Real Food Made Easy ™ » snacks http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca ... cocktails, cooking, and a side of Shiba Inus! Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:42:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Gluten-free, dairy-free muffin FAIL! I think I made one change too many! http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2009/05/gluten-free-muffin-fail-i-think-i-made-one-change-too-many/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gluten-free-muffin-fail-i-think-i-made-one-change-too-many http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2009/05/gluten-free-muffin-fail-i-think-i-made-one-change-too-many/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 19:31:22 +0000 janice http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/blog/?p=443 UPDATE:  for Round 2, scroll to the end.

I decided to try a new recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free blueberry muffins, but was making some substitutions along the way.  These are, in part a test for our friend, who as of yesterday was told by his naturopath to stick to honey, but is still cutting out gluten and [...]]]> UPDATE:  for Round 2, scroll to the end.

I decided to try a new recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free blueberry muffins, but was making some substitutions along the way.  These are, in part a test for our friend, who as of yesterday was told by his naturopath to stick to honey, but is still cutting out gluten and dairy…

… So, starting with a basic gluten-free muffin recipe, I decided to make lemon-blueberry muffins.  As you can see below, they didn’t quite turn out as planned!

gluten free muffin FAIL!

Some things turned out right with these:

  • despite the alarming crater in the middle, they do have pretty good texture in the areas that rose — pretty fluffy
  • the batter itself is pretty tasty: nice and lemony with a hint of vanilla.
  • the parts that rose had a pretty good mouthfeel

But obviously, some things went horribly wrong:

  • I’ll have to play around a little more with the liquid/flour ratios, as the substitution of honey definitely reduced the structural integrity of these.
  • a little too much coconut oil to help reduce the ooze factor of the batter!  Don’t want to reduce too much, however, as that is what is giving them a nice mouthfeel.

Stay tuned as I try to make a second batch of not-so-deformed muffins!

—————————————————————————————————————————

UPDATE: Round 2 later in the afternoon, much more successful, as you can see.  Changes I made include

  • switching back to agave syrup instead of honey (agave is on the approved list after all!)
  • Switched from AP gluten free flour, which is mostly rice + tapioca to a mix I made up with garfava flour, arrowroot and potato starch
  • added a 1/4 tsp more xantham gum
  • cut back the coconut oil by a couple of tablespoons
  • upped the flour by about 2 tablespoons
  • I also ended up using dried blueberries in these, as I ran out of frozen (fresh not in season yet)

gluten free, dairy free, sugar free muffin SUCCESS

The structural integrity is much better, plus I think the bean flours have a less crumbly texture than the rice flour — better suited to a muffin.  One thing I have discovered with baking gluten-free, is that it requires a willingness to experiment, as different flours and flour combos yield different results, quite a bit different than just pulling out the bag of AP flour that I’m used to.  Overall though, the more I test, the more intiutive some of this stuff seems.

Until the next baked good!

]]> http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2009/05/gluten-free-muffin-fail-i-think-i-made-one-change-too-many/feed/ 1 Take 2 eggplant and call me in the morning. http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2009/01/take-2-eggplant-and-call-me-in-the-morning/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=take-2-eggplant-and-call-me-in-the-morning http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/2009/01/take-2-eggplant-and-call-me-in-the-morning/#comments Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:20:58 +0000 janice http://realfoodmadeeasy.ca/blog/?p=109 Looking thru the fridge this morning, I noticed 2 eggplant that I had bought a few days ago (possibly for the night we had friends over) and promptly forgot about.  As I am the only one who eats eggplant, I decided to make baba ghanoush with them.   The secret to a good texture is to cook [...]]]> Looking thru the fridge this morning, I noticed 2 eggplant that I had bought a few days ago (possibly for the night we had friends over) and promptly forgot about.  As I am the only one who eats eggplant, I decided to make baba ghanoush with them.   The secret to a good texture is to cook the eggplants whole until they are REAAALLYYY soft, and then drain before the assembly.  Not quite as good as the Golden Pita’s version (they have mad Lebanese cooking skillz!), but still pretty tasty.

Baba Ghanoush

To go with the whole middle-eastern snack theme that had asserted itself this morning, I made some hummus and flatbreads.  I had a stash of olive oil bread dough already in the fridge to make calzones this week sometime, so it was just a matter of snipping off a hunk, rolling it out flat and topping with a good slather of olive oil and coarse salt before baking in a hot oven.  The dough is from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day, so there is still lots left over.

For the hummus, I have been making it with freshly cooked (not canned) chickpeas lately.  I find it makes a big difference in flavour, and they can be cooked in the pressure cooker in about 40 minutes with no soaking.  I also like my hummus very creamy, so I really blitz it with the lemon juice and water before adding the olive oil and tahini, in order to get it nice and smooth.   I also added a bit of paprika, cumin and coriander to this batch.

Freshly made Hummus and flatbread

Dog update — we finally got a sunny day, so Kimi spent the day following the sunny spots, and trying to get Eric to engage in “bitey” play.  As you can see below, she succeeded!

Bitey play!

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