Tag Archives: wheat-free

Matthew’s Lemon Bars

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photo 1Not too long after I was diagnosed with celiac disease and started sharing my new diet with family and friends, was my godson, Matthew put on a mostly gluten free diet.  He misses enjoying traditional baked goods, especially crusty french bread.  However, Matthew is learning to live with this diet- his family eats mostly gluten free to support him and some of his friends in school are also on the same diet.  His favorite gluten free dish is lamb chops with gluten free bread crumbs – which sounds utterly delicious!  And his favorite thing about being gluten free is baking and discovering new gluten free recipes.  Matthew lives pretty far from me and we don’t get to see each other all that often.  But from afar, we are able to share our gluten free experiences together by sharing recipes.  This past holiday season, Matthew sent me a long list of his favorite gluten free recipes that inspired me to bake (which doesn’t happen all that often!).   I chose to make lemon bars and every time I had one for a treat, I thought of Matthew.  So here’s one of Matthew’s favorite recipes that I chose to make, Lemon Bars, from The Gluten Free Bible.

Lemon Bars

The Gluten-Free Bible by Publications International Ltd. Staff

1 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose blend (You can used any blend you have on hand, but I prefer a blend without bean flours)

1 cup macadamia nuts or slivered almond (Matt uses almond meal from Trader Joe’s)

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/3 cup lemon juice

Additional powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×9 square baking dish.  I used an 8×8 pyrex and it worked just fine.

2. Place flour, nuts, butter, powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon peel and salt in food processor. Process until mixture forms fine crumbs.  Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown .  Matt doesn’t use a food processor, but I did because it makes this much easier!  Don’t be alarmed by the amount of flour mix you end up with, it presses down to the perfect amount.  I had to bake my crust for 20 minutes and it still wasn’t golden brown, but it was done.

3. Beat granulated sugar, eggs, lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon peel in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until blended.

4. Pour mixture evenly over warm crust. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until center is set and edges are golden brown . Cool completely in pan on wire rack . Dust with additional powdered sugar . Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Peppermint Brownies (aka, the best brownies I’ve ever made)

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It was possibly the rainiest Sunday we’ve ever had here in New York City.  I kept thinking to myself, if only it were 10 degrees colder like its been ALL WEEK and then I’d be making snowmen and watching Rufus bounce and bury his noise in the snow.  Even though I hate being forced stay inside all day, rainy days are good days for some things like sleeping in, eating big breakfasts, going through your Netflix queue, and baking.

It was determined I would bake, and when a Real Simple email popped up with a brownie recipe, I had found my target.  I wanted to make them seasonal, so they became peppermint brownies.   The result of the rainy day activity was the best batch of brownies I’ve ever made.  Here’s why:

1. They didn’t stick to the pan.  I HATE it when you make brownies and then end up having to scape crusted chocolate off your pan to enjoy a bar.

2. They didn’t taste like xanthan gum.  I modified this recipe myself, so this was really exciting!

3. Their texture was the perfect balance between cakey and fudgy.

4. Kosher salt+peppermint made this batch different than your average brownie and created a really interesting and delicious flavor.

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Flourless Chocolate Cake

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Last weekend, we celebrated my grandfather’s 88th birthday.  Can you imagine, being 88?  And my grandparents have been married for over 60 years now.  Wow.

The party was at my grandparents’ house in Long Island (we took the LIRR) and to remove the hostess burden from my grandmother, the rest of the family was in charge of bringing the food.  My sister, Madeline and I were in charge of dessert.  I sort of resigned myself to just eating the fruit salad because I didn’t want to “subject” all the guests to eating gluten-free.  But, with my sister’s encouragement, we decided on a flourless chocolate cake (or torte) because it was a “naturally” gluten-free dessert and generally, everyone loves chocolate.  I had little to do with the creation of the above deliciousness.  Madeline remains the top baker in the family (although I think I’m getting better at it) and she took that responsibility and made for us a wonderful dessert. 

Madeline’s Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adapted from William Sonoma’s The Essentials of Baking.

1/2 cup sugar

5 oz semi-sweet; 5 oz bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup unsalted butter

8 large eggs, separated & at room temperature

Whipped Cream

1 cup of heavy or whipping cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 tablespoon of sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease a 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.The paper should also be greased.

Place the butter and chocolate in a double boiler over hot water and melt, stirring frequently.  Set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium high speed to stiff peak stage. Do not over-beat. This can also be done by hand- but will take quite a while!

Add the egg yolks to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk to combine.  Gently fold in 1/4 of the egg whites.  Fold in the sugar mixture, and then fold in the rest of the egg whites, little by little,  making sure that the whites are fully incorporated.  Pour the mixture into the pan.

Claire’s note:  I just recently learned to beat egg whites and fold them into other ingredients while making a GF tiramasu that was kind of a disaster (but the marscapone cream was delicious).  Since I knew that beating egg whites and folding is an important but delicate process, I consulted youtube for a demonstration.  I watched this video.  It is an entire recipe, if you just want to watch the egg whites bit like I did, start it at 1 minute.  I beat my egg whites by hand, and it took a while, like 5-10 minutes, so having a standing or hand mixer saves time and energy for this baking technique. 

Bake until the cake is almost completely set about 30-35 minutes. The center should still jiggle a little when ready.  Remove from oven to a wire rack.  Cool for minutes and then remove the springform. The cake sunk in the center immediately and also sunk in a bit on the sides- not sure if this is a result of the oven, the humidity, or just inherent to the recipe.  Don’t worry though, this only affects the appearance or the cake.

The cake was made a day and half before we served it.  It is one of those desserts that ages nicely.  When you are ready to serve, make the whipped cream.  Beat the cream until stiff peaks form and immediately add the sugar and vanilla.  Beat just enough to incorporate them, don’t over-beat or else it will turn to butter!  Decorate with powdered sugar and fresh berries and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

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I was in charge of planning a co-worker’s birthday celebration Monday.  Work birthdays are always the same: squeeze people into small office, half-heartedly sing Happy Birthday, eat cake.  I hadn’t done a work birthday since going gluten-free.  This posed a predicament.  Do I make something gluten-free and serve it to everyone or buy something glutenous (i.e. cake from Whole Foods) and miss out?

I actually tried to do both.  Sunday night I tried out a recipe from the Whole Foods website that my roommate, Stephanie, found because it didn’t have xanthan gum in it.  She really hates xanthan gum.  Whole Foods calls these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I think they are more like a hybrid of cookie and brownie bites.  Still delicious.  So delicious in fact, that all but 4 disappeared Sunday night to my boyfriend and his friend.  Scratch birthday plan #1; I ended up buying cupcakes from Whole Foods anyways on Monday. 

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Easy Pancakes

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Pancakes were a big part of my childhood.  Every weekend growing up, my dad made us pancakes from scratch.  He made them so often, he knew the recipe by heart.  Although the pancake tradition isn’t what it used to be, when all of my sisters are home, the fluffy breakfast cakes always make an appearance.

I remember going to other kids’ houses and having Bisquick and feeling pretty good that my pancakes didn’t come from a mix.  The following pancakes do.  Until I figure out my own pancake recipe, the following from a mix recipe will do just fine.

Pancakes from Pamela

makes 6 4” pancakes (this is not very many, I suggest doubling this if you intend on feeding more than two people)

1 cup Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix

1  cup water (add more if your batter is too thick)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tablespoon flaxseed (for added fiber and fluff!)

1/4 cup blueberries or chocolate chips (or both!)

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and grease the pan.  It will be hot enough when water droplets “dance” on the surface.

Mix the pancake mix, flaxseed, water, vegetable oil, and egg in a medium bowl.  I found that the batter was a little thick, so I added about 1/8 cup more water.  You want the batter to be thin enough to pour, but thick enough not to run all over the pan. 

When the pan is hot, do a small test pancake.  The first pancake is always off.  Depending on the size of your pan, pour 2-3 pancakes in, making sure they have enough room to spread.  The pancakes will be ready to flip when they start bubbling.  This would be the moment to add chocolate chips or blueberries. Flip the pancakes and give it about 1/3 – 1/2 the time it took for the first side to cook. 

 Stack them on a plate or serve immediately with butter and maple syrup, or whipped cream!