Tag Archives: baking

Grain-free Honey-lemon Ricotta cheesecake …

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Does eating well get ANY better than this?  I don’t think so!!!

For some reason I’ve been hankering for goats milk ricotta cheese lately … and one of the advantages of making your own ingredients, is that things like ricotta are just as easy to make with goats milk as they are cows milk!  Goats milk ricotta is a thing of beauty!  lovely and creamy, a small curd, and a slight tang!  I won’t post detailed instructions here, as there are lots of good tutorials online.  For my ricotta, I prefer a mild vinegar or lemon juice as the acid, and find that 1/4 cup acid for each gallon of milk is plenty.

Pro-tip — most instructions will have you use cheescloth, BUT it is really too coarsely textured, and you will find curds get caught in between the layers.  I use a fine mesh sieve or a jelly-bag.

This cheesecake is grain-free and refined sugar-free (if you wanted to make this SCD legal, dry-curd cottage cheese would work equally well)  The goal here was to make something that actually tasted and looked like a proper treat, but still possessed some healing properties :)

The ricotta for this has had almost all of the whey strained out (helps it keep longer in the fridge), with a texture like farmers cheese — this results in a fairly dense cheesecake.  IF you like your cheesecake creamier, reduce the ricotta by 75 grams and add 1/2 cup heavy cream and an extra egg yolk to the mixture (to keep it SCD legal, use coconut cream).

One final tip on the method:  this will bake fine, standing on its own in the oven, but remember that cheesecake is basically a custard, so  baking this in a bain marie will also help create an even creamier texture.

Enjoy this with a variety of fruit compotes –  blueberries are just coming into season here  and pair brilliantly with lemon, but we’ll have a progression of fruits and berries right through to the fall that work equally well with the lemon (switch up the spices in the cheescake to pair depending on what fruit you are using!)

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Grain-free ricotta cheesecake …

Yield: makes one 6\" cheesecake (double the recipe to make a 9\" cake)

Grain-free ricotta cheesecake …

Ingredients

  • Crust:
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 T coconut oil, melted and cooled
  • 3 T honey
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg white
  • Filling:
  • 500 grams ricotta cheese (I used goats milk ricotta)
  • 120 grams honey (up to 150 grams, to taste)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • grated zest of 2 lemons
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
  • Compote:
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Combine the dry ingredients for the crust in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine.
  2. Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to combine.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Let the mixture stand 5 minutes or so for the coconut flour to absorb moisture.
  4. Press into a springform pan. (You can use this crust for all kinds of pies -- if you need to blind-bake it, bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  6. Combine all the filling ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.
  7. Pour the filling into the crust-lined springform pan.
  8. Bake in a bain-marie for 60-70 minutes until the centre is just barely set. It will firm up as it cools.
  9. For the compote, cook the blueberries, honey, lemon juice and water in a saucepan over medium heat for 20-25 minutes until thickened. Let cool (store leftovers in the refrigerator)
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/07/grain-free-honey-lemon-ricotta-cheesecake/

Red Velvet cupcakes! (full stop)

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Red velvet cupcakes seem to be abounding lately, and certainly are one of those classic comfort desserts that we all remember with a certain nostalgia.  Which is why, when I went in search of a recipe to modify, I was quite surprised at how far afield I had to scrounge for gluten-free, vegan recipes.  With that said, I ended up with this recipe of my own, modified from a wheat-based devils-food recipe I’ve used before.

Classic Red Velvet Cake is one of those desserts that was a happy accident (as Bob the painter used to say!).  The housewives of days gone by would make a light version of a devils food cake, and the acidity of the buttermilk reacted with the cocoa, and turned it a reddish hue.  Many current-day versions of Red Velvet Cake skimp on the cocoa in order to get a Satanically-red hue.  I myself am inclined to keep the cocoa, keeping the cake a little closer to its classic roots, making it more like Terra-Cotta velvet cake.

I am clearly of the camp that is not a huge proponent of the artificial colour, BUT, for Red Velvet Cake I will make an exception, and so, in between test-batches, I hustled down to get some bona fide red food colouring to do this properly!  Gel colouring in the small pots is your best bet, and you will need a lot to get amped up colour — about 1/2 teaspoon or so for a small batch of cake batter.

My other reason for making these was I received a few boxes of King Arthur Flour’s multi-purpose gluten-free flour to try out.  I have a variety of different things on the list to try to see how it fares in a variety of applications, from pies to cakes, to breads, and it felt like Red Velvet cupcakes would make an auspicious start to the week!    This particular flour blend clocks in 30 grams per 3T (or 160 grams per cup). If you are interested in substituting your own flour blend, you will need to calculate the appropriate average for the blend you use.

I have to say these turned out really well!  a great crumb, a little bit of spring, but nice and moist, hence the full-stop!  They are just plain good, never mind that they have no gluten, eggs or dairy in them.   The cream cheese frosting does kind of take it over the edge, but you could substitute  a vegan vanilla icing if you are making them for folks who can’t have dairy or eggs.

In terms of the flour itself, I thought it performed pretty well for an AP flour blend.  It doesn’t quite produce the ethereal texture I get when I use Betty Hagman’s featherweight flour blend, BUT then again, that is a flour blend that I use ONLY for cakes, whereas the King Arthur blend is intended for a number of uses.  Stay tuned to this channel!  We’ll be putting it through its paces with pie crust and breads up next.

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Red Velvet cupcakes! (full stop)

Yield: 8 regular size cupcakes or 6 baked in jumbo muffin tins

Red Velvet cupcakes! (full stop)

Ingredients

  • 3/4 c almond milk
  • 1 T cider vinegar
  • 3/4 c granulated sugar
  • 1/3 c coconut oil
  • 1/2 tsp red food colouring (the gel colours)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 c King Arthur flour gluten-free multipurpose flour (240 grams)
  • 1/4 c cocoa powder (NOT dutch processed!)
  • 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 8 oz. cream cheese (NOT reduced fat)
  • 4 T unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
  • 1 1/2 - 2 c confectioners sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Combine the almond milk and vinegar in a medium bowl and let stand for 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk well until the sugar is well combined.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix with a dry whisk to combine. Add to the wet ingredients in the medium bowl, and mix well. The mixture will thicken slightly as the xantham gum hydrates.
  4. Scoop into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.
  5. Bake for 22-25 minutes at 350 F. Let cool completely before icing
  6. To prepare the icing, combine the cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla extract in a bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until well combined and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioners sugar, mixing as you go until you have a pipeable consistency.

Notes

If you do not have King Arthur flour mix, you can use the flour mix they suggest (6 cups brown rice flour; 2 cups potato starch; and 1 cup tapioca tapioca starch) OR Bette Hagman's Featherlight Mix (1 cup rice flour, 1 cup tapioca starch, 1 cup potato starch + 1 T potato flour)

http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/06/red-velvet-cupcakes-full-stop/

 

Dislosure:  I am part of the King Arthur Advisory Baking Panel.  As part of their research on Canadian baking patterns, they have provided me product samples for test baking.

Craving gluten-free pancakes? We’ve got you covered!

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So tomorrow is National Pancake day south of the border (I haven’t seen if its transpiring North of the 49th here), and to celebrate, that famous pancake place IHOP is celebrating by giving away free pancakes in exchange for a donation to the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

In my book, pancakes are pretty awesome, and free pancakes are even better, and supporting a charity that helps out kids puts it over the top.  But, most pancake purveyors places of pancake preparation are full of gluten – not so great if you are Celiac or gluten-intolerent :/.

Don’t fret though!  We’ve got you covered for all your pancake cravings!   You can whip these up, have your pancakes AND eat them too!  If you feel inclined, go make a donation online!

Happy Pancake Day!

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Craving gluten-free pancakes? We’ve got you covered!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 10-12 3 inch pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup tapioca starch
  • 1/3 cup potato starch
  • 2/3 cup amaranth flour
  • 1 T psyllium husks or 1 tsp psyllium husk powder
  • 1 T granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk (non-dairy milk + yogurt work equally well)
  • 2 T vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Make a well in the centre of the bowl, and add the liquid ingredients. Whisk everything together until just mixed. Let stand for 10 minutes before starting to cook.
  3. Heat a large griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Make sure to brush the surface lightly with oil before pouring the pancakes out.
  4. Pour 3-4 T of batter onto the griddle to form each pancake -- don't overcrowd your griddle or frypan. When the pancake starts to bubble on top, flip it over and cook until the other side is browned.
  5. Repeat with the remaining batter.
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/02/craving-gluten-free-pancakes-weve-got-you-covered/

Bread pudding: dairy-free and delicious!

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I’ve been doing some test baking here in the last couple of days, and we’ve been swamped with a surplus of gluten-free bread.  Lucky for me, I also had a yen for some bread pudding!

This recipe is pretty simple.  Take some bread (day-old is good!).  cut it into cubes and douse it with a basic custard combination until the bread has sopped up the works.  Bake in a low oven for about 40 minutes until the custard is set … and that’s it!  I’ve used coconut milk instead of cream, making it dairy-free, yet still very delicious!

The possibilities are endless — add some fruit if you want, add spices to the custard, or add a small dollop of rum or bourbon!  It’s your bread pudding, so go crazy!  If you want an extra creamy texture, bake it in a water bath, but in a pinch, it bakes just fine in a heavy casserole dish at 325 degrees.

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Bread pudding: dairy-free and delicious!

Ingredients

  • 6 cups bread, cut into 3/4" cubes
  • 1 large apple, cut into 1/2" dice
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1 Tablespoon bourbon (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  2. Place the bread cubes into a greased 3 quart casserole dish with the apple and raisins. Toss gently to mix.
  3. Combine all the other ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until well combined. Pour over the bread cubes in the casserole dish, and let sit for 30 minutes while the bread cubes soak up the custard.
  4. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees, until the bread pudding is just set in the centre.
http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2012/02/bread-pudding-dairy-free-and-delicious/

Gluten-free biscuits

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Sometimes the simplest things are easy to do, but hard to do really well!  I would venture to say gluten-free biscuits fall into that category.  For a while now, I've been making good gluten-free biscuits, but not amazing ones.  They are more than passable, but still didnt stand up to the wheat-based biscuits I make.

Part of the shortcoming, I think, is in the taste-memories I have of biscuits, fresh from the oven — some things imprint on the brain fairly emphatically, and I think biscuits are one of those.  Consequently, I've been muddling around with various flour combinations for a while, off and on, to come up with something that comes close to the buttery, flaky biscuit "gold standard" I have clearly bookmarked in my brain.

 

These come pretty close,  In my noodling around, I've been using amaranth flour more and more — partly for nutritional benefits, but also because of the taste, and hit on a combination the other day that came pretty close to the mark!.

A couple of helpful hints here

1.   Make friends with your pastry cutter!  Maintaining the structural integrity of the butter chunks is critical to creating flaky layers of biscuit — think pastry, only moister!  The pastry cutter is the most efficient way of doing this.  Yes, you can use a food processor, BUT for most home cooks, a batch of biscuits is small, AND the chunks of butter get processed almost too small (AND you will have a food processor to wash, as opposed to one bowl!)

2.   A silpat or silicone mat helps tremendously in the rolling/patting out phase — well worth it especially if you make gluten-free pastry for pies.

 

…and so, to the biscuits!

These can be made with or without dairy products — for this iteration, I used Earth Balance buttery sticks and Mimicreme Cream, But you can easily substitute an equivalent amount of real butter and buttermilk .

Gluten-free Millet, Amaranth Biscuits

  • 3/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup sweet rice flour
  • 1/2 cup millet flour
  • 1/2 cup amaranth flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp xantham gum
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt (increase to 3/4 cup if using unsalted butter)
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 stick Earth Balance buttery sticks (8 Tablespoons) — or an equiavalent amount of unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl,  mixing well with a whisk to combine.  Cut in the Earth Balance buttery sticks with a pastry cutter or two knives, until the mixture resembles oatmeal.  Some slightly larger pieces of shortening are good.

Meanwhile, take

  • 1 cup non-dairy cream substitute – I like Mimicreme cashew and almond based cream.  Add
  • 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar and let stand 10 minutes to make clabbered cream.  (You can also substitute 1 cup buttermilk at this point if you are including diary)

Mix with a spatula until just moistened and the mixture comes together.  Dust a silpat mat with amaranth or millet flour, turn out the dough onto the silpat, and give it a couple of turns, kneading very lightly.  The dough will feel very soft and moist — resist the urge to add more flour!  Pat the dough out with floured hands to 3/4" thick, and cut into 3-inch biscuits.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  let cool at least 15 minutes before eating.

I like my gingerbread … dark and moist!

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I've had a request from a client for gingerbread — old fashioned style gingerbread you bake in a square pan, and sometimes top with cream cheese frosting, sometimes with lemon glaze … total comfort food.  In my books, gingerbread should be super moist, studded with raisins, hit the right balance between sweet and bitter (from the molasses), and stand up to a rich frosting if that's your thing.

This particular request though had to hit a number of addiitonal critieria, including being gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free and rice + potato free.  I've also been concurrently looking at options for reducing the amount of xantham gum used in various baked goods — it has a particular residual smell (very faint), which I think is the main reason my better half says he does not like gluten-free baked goods as much as their wheaty counterparts. 

In meeting this specific need, I've opted to go with a mix of teff + amaranth + tapioca starch + cornstarch, but if I weren't working with these restrictions, I might substitute the cornstarch for potato starch, or the amaranth for brown rice flour.  Everything is written in weights here, so if you feel like substituting, just stick to the same weight, and try and pick a flour or starch with similar properties.

I also decided to try out a Tapioca gel as an egg replacer (see Cake and Commerce's blondie recipe) at the same time as I was developing this recipe.  I have a couple of old handwritten standbys for gingerbread  I typically turn to using eggs and dairy, so it was a matter of several adjustments to convert to vegan AND gluten-free. 

I've been using flax gel for a while now, and was curious to see what the difference was with the tapioca gel.  Well!  we got moist, dark gingerbread that looks like it will be just as good the 2nd day around! and not a grain of xantham gum in sight!

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a square baking pan (8" x 8") with parchment paper)

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well:

  • 90 grams teff flour
  • 70 grams amaranth flour
  • 85 grams tapioca starch
  • 85 grams cornstarch
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix wet ingredients together in a larger bowl:

  • 1/2 c cooking molasses
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 1/2 c grapeseed oil
  • 1/2 c tapioca gel (to make, cook 2 tsp tapioca per 1 cup water)
  • 1/2 applesauce

Add wet ingredients to dry, mix well with a spatula to combine.  Fold in:

  • 1/2 cup raisins

Pour gingerbread batter into the baking pan.  Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let cool in pan at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan.

Gluten-free never looked so chocolatey!

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A quick drive-by recipe here for gluten-free cupckakes that needed a little more modification than usual — no dairy, no eggs, no soy.   Take a careful look at the ingredients on your chocolate, and chances are it has soy lecithin in it.  Many chocolate manufacturers use soy lecithin as an emulsifier, making for a frustrating search for those who need to avoid soy and are looking for chocolate (and a world without chocolate is indeed a world that is little less joyous!).

If you are looking for soy-free chocolate, you can find Enjoy Life chocolate in a number of health food stores now, or if you really want a treat, the Tanzanian dark chocolate from Cacao-Barry is deep and complex and luxurious!  Make sure to check the ingredients list though, as not all the Cacao-Barry products are soy-free.

 

Before we dive in, a couple of observations:

  • when you are not using butter, using oils can often result in a  muffin-like texture.  For best results, a denser oil such as coconut oil will give you results that are closer to that of butter.  For this recipe, there is so much chocolate in the recipe using coconut oil is overkill.
  • there are a number of options for egg-replacements, including flax seed, flax gel, chia gel, applesauce, pumpkin or squash puree, extra baking  powder, or even blended silken tofu.  In this recipe, we were looking to add some binder, but also some texture to break up the denseness of the chocolate, so there is a combination of applesauce and flax seed.
  • For best results in gluten-free recipes, a blend of flours helps provide the best texture.   Teff flour is a beautifully fine, high-protein flour that provides loft — the tapioca starch adds tenderness, and the potato starch helps add a nice moist crumb.

Gluten-free Vegan Cupcakes with Whipped Ganache

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together and let stand 10 minutes until gooey.

  • 1 T ground flaxseed
  • 3 T water

In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together:

  • 90 grams teff flour
  • 45 grams tapioca starch
  • 45 grams potato starch
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 1/2 tsp salt

In a heatproof glass bowl, melt

  • 265 grams dark chocolate

when melted, stir in:

  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 3/4 cup rice milk (or other non-dairy milk)
  • 3/8 cup grapeseed oil
  • flaxseed mixture

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.  Portion evenly into muffin tins or cupcake liners.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting with whipped ganache

Whipped Ganache

Take 1 tin coconut milk and heat just to the boiling point.  Pour the hot coconut milk over 454 grams dark chocolate and let stand, covered for 10 minutes.  Whisk the mixture together until it becomes dark and glossy.  Let cool to just above room temperature, and whip with a set of hand beaters until it is the consistency of icing, and holds a peak.  This will make enough ganache to frost at least 18 cupcakes.  If you have some leftover, make sure to warm it slightly first.