Saturday, October 2, 2010
not vegan, but...
One of our favorite GF companies is Kinnikinick foods,a company with dairy free,nut free,gluten free products. They make outstanding doughnuts, bread, English muffins, bagels, and the pizza crust is amazing! There are eggs in it, though, so mommy has to resist the temptation...The wonderful animal crackers are vegan, anyway!
Gluten free vegan apple crumble
Another fall favorite...surprisingly easy to make GF and vegan! This recipe came from a kids' cookbook and was surprisingly easy to adapt. Note, it's not a crispy apple crisp, but more of a crumbly/crumby one that does quite well with a bit of soy ice cream to hold things together.
Peel and chop 3 or 4 large apples
Toss in a baking pan with 6 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp sugar, and ground cinnamon to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups GF flour: we used a blend of sorghum, brown rice, and teff. No xanthan gum needed. Add 3/4 cup vegan margarine (we used Earth Balance buttery sticks), 2/3 cup brown sugar, and blend with an electric beater until mixture is soft and crumbly.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the apples and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Enjoy with soy ice cream!
Peel and chop 3 or 4 large apples
Toss in a baking pan with 6 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp sugar, and ground cinnamon to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups GF flour: we used a blend of sorghum, brown rice, and teff. No xanthan gum needed. Add 3/4 cup vegan margarine (we used Earth Balance buttery sticks), 2/3 cup brown sugar, and blend with an electric beater until mixture is soft and crumbly.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the apples and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Enjoy with soy ice cream!
Gluten free vegan pumpkin pie!
Yummmm, pumpkin pie...as the air gets cooler and the trees start to drop their leaves, I start thinking of pumpkin pie. I erase the thought from my head, thinking of the flour, butter, eggs, and milk that went into my pies of yesteryear. But then I get to thinking that maybe it is doable. I still have frozen pumpkin puree from last year's Halloween pumpkins, and so I strike out on a mission. Success, and I didn't have to do much innovation of my own--just combining a GF crust with a vegan filling!!!
The crust: http://www.glutenfreehomemaker.com/2009/10/gluten-free-pie-crust.html. We used sorghum instead of millet, flax instead of egg, and Earth Balance vegetable shortening instead of butter.
Pumpkin pie filling: http://veganconnection.com/recipes//pumpkin_pie.htm. We used soymilk, brown sugar, and potato starch instead of cornstarch. The note about it needing to set overnight is true, but we ignored it and enjoyed mushy pie the first night, and then well-set pie for breakfast in the morning! (My daughter explained that pumpkin is a vegetable, rich in vitamin A and beta carotene, so why NOT enjoy it for breakfast?)
The crust: http://www.glutenfreehomemaker.com/2009/10/gluten-free-pie-crust.html. We used sorghum instead of millet, flax instead of egg, and Earth Balance vegetable shortening instead of butter.
Pumpkin pie filling: http://veganconnection.com/recipes//pumpkin_pie.htm. We used soymilk, brown sugar, and potato starch instead of cornstarch. The note about it needing to set overnight is true, but we ignored it and enjoyed mushy pie the first night, and then well-set pie for breakfast in the morning! (My daughter explained that pumpkin is a vegetable, rich in vitamin A and beta carotene, so why NOT enjoy it for breakfast?)
Gluten free, egg-free scallion pancakes
One of the things we've been missing the most since going gluten-free is scallion pancakes, you know, the delicious Chinese appetizers that taste great dipped in soy sauce. Fortunately, it is very easy to make your own at home with a blend of GF flours, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that they turn out perfectly delicious without eggs.
1 cup GF flour blend: I used about 1/3 each of potato starch, corn flour (not cornstarch), and sorghum flour, but anything would work well
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
add water until the batter is fairly thin, probably 1 to 1.5 cups water (you can put some egg in as well if you like, but it's not necessary)
add a handful of chopped scallions, then fry on a hot pan in vegetable oil. They are great dipped in gluten free tamari soy sauce!
We mixed up several cups of the dry ingredients, for a truly "just add water and scallions" mix.
1 cup GF flour blend: I used about 1/3 each of potato starch, corn flour (not cornstarch), and sorghum flour, but anything would work well
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
add water until the batter is fairly thin, probably 1 to 1.5 cups water (you can put some egg in as well if you like, but it's not necessary)
add a handful of chopped scallions, then fry on a hot pan in vegetable oil. They are great dipped in gluten free tamari soy sauce!
We mixed up several cups of the dry ingredients, for a truly "just add water and scallions" mix.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Remarkably good raspberry scones
The last time I had a scone, I could still eat wheat flour, butter, cream, all those things that pretty much define a scone. I figured that my scone-eating days were gone forever, but some tweaks to a recipe I found online here (http://eagleloftkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/blackberry-scones.html) proved me wrong. These are disappearing faster than I can make them. In fact, I mixed up about 10 cups of the dry ingredients to save time, now that the black raspberry bush in our backyard is ramping up production. My daughter had never been willing to taste a raspberry until she tried these scones. They are so good fresh from the oven that sometimes I make half a recipe so that we don't have to eat any "cold" scones later.
Mix:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
Use a beater or fork to cut in shortening, until the mixture is crumbly:
1/2 cup Earth Balance shortening (not buttery sticks, but shortening)
Mix in:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla
Gently fold in:
1 heaping cup raspberries (I have mostly used the frozen red raspberries from Trader Joe's, but fresh are great too)
Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.
Mix:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
Use a beater or fork to cut in shortening, until the mixture is crumbly:
1/2 cup Earth Balance shortening (not buttery sticks, but shortening)
Mix in:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tsp vanilla
Gently fold in:
1 heaping cup raspberries (I have mostly used the frozen red raspberries from Trader Joe's, but fresh are great too)
Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Beyond rice flour...
When I first started baking gluten-free, it was all about the rice flour. I substituted rice flour with xanthan gum for wheat flour and got reasonably good results. As I learned a bit more, I created a standard blend of rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum, and only sometimes added teff, sorghum, or millet flour for fun. Lately, I've been getting tired of the whiteness of it all, and I'm thinking of phasing out white rice flour from my diet. That glycemic index can't be good...
For the past few weeks, my standard "white" flour blend has been sorghum + tapioca + potato starch, and I think it keeps things a bit softer and more flavorful. I'm going to experiment to see how low I can drop the tapioca and potato starch in favor of more sorghum, millet, maybe even soy flour...Stay tuned.
For the past few weeks, my standard "white" flour blend has been sorghum + tapioca + potato starch, and I think it keeps things a bit softer and more flavorful. I'm going to experiment to see how low I can drop the tapioca and potato starch in favor of more sorghum, millet, maybe even soy flour...Stay tuned.
Ode to applesauce
Remember back in the early 90s when everyone wanted to cook everything low-fat? I read so many recipes telling me to replace the oil with applesauce, but I never did it. Now, I have discovered for myself what a difference a little unsweetened applesauce can make, especially when baking without eggs.
If you've noticed that your baked goods are great when fresh, but go dry within a few hours, consider adding 1/4 cup applesauce. I have found that you don't really need to cut down on the liquid when adding applesauce; usually, you can just bake a few minutes longer and everything will come out fine.
While I'm sure that one could use applesauce as a wonderful oil/butter replacement, I wouldn't cut down too much on the oil or margarine in gluten-free vegan cooking unless you have a medical reason. After all, we're cutting out enough already, aren't we?
If you've noticed that your baked goods are great when fresh, but go dry within a few hours, consider adding 1/4 cup applesauce. I have found that you don't really need to cut down on the liquid when adding applesauce; usually, you can just bake a few minutes longer and everything will come out fine.
While I'm sure that one could use applesauce as a wonderful oil/butter replacement, I wouldn't cut down too much on the oil or margarine in gluten-free vegan cooking unless you have a medical reason. After all, we're cutting out enough already, aren't we?
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