan and sprinkle with sugar and orange rind. Add enough water to prevent burning (usually ¼ cup). Cover and simmer gently until rhubarb is soft, about 20-25 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if necessary.

Gluten-Free Mexican Brownies

One day, while on a bacon run for the Honey, I saw something that looked delicious. I had to take a second look, then I had to ask some questions. I couldn’t believe it. Baked goods at a butcher shop, and to top it off they were gluten-free.

I couldn’t resist.

These aren’t your typical brownies. They have a bit of heat, hence they’re called Mexican Brownies. I’d never tasted anything like it. I had to get the Honey’s opinion and he approved (a little surprising given that he’s a bit of a traditionalist). I really like the contrast of these from other brownies. Also, they aren’t super sweet or moist. I enjoy the firmer texture of them. They’re different.

During the summer I bought these quite often, then I needed to take a break. With my own brownie making I had brownie overload (I didn’t think it would be possible, but it was!). Then I didn’t see them for a while. One day, on another bacon run, I asked the cashier if they had stopped making them. They still did, but she said I could always ask if I didn’t see any (and I assume they would take an order for them).


Next time you’re taking a walk in Wellington West (Hintonburg/Westboro) pop into Saslove’s to pick some up to try. It’s nice to try something a little different.

Chocolate Banana Snacking Cake

This summer and fall I put the bananas in my freezer to good use. I stock them up for banana bread and discovered a chocolate banana cake that I really, really enjoy. My normal banana bread could be considered quasi-healthy, but with all the chocolate and sugar in this recipe it would be considered more like a snack or dessert.

It was hard deciding which picture to use as the crazy sunshine from my kitchen window was almost overwhelming, and if I waited, there wouldn’t be much left to photograph.

This is a nice moist cake that is easy to make in one bowl (even though you’re probably not supposed to). I’ve used different forms too; using a bundt pan makes it seem a little more posh than it is. The rise is really nice and it isn’t too dense or heavy. The flavours are also nice and balanced, not too much banana or chocolate.

I’ve been trying recipes from the Complete Gluten-Free Cookbook by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt for a bit now and this one so far is my favourite.

Chocolate Banana Snacking Cake (makes 9-12 servings)
2/3 cup sorghum flour
¼ cup quinoa flour
2 tbs tapioca starch
1 ½ tsp guar gum
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup mashed bananas
¾ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
Combine dry ingredients then set aside. In a large bowl beat bananas, sugar, oil, water, vanilla and egg until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Spoon into a pan and smooth out. Let stand for 30 minutes. Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes.

Oh, the ease of it all

Currently I’m working/experimenting with a gluten-free flour mix. I don’t normally like mixes, such as for pancakes, cookies, etc. Even the full-on regular gluten versions rarely entered my cupboards. But I’ve been trying out one of the mixes used in Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts. In her book she uses 2-3 different kinds of mixes depending on the type of recipe, and I’ve been using one of them for my quick breads and loafs. So far I’ve had quite a bit of success trying out some of my regular recipes, and the success rate is fabulous when I remember the guar gum.

Here it is, give it a try if you like. The original mix called for potato starch; however, I prefer cornstarch. I’ve been using an equal amount to what the recipe calls for with regular flour. And don’t forget the guar gum!


Rice Flour Mix from Gluten-Free Baking Classics
brown rice flour (2 parts) 2 cups 6 cups
cornstarch (2/3 part) 2/3 cups 2 cups
tapioca flour (1/3 part) 1/3 cup 1 cup
Mix in a container and voila!

Breakfast

I seem to be all cerealed-out recently. I go into phases. Years ago I ate nothing but yogurt for breakfast. I’d have all different kinds and found it quite healthy. A ½ - 1 cup usually kept me full until lunchtime. Before that I’d have toast with jam or peanut butter, or cereal. One of my favourites was Jordan’s Morning Crisp, either with strawberries or mixed berries. It became my favourite shortly after becoming wheat intolerant and I came across it out of the blue one day. I loved it so much a friend of mine in England would send me boxes for my birthday and Christmas, and I’d bring home boxes after visits to England as well. It was hard to find for many years. But of course, I can no longer have it now that I’m gluten intolerant. I have a box mocking me on top of the fridge. I know I should throw it out. But I can’t. The Honey loves cereal so I moved it onto his side of the fridge, next to the Life and Kashi.

This week my breakfast treat is Gluten Free Rhubarb Crisp. Growing up my mom would make this all summer. We had a big patch of rhubarb in our garden and she’d chop a bunch and make this in the microwave. To this day it’s been the best rhubarb crisp I’ve ever had. Over the years, since moving to Ottawa, I would try recipe after recipe and there are only one or two that come close, but never as good. Sadly after many trials I finally asked my mom for the recipe and it has disappeared. Her wonderful rhubarb crisp is only a memory. My sister and I were reminiscing about it as mine was in the oven. She hasn’t found a decent recipe either. I still had rhubarb in the fridge from my last trip to the Market and I wanted to try out some more recipes from the second gluten free cookbook I had picked up. It’s Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts; I haven’t tried many out so I don’t have much to say about it at this time.

This rhubarb crisp is quite nice and isn’t too sweet or tart. If you eat it the same day, the topping is quite soft, but it crunches up the following day. I thought the fruit layer was a little in the skimpy side, so I’d change it from 5 cups to 6 and use less sugar. Roberts uses a flour mix throughout her recipes and the one here is a rice flour mix. It makes a nice breakfast, and it’s rhubarb; of course I’m going to like it. In saying all that, it isn’t my mom’s so the search continues.

Two weeks ago my breakfast treat was Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I have purchased some of Bob’s Red Mill gluten free items before and most recently the sorghum flour. Metro had Bob’s Red Mill products on sale so I picked up a package of Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix. They have had the products on sale for a number of weeks now so I may go back and try some others. There were easy directions on the back, along with instructions for bread machines. So I picked it up and thought it would make a nice weekend treat.

Well, one weekend passed, then another, then another. I began to think I wasn’t going to make this bread. Then I decided to make it for the week. To give myself a nice treat to begin a busy day. It was quite thick in the bread machine and I had to scrap the sides and corners. As the baking time came to an end I was hesitant as I looked at the top of the loaf.

It resembled a lunar landscape and didn’t look that good. It looked a little dry. So it sat overnight to cool and in the morning I sliced myself some and popped it in the toaster. I spread a little margarine on it and took a bite.

It was excellent.

Rhubarb Crisp (altered from Summer Fruit Crisp in Gluten-Free Baking Classics by A. Roberts)

(Brown Rice Flour Mix: 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup corn starch, 1/3 cup tapioca flour)

6 cups rhubarb, chopped

1/3 cup sugar
2 tbs corn starch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Topping:
1 cup brown rice flour mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
shake of salt
1/3 cup margarine, softened
In a mixing bowl, toss rhubarb with sugar, cornstarch, and spices until evenly coated. Pour mixture into a 8x8 pan. For the topping, combine all dry ingredients then add the margaraine. Stir until blended. Pour onto rhubarb, spread evenly and pat into place. Bake in the oven for about 40 mins at 375° or until browned.
A variety of fruit could be substituted for the rhubarb.