Wednesday, December 11, 2013

12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts: Day 2 Lemon Pound Cake



Lemon Pound Cake
 
   One thing I really missed being gluten-free was pound cake. So we set out to find a delicious recipe for pound cake. As I've mentioned before, it is all in the flour mix. Once we found the perfect gluten-free all-purpose flour mixture recipe, we could take any recipe and make it gluten-free. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Lemon Pound Cake

1 c. salted butter, softened (2 sticks)
2 1/2 c all-purpose gluten-free flour 
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 c granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
6 large eggs, room temperature
4 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sour cream
1 c. confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a bundt pan. Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a separate bowl.

I use a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. Beat butter for 1 min. Add sugar, vanilla, and zest and beat on medium-high until light and fluffy for 2-3 minutes. Add lemon juice. Mix in one egg at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Reduce mixer to low. Add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt, and then the rest of the flour mixture. Mix well but don't over mix.

Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean about 65 to 75 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 30 mins and then turn it out onto a wire rack to completely cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together confectioner's sugar and 1/2 Tbsp. of lemon juice. Add cold water If needed) a little at a time to create a thick but pourable glaze. Pour glaze over the top of the cake and ENJOY!

Monday, December 9, 2013

12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts: Day 1- Gluten- Free Chocolate Chip Cookies



Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies


     When I was a kid, my Mom sometimes had Chocolate Chip Cookies or Rice Krispie treats waiting for us when we got home from school. To this day, those are two of my favorite desserts. My older brother served in Desert Storm in Bahrain. I knew how much he loved Rice Krispies treats so I made him some and sent them to him, but had to make like 6 batches because I kept eating them!

     With our all-purpose flour mix, we now can make homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies for the whole family. When we send these cookies in with our gluten-free daughter to a class party, none of her friends know they are eating a gluten-free cookie; they are that good!!

     So this classic cookie recipe is our first dessert recipe in our "12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts" blog. Remember if you have an old recipe that was passed down to you, you can substitute our all-purpose gluten-free flour mix for the regular flour and it will taste just as good, but now it will be safe to eat!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks salted butter, softened
3/4 c. + 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. xanthan gum
12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Mix butter and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. In a seperate bowl sift* together flour, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture one cup at a time. Blend in flour slowly. Add chips just incorporate. 

Drop a spoonful of cookie dough on the cookie sheet with the parchment paper on it. Bake 375 degrees for 10 mins or until light brown.


*It is very important to sift gluten-free flour to make sure baked good doesn't become lumpy.


Day 2: Gluten-Free Lemon Pound Cake





Sunday, December 8, 2013

12 Days of Gluten-Free Dessrts




Welcome to the 12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts

     Tomorrow December 9th, 2013 starts our First Annual 12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts! My daughters and I are looking forward to baking and sharing with you 12 delicious gluten-free dessert recipes. When you bake these desserts and share them with your family and friends, they will never know that they are eating gluten-free! Our friends are always surprised, even though they know we ONLY bake gluten-free, that what they enjoying is actually gluten-free. THAT is what we like! We want ALL of our friends and family to enjoy our baked goods whether they are gluten-free or not.

MONDAY: December 9th

           Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies


Gluten-Free Biscuits

GLUTEN-FREE BISCUITS
Gluten-Free Formed Biscuits

     I admit I miss the ease of the pop-out of the can, pop into the oven biscuits. They are so convenient. But they are not gluten-free and they have all kinds of other ingredients in them.

     My husband is an excellent cook. I never liked biscuits and gravy until my husband made it homemade. Yeah, it is so much better than the stuff from the can. So since being gluten-free I couldn't use my pop-out of the can biscuits anymore. We needed to come up with a gluten-free biscuit recipe. Albeit it takes longer to make these, but it is worth the time to make it homemade and my daughter and I can eat them! 

     These can be made as a drop biscuit or a formed biscuit. I like mine to look like the regular biscuits and it makes a flatter surface for gravy. I use the English muffin rings I purchased online. They are very inexpensive and very helpful to make formed biscuits.

English Muffin Rings

     You can use this basic recipe and add cheese and garlic powder to it and spread melted butter with fresh garlic on top and you have gluten-free Red Lobster biscuits! ENJOY!!

Gluten-Free Biscuits

2 c. corn starch*
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp xanthan gum

1 stick butter (chilled in freezer)
1 1/4 c milk
1 1/4 c water
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 
1 egg, beaten 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper to insure biscuits come off the sheet. Grease biscuits rings.

In a mixing bowl combine flours, baking powder, salt, baking powder and xanthan gum. (Gluten-Free flours do best when sifted.) Grate butter into the flour with a fine cheese grater. Mix the butter into the flour so not large ball of butter are left. 

Add apple cider vinegar with the milk before added the milk to the mix. Then add milk, water, and beaten egg to the flour mixture and mix.

Place enough batter in to fill the ring half way. Wet fingers with some water and lightly flatten the top of the batter to make a flat top which will create the formed biscuit. OR drop a large spoonful of dough on the parchment paper to make drop biscuits.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 mins until the biscuits don't look shiny anymore. They won't get that golden brown look like wheat biscuits do. Refer to the picture above to see the color of the finished biscuit.

*If you can do corn starch, you can substitute potato starch