Pumpkin Muffins

This last weekend we had a party where the theme ingredient was pumpkin.  I did not want to be too ordinary but I wanted something sweet that I could eat so I made pumpkin muffins.

I found a basic recipe on Cooks.com and then adapted it to be gluten free and more like something I would eat.  They were a big hit and more of them were eaten than the other muffins with gluten in them.  They are really moist and light with a great texture.

Dry ingredients:
3 1/3 cups gluten free flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Xanthan gum
2 cups sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground mace

Wet ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups pumpkin
2 Tablespoons molasses

Preheat oven to 350.  Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Combine wet ingredients together in another bowl and then add to dry ingredients.  Mix well. 

Prepare muffin tins and add batter.  I filled mine pretty full (a bit over 3/4 full) since gluten free baked goods don't rise as much.  They baked for 25 minutes in my oven, but I started checking them at 20 minutes.  20-30 minutes should cover most ovens.  A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. It does depend on the oven and how full you filled the muffin tins.  Remove muffins from tins after about 5-10 minutes.  If you leave them in the pan too long the bottoms will get wet and soggy from condensation.  They can cool on a plate or a cooling rack just as easily.  Plus then you can try one to make sure that they are good.  Then you can have a second one 'just to be sure.'

I got about 2 1/2 dozen muffins from this recipe.  I also made a wonderful pumpkin soup, I did not get a picture of that but I will get the recipe up soon.  It was easy and really good. 

Snickerdoodles

So I had a craving for cookies a week ago and gave in.  I made snickerdoodles.  I don't know why but cookies covered in cinnamon and sugar sounded perfect.

So I went to my cookbooks and found a couple of recipes and picked the best of both of them and made me some cookies.  I found the source recipes in my 'Rosie's Bakery Chocolate packed, Jam filled, Butter-rich, no-holds-barred cookie book' by Judy Rosenberg.  I got this book as a wedding present along with my baking sheets.  I have made glutenous cookies from this book before and had great results.   This is the first time I tried to use it for gluten free ideas though.

This is a combination of the Bakers Best Snickerdoodles and Classic Snickerdoodles recipes.

3 cups gluten free flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Heat oven to 375.  Prepare baking sheets, I like to use my silicone sheet liners since parchment paper tends to catch on fire in my current oven.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and Xanthan gum together into a bowl.  Set aside. 

Combine cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of sugar into a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.  I used my hand held mixer at medium speed for about 1 minute.  Scrape the bowl in the middle of creaming and then at the end to ensure everything is combined.

Add the eggs and mix until combined.

Add half the flour mixture and mix.  Scrape the bowl and add the remaining flour and mix until combined.  Taking the dough a Tablespoon, at a time form the dough into balls with your hands.  Put the cookies into the cinnamon sugar and roll to cover (the recipe said to put the cinnamon sugar into a plastic bag, add the cookies and shake to cover, but in the interest of the environment I choose to just roll the cookies in a bowl instead).

Put the cookies 2 inches apart on the sheets and bake for 15-18 minutes.  The cookies should be slightly cracked and the edges crisp.  I did not flatten my cookies so they were still rounded but either way is fine.  They only took about 14 minutes in my oven.  I cooled the cookies on cooling racks so I could use the sheets again.  This recipe made me over 3 dozen cookies.

The main recipe I converted said that if you were not going to eat the cookies right away they should be frozen.  I ignored this and by the next day they were very crispy.  They still tasted the same but had the consistency of biscotti cookies.  Not a bad thing, but not what I was expecting.  However, I brought them into work and they were gone in hours and no one knew they were gluten free.  I am thinking I will try a more traditional sugar cookie recipe the next time.  I did like the addition of the cinnamon into the dough.  Gluten free dough can taste 'different' and I have found that adding cinnamon or nutmeg to cookies or other baked goods can help with the taste factor.  I put both into my pancakes and waffles. 

So this weekend I am going to a party where the theme is pumpkin.  It is a potluck and everyone has to bring an item made with pumpkin.  So I should have pumpkin soup and pumpkin muffins in the next few weeks.  I also made a wonder southwestern chicken stew called Pozole.  It is wonderful and just perfect when the weather gets colder.  So look for those recipes coming up soon.

Lasagna is yummy.

So I switched gears a bit and made lasagna.  I was getting a bit tired of sugary baked goods and the clean up involved in baking.   So I made lasagna, which actually makes more dishes than making cupcakes.  This is one of 2 recipes that I learned from my mother that are actually good.  My mom's cooking is the reason I learned to cook and bake for myself.  But she had this lasagna recipe that she shared with me and in the years since she taught this to me the recipe has grown and changed as my skills in the kitchen have improved with age.  I use the Tinkyada brand of gluten free pasta.  They have many shapes and sizes including lasagna noodles.  They are not my favorite brand, but Bi-Aglut is no longer available in the U.S.  The Tunkyada noodles taste good and hold up well to over-cooking.  They are good enough that you can use them to make pasta with brown butter and cheese.

Anyway here is the lasagna recipe.  All ingredients can be increased or decreased to your personal taste.  I like garlic but some people don't like it a s much as I do.

1 package GF lasagna noodles
1-2 pounds ground beef (or turkey or pork, or a combination of meats)
2 large cans peeled whole tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can tomato paste
6 cups mozzerella cheese, shredded
1 large container ricotta cheese (I like the low fat, but use what you like)
Basil
1 small onion chopped
dried parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cups parmesan cheese

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions.  You want them a bit undercooked so start testing them 3-4 minutes before the packages says they should be done.  You want them cooked slightly less than al dente.  They should still have  bit of crunch to them, this will cook out later.

Once the noodles are cooked, drain them and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.  Leave them to drain.


Combine the ricotta cheese and the egg.  Add 1 cup grated parmesan cheese and about 1 tablespoon dried parsley (the parsley is not essential so if you don't have any you can leave it out)
Brown the meat in a large skillet.  Add some minced garlic (I usually add about 2-3 cloves here) and some dried basil.  Once the meat is cooked, drain it and wipe out the skillet. 

Put the 2 cans of tomatoes into the skillet.  Using your spatula or a spoon break up the tomatoes.  You want small pieces.  I usually break them into quarters and then cut the quarters in half if they are too large.  The size of the tomato pieces is pretty much a personal preference.  If you are cooking for anti-tomato people, use canned minced tomatoes.

You can also use fresh tomatoes, I would use about 6-8 medium tomatoes.  Cut them into 1 inch chunks and saute them in the pan with some olive oil until they are soft.

Add the tomato paste and stir to incorporate it with the tomatoes in the pan.  Once this is smooth add 3-5 cloves chopped garlic and the onion.  Once this is cooking nicely add the meat back in and stir to incorporate.  Let this simmer for 10 minutes or so.  You want it to thicken and cook down a bit to make the sauce.  This also allows the flavors to combine.

Once the sauce is ready you can assemble the lasagna.
In a 9x13 casserole dish put down a layer of the cooked noodles.  Slightly overlap them and cover the entire bottom of the dish.  Spoon about 1/3 of the meat sauce over the noodles and spread it to cover the noodles completely.  Put 3-4 heaping tablespoons of the ricotta mixture over the meat and gently spread it as best as you can to cover the sauce.  Don't worry if it doesn't cover it well, it will melt and spread during cooking.  Cover all this completely with mozzerella.

Cover the cheese with another layer of noodles and continue layering until you run out of meat sauce.  I usually get 2 complete layers in.  Once the top layer of mozzerella cheese is on sprinkle more paremsan cheese over the top.

Put the lasagna in a 350 oven for 30-60 minutes.  You want the cheese to be melted and bubbly.  I like it to be really browned but you can cook it less.  If the lasagna is really full put some foil on the oven rack below it to catch the overflow.  I usually put the foil on the rack below the one I have the lasagna on, this way I can catch everything.  Do not put the foil on the bottom of your oven, you will block the vents if it is a gas oven and if it is an electric oven putting the foil under the heating element defeats the purpose of putting foil down to keep the melted cheese off the heating element.

This is the only picture I got of the lasagna since we ate most of it before I could get pictures.  These are the last 2 pieces from the day after I made the lasagna.  It never stays around very long and there are only 2 of us.  I usually serve this with garlic toast and a nice salad. 

Garlic toast is easy: take gluten free bread (or rolls) and spread it with butter and sprinkle garlic powder on top.  Top with some grated parmesan and put in the toaster oven until the cheese is bubbly and browned.  You can also simply make garlic butter and spread that on the bread.  The cheese is optional but I like cheese even more than I like garlic.

So there it is.  My lasagna.  I apologize if the quantities are not very specific but this is the first time I have written this down and it does change slightly every time I make it.  Experiment with the quantities until you find the way you like it best.   You can make it vegetarian by browning diced eggplant instead of the meat and just make the sauce the same way.  I have also used sliced eggplant as the noodles and then just browned vegetables in the sauce to put on top.  Experiment, find what you like and stick with it.  That is what this cooking thing is all about.

Lemon Bars

So last week I was craving lemon bars.  So I dug out my favorite recipe and set about making it gluten free.  I found this recipe in the March 1999 issue of Gourmet magazine (I miss Gourmet...), I made it back then and fell in love with it.  I hadn't made it since being diagnosed with Celiac almost 7 years ago.  But when the craving struck I went back to my issues of Gourmet and found this recipe.

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (it does taste better with fresh juice but I only had Real Lemon, it was fine)
1/3 cup gluten free flour  (I used Bette's featherlight blend)
Hot Shortbread Base (recipe follows)
3 Tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350
Whisk together eggs and sugar in a bowl until well combined.  Stir in lemon juice and flour.  Pour lemon mixture over hot shortbread.  Turn down oven to 300 and bake bars in middle of he oven until set, about 30 minutes.   Cool completely in pan and then cut into 24 bars.  Lemon bars keep, covered and chilled for 3 days.  Sift the powdered sugar over the bars before serving.

Shortbread Base

1 1/2 sticks of butter (unsalted)
2 cups gluten free flour
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Cut butter into 1/2 inch pieces.  In a food processor combine all ingredients until mixture begins to form small lumps.  Sprinkle mixture into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.  With a spatula or your fingers press mixture evenly onto bottom of pan.  Bake shortbread in the middle of the oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Prepare topping while shortbread is baking.

I don't even take the shortbread pan out of the oven, I jut pull out the oven rack and pour the filling into the hot base, make sure it is evenly distributed and put it right back into the oven to bake.

You can also use lime juice and make lime bars, but I don't like them as much.  I am sorry about the quality of the picture this week.  I only had a few bars left to take a photo of and my husband left the tray of bars out and the dog knocked them off the counter and the landed upside down, at least they were covered with foil so they were still good to eat.  But they didn't look as nice as they used to.  But I don't go by looks, if it tastes good I am happy.

I am planning to switch gears a bit int he next few weeks since  I didn't do much baking but I made lasagna and beef stroganoff.  So I will have some dinner ideas for a few weeks and then probably back to the baking.  Or maybe gluten free dog treats...

Soft, Warm Pretzels

So I tried making pretzels.   Although they didn't rise as much as I wanted they still tasted great.   I have some ideas I am going to try when I make these again since I learned a lot during this process.


So here is what I did:

1 teaspoon dried yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
5 fluid ounces warm milk
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Bette's featherlight rice flour blend)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1 ounce butter, melted
1 egg yolk lightly beaten
coarse sea salt (or other spices to sprinkle)

Place the yeast, sugar, and warm milk in a small bowl and stir well.  Leave in a warm, draft-free place for 10 minutes,  or until bubbles appear on the surface (I used my microwave which is over my stove it meets all the requirements and is safe from the dogs).  The mixture should be frothy and slightly increased in volume.  If your yeast doesn't foam it is dead and you will have to discard it and start again.

Place the flour , Xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl ( I sifted the flour 2 times before continuing) and make a well in the center.  Add the  yeast mixture and the butter and mix to a rough dough with a spoon.  Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.   The recipe says to knead for 10 minutes, but my dough only needed to be worked for 5. 

At this point the recipe says to let the dough rise for an hour, punch it down, knead it again and shape into 12 pretzels.  Then the dough should rise again for 20-30 minutes.  See my comments below about this step.

Once the dough is shaped into pretzels, risen and ready lightly brush each pretzel with the egg yolk and sprinkle with salt or the spice mix of you choice.  I used a Italian herb and sea salt mixture that was wonderful on the pretzels.
Put the pretzels on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone tray liner

Pretzels should then be baked in  a 375 oven for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
Put on a wire rack to cool and enjoy.  They should keep for a week in an air-tight container but mine did not last until the next day.

With the punching down of the dough and the second rising, I learned that gluten free yeast dough does not need the second rising.  I made pita bread after this and right before the first rising time I shaped the dough into the desired shapes and then let rise for an hour.  After that I baked the dough according to directions and they came out better than the pretzels.  I actually do not have any pictures of the pita bread since we ate it all before I could get some.  So I will make it again and get some pictures and post the recipe since having pita brad of flat bread is a nice change from Udi's bread and crackers.

Yeast bread is new territory for me since I didn't make them even when I was eating and cooking with gluten.  But it might be easier since I don't know what I am doing and have no previous experience or references to compare it to and no bad habits to unlearn.


Keep baking, keep eating and keep enjoying life.

Cupcakes!!

So I tried my hand at cupcakes.  I like cupcakes because they are just the right amount of cake and frosting.  This time I started with a wonderful recipe from 'Joy of Cooking' I have the 1997 version and I love it.  It is my cooking bible.  I think every person should have that one cookbook that they use over and over for ideas and inspiration.  I chose the 1-2-3-4 yellow cake recipe partly because it just sounded yummy and partly for the preparation which I thought would make the cake less dense.  I pretty much followed the recipe but I want to make them again and maybe fill them with chocolate.  Or jam, or a fresh fruit puree, or caramel...

So here is the recipe for Joy of Cooking gluten free 1-2-3-4 yellow cupcakes:

Have all ingredients at room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare your cupcake tins.  You can grease them or use the little paper cups which I prefer so I don't have as much cleanup.  Again I used Bettes featherlight rice flour mix, I just like the mouth feel it provides to baked goods.

Sift together twice:
2 2/3 cup gluten free flour mix
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum (you can also use Guar gum)
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a different bowl combine:
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract or lemon extract or a combination of extracts)

In a large bowl beat until creamy (about 30 seconds)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

Once butter is creamy add gradually and beat on high speed until lightened in color and texture
1 1/2 cups sugar (vanilla sugar would be nice to use here)

Add 1 at a time: 4 egg yolks (save the whites we will use them later)

Once the eggs are blended into the sugar butter mixture add the flour in 3 parts and the milk mixture in 2 parts.  Beat on low speed after each addition, use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.  Once the ingredients are combined set the bowl aside.

In another large bowl (I just wash the flour bowl and re-use it), beat on medium speed until soft peaks form:

4 large egg whites
scant 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

gradually add, beating on high speed: 1/4 cup sugar

Beat until the peaks are stiff but not dry.  (stiff peaks hold their shape after the mixer is removed from the bowl)

Using a rubber spatula, add 1/4 of the egg whites into the bowl with the flour mixture.  Once that is incorporated, fold in the remaining whites.

Using a ice cream scoop, or what ever method you prefer, put the batter into the prepared cupcake tins.  I usually get 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes from this recipe.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the enter comes out clean 25-35 minutes.  Check after 20-25 minutes to be sure that the cupcakes are not overcooked.  Remove from cupcake tins, don't leave the cupcakes in the hot tins too long as it will make the bottoms wet and soggy.  Let cool completely and frost.

I make my own frosting but you can use any type of gluten free frosting and decorations you want.  I make a basic white icing: Combine 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 1/2 stick of butter (4 Tablespoons)  when combined add 3-4 Tablespoons milk or any liquid (you can add prepared coffee or liquor here), 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Combine and correct the consistency to what you want.  

You can add lemon juice as the liquid and some grated lemon zest and make lemon frosting, or use oranges for orange frosting, or powdered chocolate, or use coffee as the liquid and then add the powdered chocolate for a mocha frosting. You are only limited by your own imagination.  If you are not sure how it will taste take a small part of the sugar/butter mixture and experiment with it.


I like to use a pastry bag to frost cupcakes since you have more control and there is less chance to damage the cupcakes.  You can use a plastic baggie with a corner cut off in place of a pastry bag.  I don't use any of my decorating tips since I don't have any that I feel are big enough for frosting so I just pipe it out the end of the bag.

For this cupcake I used chocolate ganache: heat 1 cup cream until just boiling remove from the heat and add 4 oz chopped chocolate stir to combine and then let sit for 10 minutes.  Stir until perfectly smooth and then let cool to the desired consistency.  I simply dipped the tops of the cupcake in the ganache and let it cool some more.  I used edible pearls on top for decoration.

This cupcake has the basic white frosting with vanilla added.  I used the pastry bag to pipe the frosting on the cake and then used red decorating sugar and a chocolate chip on top.

These are probably some of the best cupcakes I have ever made, and people don't believe me when I tell them they are gluten free.

Enjoy!  Next time soft chewy pretzels.

MMMM Blueberry Muffins!

So I had a bit of a baking frenzy and made not only Maple Blueberry Muffins with brown sugar cinnamon topping but I also made cupcakes.  This post is for the muffins and then cupcakes will be on my next post.  Now onto the Muffins!

I started out with a basic muffin recipe and then modified it to create the muffins I wanted.  The basic recipe for muffins is
2 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
2 lightly beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 oz melted and cooled butter

My flour of choice is Bette's Featherlight Blend, it is a wonderful rice flour mixture that is ground super fine.  It is almost like powder.  The fine grind makes it perfect for baked goods since it doesn't come out with a grainy texture.

To make the rice flour into self rising flour add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to 1 cup of flour, stir together and then sift the mixture several times.

I find that it is essential to sift gluten free flours and dry ingredients together at least 2 times before adding the wet ingredients.  This makes the finished product lighter.

For the binding agent I like to use Xanthan Gum.  I find that 1 teaspoon per 2 cups of flour works best for most baked goods.  You can use which ever binding agent you like best.  When sifting the dry ingredients I like to put half the flour in the sifter add the other dry ingredients (baking powder, salt, xanthan gum, etc.) then cover with the remaining flour so that I can mix and sift at the same time.

So I took my gluten free ingredients and made me some muffins.  I wanted to make maple syrup blueberry muffins so I made a few changes in the basic recipe.

Sift 2 1/2 cups GF flour mixture,  1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon Xanthan gum together.  Sift 2 times and then add the 1/2 cup sugar to the bowl.   Mix gently and then make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Combine the 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup, the 2 lightly beaten eggs and the teaspoon of vanilla together and then pour in to the well in the dry ingredients.  Add the cooled melted butter and then fold until just combined.  Do not over beat or the muffins will become tough and rubbery.

Toss 10 oz blueberries in some granulated sugar (this keeps them from sticking together and allows for a more even distribution of berries in the muffins) and add to the batter.  Stir gently to incorporate.  You can also add the berries to the flour mixture before you add the wet ingredients.

Fill your muffin tins.  I line my muffin tins with the paper cups for ease of clean up and removal of the muffins from the pans.  I used an ice cream scoop to put the batter in the pans.  It is faster and makes less of a mess on the pans.  The ice cream scoops with the trigger and the little part that actively removes the ice cream from the scoop work best.  But you can fill your muffin tins however you like.

I wanted to make a crumble topping for the muffins but discovered I was out of butter.  So I mixed brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkled it on top of the batter before baking.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes until they are risen, golden and come away from the sides of the holes.  A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.  I used standard size muffin pans and my muffins were done in 20 minutes.  I actually set my timer for 18 minutes and checked the muffins then since all ovens are different and I did not want to over cook the muffins.  The larger your muffin pans the longer they will take to cook.  So mini-muffins should be cooked for probably 15 minutes and large oversized muffins should cook for 25 or more minutes.  

Gluten free muffins won't rise as high as muffins made with wheat flour so you can fill your muffin tins a bit fuller.  This will get you nice tall muffins with a lovely top.

This is what my muffins turned out like.  I got about 2 dozen muffins from this recipe so I took them into work and fed them to my co-workers.  Everyone ate them and then asked who brought in the muffins.  They didn't even realize that they were GF. 

So that is maple blueberry muffins with brown sugar cinnamon topping.  Next time Cupcakes!