GF King's Hawaiian Bread

Dinner Rolls Sized Hawaiian Bread

 

  I have been visiting my favorite bread baking site Better Batter again.  

I just can't help myself.  

I had to try their recipe for GF King's Hawaiian Bread. 

 It was delicious!

Ingredients

3 cups Better Batter Flour

2 eggs* 

(* or 2 Ener-G Egg replacer made according to package)

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 package yeast

4 Tbsp margarine, melted*

(*or dairy free margarine)

Directions

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs.
(If using an egg replacer, add it to the ingredients below.)

Add pineapple juice, water, sugar, ginger, vanilla and melted margarine.

Add flour to egg mixture and stir until well mixed.

Sprinkle in yeast, mixing well.

Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

Leave batter in bowl and cover with cloth and place in warm place. Let rise 30 minutes. Remove from bowl very gently and place in well greased round cake pan. Cover and place in warm place and let rise about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before removing from pan.

If you want to make rolls:

In your stand mixer bowl, add pineapple juice, water, sugar, ginger, vanilla, melted dairy free margarine, and egg replacer.

Add flour to mixture and blend until just mixed.

Add in yeast.  

Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

Scoop dough with scant 1/2 cupfuls and place in a lightly greased rectangular pan.  If you want smaller rolls you could use scant 1/4 cupfuls.  I lightly sprayed my measuring cup before I scooped the dough and the dough slid out of the cup.

Cover the dough with a towel or loosely fitting plastic wrap.  

Place in a warm place free of drafts for one hour.

Remove the covering and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

 I covered mine with aluminum foil for the first fifteen minutes and uncovered it for the last fifteen.  

My oven likes to over brown my breads.  

Let cool completely. 
Then rip a piece off and enjoy!

Ghouls and Witch's Finger GF Pancakes

Every year for Halloween I break out my pancake pen ( or a ziploc baggie, pre-pancake pen days).  

This year it is Ghouls and Witch's Fingers.

Make your favorite pancake batter.

Load your pen and you are ready! 

Make straight lines on your skillet, and place almonds on the tips.  

Flip them over and cook!  Voila!  Fingers!  

Great for little people.  They just dip them in syrup.

Then there are the ghouls with blueberry eyes and mouths.  

It doesn't matter if you put the blueberries down first or if you put them into your batter.  

Just make a face and insert the blueberries for eyes.  I use three blueberries for the mouths.  

Plate them for your little ghouls.  

That spider creeped in and lost a leg!

Yummm!

GF Dairy Free Pies in a Jar and Scrumptious Halloween Toaster Pastries

      I saw this idea the other day and just had to try it--- portable pies!  They are adorable and would make great bake sale items or fall gifts.   I made these and packed them for my boys who were off for a Scouting campout.

   I made these with my favorite sweet pie crust by Nichole Hunn and filled with my Caramel Apple Pie Filling.  With my Ball Elite wide mouth half pint jars, I was ready to make my personalized pies.

     I lightly sprayed my jars, just to prevent sticking.  I rolled out my crust and tried to gently fold the crust into the jar.  It didn't quite work.  It tore in a few places, but I just squished it in and pressed it back together once it was in the jar.
    Fill the the crust with your favorite filling.  Leave head room, about a 1/2-inch to 1-inch.
    Roll out the top pie crust.  I cut this one out with the lid of the jar.  Again, this won't fit perfectly.  Prick the pie crust with a fork or use a tiny cookie cutter.  Press the dough as best you can to the bottom crust.  I pressed more to the side of the jar than meeting the other pie crust.

The pie filling oozed out more when you used a shape.

I baked my pies at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  However, I think I should have cooked them more like 30 minutes.  Whatever you choose, make sure that your pie crust is browned to your liking.  

Notes:

*Be sure you don't bake them with the lids on.  

*If you have a Silpat mat that will fit in a baking sheet,  place the jars on the mat.  It will prevent the jars from sliding around when you put them in or take them out of the oven.  .  

   * I haven't tried freezing these, but apparently with the gluten free version you can.  

I will be trying that with my apple pie filling.  I think blueberry would work well frozen too.

What  To Do With Extra Crust?

If you happen to have extra pie dough, you can always make scrumptious toaster pastries for Halloween.  These were heavenly.  Next time I have to dedicate all of my pie crust to these. 

With your extra pie crust cut out your shapes.  

Make your filling:  

Dairy-free cream cheese, powdered sugar, and strawberry jam.  Mix up to your taste. 

 (I used about 1/4 cup of cream cheese, one tablespoon of strawberry jelly and added powdered sugar until it meet my sweet tooth's approval.)

  It should be slightly thick.

Cut out and place on your top crust;  press it together with your fingers.  

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they start to brown lightly around the edges. 

Make frosting:

Use can use the basic confectioner's and milk frosting with a dash of vanilla extract.  Or you can use some of the cream cheese filling, thinned down a little with dairy free milk.

Frost and add sprinkles!

With Nicole's Sweet Crust these pastries are phenomenal!  

I hate toaster pastries and I gobbled these up!  

Gluten Free Spider Cakes

   

 I was so impressed by these spider cakes I found on  Not Martha that I had to try and make these gluten free for Halloween.

  These cakes were easy to make.   Just whip up your favorite chocolate cake mix.   Pour it into a dome cake pan.  Baking according to the package instructions for muffins.

If you need to, you can cut off the tops so that they can lay flat on the plate.

Beautiful little dome cakes.

Invert cakes and cool.  

Frost the cakes with your favorite chocolate frosting, or leave the cakes without frosting.  Check out what that looks like at Not Martha-- they look awesome.

Next, I wanted a spiderweb on the plate, but the presentation is just as beautiful on a white plate. 

Make a white frosting :

2-1/4 confectioners' sugar

3 Tbsp dairy free milk

Mix together until the sugar is dissolved and the frosting is smooth.

Make the chocolate frosting:

Melt 1/2 cup of dairy free chocolate chips.  Place chocolate frosting in a plastic baggie.  Cut a small hole in one of the corners.  You want to be able to pipe a small bead of frosting.

Spread frosting on the plate.  

Make chocolate circles.

Pull the chocolate with a toothpick starting at the center.

Pull until you have done the whole thing. 

One thing to note,  don't wait too long before piping on your chocolate circles, or they won't pull well.  That is what happened to me here.  My second plate was better.  

Place your spider body on the plate.

I used licorice ( you can get Gluten Free Licorice here), to make the legs.  Cut small triangles (but don't cut through) where you want the legs to bend.  

If you don't want to use licorice,  you can always pipe thick chocolate frosting onto the plate, creating legs.  

Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcake Cookbook Review

Do you know the muffin man?  He lives on Drewery Lane.  I am sure that once the muffin man tastes these cupcakes he may change from baking muffins to cupcakes.  

These cupcakes were delicious!   

It all started with the 

Carrot Cake Cupcake.  

 It was moist --- full of carrots, pineapple, and coconut!

Everyone here loved these carrot cake cupcakes.

Next was the

Pumpkin Spice Cupcake.

These will make your house smell like you are at a harvest festival.  The smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves make you long for Thanksgiving day!  Another winner!

Apple Upside Down Cupcakes

Oohhh!  my!  These little cakes make me want more! more! more!

You start off making a caramel sauce.

Pour that sweet sauce into your muffin tin.  Place your thinly sliced apples on top.  

 Spoon in your batter and bake. 

 You get this luscious little apple cupcake.

Yum!

 Lemon Blueberry Cupcake.

This cupcake was the perfect amount of lemon, bursting with blueberries.

  Even with my sad frosting job, these cupcakes were fantastic!

We devoured all of these cupcakes--enough said on how good they were.  

 This is a five star cookbook.   I am confident that I could cook any cupcake in this cookbook and they would be wonderful.  They have a wide variety of gourmet cupcakes like s'more cupcakes, fruit tart cupcakes, and key lime cupcakes, and more!

 Features about this cookbook worth mentioning.  

***

It provides a chart to help you navigate making accommodations for egg and refined sugar free versions. 

***

The recipe for their gluten free flour blend can be blended for either a single batch of 24 cupcakes, or for larger batches of 96.  I mixed up one large batch recipe and made all these cupcakes. 

 Perfect for parties or bake sales.

***

They give you flour blend substitutions if you are sensitive to sorghum, corn, or potato.
Great if you are avoiding nightshades.

No having to guess!

***

I always use what they call the spooned flour method for measuring flours.  It is helpful to remind people not to scoop the flour directly out of your container of flour, but to use a spoon to measure out your flour into your measuring cup. 

***

They do a great job of giving a mini 'cupcake making class' at the beginning of the book.  You get a thorough overview of tools, types of cakes you will be cooking up, types of frosting, how to fill the cupcakes, decorating and piping tips, and gluten free baking tips. 

 One of those great tips was the use of paper liners over foil liners.  The use of paper liners allows the cake to 'breathe' and allow the excess moisture and steam to escape while the cupcakes bake.    

This artisanal cookbook really takes the time to help you understand the art of making delicious and beautiful cupcakes.  This cookbook is worth owning.  A total keeper!

Genuis Multigrain Sandwich Bread $1.00 off

Just an FYI,  I found out  that at glutenfree.com is now carrying the Genuis Multigrain Sandwich Bread.  For the month of September you can get a $1.00 off making it $4.39 a loaf.  The sale runs until September 30, 2011.   When you check out type in the code TRYNOW.  Every dollar counts!

Potato Picking and Homemade Sweet Pickle Relish(Corn Free)

Those brown rock looking things are potatoes.

I went potato picking two weeks ago, and I am going back again this weekend.

I am addicted to picking those brown bumps out of the soil.

I had three bags full!  75 pounds of potatoes!

    With all those potatoes I have been cooking up potatoes.  These made great french fries!  Then it hit, a craving for potato salad.  Having several corn free kids in my house, born was the adventures of making sweet relish.  I had previously looked for sweet relish on the market but found that most have high fructose corn syrup.

    Below is my homemade sweet pickle relish.  I have to admit it isn't much to look at.  In fact it looks more like jelly, but it tastes awesome!  It is slightly sweeter than normal relish, but I loved it.  When you put it in your potato salad or chicken salad it spreads out.  It doesn't stay in a clump.  It disperses through your dish just like regular relish.  I made potato salad, chicken salad, and turkey salad with this relish and everyone wanted me to make more.

If you start with fresh garden veggies, you are set!

I found the recipe here at heritage recipes.  I halved the recipe when I made this.

Sweet Relish 6 lbs cucumbers [Do not peel]  4 cups onions 2 green peppers 1 red pepper Directions: Grind and mix together with 1/2 c canning salt 2 qts Boiling water. Let stand for 1 hour.  (I pulsed the cucumber, onion, and peppers in my Vita-mix.  I also used sea salt,  I didn't plan on storing this.) Drain well, then add the following, 1 tsp. mustard seed 1 tsp. tumeric 1 pint vinegar 5 cups sugar 1 Tbsp. corn starch (I used arrowroot) Boil 1/2 hour and seal hot in pint jars. Makes around 6 pints.

 Note:  Next time I make this I will be seeding the cucumber.  Also, another person added 1 tsp celery seed and that seems like a good idea.

Before pulsing the items.

C4C Gluten Free Flour Review - Cup 4 Cup by Thomas Keller

   
      Thomas Keller, author of the The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook & Bouchon has a new gluten free flour called Cup 4 Cup.  You can use this flour as a cup for cup substitute in any of your gluten recipes.  The ingredients in this flour is cornstarch, brown rice flour, white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, milk powder, and xanthan gum.

     To test this flour, I used it in three different gluten recipes.  

      I started off with the classic Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie.  I made this recipe four times, with three different flours.  I used C4C, Better Batter Flour, and King Arthur Flour.  The fourth recipe I made allergy friendly, no gluten, no dairy, no eggs.  I made this not really for comparison, but because if I made all these cookies and my kids couldn't eat any they would have a fit! 

Top Left: Better Batter, Top Right:Allergy Free
Bottom Left: King Arthur,  Bottom Right: C4C

  

   Toll House Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

C4C batter - smooth and creamy

Better Batter - light and fluffy but coarser.

C4C cookie baked

Here was the scorecard for the cookies:

Better Batter Flour	C4C	Better Batter Flour Egg Free, Dairy Free,	King Arthur Gluten Flour
B	C	D	A	Person 1
A	C	D	B	Person 2
C	C	A	B	Person 3
A	B	C	D	Person 4
A	B	C	D	Person 5

 The results as you can see were varied.  If you were to average them out like in school, The Better Batter Flour did the best with C4C coming up behind. 

When asked the question which cookie reminded you of the Toll House Cookie you grew up with.  Better Batter won hands down, C4C came a close second.  

Biscuits
 I adapted this recipe from Southern Living.

Ingredients

• 2 cups self rising gluten free flour - added 3 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt to flour
• 1/2 cup dairy free shortening, softened
• 3/4 cup dairy free yogurt 

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 425° F.

CUT  shortening into the flour with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add the yogurt until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll dough to a 3/4 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake for 8-12 minutes until done.  Brush with shortening.  

        BAKE for 8 to 12 minutes until done. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool.

C4C biscuits

The cup for cup flour produced a beautiful flakey biscuit that melted in your mouth.  It was fantastic!  The Better batter was stiffer and produced a heavier, less favorable biscuit.  
The C4C biscuits disappeared, where I had plenty of Better Batter Biscuits left over.  I made those into bread crumbs.  
Hands down C4C was better. 

Better Batter Biscuits

Chocolate Bouchon

The last recipe was one of Keller's own recipe from the Bouchon cookbook.  
This recipe is high end brownie.  It is decadant, rich and chocolately.
  If you are just gluten free and not egg or dairy free, this recipe is heavenly!  
The C4C flour shined in this recipe.    

The ingredients  included all purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, butter, and chocolate chips.  

My photos don't do these gems justice.  The batter had a beautiful shine.  

I didn't have a timbale mold, so I used mini muffin pans.  I baked them for the same amount of time as the original recipe.  

This little gem was delicious!! 

The final report:  

I loved the biscuits and his cookies came a close second to the Better Batter.  The brownie bites were awesome!  This flour is good.  If I were to rate this on a five star basis I would give it 4-1/2 stars out of 5.    Why not five stars?  It doesn't work all the time in every gluten recipe as happened in the Toll House Cookies.  If you read the review on Williams Sonoma you will see that one reviewer had a gooey center in her apple cake and pancakes.  Another reviewer reported that it worked perfectly in her cookie and doughnuts.  It works well in general but there will surely be some recipes that will be less than stellar depending on what you are cooking.  Sometimes converting something gluten free is more than a one to one substitution, especially if you have more than one allergy.  Another drawback is the use of milk powder in the flour.  A lot of the times people that are avoiding gluten are also avoiding dairy. 

Overall, C4C is a good flour that I would recommend trying if you are just gluten free.  I am not sure that I can justify the price.  But hey, if you can afford to have the Ferrari of Flours, then by all means.  For those of us, that have to be a little more modest, there are plenty of great choices out there.  

On a final note, I would love to see Thomas Keller converting some of his own recipes from his French Laundry and Bouchon cookbooks into gluten free ones.  His cookbooks are amazing!  I think I am going to venture off myself and make some French Laundry recipes gluten free!    

If you want to try C4C for yourself, it can be purchased at Williams Sonoma for $19.95

 for a 3 lb bag. 

Check out some of my family favorite recipes using C4C 
Cardamon Bread
Make Ahead Breakfast Cake
Buttermilk Waffles